The day the Voices died

Guided By Voices

The Day The Voices Died. Yet again, I was late to find out about this one. The indies band, Guided By Voices, is moving on to greener pastures. Their final album, Half Smiles of the Decomposed, will be released on Aug 24.
 
There are certain constants in the life of a kid who grew up listening to the indies. One of those was the knowledge that bands such as Sonic Youth and Guided By Voices (led by veteran rockers Kim Gordon and Robert Pollard) were always around to mete out indies-rock justice somewhere, be it in a studio, garage or on-stage. This is music I grew up with. I discovered GBV back in 1991, when I read about the album Bee Thousand in a local magazine Big O.

You are not supposed to try to interpret the lyrics in a GBV song.  At times though, parts of the lyrics 'pop out' to shed light and convey relevant emotions on a particular subject you are dealing with. On this occasion, it was some spoken words in the final track of Alien Lanes, that I had been listening to while writing this.
 

Alright (R. Pollard)

Alright
Alright
Alright
Alright
for our lives to be once again
like it once was
in the ice age, in a kingdom long ago;
without songs, without hope, without meaning,
and therefore
always having the same effect
without ever knowing why

It will be alright I guess. Here's A Salty Salute to Bob and gang.

MP3 of a new song- The Best of Jill Hives

Btw, David Bazan and Pedro The Lion just released a new album, Achilles Heel. You can listen to the whole album here.