Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Bob Mould
Album: “Patch the Sky”
Grade: B+
Bob Mould says “Patch the Sky” is the darkest and catchiest album he’s made recently (“Silver Age” and “Beauty & Ruin” are the others in this cycle) and he’s right on both counts.
“The words make you remember, the music makes you forget,” Mould says about the adversity he’s gone through, including “more death, relationships ending, life getting shorter.”
Without sounding forced, the happy/sad contrast between melodies and lyrics puts a roll cage around the listener and makes it possible to survive sentiments like “It’s the end of things, the end of everything” on “The End of Things” and “A complicated grief, I need to find relief” on “Hands Are Tied,” and avoid getting crushed through the record’s 42 minutes.
Joined again by drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy, Mould expertly layers the guitar distortion into a heaviness which would sound convincing even unplugged. Still, it’s an appreciated respite when Mould eases back on “Losing Sleep,” whose intensity is more Echo & the Bunnymen than Husker Du or Sugar. A couple more like that would have been welcome.
As it is, Mould is a pioneer of self-exploration and “Patch the Sky” is a rewarding listen if you are able to withstand the intensity of the search.
—Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press
Iggy Pop
Album: “Post Pop Depression”
Grade: A
Iggy Pop rocks and shocks on “Post Pop Depression,” evoking his 1977 peak achieved with David Bowie but enhanced by all he’s gone through since.
In Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal, Pop has found a congenial songwriting partner and producer, the mature pupil who grasps both the power and subtlety of the master.
QOTSA’s Dean Fertita and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders skillfully complete the band.
There are recurring shades of Bowie — credited by Pop with rescuing not only his post-Stooges career but his life — in various riffs and sonic details, but they are not empty homages. Pop was there (Berlin) and did that (co-writing and recording his best albums, “The Idiot” and “Lust for Life,” with Bowie).
The nine-track “Post Pop Depression,” his 17th solo studio album, also has some of Pop’s best lyrics. “Chocolate Drops” has unique insights about being in the pits: “When your love of life is an empty beach, don’t cry, when your enemy has you in his reach, don’t die.”
On “American Valhalla,” Pop tackles mortality — “I have no plans, I have no debts ... I’ve nothing but my name” — and sees a chance that his life’s work will get him in.
Closing track “Paraguay” starts idyllically, with intentions of living in “a compound under the trees, with servants and bodyguards who love me,” but ends as ornery as Clint Eastwood in “Gran Torino,” letting you know exactly how he feels about you and your “evil and poisonous intentions.”
In the end, if this is really his last album, Pop goes out on top and just like he came in all those years ago — ranting, raving, misbehaving and throwing it back in our faces with a cantankerous grin.
—Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press