In the 1990s, Guided by Voices were like a mythic one-legged Third World distance runner who miraculously overcomes adversity to win a medal. Despite manifest deficits – lousy sound quality, half-finished songs, titles like “Kicker of Elves” – their albums were tune orgies, suggesting Cheap Trick getting Schlitzed in a Midwestern rec room. The band’s first since 2004 is no different. Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout toss off minute-long power-pop goofs that make intermittent blasts of real-rock transcendence – like "The Unsinkable Fats Domino," a riff-hammering tribute full of collegial affection – feel all the more striking. GBV are unsinkable too.  

Listen to "The Unsinkable Fats Domino":

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“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.