Our Cubehouse Still Rocks

Boston Spaceships (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 7, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Guided By Voices
• ASIN: B003WO4UAM
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,926 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2010 release, the fourth album from this band featuring Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices), Chris Slusarenko (Guided By Voices) and John Moen (Decemberists). While early GBV had the occasional tape cut-up, on this album compositional collage runs through the songwriting, be it schizophrenic structure or a completely random burst of overdubbed drum solos. Easily the best collection of songs from the Spaceships, the record is brimming with hooks and Pollard's incredible gift for melodies so catchy they shine through even the weirdest musical surroundings. More than anything here, Pollard sounds rejuvenated and excited. At this point--literally thousands of songs into a decades-long career--one might anticipate his unprecedented prolific output would result in a few phoned-in numbers. But once again this is not the case. Our Cubehouse Still Rocks is the sound of a band alive with the energy and excitement of making a brand new, incredible noise. Every second feels electric.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Who-Check. Guided by voices-Check. Boston Spaceships' Our Cubehouse Still rocks is The Record of the year, hands down., November 21, 2010

By 

paulsubpopman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (Audio CD)

Equal parts Who(era-Sell out) and the best Guided by voices songs combine to make up 'Our Cubehouse Still Rocks', the best Record of the year,hands down. Besides a 2 minute screw up with a ditty called 'British and the French' which is just bad, the record does not falter except for that song, but it's conveniantly hidden in the middle. Favorite Song on the record is 'Dunkirk is Frozen' which sounds like a fantastic outtake from 'Under the bushes' and 'Bombadine', the song The Who should have wrote and placed on their 'Sell out' record. Other classics include 'Cmon baby Grace' which comes off as GBV's Bulldog Skin meshed with Cheap Trick. Wild stuff here. For those who are not familiar with this band, it is somewhat of a supergroup. The lead singer is Robert Pollard of GBV fame and numerous other bands, and Sluserenko who is a fine musician who used to be in a Subpop band 'Sprinkler', then a band called 'Svelt' who were also amazing. Rounding them out is a guy from The Decemberists. Please everybody, take my word. You need this record. You will not regret it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Together we shall go...and throw the copies away., September 9, 2010

By 

JBowlin "Jeremy" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (Audio CD)

Uncle Bob continues to churn out catchy brit-pop-rock at an astonishing rate. This offering is no exception. Our Cubehouse Still Rocks is a grand album that will stand the test of time along side the previous Boston Spaceships works. As vague as this may be, I will state that, in my opinion, Robert Pollard has reached his prime and his best is here and now. Fortunate as we are, John Moen and Chris Slusarenko are along for the ride. Are you a fan of Bob's previous works? If so, get this album! You will not be disappointed.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This band's on fire, October 19, 2010

By 

Garry Messick (Boynton Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (Audio CD)

All the Boston Spaceships releases are excellent, but Our Cubehouse Still Rocks might get my vote for the best of the bunch so far. It somehow feels like a classic album that's been around for years, but you've just now gotten around to listening to it. Robert Pollard's strongly melodic songwriting continues to draw from the usual punk, prog and British invasion sources but remains original enough to avoid coming off as mere pastiche. (Although one song, "Bombadine," does sound so much like Tommy-era Who -- right down to an exceedingly Daltreyesque vocal, that specific way he sounded in the late 60s -- that it's almost funny.) Pollard's well into middle age now, and, to his credit, he's not afraid to joke about it in a few of the songs here: The line "As we get old we need devices/what a crisis" from "Stunted," and the title of "In the Bathroom (Up Half the Night)" says it all. The paradox is that the latter song in particular rocks with wild, youthful abandon.

There isn't a single weak track here, and, as is often the case with Pollard releases, the sequencing and pacing is brilliant. "Track Star" is a terrific opener, a real blast of adrenalin. "John the Dwarf Wants to Become an Angel" is a killer pop tune, reminiscent of the classic GBV track "Echoes Myron." "Airwaves" is Pollard crossed with early 70s Bowie. "Come on Baby Grace" is an exhilarating pop-punk tune that features a guest appearance from Doug Gillard on guitar. It's just one good-to-great track after another for a solid 42 minutes. As usual with Boston Spaceships, the recording quality leans toward mid-fi, but the dynamics are great, so when the band kicks in after a quiet passage, they kick in LOUD and forcefully, which I love.

In short, the Pollard magic is still in full force after all these years, and Chris Slusarenko and John Moen are more than able collaborators. This a great rock and roll record, simple as that.