Pitchfork

Don't worry, Guided By Voices fans, your fearless leader hasn't abandoned you. Even though GBV called it quits nine months ago, ringleader Robert Pollard is far from finished dumping the contents of his psyche upon the public. It's kind of like how Jay-Z is retired, but can't stop showing up on other people's songs. Sort of.

On January 24, 2006, indie rock powerhouse Merge Records will release From a Compound Eye, Pollard's first post-GBV solo album (not counting that crazy stage banter thing). Not surprisingly, it consists of 26 tracks and is over 70 minutes long. Here's the lowdown:

01 Gold
02 Field Jacket Blues
03 Dancing Girls and Dancing Men
04 A Flowering Orphan
05 The Right Thing
06 U.S. Mustard Company
07 The Numbered Head
08 I'm a Widow
09 Fresh Threats Salad Shooters and Zip Guns
10 Kick Me and Cancel
11 Other Dogs Remain
12 Kensington Cradle
13 Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft
14 Hammer in Your Eyes
15 50 Year Old Baby
16 I Surround You Naked
17 Cock of the Rainbow
18 Conqueror of the Moon
19 Blessed in an Open Head
20 A Boy in Motion
21 Denied
22 Lightshow
23 I'm a Strong Lion
24 Payment for Babies
25 Kingdom Without
26 Recovering

Unreleased versions of the record have been floating around GBV superfanland for awhile, so the true diehards probably won't find this news too exciting. According to a Merge press release, "'A Flowering Orphan' has an elegant, if somewhat skewed, chamber pop feel, while 'U.S. Mustard Company' and 'I'm a Strong Lion' are buoyant and shimmering pop tunes. 'Kensington Cradle' features a noisy sound collage that works perfectly, while 'Conqueror of the Moon' is epic and daunting in its prog-rock grandeur." And this differs from a Guided By Voices album how?

Pollard's co-conspirators on From a Compound Eye are Todd Tobias, Chris Sheehan and Scott Bennett. Tobias produced, recorded, and mixed the album at Waterloo Sound in Kent, Ohio. A tour is promised for early next year.

But we won't have to wait that long for a GBV fix. On October 31, Fading Captain will release Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow, the sequel to the 2000 box set Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft. Suitcase 2 contains 100 rare and unreleased GBV nuggets dating from the late 1970s through 2005. Each track is credited to a band name based on the track's players. So the tracklisting reads like the kind of stuff you come up with when you're incredibly bored at four a.m. Deep breath:

Disc One:

101 The Plague: "This Ream"
102 Terror of Living: "Rocket Head"
103 Ragged Enzymes: "The Golden Pickle"
104 Hey John, Bees: "Your Charming Proposal"
105 Wim Dials: "Searing Tonight"
106 Billy Ray Human: "Somewhere Sometime"
107 Milko Waif: "If You Think It's Easy"
108 Wig Stomper: "His Spacetruck Is Strange"
109 Child Of Joe: "Tin Can Laughter"
110 7 Feet of Sunshine: "Sacred Space"
111 Bore Co: "Soul Flyers"
112 Throne: "Gods of Richard"
113 Scott Joy: "It's Only Up to You"
114 Ax: "Dancing With the Answers"
115 Devron Zones: "Waiting for Your Touch"
116 Milko Waif: "Soggy Beavers"
117 The Bug-Eyes Mums: "Invisible Train to Earth"
119 Karma Yeah: "Something For Susan in the Shadows"
120 Heavy River: "Sinister Infrared Halo"
121 Herkimer Mohawk: "Happy at the Drag Strip"
122 Apes in the Window: "Arms"
123 Yummy Ropes: "Solid Gold Animal Collection"
124 Some Are Bullets in Dreams: "Beach Towers"
125 Bleep Bleep F*ck: "Cosmic Clown"

Disc Two:

126 Timid Virus: "I Am Decided"
127 Mutts UK: "Tainted Angels With Butter Knives"
128 Brainbow: "What About the Rock?"
129 Scott Joy: "Pack of Rolling Papers"
130 The One Too Many: "Telephone Town"
131 The Pukes: "Hey, I Know Your Old Lady"
132 Dale Frescamo: "Headache Revolution"
133 Stumpy in the Ocean: "Every Man"
134 Milko Waif: "Alibible"
135 Ben Zing: "I Can't Help but Noticing"
136 Red Faced Rats: "Mannequin's Complaint"
137 U B Hitler: "Zarkoff's Coming"
138 Acid Ranch: "Supersonic Love Funky Love Gun"
139 The Bad Babies: "Perch Warble"
140 Scott Joy: "You're Not the Queen Anymore"
141 Throne: "Ivanhoe"
142 Herkimer Mohawk: "How Can You?"
143 Shoot'em: "The Lodger Carried A Gun"
144 Modular Dance Units: "Metro XVI"
145 Milko Waif: "My Dream Making Machine"
146 Usually To Death: "Mustard Man"
147 Wheels Pig Harvey: "Alone in Time"
148 The Plexigrall Bee-Hive: "Dusty Bushworms"
149 Wheels Pig Harvey: "Free It"
150 Christopher Lightship: "Are You Faster?"

