Hey, two weeks in a row! That’s awesome! Here are 2022 releases from Delicate Steve, Gabe Gurnsey, and Guided by Voices.

Delicate Steve – After Hours
(July 8, 2022)

Delicate Steve plays delicate music. I must say I love the moniker. Reminds me of Steely Dan without the deliberate dildo reference.

This is pleasant instrumental surf rock and jazz fusion that serves to accomplish nothing more than demonstrate the interesting palette of guitar tones and rhythmic soundscapes for, I imagine, groups looking for session musicians. While I don’t fully intend to criticize the music in this way, I can’t help but feel like After Hours is an audition tape. Steve Marion (Delicate Steve himself in the flesh) sounds like he spent half the day jamming with a band and cherry-picked some of the best bits.

The problem I have with this piecemeal approach that I perceive here is that a track like “Find My Way”, with inoffensive funk guitar, smooth jazz guitar tones, VERY repetitive song structures, and safe major key chord progressions, is essentially a soundtrack for the Weather Channel. There is no one on Earth younger than 68 who is actively listening to something like this unless they’re practicing the guitar themselves. Some may find this to be perfect background music, but I don’t. I’d throw on a hundred things over this. I’d throw on actual jazz.

The guitar playing itself is disappointing. It’s all dreamy, sunset-gazing soft rock melodies. There are no interesting progressions, or adventurous detours, or even, godforbid, actual displays of emotion. I wouldn’t even call it noodling, because “noodling” implies some level of improvisation. This guitar playing is tightly structured and easy, leaving no wiggle room for spontaneity or even a little excitement. Everything is sterile. The moods aren’t genuine. I feel put upon.

There’s no point in singling out any individual tracks, because all 29 minutes are the same. You may as well put Track 1 on repeat while cleaning your living room. If you LOVE Chick Corea, don’t pass this up. I don’t like Chick Corea.

Sorry, Delicate Steve. I know we are kindred spirits because we both have the same Zappa tattoo on the same location on our arms, but mine is better than yours. And so is Zappa’s music.

Early Verdict:

Gabe Gurnsey – Diablo
(September 9, 2022)

I’m the last person to ask about electronic music. I don’t know the different between techno, house, breakbeat, microhouse, minimal techno, deep house, jungle, IDM, Detroit techno, Chicago house, acid trance, glitch, witch house, deconstructed club, Birmingham sound, I could go literally go on and on. Electronic music is a tough nut to crack for someone raised on classic rock and post-punk. I think you have to have this kind of music in your bones to be able to truly appreciate nuances.

I know what I like, though. And I like this. I’m a big fan of Factory Floor’s debut album from 2013. Gurnsey and Nik Colk Void made an ideal team, all the more evident after they both went their separate ways and pursued solo careers. It’s clear that Gurnsey brought techno positivity, and Void brought the creepy industrial sensibilities to their collaborative project. And you can read more about Void from me later this year! I promise! She released an album too!

While Gabe Gurnsey’s first effort Physical left me cold, the vocal-work from Tilly Morris on Diablo adds an immersive, surreal richness to the infectious beats that were less present on the more hard-hitting debut. Synth pulses and delicate weavings of soft electronic bleeps and bloops. The result is a dreamlike album, hypnotic like a dose of NyQuil while being peppy enough to keep you awake for an active listen. It’s an interesting effect.

Again, this genre of music is not my forte. I like what I hear from the first track, “Push”, which is a perfectly accessible opener to get you in the mood for an album’s worth of drug-addled dance club backroom fuckin’. I also like what I hear from “You Remind Me” and those ethereal, breathy ascending triplets from Morris. I also like the high-pitched and bubbly melodic lines from “I Love a Sea on Fire”. Track after track of this interesting, off-kilter dance music reminds me of the kind of music James Murphy would make if he wanted to make the soundtrack to a European orgy. And don’t count him out on that just yet.

Anyway, this is good. Listen to it.

Early Verdict:

Guided by Voices – Tremblers and Goggles by Rank
(July 1, 2022)

Hey! Guided by Voices already released an album in 2022. You mean to tell me that ROBERT POLLARD is prolific? What an asshole!

Two proper albums in 2022, with a ’90s collection of rare tracks coming by the end of the year. 38 albums with Guided by Voices, 22 albums under his own name, four Suitcase boxsets compiling 400 unreleased tracks, and a thousand other albums and collaborations. Fuck this guy. Fuck him.

OK, well, I find it difficult to review an album when the same band already put out an album in the same year. The first one got to be analyzed on its own merits; the second one gets to be compared to the first one. And if you’re Robert Pollard, and your consistency is unparalleled, at what point does one just kind of…stop critiquing the work? Tremblers and Goggles by Rank is yet another 21st century installment of catchy melodies, semi-lo-fi production, and perplexing lyrics from Guided by Voices. A welcome addition to an already storied catalog! If Robert Pollard is your favorite artist, you’ve got to be in heaven.

All right, fine. If I have to choose a standout track, I’d pick “Goggles by Rank”. Mostly because it’s the one that gets stuck in my head, but it also reminds me of how much I like Pollard’s voice. He kind of has this Bowie quality; not the best singer, but he’s able to steal a room. Also, he’s the most Bowie-esque singer out of Ohio there ever was. That’s gotta count for something.

OK. “Review” over.

Early Verdict: