''Isolation Drills'' is the 12th studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Guided by Voices Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band formed in 1983 in Dayton, Ohio. It has made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. The most well-known lineup of the band consisted o ...

. It was their second and final LP released under

TVT Records TVT Records, originally Tee-Vee Toons, was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb in 1984. Initially created to release the '' Television's Greatest Hits'' series of classic TV theme tune compilations, the label would expand into ra ...

and their second to feature a major rock producer in

Rob Schnapf Rob Schnapf is an American record producer. He was the co-producer (along with Tom Rothrock) of Elliott Smith's albums '' Either/Or'', '' XO'' (on which he also played guitar on the song " Baby Britain"), '' Figure 8'' and ''From a Basement o ...

. The album was also their first to chart on the ''Billboard'' 200, peaking at number 168. The album notably features instrumental contributions from

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

and

David Sulzer David Sulzer (born November 6, 1956) is an American neuroscientist and musician. He is a professor at Columbia University Medical Center in the departments of psychiatry, neurology, and pharmacology. Sulzer's laboratory investigates the interact ...

. Previous longtime band member Tobin Sprout also returned as a guest and contributed with playing piano. While Jim MacPherson plays drums on the album, his replacement Jon McCann is featured in the cover photos, as MacPherson had left the band immediately after the recording to focus on his home life.

Reception

''Isolation Drills'' is currently the highest rating album on the aggregate review website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

of their submitted studio albums.

Accolades

"Glad Girls" was nominated for the ''

High Times ''High Times'' was an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade. The magazine had its own book publishing d ...

'' "Pot Song of the Year" award. "Chasing Heather Crazy" was named the 319th best song of the decade by ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''. In 2014, the album was ranked number 92 on ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' list of the Best Albums of the '00s.

Appearance in popular culture

* "Skills Like This" was featured on the ''ESPN Ultimate X Soundtrack'' compilation album. * "Glad Girls" was featured in a season 4 episode of ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...

''.

Track listing

Title

The opening of "The Enemy" is an excerpt of "Broadcastor House," a track from the 1994 '' Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer'' EP, which may come from the fact that "Broadcastor House" was the initial working title of the album.

Personnel

Guided by Voices

Robert Pollard Robert Ellsworth Pollard Jr. (born October 31, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the frontman and leader of indie rock band Guided by Voices, which he also the band’s only constant member. In addition to this, he has also rele ...

– lead vocals, guitar *

Doug Gillard Douglas Scott Gillard (born December 23, 1965) is an American guitarist and songwriter. He has been a member of major indie pop and punk bands, most notably Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Bambi Kino, Death of Samantha, and Cobra Verde. Early ...

– lead guitar * Nate Farley –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

* Tim Tobias – bass *

Jim Macpherson The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ( ...

– drums

Additional musicians

* David Soldier – string arrangements, violin *

Tobin Sprout Tobin Sprout (born April 28, 1955) is an American visual artist, musician, songwriter, and children's author. He is best known as a former member of the indie rock band Guided by Voices. He served as a secondary major songwriter and guitarist of ...

– piano *

– piano * Marlene Rice – violin

Technical

* Rob Schnapf – mixing, producer *Doug Boehm – engineer, mixing * Julian Joyce – mixing * John Shough – engineer * Greg Di Gesu – assistant engineer * Don Tyler – mastering

References

{{Authority control Guided by Voices albums 2001 albums Albums produced by Rob Schnapf