Takeovers

Takeovers

Little Green Onion Man

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This freaky little beast, the new Takeovers EP, Little Green Onion Man, is a nice mini-movie comprised of four songs (three of which are unreleased Robert Pollard compositions) that warmly straddle the loosey-goosey psych-pop sounds of their first album, Turn To Red, as well as the white-knuckled rock pomp of their second, Bad Football. From the spooky freak-beat of "Rich Man's Girl" to the Ann Arbor beating that "Wigstomper 07" dishes out, you might not want to listen to this in the dark. Also along for the tight little visit of their twisted, lop-sided tunage are John Moen of Stephen Malkmus/The Decemberists, Sam Coomes of Quasi/Blues Goblins and Brian Berg of 44 Long. Little Green Onion Man is pressed in a limited edition of 1000 CDs and 450 copies of 7-inch vinyl.

Takeovers

Bad Football

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Welcome to the second dose of The Takeovers, courtesy of two members of Guided By Voices: The legendary Robert Pollard and the less so Chris Slusarenko. The newest release, Bad Football, finds the boys collaborating again and coming up with a slightly more song-oriented album every bit as perverse as 2006’s Turn to Red. Calling on likeminded bedfellows like Stephen Malkmus (Pavement), Tad Doyle (Tad), John Moen (The Decemberists) and Dan Peters (Mudhoney) to help follow their tuneful and psychedlic hearts, the Takeovers waste no time pushing aside the sophmore curse. In fact, if you like John, Paul, the bass player from Wire and/or Guided By Voices, you’re in good hands with Bad Football.  “Chris Slusarenko knows exactly what to do, guiding Robert Pollard through a musical journey of his own past, present, and future, while Pollard continues to test his abilities and grow as a songwriter. This is something he is rarely given credit for, but here’s one example of where he most certainly should.” —Bart Bealmear, All Music Guide

Takeovers

Turn To Red

Recordhead

Guided By Voices may be gone, but that doesn’t mean Robert Pollard has severed relations with his former bandmates. On the contrary, The Takeovers feature Pollard and GBV bassist Chris Slusarenko along with an impressive cast of musicians from the great Northwest. Sam Coomes (Quasi), Eric Bennes, Brian Berg, Charlie Campbell, Dan Peters and Jim Talstra all contribute to this diverse yet strangely cohesive album.  Turn To Red is experimental. It’s psychedelic. It’s a mixture of old ideas and new with Pollard’s gift for words and melody bringing the whole thing together. This album of beautifully damaged, psychedelic pop-rock will stick to the roof of your mouth like peanut butter.