Our editor-in-chief, Matt Ryan, spends 2025 navigating through the most imposing catalog in all of modern pop music. Alongside his thoughts on record collecting, contemporary political discourse, and snow removal, he occasionally takes time to discuss the life’s work of Robert Pollard and the legendary Guided by Voices.
- The GBV Project — Week 1: Forever Since Breakfast
After years of home recordings and revolving-door band names, Robert Pollard and friends enter a proper studio and emerge with the first Guided by Voices release. - The GBV Project — Week 2: Devil Between My Toes
Many of the main characters in the Guided by Voices saga take their places as the project issues its first full-length LP. - The GBV Project — Week 3: Sandbox
GBV goes ‘slick,’ and slips a bit on their second proper album. - The GBV Project — Week 4: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia
Meditations on labors of love, and a man who couldn’t possibly understand such endeavors. - The GBV Project — Week 5: Same Place the Fly Got Smashed
Musings on ‘bleak’ art, as we bid farewell to a pair of true American originals. - The GBV Project — Week 6: Propeller
Robert Pollard plans his exit strategy, as he prepares GBV’s “final” record. - The GBV Project — Week 7: The Grand Hour / If We Wait
The unthinkable happens, and it turns out to be weird as hell. - The GBV Project — Week 8: Vampire on Titus
Thoughts on finding beauty among ugliness. - The GBV Project — Week 9: The Four EPs / Scalping the Guru
The scrappy underdogs of American indie rock take on EPs: the scrappy underdog format of pop discographies. - The GBV Project — Week 10: Bee Thousand
Leave art to the artists: especially those who emerge from the most unlikely (and honest) places. - The GBV Project — Week 11: King Shit & The Golden Boys
Meditations on an exhausting profession, as Guided by Voices take a well-earned victory lap between masterworks. - The GBV Project — Week 12: Alien Lanes
GBV’s second unqualified masterpiece lends itself to a reflection on the nature of being a ‘critic’ of the music that we unabashedly love. - The GBV Project — Week 13: Motor Away / Tigerbomb / Watch Me Jumpstart
A few thoughts on the art of four-track recording. - The GBV Project — Week 14: Under the Bushes Under the Stars
Tensions flare while GBV craft yet another classic record. - The GBV Project — Week 15: Plantations of Pale Pink / Sunfish Holy Breakfast
Manufactured holidays and manufactured scarcity suck, and combining the two is nauseating. - The GBV Project — Week 16: Tonics & Twisted Chasers / Wish in One Hand…
Some appreciation for Bob Pollard’s greatest collaborator. - The GBV Project — Week 17: Mag Earwhig!
You never forget your first encounter with a truly great band. - The GBV Project — Week 18: Do the Collapse
GBV go ‘big time,’ to the most mixed results of their career to date. - The GBV Project — Week 19: Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft
We shouldn’t be surprised that Bob Pollard’s first box set of discarded tracks is frequently brilliant. - The GBV Project — Week 20: Isolation Drills
GBV craft a record of radio-ready gems, but it turns out that radio wasn’t ready after all. - The GBV Project — Week 21: Universal Truths and Cycles
On the idea that some albums take time to reveal their excellence. - The GBV Project — Week 22: Earthquake Glue
You never have to wait long for your first ‘new’ GBV record, and fortunately, mine was a freaking banger. - The GBV Project — Week 23: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates
Here’s proof that, during GBV’s heyday, they could have released multiple ‘best-of’ compilations. - The GBV Project — Week 24: Half Smiles of the Decomposed / The Electrifying Conclusion
Bob Pollard retires Guided by Voices with one ‘final’ album and tour. - The GBV Project — Week 25: Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow
The second box set of GBV outtakes isn’t as good as the first, but we make the most of it. - The GBV Project — Week 26: Suitcase 3: Up We Go Now
The third box set of GBV outtakes isn’t as good as the first (or second), but we make the most of it. - The GBV Project — Week 27: Let’s Go Eat the Factory
The “classic lineup” returns with an album that is way better than its reputation suggests. - The GBV Project — Week 28: Class Clown Spots a UFO
The reunited GBV kick their output into high gear with their second album of 2012. - The GBV Project — Week 29: The Bears for Lunch
GBV’s third album of 2012 is the best that the reunited lineup would release, but there is one song in particular that leaves a subtle-but-lasting impression. - The GBV Project — Week 30: English Little League
More appreciation for Tobin Sprout, who was in fine form throughout the six-album reunion run. - The GBV Project — Week 31: Motivational Jumpsuit
Bad vibes creep into the “classic lineup,” but they keep cranking out albums regardless. - The GBV Project — Week 32: Cool Planet
The reunion era reaches its unceremonious conclusion, and we commemorate it by highlighting its finest moments. - The GBV Project — Week 33: Suitcase Four: Captain Kangaroo Won the War
Diminishing returns continue with the fourth box-set installment of GBV outtakes. - The GBV Project — Week 34: Please Be Honest
An honest account of what happens when a band becomes a brand. - The GBV Project — Week 35: August by Cake
GBV inaugurate a new lineup with the first double LP in the project’s history. - The GBV Project — Week 36: How Do You Spell Heaven
The master of melodic hooks mostly forgoes choruses, for some reason. - The GBV Project — Week 37: Space Gun
Being a completist can be exhausting, especially when the subject is Guided by Voices. - The GBV Project — Week 38: Zeppelin Over China
The lengthiest album in the GBV catalog –and a particularly weird week in America– inspire some thoughts on free experssion. - The GBV Project — Week 39: Warp and Woof
The truly great ones are always worth paying attention to, even when they’re not at their absolute pinnacle. - The GBV Project — Week 40: Sweating the Plague
Bob Pollard finds new inspiration by operating (slightly) out of his wheelhouse. - The GBV Project — Week 41: Surrender Your Poppy Field
The Releases: Surrender Your Poppy Field (LP—GBVi, 2020) / Volcano… Read more: The GBV Project — Week 41: Surrender Your Poppy Field