What do you think the phrase “Unproductive Funk” means to Robert Pollard? Does it mean that he sometimes goes an entire morning without writing any scratchy power-pop jams with inscrutable lyrics? A whole day? What? In the entire history of American indie rock, Robert Pollard might be the least unproductive figure out there. (He’s also not terribly funky, but that claim is probably a little more disputable.) And yet Pollard’s band Guided By Voices have just released a song called “Unproductive Funk” as the single from their just-announced new album.
The new GBV LP has the confounding title Tremblers And Goggles By Rank, and it’ll be the second album that the band releases this year. Their first was Crystal Nuns Cathedral, which came out in March. As Brooklyn Vegan points out, Tremblers And Goggles By Rank will feature “Alex Bell,” the Big Star tribute single that the band released last month, as well as its B-side “Focus On The Flock.”
“Unproductive Funk” is exactly the kind of thing that you might expect if you’ve heard any of the past dozens of Guided By Voices albums. It’s got a big riff, a huge hook, and a haughty rock-star lead vocal. It would sound like classic rock, except that we already know that there are literal hundreds of Guided By Voices songs that already sound a whole lot like this one, and the canon only has so much room. Rock out to it below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Lizard On The Red Brick Wall”
02 “Alex Bell”
03 “Unproductive Funk”
04 “Roosevelt’s Marching Band”
05 “Goggles By Rank”
06 “Cartoon Fashion (Bongo Lake)”
07 “Boomerang”
08 “Focus On The Flock”
09 “Puzzle Two”
10 “Who Wants To Go Hunting”
Tremblers And Goggles By Rank is out 7/1 on Rockathon Records.
