Blowoff (Full Frequency)
By Dave Schutz
Monday. Sep 11, 12:03 AM
The right time, the right people, the wrong album.

I finally decided to stop questioning Bob Mould’s motivation and give him the benefit of the doubt. So the guy primarily responsible for some of the most sincere music to come from a time (or at least a record label) brimming with unprecedented sincerity (referring of course to Hüsker Dü and SST Records) wants to write wrestling scripts and dick around with techno music. I still don’t see the rationale, but I’m tired of looking for it. He seemingly made a good choice in pursuing Blowoff with house music vet Richard Morel. While he’s not immune to Mitsubishi commercial-grade cliché (which rears its head only occasionally on this eponymous offering), Morel’s own efforts at blending techno and rock reached a praiseworthy culmination on 2004’s Lucky Strike.

Mould’s most recent, 2005’s Body 0f Song, was also a victory. He learned all the right lessons from 2002’s electro-mess Modulate and cranked out a pretty decent rock record that was supplemented well by its techno sensibilities. It’s a surprise, then, that Blowoff largely fails. Morel excelled on Lucky Strike by morphing the sonic density of house music with pop accessibility. On Body of Song, Mould managed to reconcile the virility of his rock sense with a cold, measured underbelly resulting in an album that is at once emotional and danceable. Mould and Morel’s collaboration seems to be haunted by the equivalent of phase cancellation: the aforementioned virtues aren’t completely missing from this project, but it almost seems like each is waiting for the other to do its thing. Occasionally it happens, and it’s usually Morel who stands out. His mark is all over the loungy swagger of “The Ballad of Mark Dirt” and the new wave swoosh of “Man Keeps Winning.” The opener, “Hormone Love,” comes off fine with Morel drawling over a typical Mould guitar line. But the only real knockout punch (or blowoff, if you like, which happens to be wrestle-speak for the deciding move) is “Get Inside With Me,” with its hyperactive drums and Mould’s lilting, impassioned vocals over a thumping bass line and low, static Hammond organ. The rest of the time, Mould sounds like he’s singing the first melody that comes to mind with the instrumentation falling clumsily in line.

Though muted, Morel’s tendencies remain intact here: it’s Mould who strays too far from his strengths. I wouldn’t write off the potential of further collaboration by the two, but this disc is an unfortunate regression.
www.blowoff.us
www.fullfrequencymusic.us

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Dave Schutz

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