Mudhoney Articles

Billboard

4 September '02

MUDHONEY
Album Title: Since We've Become Translucent
Producer(s): various
Genre: rock
Label/Catalog Number: Sub Pop 555
Source: Online
Originally Reviewed: September 04, 2002

For their eighth studio album and first since 1998's "Tomorrow Hit Today," the lads of Mudhoney again conjure up a record that takes musical risks but essentially winds up a winner. "Since We've Become Translucent" not only marks the return to Sub Pop following an ill-fated association with Reprise, but the departure of long-time member Matt Lukin. Still, loyalists need not worry, as singer/guitarist Mark Arm, guitarist Steve Turner, drummer Dan Peters, and new bassist Guy Maddison (formerly of Lubricated Goat) are indeed operating on all cylinders. It takes a little dedication to "Translucent," however, to bear this out.

Set opener "Baby, Can You Dig the Light" -- an eight and a half minute, warped psychedelic opus -- can't help but start things off unevenly. Incorporating sluggish guitar acrobatics, trance-like organ fills, and saxophone utterances, the group stretches itself out into jam band territory. At about the four-minute mark, Arm finally gets around to a mic check in order to repeatedly beckon the title. Brave? Sure, even for Mudhoney. But as an album launcher, placement of this sort of experimental rock is also a little misguided.

Not so for the gigantic garage riff that drives "The Straight Life," which might have been a better bet to open the record. It affirms that when at its best, this Seattle clan can easily out-boogie newcomers such as the Strokes and the Vines. Elsewhere, horn charts vibrantly steer the red-wine worshipping "Where the Flavor Is," adding a new dimension to the reliable Mudhoney sound. And mid-album champs like the grunge waltz "In the Winner's Circle" and the recklessly forceful anthem "Dyin' for It," enforce the notion that Mudhoney -- with 15 years in the American underground -- still have it.

The tedious groove of "Our Time Is Now" is an exception to the rule among these 10 songs, but more often than not, the revered quartet warrants high marks. With a little track re-sequencing, "Since We've Become Translucent" becomes that Mudhoney album we've all been waiting for.

-- John D. Luerssen