Among the myriad side projects that spin about Robert Pollard’s seemingly boundless personal orbit, Rip Van Winkle is a bit of a garage-punk outlier.
Three of its members—drummer Jason Short, bassist Joe Patterson and guitarist Ben Penry—took Guided By Voices as their inspiration when they formed Joseph Airport. Missing is that group’s singer, Matthew Cutter, who also wrote Closer You Are, a 2018 Pollard biography. But then, of course, Rip Van Winkle’s fourth member is the esteemed Mr. GBV himself.
We’re proud to premiere “By The Water,” the lead single from Blasphemy (Splendid Research), Rip Van Winkle’s debut LP. It’s available today via Rockathon.
Also look for the limited-to-1,500, vinyl-only live album Goodnight El Dorado on July 11, featuring Guided By Voices performances from three 2024 shows in Woodstock, Indianapolis and Dallas. Represented on the eight-track “bootleg” are songs from 2019’s Sweating The Plague, 2022’s Tremblers And Goggles By Rank and 2023’s Nowhere To Go But Up. See complete track list below.
—Hobart Rowland
Goodnight El Dorado
1) “Jack Of Legs”
2) “Sons Of The Beard”
3) “Alex Bell”
4) “How Did He Get Up There?”
5) “For The Home”
6) “Boomerang”
7) “Unfun Glitz”
8) “Who Wants To Go Hunting”
