New Releases: Sharp Pins

The famous Brian Eno quote goes, in essence, that few people bought the first Velvet Underground record, but everyone who did started a band.

I'm starting to wonder if the same can now be said of Guided By Voices? A number of indie bands in recent years seem to have borrowed some of GbV's trademark elements--the prolific album releases, lo-fi production, ragged indie rock with surprisingly joyous hooks, some affinity for Beatlesque British pop, records packed with too many songs (some of which are clearly expendable, though reasonable minds may differ as to which ones), silly song titles, etc. See, e.g., Connections, Smug Brothers, 2nd Grade, and so on.

The latest is Sharp Pins, the side project of Chicago musician Kai Slater (who serves double duty in indie band Lifeguard). It's a little too soon to know if he/they will match the output of Robert Pollard, but Balloon Balloon Balloon is the second release for the project this year. Loads of catchy, minimalist indie pop songs, some plainly going for a sixties British pop sound (making the record seem a little more indebted to Cleaners From Venus, the UK's GbV equivalent); there are hooks galore, and even if a few of the songs are mere throwaways, there's still plenty to love here. 

(The prior release, Radio DDR, was arguably even better, with probably a higher hit-to-miss ratio overall and a little more musical variety.)

Check it out on Bandcamp.

"Popfangout":

"I Don't Have The Heart":

"Talking In Your Sleep":