Even back to his days in Miami metal legends Floor, Torche frontman Steve Brooks has been an unabashed Guided by Voices lover. His Miami-Gainesville-Atlanta quartet has never shirked
its responsibilities to forge catchy melodies in the molten fires of its songs.
And when you hear the 51-second "Lay Low" from last year's bitchin' Songs for Singles, it's not tough to connect the dots between Torche and the recently reunited, oft-concise indie-rock journeyman band led by Robert Pollard.
When it came time to create a split record with fellow heavies, tourmates, and just generally solid dudes in the London noise act Part Chimp, time was short. So the GBV catalog was the easy way to go. Although Brooks claims that he "cringes" listening to his versions of Guided by Voices' "Exit Flagger," "Postal Blowfish," and "Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy," they're actually quite rewarding. "I love playing the songs live, rocking out to them, but you can't touch the Guided by Voices versions," he told New Times. Well, let's hear them before jumping to any more conclusions.
The songs come from a Chunklet-commissioned split 12-inch that ships Saturday, November 5. The stuff on Part Chimp's flip side is stomping, growling rock that is certainly more weighty than the Torche/GBV material, but everything fits together like a couple of construction vehicles drag-racing down a bumpy dirt road. Order one of the few copies left at Chunklet's website.
Spin has an exclusive stream of the Torche/Part Chimp collaboration up for preview here.
Follow County Grind on Facebook and Twitter: @CountyGrind.
