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Post by brandnewface on Mar 8, 2006 0:44:05 GMT 1
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Post by brokenhands on Mar 8, 2006 13:07:08 GMT 1
Good review from XFM Online. Spot the deliberate mistakes!
Mudhoney ‘Under A Billion Stars’
In the run up to the 2000 U.S. presidential elections, Marilyn Manson posited the theory that a vote for George W. Bush would serve to benefit America’s artistic community. Not through any funding or Republican gestures you understand; Manson’s theory was that something as execrable as a Bush administration would galvanise musicians, actors and anyone with an artistic bone in their body out of a state of complacency and actually comment through their work on the state of the nation. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems the old goth tart may have had a point.
Known primarily as precursors to the grunge explosion of the early 90s as much as they are for their primordial riffs and knowingly puerile sense of humour, Seattle’s Mudhoney returns with their first set of new material since 2002’s ‘Since We’ve Become Translucent' and boy, are they pissed off. Musically, the album picks up and builds where its psychedelic predecessor left off as horns and saxophones honk and squawk in perfect tandem with guitarist Steve Turner’s treacle thick riffs on monolithic cuts ‘I Saw The Light’ and the super-charged ramalama of ‘Blindspots’ but it’s with frontman Mark Arm’s ire-infused lyrics that Mudhoney has taken a bold step forward.
Though never shy at flipping authority the bird, Arm turns his attention to global events and those that orchestrate them. ‘Where Is The Future’ is a litany of disappointments and endless, broken promises as he mourns, “I want a world run by giant brains/Instead of small-minded arrogant fools!” while ‘Empty Shells’ sees Arm howling, “We’re empty shells of our former selves” as he considers the devastating effects of those who are discarded by society having followed orders thousands of miles from home. Mudhoney’s indignation reaches fever pitch on the scorching fury of ‘Hard-On For War’. Coming on like a nuclear-fuelled descendent of The Sonics’ ‘Have Love Will Travel’, it paints a devastating picture of those who wage war as doing so to satisfy their perverted sexual urges.
Like Black Sabbath delivering the damning ‘War Pigs’, Mudhoney are anything but a band of earnest, hand wringing bleeding hearts but a group angry at the price that has to be paid by those who can least afford it thanks to the actions of those who can. Relying on darkly humourous satire without descending into piety or empty hectoring, this is an album that rocks as hard as it seethes.
Julian Marszalek
Mudhoney ‘Under A Billion Stars’ (Sub Pop Records) Released March 6th, 2006.
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Post by brandnewface on Mar 15, 2006 4:14:58 GMT 1
just a little piece of interview published on the news tribune ...
Mudhoney gets political, Mark Arm vents
Submitted by ejasmin on March 8, 2006 - 12:33pm.
Juicy tidbit:
Mudhoney mouthpeice Mark Arm is a funny, engaging guy. So I figured he'd have something interesting to say when I caught up with him about all the political themes running through his band's new album "Under a Billion Suns."
While his goofy sense of humor is still prominent in songs like "Hard-On for War" and "Where is the Future?" he's obviously ticked off about the state of the world.
“I was just trying to come to terms with the situation the world is in now," Arm said. "We’re currently dealing with by far the worst president that’s ever been. This guy doesn’t know how to lead. He knows how to act like a leader; he knows how to talk tough. But he doesn’t know how to get things done that need to be done. He doesn’t know how to plan for what’s gonna happen after a country is invaded. He doesn’t even know how to deal with a situation that isn’t gonna catch him off guard, if you caught any of the latest news things from Katrina. He knew full in advance what the probabilities were, and he sat with his thumb up his ... and he went to like a military base in San Diego. He was doing promotional (stuff). He was doing fake leadership. He wasn’t doing real leadership."
He laughed. “I feel myself getting tense just talking about it.”
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Post by norecess on Mar 19, 2006 15:47:23 GMT 1
Aquarius Records.
MUDHONEY "Under A Billion Suns" (Sub Pop) cd/lp 13.98/12.98
Man, do we love Mudhoney. So few bands have managed to go through so much and remain so fucking great. Caught up in the big grunge feeding franzy, suffering through the grunge backlash, signed to a major label, dropped from a major label, seeing other bands not nearly as good get huge, world tours, drugs, whatever, nothing could faze this band. C'mon how bad ass is that? Where are we at, a dozen records by now? Close to that surely, and EVERY single one of them is great. Sure some are better than others but not a bad one in the bunch. Their first two are stone cold classics, packed with some of the best songs EVER written ("Touch Me I'm Sick", "Sweet Young Thing...") and one of the best versions of a song written by someone else ("Hate The Police") but their last record Since We've Become Translucent was great too, being the record that introduced a dronier dirgier Mudhoney, and you gotta love that. Their sound changes subtly with each record, but is always instantly recognizable, swaggering, filthy, distorted, bluesy, hooky, droney, grungy, stumbling, ass-kicking rock and roll.
Under A Billion Suns is classic Mudhoney for sure, but with more of an emphasis on pop, with crazy hooks and HORNS everywhere. That's right, horns. Not like the jazzy / krautrocky horns they dabbled with on the last few records, no these are full on horn-section horns. So much so that some of the tracks even sort of reminded us of Rocket From The Crypt. But there's no mistaking that Mudhoney superfuzz bigmuff guitar sound, or Mark Arm's glass gargling yowl, equally rough and ragged, warm and croonsome, whiskey soaked and gorgeously raw. And the songs as always are fantastic, the sound once again a sweet, sloppy, glammy update of the Stooges swaggering punk rock sprawl. They even dabble in politics this time around with the appropriately titled "Hard On For War".
As much as we loved and still love Soundgarden, Tad, Nirvana, Skin Yard, Gruntruck, Alice In Chains, Mother Love Bone, Malfunkshun, Screaming Trees and all their grunge rock brethren, our hearts will always belong to Mudhoney (and maybe Green River, but that's basically the same thing)!
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Post by Thurston_Whore on Mar 19, 2006 23:08:05 GMT 1
That is a great review man a really nice read and nice way they put it about mudhoney.
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Post by thorn on Mar 20, 2006 12:04:39 GMT 1
yeah indeed they do rock!!!!
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Post by ThatDamnRacket on Mar 22, 2006 21:32:24 GMT 1
I received my new copy of Magnet yesterday (Jason Lytle on the cover), and low and behold, there is a great two page spread on Mudhoney! They interview Mark and do a history of the band with 3-4 pictures. I have a bone to pick with the writer though, for he really dismissed "Tomorrow Hit Today." That is like fighting words to me, for it is one of my faves from them. I tried to find the article online, to post up here, but didn't have much luck. Its worth checking out though, for it does have new info on the band. For example it goes more into depth on their contract with Reprise.
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Post by brandnewface on Mar 23, 2006 1:17:25 GMT 1
type and post it ! or better, scan it !  |
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