2019: February 6th: New Bob Mould!

Sing it brother! Talk about hitting the f*&kin' nail on the head. Bob Mould has always had a knack for hooky, endearing, emotionally charged melodies, especially on his choruses. This is no different, but Lost Faith is also bleaker than anything he's done in a while. Love the accordion on the end of the track, and as far as videos go, I'm not usually a fan of videos with the artist standing in the camera, aping playing their instrument, but here the aping is intentional, and, what's more, powerful. Because Bob wears his age on his sleeve and it helps. It helps someone like me, who lost his aging reference just over three years ago and is looking for someone to help him navigate the onset of the back-end of his system's course.

Mr. Mould's new record, Sunshine Rock, is out on Friday from Merge Records. Order it HERE.

The name of the game today is one step back, anticipation for two steps forward. Let's see if that pans out in today's card when I get to it below.

I've been on a bit of a Ghost kick lately, and I was surprised to find I've come back around to Prequelle with a considerably kinder regard. In fact, it's actually working its way up to ranking in with the rest of the Ghost records. Still my least favorite, but I'd imagine I'm finally looking at it as an album in its own right. Also, all the Ozzy solo stuff is probably curbing my expectations mixing them with reality.

My current favorite track.



Watched Velvet Buzzsaw two nights ago. Really dug it. Dan Gilroy pairs with Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo again, adding Toni Collette, Natalia Dryer, Zawe Ashton, John Malkovich, and a bunch of other great talent to turn in a funny little romp through the world of high class/high cost Art and turn it into... a slasher flick. I mean, it took a while for that to happen, but there's a point where I became lucid in the midst of a classic slasher trope and realized, "Holy cow, this is a slasher flick with Art as the killer!"

That idea alone should be enough to get you to watch it. For me, there's also the fact that I adore the way Gilroy shoots nighttime Los Angeles. He has an eye for catching its beauty, as previously seen in the fantastic Nightcrawler. The trick, I believe, is to shoot LA at night, because at night it is beautiful. During the day LA is, for the most part, gross.



Playlist from 2/04:

Joy Divison - Closer
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
The Devil and the Almighty Blues - II
Ritual Howls - Turkish Leather

Playlist from 2/05:
Ghost - Infestissumam
Ghost - Prequelle
Boy Harsher - Careful
King Buffalo - Longing to be the Mountain
Battle Tapes - Form EP
Ghost - Opus Eponymous

Card of the day:

While there was nothing lazy about my night last night - I spent it hardcore cleaning/rearranging stuff in the apartment that had gotten out of hand - I did not write. This is a reference to that. Also, in reading around online to expand my interpretation, I'm reminding this is an 8 so it corresponds to Hod, which is all about structure and logic, which had a lot to do with my impromptu organizing jag yesterday. Today? Write!

Bob Mould - I Don't Know You Anymore

This song/video actually made me cry. Well, not great racking sobs, but it got me a bit teary-eyed. Part of this is recent nostalgic reflection on my own part of the loss of the record store, and part of it is Bob Mould's tone here - so much like the tone on one of my all-time favorite records, Mould's Sugar: Copper Blue - really hits me in the emotional breadbasket.

I can still remember the first time I heard Copper Blue, or any of Mould's music for that matter. It was 1993 and on the way home from an Anthrax/White Zombie show at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom, tired and sore and stoned, Mr. Brown put on Sugar's Copper Blue to detox us from an all-out metal assault. It was perfect, and it's engrained that particle night, practically floating home on Lake Shore Drive at sometime after midnight, Brown driving his maroon red station wagon at a comfortable fifty-five miles an hour, Mould's emotionally provocative hooks etching into my heart and making me feel as though all is right in the world. Mould's 2013 record, Silver Age, was a return to this kind of sound, and now it appears that his just-released-today Beauty & Ruin is as well. You can order the new record directly from Mr. Mould on his website here. Thanks to Mr. Brown for sending me the link to this video and always keeping me in the loop on new Mould.

Here's to ten more albums at least Mr. Mould!