Planets Are Blasted

Planets Are Blasted

"Ex-Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard is apparently never going to run out of songs, so the only sensible thing for him to do is form enough side projects to make sure everything is properly serviced. Boston Spaceships is another of his pick-up groups that features guitarist-bassist Chris Slusarenko and one-time Elliot Smith drummer John Moen. Together, they hash out songs with a proud, unrefined aggression that never admits that Pollard himself is pushing fifty years old. This is still kid music and Pollard indulges his stream-of-consciousness brain at every turn. ""Catherine From Mid October,"" ""Queen of Stormy Weather,"" and ""The Town That's After Me"" crank out the garage rock with Pollard's by now standard near-Brit accent turning everything he touches into an Anglophile groove. The band refuses to polish their attack and they turn up the amps where they see fit. While nothing here approaches the pop beauty of Pollard's best work — too raw, for starters — there is an energy and lack of pretension that makes them hard to resist."

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