Mudhoney “Digital Garbage” 2018. Sub Pop Records. Grungy, scuzzy noise punk from alt-giants Mudhoney; Digital Garbage is the band’s 9th full-length release and they are f**king pissed. God knows there’s a lot to be angry about in 2018: they’re pissed at right-wing news and its consumers (“Paranoid Core” with the lyrics “Invest in gold, squirrel away food, stockpile guns, hoard your fuel!”), at chronic mass shootings AND blind evengalicalism (“Please Mr. Gunman” – one of my top tracks, it has that infectious groove that made Mudhoney stand apart from the grungy pack) and at toxic social media fame-seeking (the sarcastic “Kill Yourself Live” – there’s some excellent psychedelic organ on this one). And that’s just Side A. Side B has a few songs railing against the rise (again) of conservative religion and the accumulation of wealth by the few in the US: it starts off with the funky-ish “21st Century Pharisees” that launches with the sneering lyrics “Evangelical hypocrites laying hands on a pile of shit!”  “Prosperity Gospel” and “Next Mass Extinction” rail against rampant and destructive capitalism that is destroying the planet and on “Messiah’s Lament” “Arm gets to play the role of Jesus Christ, frowning upon the money-grubbing conservatives who like to thump the bible but seemingly pay no mind to the charity preached within.” (Pitchfork) It’s almost exhausting to listen to this much negativity but fortunately Mudhoney, 30 years on, still have all of the rocking force, headbangability and moshpit fury that made them [almost] famous in the grunge years.

Spin’s review of Digital Garbage says, “Rock bands who express left-leaning politics in their songs are often described as preaching to the converted. But [Mark] Arm writes like he’s condescending to the opposition, as if he’d want nothing more than to sing these antagonistic lyrics directly to the “evangelical hypocrites” who’d be most offended by them. While many of these lyrics could have been written in Mudhoney’s early years, when Reagan and Bush Sr. were in office and televangelists like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart were exposed as frauds, Arm’s anger sounds renewed now by presidency of Donald Trump, whom white evangelicals have stood by like no other demographic…If the lyrics are getting all the attention on Digital Garbage, it’s only because the music is exactly what you’d expect. Mudhoney’s sound hasn’t changed much since the early ‘90s, when they broadened their palette of scuzzy Stooges homages with Arm’s whirring garage rock organ, which livens up “Kill Yourself Live,” and guitarist Steve Turner’s harmonica, which makes an appearance on “Next Mass Extinction.” The band’s talent and chemistry is well preserved, with drummer Dan Peters’s incredible sense of swing and Turner’s bluesy solos both on display to great effect on “Messiah’s Lament.” There just isn’t much in the way of surprises, save for the slow, spacey “Night and Fog,” which rides a menacing groove laid down by bassist Guy Maddison, who joined the band in 2001 when founding member Matt Lukin retired from music (he’s reportedly now working as a carpenter).”