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What’s wrong, right
with modern rock
CD review
Ryan Nyburg
Freelance Reporter
It’s amazing how two different
releases can so accurately point
out what is right and wrong with
modern rock.
Mudhoney’s latest “Since We’ve
Become Translucent” represents the
former, while Coldplay’s “A Rush of
Blood to the Head” rounds off the
latter, each presenting the highs and
lows of today’s music trends.
One of the survivors of the Seattle
grunge farce of the early ’90s, Mud
honey has always been the first and
last word in that _
musical orrsnoot.
They so embody
the term “grunge”
that you might be
lieve they spend all
day in flannels,
drinking beer and
not shaving. Doubt
C..1 K..* _
think about.
On “Since We’ve Become Translu
cent,” the band puts together a trash
compactor of rock ’n’ roll history, mix
ing blues, country, garage, metal, psy
chedelia and just about everything in
between, all linked by the band’s rol
licking energy, all distinctly their own.
Mudhoney also adds horn arrange
ments to their slash-and-bum take on
music, but while this might come off
as overproduction in the hands of oth
er bands, it fits perfectly here. The
horns add a ’50s flavor to some of the
tracks, making some of the straight
out rockers sound like more like Ed
die Cochran on Benzedrine.
The whole album seems to have
been driven at the frenzied, gritty
pace of a Russ Meyer film — which
is appropriate, considering they got
their name from one and often em
ploy the same delightful exploita
tion. Mudhoney remembers a time
when rock could be powerful, mov
ing — even sexy — and their music
expresses that.
Now for those who prefer the
more whiny, weepy side of rock mu
sic, Goldplay brings us “A Rush of
Blood to the Head.” These guys are
already holding benefit concerts for
fair-trade practices, so you know
they’ve lost touch with reality.
The only band in recent memory
to mix politics and music was Rage
Against the Machine, and it worked
because they were venomous and
angry, two descriptions which could
never be applied to anything by this
band of Brit-pop purveyors.
There is hardly a track on this al
bum that doesn’t suffer from over
production. Whereas Mudhoney’s
horn section worked with the music
_and wasn’t over
The whole album
seems to have been
driven at the frenzied,
gritty pace of a Russ
Meyer film.
done, the string
arrangements on
“Rush” are worth
less, and the songs
could have been
improved by sim
plifying the pro
duction. They ac
tuauy tiuu Mims <jii
one track, for no conceivable pur
pose other than, apparently, to an
noy me personally.
All the songs are the same kind of
pop-ballad garbage that defined their
hit single “Yellow” this past year. The
only exception is “A \\Tiisper,”
where the amps are cranked up a
tad, making this track sound, com
paratively speaking, like Metallica.
The lyrics give little if any indication
of the band’s political slant, and
songs like “The Scientist” are noth
ing more than collections of break
up cliches and “oh-my-weeping
heart” sentiment.
It’s good to know that there are
still bands like Mudhoney to add
some life and soul to modern rock,
and to combat the bland, melan
choly stylings of Goldplay. If not, we
would be headed down a dark, sitar
strewn road from which few of us
would ever return.
Ryan Nyburg is a freelance writer.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
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