SOUND BITES

  It seemed unlikely that the most ferocious response to the serial out-of-control garbage fires that comprise our modern times would come from a man who's about to turn 60, and yet here we are. As the driving force behind influential post-punk group Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould has built himself a formidable solo career in the 30+ years since the dissolution of his most famous band; while Hüsker Dü flamed out after cranking out six albums in four years, Mould has soldiered on through other bands (most notably Sugar, whose pair of '90s LPs are also considered influential) and a host of sonic twists and turns over the course of his fourteen solo albums. All this history notwithstanding, it could be argued that Mould's most essential period started after age 50, with the release of the excellent and heavy Silver Age in 2012; while that album ushered in a return to some familiar sonic territory for fans, it also felt to some like Mould's last great statement, possibly due to it f...

When Bob Mould released Silver Age in 2012, it took fans by surprise; after all, it had been a long time since Mould rocked out with such purpose. Silver Age wasn't just a pleasant batch of songs for someone his age, it was a legitimately great rock album for a man of any age. That Beauty & Ruin largely follows the same template is welcome news, of course, but I was skeptical of how well the album would play absent the element of surprise. As it turns out, Beauty & Ruin puts its biggest surprise right out front; Low Season rides in on a wave of dissonant fuzz before blooming into a dark, moody ballad with a Beatlesque-as-filtered-through-Oasis melody and substantial emotional weight. It's a sullen, mournful song that would have been a momentum killer anywhere else on the album. Here, it gets the darkness out of the way in order to move on. The song ends, the veil lifts, and we're off and running. The remaining eleven tracks play out in much the same way a...

BOB MOULD Star Machine From: Silver Age Released: September 4 Some thirty years removed from his most revered material in Husker Du, Bob Mould's love of loud rock was rekindled largely due to writing his autobiography and an appearance on Foo Fighters' excellent Wasting Light album (that's him singing the bridge on Rosemary ). His tenth solo album Silver Age wastes no light at all; its leadoff track is the fiery Star Machine , a song that sees Mould pulled out of whatever funk the years have cast upon him and rocking with the power and the purpose of men half his age.