"I'm the Charlie Brown of rock," says Guided by Voices' (GBV) main man, Robert Pollard. "Everyone likes to pick on me." Far be it from me to sound like Pollard's mother, but they only pick on him because they're jealous. And who wouldn't be? With an immense discography dating back as far as 1986, the impulse to write "about 100 songs a year," as Pollard told Vanity Fair, and the indie cred of pop messiahs in sneakers, it's no wonder that Guided by Voices might be fending off the little green monster. They needn't blush, though; the GbV boys consistently work hard, play hard, churn out more great tunes than you can shake a stick at, and deserve all the kudos they get. Isolation Drills, the band's latest, proves once again that GBV can do no wrong.

Coming off their last album, 1999's Ric Ocasek-produced Do the Collapse, GbV wisely decides to return to their less-polished roots with the help of Rob Schnapf, producer of Beck's Mellow Gold. The result is an album of sixteen solid songs with hooks aplenty and soaring vocal arrangements recalling the best of the British Invasion, all set against the distinctly American sound of a basement band of drinkin' buddies. "Fair Touching's" hauntingly poetic melody provides the perfect contrasting lead-in to the ear-snagging bass line of "Skills Like This." "Unspirited" is an undeniably pretty tune; "Glad Girls" is surfer boy summer pop in its purest form. Yet the entire GbV experience can be summed up within the beautifully brief running time of "How's My Drinking?"--hummable, tragic, and inspired by the consumption of much beer.

Pop music never gets the respect it so rightly deserves, thanks to the drivel rampantly spawning on a radio near you. Fortunately, GBV have spent the past fifteen years carving out a respectable niche for the people who don't believe there is anything shameful about enjoying a two-minute song built around three chords. Whether you're a full-on, pure pop addict or merely flirting with the idea of becoming one, Guided by Voices is sure to either satisfy or convert you - Isolation Drills is proof positive that the Charlie Brown of rock isn't letting a little teasing wreck his buzz.