Bob Mould'Modulate'

Granary Music

Grade: B+

Bob Mould, the respected guitarist from pioneer post-punk bands Husker Du and Sugar, is out with a new album. When I say new, I mean really new. He spent the last couple of years away from music, picking up a day job at World Championsip Wrestling working with the wrestlers and writing scripts (Yes, they are scripted. Sorry to burst that bubble). Now, he's back, showing the tech-heavy influences of Paul Oakenfeld and Her Space Holiday. "Modulate" is a decent first attempt from a musician with expertise in a completely different arena. Mould's introspective lyrical landscape is still here, when lyrics are present (a couple of the tracks are instrumentals). The lyrics are interesting, but not altogether worthy of the rest of the material.

But, all is not lost. The album is a product of a starter-kit mentality to the new sound, and Mould progressively gets better at it. The early tracks, particularly "Sunset Safety Glass" and "Lost Zoloft," are able to marry the words with the music, something "Semper Fi" simply fails at doing. Bu, it gets a lot better. "Slay/Sway," the record's first great song, is a standard-issue Mould song with the wall-of-guitar signature sound, a much-needed number that is forward thrusting, rocking and all-around enjoyable. The good sounds follow into "The Receipt," "Quasar," a better use of the drum and blip machines, and "Soundonsound," a rock number that wouldn't have been out of place on any Sugar albums.

The last three tracks, "Comeonstrong," "Trade" and "Author's Lament," show Mould at the album's best use of the new equipment in the studio. The first song has a rock 'n' roll sound with good use of a keyboard-like melody playing underneath it, rather than in the foreground. "Trade" is the best song on the album, perfectly placing Mould's music within the technology. It is almost completely absent of guitar. The words are perfectly complimented by the machine sounds, creating an atmosphere of sound deeper than techno, but more or less obeying its beat. The last song of the album is the one track relying on a piano as the base, and it also uses a robot voice, a rather hackneyed element of electronica. Is the song good? Yes. Is the robot voice trite? Yes, but because it is temporary and short, it does not stop the song from being good.

Overall, "Modulate" is half amazing and the rest good, with just "Semper Fi" being a track that could have been sacrificed in the editing room. If this doesn't satisfy you, Mould has a follow-up acoustic album to his acclaimed "Workbook," due at the end of this year.