
Mudhoney, "Paranoid Core" (Sub Pop). Do any Mudhoney fans really want the venerable Seattle band to change? No, not really. Against the odds, their Stooges-homaging rock still packs a powerful punch, long after most of Mudhoney's peers have sagged into obsolescence or shuffled off into oblivion. Whatever Mark Arm, Steve Turner, Guy Maddison, and Dan Peters are doing, it's working.
Arrogantly bolting out of the gate, "Paranoid Core"—the lead single from Digital Garbage, the group's 10th album in 30 years, and released on September 28—bears the same hell-bent momentum as Black Flag's "Rise Above," as Arm rancorously snarls, "I stoke the fire in your paranoid core/I feed on your fear." The singer channels the mindset of right-wing men who devote a lot of time to prepping for end times and memorizing the Second Amendment, while the band churns turbulently until every last nerve is frayed and torn. Same as it ever was, thankfully.
Mudhoney play SPF30, Sub Pop's FREE 30th Anniversary Festival and Party at Alki Beach on August 11 and September 29 at Neptune Theatre with the Scientists and Tom Price Desert Classic.
You can pre-order Digital Garbage through megamart.subpop.com, Mudhoney.org, while select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on seafoam green vinyl (while supplies last).