The Bollard Bulletin: November 25, 2024
Local Music Monday: Order your Biz Turkey today!
LOCAL MUSIC MONDAY
To borrow and butcher a line from a century-old soldiers’ song: How ya gonna keep ’em down at the farms after they’ve seen GBV? You just can’t do it. Like the Velvet Underground, Big Star and The Ramones, Guided By Voices is said to have inspired the launch of more bands than the number of people who bought their weird records when they first came out. That’s partly because the slightly drunken, lo-fidelity, record-it-yourself approach Robert Pollard had when his basement indie-rock project caught the attention of the national music press in the early ’90s is easier to ape (and afford) than studio time and music or singing lessons. The other part is that Pollard is the greatest rock singer and songwriter of all time by many, many miles. (I’ll be behind Geno’s tonight if anyone wants to fight me about this. In the meantime, dig into the treasure trove of killer GBV covers at The Bert Dax Cavalcade of Stars Bandcamp page. Game, set, match, motherfucker!)
Biz Turkey is one of those bands reaching for the hem of Bob’s garment. Guided by singer/songwriter/guitarist/drummer Graham Wood — who, also like Pollard, is a visual artist; his Ocean House Gallery in South Portland always has very cool work on the walls — the five-piece plays raggedy indie rock that gets catchier with every spin. That’s important to know, because like me, you may be under-impressed, after the first listen, by the eponymous full-length Biz Turkey released last spring. Play it again! And again! And again!
This is a hallmark of any really good album — if you totally get it upon first listen, there’s not enough magic there to keep playing it. I was befuddled and almost turned off the first time GBV’s breakout release, Bee Thousand, reached the end of Side B in my car tape deck 30 years ago. Now every note and feedback crackle is burned into my brain.
Biz Turkey is not that kind of lodestar, but its 10 tracks are all Grade-A efforts. Sure, the band wears its influences like patches on a metalhead’s jean jacket, but those influences are all great bands, and nothing here sounds overly derivative. The songcraft on tracks like “Water Made of Magic,” “The Job” and “Step Aside” is undeniably accomplished and the musicianship is unforced and assured throughout. Wood’s joined by multi-instrumentalists Josh Hunter and Max Retzer, with Conrad Carpenter contributing guitar and Ian Stynes adding drums. Throw this record on while the water’s boiling for the mashed potatoes this Thursday, and by the time you’ve polished off your second slice of pumpkin pie, you’ll be a Biz Turkey fan for life.
Music
Flask Lounge
“Monday of the Minds” CommUNITY Hip Hop Showcase feat. B. Dolan and E-Turn, Drent, Stay on Mars and special guests
8 p.m., $12 (21+)
Three Dollar Deweys
After Dark Duo
6 p.m., no cover (all ages)