Splendid Spook Houses Of America

This song has saved my life today. After a heady weekend at Splendour In The Grass (working on reviews and publications, seeing some great sets from Explosions In The Sky, Father John Misty, Mudhoney and Dirty Three, but mainly having a hazy blast with friends and "acquaintances"), travelling back to Brisbane from Byron Bay at 6am wasn't conducive to a happy Uncle Masala. Then I stumbled across New Jersey quartet Spook Houses and their track 'American' that is on their upcoming LP Trying. That flat vocal when he drawls "I'm drunk and I feel like shit" says it all, let alone the fat bass line and the explosion of happy noise halfway through the blistering track. It's an anthem towards the inane beauty inherent in being young and dumb, which is usually what going to a festival is fuelled by. I know nothing else about this band AT ALL, but this is enough. They saved my life - now I am indebted to Spook Houses.


Trying is out soon on Philly label Evil Weevil. You can pre-order it here.

MUDHONEY – THIS GIFT (SUB POP)

MUDHONEY – THIS GIFT (SUB POP)

Sounding initially like an angry dog playing with its toy in an aggressive manner this is without doubt one of Mudhoney’s finest moments, a true accomplishment that sees them at the height of their powers effectively combing the gnarly fuzzed up sound to full effect while Mark Arm’s words come in loud and clear with some of the most sinister sounding poetry he has ever been able to author.

With a whammy bar be effectively executed with view to causing a commotion the guitar sound is truly unique, distorted in a manner that so many mimics have attempted but never been able to achieve. At this point I feel I am gushing as much as the amplification.

What “This Gift” is is obvious. It is also slightly disturbing signifying a real intention to do bad things. All of a sudden in the cold light of day you begin to wonder just how it is that the band are getting away with saying things like this. It is a really thick paste of sarcasm and irony that fill the lyrical content of this machine being hyperbolic and potentially truly offensive to anyone that isn’t in on the joke, which I guess is just where the rebellion lies. I can’t imagine ever playing this to/with a girl and getting away with it and likewise when I was younger and playing this as loud as the volume would allow me I now wonder just what it was my parents were thinking. How come I was so aloof to the lyrics at the time? Perhaps it was down to the glory of the guitars and the confusion clouds that came with.

This single is up there with “Touch Me I’m Sick”, if not better. This is grunge not garage and when the video features a series of buildings falling down it perfectly matches the mindset of its audience at the time. Truly a record that sounded as if it could accompany the world falling down, scarily almost twenty years down the line it still sounds as huge an achievement as ever. For once the music of the scene matched the hype.

On the flipside appears “Baby Help Me Forget” which is actually a song originally by Mr Epp (the original band of Arm and Turner). It is brief and startling, unsurprisingly compact and fuzzy with not necessarily the nicest of message.

Thesaurus moment: rape.

Mudhoney
Sub Pop

MUDHONEY – TOUCH ME I’M SICK (SUB POP)

MUDHONEY – TOUCH ME I’M SICK (SUB POP)

Easily one of the greatest singles in alternative rock history “Touch Me I’m Sick” if often described as a (grunge) anthem and in a rare example of perception being correct for once it is a song that delivers wholesale.

Lyrically as dumb as it gets, it also benefits from possessing the ability to cause great offence if observed by the wrong people from the right angle. There is an ambiguous tone to the words that if taken one way can represent the largings of quite frankly a paedophile. Also with the whole “sick” tone of proceedings there is a horrible element of trivialising the most precious and affecting of states. If you over analyse these words you are destined to find the worst parts of the human condition.

This recorded version by Jack Endino is actually a pretty clunky offering from Mudhoney as listening to countless live recordings of the song will attest to its power and strength ranging far beyond what is offered by this record. For a Mudhoney song it is a pretty clean recording, low on fuzz and distortion as it seemingly gets underplayed and buried beneath the verbal intention of the piece. Rarely did the band ever sound more like The Stooges.

“Sweet Young Ain’t Sweet No More” on the flipside perhaps fairs better sounding more apocalyptic and drunk in the process with yet more explicitly dark lyrics addressing more dysfunction in a fashion that appears to have no resounding comeback. Painting the nasty of pictures here is a band writing songs about realistic and tangible tales of what it is really like to be a true rebellious youth in the face of so many false idols. As the playing rains out Steve Turner’s guitar retorts sound almost like a hoover sucking up the debris in the damage of the piece. The elevation is then complete as Mark Arm’s vocals disappear into the ether only to return with a condemning snarl aimed directly towards the mother of the piece. It all ends as a song about bad parenting. Such is life.

Without doubt the best single ever released on Sub Pop.

Thesaurus moment: Gore.

Mudhoney
Sub Pop

MUDHONEY – YOU GOT IT (SUB POP)

MUDHONEY – YOU GOT IT (SUB POP)

The pace of the product was as much about the sound of grunge as anything but key to the success of being a good sounding grunge bad was to occupy a sneering, deep dark sense of comedy/humour and thrust it straight through the heart of proceedings.

With “You Got It (Keep It Outta My Face)” Mudhoney deliver a seemingly resentful message to the scene, the sound of the rejected oath plundering onto his next destination (victim) but not before drunkenly berating the rotten apple of his eye first. Mark Arm’s vocals tumble into proceedings with a guarded nonchalance.

In many ways this record is perfect. It is a keenly observed social critique of the people inhabiting their inner and outer surroundings and for such an early effort at this point for the band everyone is playing their part as if truly on fire. It also sounds as if it is being performed by a band that is drunk.

Turning over “Burn It Clean” witnesses the band on full cycle (psycho) spin but also operating at a leisurely pace before indulging in a classic Mudhoney wig out for the chorus established by Dan Peters’ simple but effective lump licks.

The Stooges only seldom got this good.

Thesaurus moment: misprize.

Mudhoney
Sub Pop