Universal Truths and Cycles is the thirteenth (official) album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by Dayton, Ohio

Dayton, Ohio

Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

 indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 group Guided by Voices

Guided by Voices

Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band originating from Dayton, Ohio. Beginning with the band's formation in 1983, it made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard...

. After releasing their previous two albums on TVT Records

TVT Records

TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...

, Guided by Voices returned to Matador Records

Matador Records

Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of indie rock artists and bands.-History:Matador was started by Chris Lombardi in 1989 in his New York City apartment. The following year, Lombardi was joined by former Homestead Records manager Gerard Cosloy, and the two of them have...

.

This was the highest charting Guided by Voices album at the time of release. It peaked at #160 on the Billboard Top 200, #10 on the Independent Albums

Independent Albums

The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels...

 list, and in the best chart performance of their career, #3 on the Top Heatseekers

Top Heatseekers

Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...

 chart [].

Side A

1. "Wire Greyhounds" – 0:35
2. "Skin Parade" – 2:57
3. "Zap" – 1:14
4. "Christian Animation Torch Carriers" – 3:54
5. "Cheyenne" – 2:58
6. "The Weeping Bogeyman" – 1:35
7. "Back to the Lake" – 2:33
8. "Love 1" – 0:54
9. "Storm Vibrations" – 4:59
10. "Factory of Raw Essentials" – 1:25

Side B

11. "Everywhere with Helicopter" – 2:36
12. "Pretty Bombs" – 3:06
13. "Eureka Signs" – 3:06
14. "Wings of Thorn" – 2:10
15. "Car Language" – 4:44
16. "From a Voice Plantation" – 2:06
17. "The Ids Are Alright" – 1:10
18. "Universal Truths and Cycles" – 2:19
19. "Father Sgt. Christmas Card" – 2:04

In the media

• In the television series The IT Crowd
  The IT Crowd
  The IT Crowd is a British sitcom by Channel 4, written by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry...
  
  episode Red Door, Roy hides stolen computer equipment under a Universal Truths and Cycles t-shirt.
• In the television series The Wire
  The Wire (TV series)
  The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
  
  Nick Sobotka
  Nick Sobotka
  Nickolas Andrew "Nick" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Pablo Schreiber. the character of Nick is cousin to, Ziggy Sobotka, the wayward and rebellious son to his uncle Frank Sobotka...
  
   has a Universal Truths and Cycles poster on his wall.
• Guided by Voices performed "Everywhere With Helicopter" live on The Late Late Show
  The Late Late Show
  The Late Late Show, sometimes referred to as The Late Late, or in some cases by the acronym LLS, is the world's longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster and the official flagship television programme of Irish broadcasting company RTÉ...
  
  with Craig Kilborn on June 17, 2002.