Mudhoney – Digital Garbage
SubPop – 2018
Rock, Grunge, Punk
Rated: *****
Almost every Mudhoney mention or review starts off with the fact that it was this little punk rock band that started off the grunge scene and then saw every other band around them explode into everyone’s living room while they themselves stayed behind and kept laboring at their day jobs while continuing to make the honest music they do and that the new record is simply stunning and might propel them into something bigger. Well, we could do the same here and go overboard with the praise for their tenth album Digital Garbage. It won’t make a difference. For some weird and possible fascist reason people steer away from Mudhoney. And this was wrong on so many levels in the beginning of their career and even more so now. Digital Garbage moves back towards everything punk with a definite aggression in their step. With a Stooges or Iggy type swagger even; for there are so many moments that remind of those greats that it becomes inevitable not to mention Iggy Pop. But more importantly, the honest records Mudhoney has been making those past thirty years have culminated into a brilliant rant against this world we live in. It’s Mark Arm’s seething rage against all the wrongs he sees around him that gives this record an even sharper stab then everything they did before. “Fuck the planet, screw your children, get rich, you win!” Is just one of the winner lyrics on this album. He orates furiously about the glorification of wealth and fame; and does that just as easily and with just as much feverous energy as about the church, alt-right, the president of the USA and social media. What an album! Those little ditties on the organ, taking the everything to an even higher level. Simply amazing! Fury, sarcasm, biting derision and pure fun has not sounded so incredibly good since the invention of the wheel. (It all went downhill from there.) Oh Yeah, is the proper final track to sum up an album that expertly translates the feeling that anywhere and anytime was better than right here and right now…
(Written by JK)
Great review, spot on.
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