Artist bio

Robert Pollard is principally known as the frontman and leader of indie rock juggernaut Guided By Voices. But his recording career extends beyond GBV, with a series of albums released eponymously and pseudonomysly fulfilling his extracurricular creative urge.

Pollard formed GBV in 1985, but it wasn't until 1996 when he took the step beyond with the Matador release of Not In My Airforce, accompanied on the same day by a solo album from fellow GBV songwriter Tobin Sprout. The aquatic-themed Waved Out followed in 1998, but it wasn't until the following year's Kid Marine when Pollard decided to subtitle it "No. 1 in the Fading Captain Series." And the rest was history.

If you dozed through your history classes, though, the short story is that Pollard has exploited the Fading Captain moniker in the years since, often releasing three or four albums a year -- plus assorted compilations -- on local Dayton, Ohio label Rockathon. The man is a rock and roll genius, although subpar songs are a matter of course. It's hard to sum his work up in a few scant paragraphs, so instead I offer a Fading Captain salute: Bottoms Up, You Fantastic Bastard!

Albums by this artist

From A Compound Eye (2006)

Zoom 7" (2005)

Relaxation of the Asshole (2005)

Music For Bubble EP (2005)

Motel of Fools (2003)

Choreographed Man Of War (2001)

Speak Kindly Of Your Local Volunteer Fire Department (Recommended) (1999)

Kid Marine (1999)

Waved Out (1998)

Not In My Airforce (1996)

Robert Pollard

Music For Bubble EP

» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

Robert Pollard

Music For Bubble EP

Revolver USA, 2005

RiYL: GBV, Minutemen, "Bubble"

This unassuming 6-song release (no. 36 in the Fading Captain Series) is more compelling than it ought to be, mostly because of its chronology in the Robert Pollard canon. With the Zoom single, Music for Bubble and the forthcoming From A Compound Eye album, the Ohio indie-rock godfather is plunging headlong into the post-GBV era of his solo career.

“Bubble” is really only five songs, with two takes of the plodding anthem “747 Ego,” and the set is intended as a soundtrack to the new Steven Soderbergh film “Bubble.” Pollard recorded it with recent all-in collaborator Todd Tobias, and it’s certainly cinematic in the way that grungy, Under The Bushes-era GBV is.

“All Men Are Freezing” is a triumphant and endearing pop song of the sort that would have fit in well on Half-Smiles Of The Decomposed, while “747 Ego” is a slice of sneering bombast. “Boring About” is a wordless acoustic riff, tricked out to song length. “Search-Light Pickups” is probably the easiest to picture as film music, almost like an instrumental “Girls Of Wild Strawberries.”

But while we expect to see the true future of Pollard’s output heralded in the full-length, this EP is a telling release, in that the Fading Captain, his old ship sunk for good, apparently intends to remain as prolific and scatterbrained as before, to the delight of the adoring masses.

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.