Mudhoney

Before the Starbucks, before Microsoft and even before Nirvana, there was Mudhoney. But after a power chord and the “chk-chk” guitar scrape of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Mudhoney got lost in the grunge hype frenzy. Unlike their peers — who died faster than they lived — Mudhoney linger on to this day. Under A Billion Suns showcases their latest efforts in solidifying 2002’s Since We’ve Become Translucent as legit indie-cred.

This isn’t to say that Suns is a bad record, but it’s just a very confused one. For example, “Where is the Future?” “Let’s Drop In” and “Blindspots” has the band kicking and screaming the post-punk of Translucent, while songs such as “It Is Us,” “I Saw the Light” and “On the Move” eschew grunge nostalgia. True, things could be much worse: Instead of clinging to “hipness” or modernity, Mudhoney marches on with post-grunge reminiscent of the Stooges’ Fun House and middle-era Fugazi. Such genre flipping is encouraged of course, but middle tracks four through seven are a bloc of mediocre cliched riff-rock — meh. Why write songs that have already been written?

2 Stars

BOSS DITTIES

“Let’s Drop In”

“It Is Us”

“On the Move”