This week I have new releases from MUSH, Divide and Dissolve, and Django Django! They’re not new, though, they’re basically six months old! But, hey, time is a circle. So shove it.

MUSH – Lines Redacted
(February 12, 2021)

Reportedly, MUSH’s influences include Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Stephen Malkmus, the Fall, Stereolab, British Sea Power, and many others, and not once in any interview that I’ve seen have they mentioned Devo. And this is ridiculously nuts, because vocalist Dan Hyndman is doing the most blatant Mark Mothersbaugh impression that I’ve ever heard on every single one of these twelve tracks. I was floored when I learned that these guys were from Leeds instead the Midwestern United States. Just on the floor and beside myself, out of my body, shaking and purple and crying with disbelief.

I was very disappointed by Lines Redacted. The in-the-moment socio-political commentary feels manufactured and soulless, and maybe the flat and unenergetic riffs don’t help. Maybe it’s that Devo voice everywhere, this music sounds forced and uninspired. Unless you count Trump’s remark last year about injecting bleach to kill the virus as inspiration for “Drink the Bleach”, or unless you count Russian election meddling as inspiration for “Bots!” It’s less “inspiration” and more “news items shoved in our faces for months and/or years”. I don’t know, this feels like the album equivalent of a social media newsfeed where randos can chime in with their opinions and then it’s forever lost in the muck of newer news. This album is so lethargically immediate that the lasting power wears away before the record even ends.

Sorry, MUSH. In a year with incredible British art punk albums by Dry Cleaning, Squid, black midi, Black Country, New Road, Sleaford Mods, and Snapped Ankles, the bar is already pretty high.

Early Verdict:

Divide and Dissolve – Gas Lit
(January 29, 2021)

What instantly drew me to Divide and Dissolve was not that it’s merely a sludge/drone project, but it’s a sludge/drone by two women who aren’t even fans of sludge/drone. And not only that, but one woman is black and Cherokee, and one woman is Māori (indigenous New Zealanders via Polynesia). And not only that, but a lot of their band photos either show them wearing “Destroy White Supremacy” shirts or, like, Edwardian era dresses or something (maybe, I’m not a goddamn fashion historian!). Combine all of these elements for a truly unique perspective.

Now, to me, the “not even fans of sludge/drone” aspect shows that the message that Takiaya Reed and Sylvie Nehill wish to convey is more important, to them, than the music itself. I was conflicted by this at first because, as a music fan of music, the music comes first. Turns out they’re pretty good at making music they barely like, so who gives a shit in the end? Gas Lit is the duo’s third album of heavy, oppressive walls of sound punctuated by impossibly lush beauty. It makes the drone less dark and drone-y when you add in Reed’s melodious saxophone over Nehill knocking her drumkit around the fucking room. And, surprise, it really leaves an impression! Just like music is supposed to do!

For a project that’s rooted in social commentary and political awareness, it’s curious that only one track “Did You Have Something To Do With It” has any words at all, but it’s a powerful piece of spoken-word poetry delivered by painter/writer Minori Sanchiz-Fung with calculated emotionless objectivity. “This was the blow which we struck/At first without knowing how deep it would grow/It would grow into a frightening history that fractures hope“. Bleak stuff! I’m grinning ear-to-ear!

This genre is dominated by beardy white dudes with try-hard tattoos, so I’m glad that some non-white women are using it for feminist reasons. And guess what, they’re making music that’s more interesting and raw than 95% of the beardy white dudes with try-hard tattoos! And guess what, they’re NOT EVEN FANS of this music! Take that, you beardy fucking losers!

Early Verdict:

Django Django – Glowing in the Dark
(February 12, 2021)

I really liked Django Django’s self-titled debut from 2013, and then for eight more years I never listened to another thing they did! They’re often described as a psychedelic pop band even though I don’t find them particularly “psychedelic” per se, at least not in the same lo-fi garage-rock way that any ’60s psychedelic band or a King Gizz or an early Tame Impala might be. Perhaps they’re “psychedelic” in the less-celebrated mood-painting sense instead. Maybe the psychedelia actually worked for me, because I always thought his band was from Australia and, hence, their music sounds like a dreamy Australian wasteland in the same way the Nick Cave’s original band the Birthday Party doesn’t sound like a dreamy Australian wasteland! Maybe I also got Midnight Oil vibes from their smooth and pastoral synthy goodness? What’s my point again? Oh yeah, these guys are from London and I’m a dummy.

I was expecting next to nothing when I threw Glowing in the Dark on for a listen, mostly because Django Django seems to be one of those bands that burns quickly and fades away unceremoniously with each new release. This one was no exception. But, as the tracks kept coming, I was astonished by just how tight and catchy every song here was. And the music is peppered throughout with cool, unpredictable surprise hooks. I really like the “Safety Dance”-esque synth noodling during “Free From Gravity”, and the Egyptian minor scales in “Night of the Buffalo” (which also has a beautiful orchestral outro), and the thumping new wave basslines on the opener “Spirals”, and the Charlotte Gainsbourg vocals on “Waking Up” (which also has some Gene Ween “Roses Are Free” Prince-like vocals from Vincent Neff), and shit, I like all of it. I really do! What an underrated release.

I’m definitely going to need to listen to the two albums they released between this and their debut and catch up. You should too.

Early Verdict: