It does indeed seem very strange that the artist formerly known as relevant and legitimate can now be witnessed trading thinly experimental electronica.
Bob Mould, yes he of seminal alternative rock bands, Hüsker Dü, and Sugar and who was recently featured on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, is now championing the all but hopeless lost cause that is his not so cleverly disguised ‘Loudbomb’ moniker.
More famous for his overdriven guitar-charged punk rock Mould is tinkering with gizmos and gadgets, samplers and sound banks and coming up with the kind of pseudo electronic spin-off nonsense preferred briefly by the likes of U2.
Recorded concurrently with the already released, Modulate LP on his own label (yes there’s a surprise) Granary Music and fully performed and produced by Mould it’s a not entirely pleasant mix of traditional chord-based formats and awkward peripheral noises. Why the change? Mould suggests it was an almost inevitable by product of being off the road, going out to clubs, getting together with friends for coffee or dinner and just having this kind of music on in the background.
And to be honest – this is its most telling feature. Whist showing some degree of familiarity with its mode of expression, it demonstrates very little real affinity or warmth with the medium.
My advice? Avoid unless dangerously curious.