Disc Three:

151 The Fake Organisms: "A Proud and Booming Industry"
152 We Too Bark: "Two or Three Songs"
153 Milko Waif: "Little Games"
154 Ax: "Daughter of the Gold Rush"
155 Leon Lemans: "Color Coat Drawing"
156 Silent Knife: "Learning to Burn"
157 Howling Wolf Orchestra: "A Minute Before the Evil Street"
158 The Needmores: "I'd Choose You"
159 Wavo: "You're Killin' Me"
160 Lectricaroo: "Old Friend"
161 Devron Zones: "She Don't Shit (No Golden Bricks for Me)"
162 Milko Waif: "I Have a Hard Heart"
163 The One Too Many: "Shoddy Clothes"
164 The Plague: "Sordid Forest"
165 The Needmores: "Shake It Out"
166 The Accidental Texas Who: "Cowboy Zoo"
167 Peter Built Bombs: "Soul Barn"
168 Modular Dance Units: "Phase IV (Rise of the Ants)"
169 Burial Wind: "Piece"
170 Sucko: "Lonely Town"
171 Wavo: "Do Be"
172 Academy of Crowsfeet: "Boston Spaceships"
173 Scott Joy: "Drugs & Eggs"
174 Stumpy in the Ocean: "That Ain't No Good"
175 Alvin Haisles: "Immediate Frozen Lookalikes"

Disc Four:

176 7 Feet of Sunshine: "Madroom Assistance"
177 Praying Man Vs. Bo Diddley: "Man of Dimension"
178 Alvin Haisles: "Nerve Gas"
179 The Fun Punk 5: "Do the Ball"
180 Peter Built Bombs: "The Issue Presents Itself"
181 The Banana Show: "Leprechaun Catfish Fighter"
182 Leon Lemans: "Child"
183 Howling Wolf Orchestra: "Invisible Exercise"
184 Carl Goffin: "All Around the World"
185 Alvin Haisles: "Late Night Scamerica"
186 Stumpy in the Ocean: "A World of My Own"
187 Milko Waif: "She's the One"
188 7 Dog 3: "Daddy's in the State Pen"
189 The One Too Many: "Cox Municipal Airport Song"
190 Gene Autrey's Psychic: "Scare Me No. 3"
191 Manimal: "Grope"
192 God's Little Lightning Bolt: "Heavy Crown"
193 Wim Dials: "So Roll Me Over"
194 The Inbrids: "Home by Ten"
195 Milko Waif: "Come Make My Shadow"
196 The One Too Many: "Paper Girl"
197 Yummy Ropes: "Jimmy's Einstein Poster"
198 Hot Skin Apartment: "My Only Confection"
199 Otim Grimes: "Groundwork"
200 The Fun Punk Song 5: "Bye Bye Song"

If that's just too much Pollard for you (which probably isn't the case, since you've made it this far into this story), highlights from Suitcase 2 will be available on an 18-song LP entitled Briefcase 2: The Return of Milko Waif. The vinyl-only collection will also contain two tracks not on the CD box set, "Lion W/Thorn in Paw" and "Superwhore," the latter produced by Steve Albini. Hardcore fans might feel ripped off, but don't call Pollard lazy and greedy: if you're one of the first 900 people to order Suitcase 2 from Pollard's website, your copy will be autographed by the man himself.

Briefcase tracklist:

Side One:

01 Headache Revolution
02 I Am Decided
03 Mannequin's Complaint
04 Your Charming Proposal
05 Supersonic Love Funky Love Gun
06 Sinister Infrared Halo
07 Perch Warble
08 What About the Rock?

Side Two:

01 Lion W/ Thorn in Paw
02 Invisible Train to Earth
03 You're Not the Queen Anymore
04 Metro XVI
05 Daughter of the Gold Rush
06 Sordid Forst
07 Lonely Town
08 My Dream Making Machine
09 Superwhore
10 Bye Bye Song

What, you thought that would be it for this round of Guided By Voices news? Think again. The second issue of Pollard's literary magazine, "EAT" is out now, available only through the Rockathon Records website. Most publications of this nature tend to exhibit work from a variety of contributors, but "EAT" is all about Bob. The second issue contains 41 poems, 33 full-color collages, and a rad cover with a moth on it. Rockathon assures us that "EAT II is a major improvement from the original EAT," which is a relief because if there is one thing we can't stand, it's a lousy sequel. Oh, and dogs wearing bandanas, we don't like those either.

As previously reported, on November 15, Plexifilm will release The Electrifying Conclusion DVD, which chronicles the band's final show at Chicago's Metro on December 31, 2004. Next week, Fading Captain will ship out Pollard's Music for Bubble EP, which consists of six songs Pollard and ex-GBV member Todd Tobias recorded for the soundtrack to the forthcoming Steven Soderbergh film Bubble. And on November 8, Scat records will reissue Guided By Voices' Propeller, on vinyl for the first time since 1992, and on CD with a snazzier booklet than the current version floating around.

Maybe all this Pollard talk makes you hunger to see the man in person. Well, you're in luck, but only if you live in Ohio, Chicago or NYC, because Bob and former GBV bassist will be heading there on their four-date book-signing tour in support of Greer's Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll, which will be published by Grove/Atlantic on November 9. Get yr read on:

11-13 Cincinnati, OH - Joseph-Beth Booksellers
11-14 Dayton, OH - Books & Company
11-15 Chicago, IL - Barnes & Noble (DePaul)
11-17 New York, NY - Barnes & Noble (Chelsea)

Congratulations, you have finished reading one of the longest news stories in Pitchfork history. We hope that the next time Bob Pollard releases something (which will probably be next week), he types up his tracklistings according to Pitchfork style. Our interns have been hospitalized with carpel tunnel syndrome.