Guided by Voices
La La Land
Release Date: Jan 20, 2023
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Lo-Fi
Record label: GBV
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Album Review: La La Land by Guided by Voices
Fairly Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 6/10
If you were making a list of bands who had prog rock tendencies, then Guided By Voices would be towards the bottom of the list. Maybe you'd better turn that list upside down as La La Land might not be the lo-fi version of Yes' Tales from Topographic Oceans, but it might have aspirations to be. There's enough old school GBV tunes ("Another Day to Heal," "Released Into Dementia," "Ballroom Etiquette") to keep the hardcore happy, but a few tunes here really push the envelope.
Opinion: Excellent
La La Land by Guided By Voices Guided by Voices songs have never been as simple and accessible as they sound, but there's no question that lately Robert Pollard has been taking them in more oblique directions. Brash, fuzzy guitar riffs collide with twining, folk-derived modal melodies, sure, just like always, but the song structures are more complicated and open-ended than you remember from Isolation Drills. There are multiple parts, there are eerie wordless vocals, there are stark, stabbing piano intervals that set up lush rock band anthems.
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