ALAN VEGA
"Mutator" [LP/CD]
(Sacred Bones/Secretly/AMPED)
If you have never had the pleasure of listening to Alan Vega or Suicide, these recently discovered cuts from 1994-95 make a good place to start. With just Martin Rev playing synth and a drum machine behind him, Alan Vega would be the pattern for all Punk and Post-Punk lead singers to follow. His demented croon, rockabilly yowl, and his chilling mumble would be handed down from mysterious lead singer to mysterious lead singer. The entire debt for Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Nick Cave, Spacemen 3, and countless others is owed to this man. Post-Suicide Vega took his music in a number of directions, the tracks from "Mutator" reflect the influence of Trent Reznor from grinding beats ("Filthy") to the Wax Trax-ian posturing on "Fist." "Mutator" is not all Vega recapturing the past through the influences further downstream. The booming "Nike Soldier" predates Electroclash and that one-person/one-synth/one drum machine blast we see now (even in Hip-Hop.)
DINOSAUR JR
"Sweep It Into Space" [LP/CD]
(Jagjaguwar/Secretly/AMPED)
Oh the tale of Dinosaur Jr. (Don't believe me? Pick up a copy of Michael Azerrad's essential "Our Band Could Be Your Life"), when a metallic noise band finds its real niche playing jangly guitar songs, you can bet they are compared to Messrs. Mascis, Barlow and Murph(y.) Their 1985 self-titled debut conjoined Sabbath-ish grind with a Byrds-ian wistfulness and was "indie rock" before it was ever a thing. (Barlow's alter-ego band Sebadoh - equally legendary - parodied/deified the whole new thing on 1991's "Gimme Indie Rock.") Releasing two classic albums, 1987's "You're Living All Over Me" and 1991's "Green Mind" was only the beginning. Their 1990 deal with Sire placed Dinosaur Jr. right on the cusp of breaking through (see: 1991's "The Year Punk Broke" starring Sonic Youth and two of their openers/friends Dinosaur Jr. and Nirvana.) Their Nineties output produced two Top 5 Alternative singles and then they took a twenty-year breather.
Back since 2007, "Sweep It Into Space" is their fifth album in the second salvo of Dinosaur and first in five years. J.Mascis works with Kurt Vile on a production that is lean and mean, but smoothed out enough to let a true Pop song like "The Garden" shimmer. While the other albums have been celebrations of their (re)union and writing, "Sweep" is the first to really reach for the success of "Start Choppin''" or "Out There." Mascis, Barlow and Murph do not go as ballistic before, but they remain unafraid to punch it when it needs it.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
