Here's one more thing folks can blame on the Dubya Administration: the political awakening of Mudhoney. That's right, the group that spent nearly 20 years giving the flannel finger to the world is now putting on its best po-face and dropping bon mots like, "I want a world run by giant brains/ Instead of small-minded arrogant fools." That not-so-quotable moment comes from Under a Billion Suns opener "Where Is the Future", a five-minute treatise on the qualitative gulf between 1960s science fiction and 21st century science fact that an earlier version of the group might have titled, "Dude, Where's My Bubble Car?" Sadly, this ain't your older brother's (...father's?!) Mudhoney.
Over the course of the album, listeners learn that we killed the Kennedys ("It Is Us"), being middle class means never having to apologize for taking out a second mortgage ("Empty Shells"), and war does actually suck ("Hard-On for War"). In case it isn't clear, we are now officially out of grace. Mark Arm's voice is the perfect conduit for withering one-liners and bathroom-wall rejoinders, the Gen X lingua franca that still carries plenty of cachet. As the voice of the people that live for "The Daily Show" and dreamed of Fitzmas, he's a great sandwich artist.
What makes these weak attempts at earnestness all the more disappointing is that the music is great. Mudhoney are still in love with the three B's-- Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, and Big Muff-- but the group showers its loves with flattering arrangements and accoutrements. The horns that popped up on Mudhoney's last record (Since We've Become Translucent) return to make tasteful cameos, most notably on the bookending tracks. The band also mixes some straight-up blooze with its usual blooze-based sludge, via "I Saw the Light". Which is, of course, a track about love like nuclear war. The use of xylophone on "Endless Yesterday" infuses the track with a sense of psychedelic paranoia brought to bear by Arm's approximation of corny turned-on wonderment. On the flip side, when offered on "In Search Of", that same sort of ponderous Nuggetsy corn fails to pop.
The strongest tracks mete their purported topicality with solid tunes. The denouncement of day-to-day ennui "Empty Shells" would sound much worse than it already does if the music-- primo Mudhoney thud and chug-- didn't sound so great. Even "Where Is the Future" sounds good, apart from the I Heart Heinlein bits. But then there's "Hard-On for War", which starts off aping "Play That Funky Music" and goes straight into the depths you'd expect from a song about Dad getting some gash because all the young strapping lads are off spreading democracy with their blood and guts as the spread. Granted, no one should expect Shakespeare or Dylan (even Diane Warren, really) from Mudhoney lyrics, but a song that begins with the lines, "Can you hear the little girls asking/ Daddy where have all the little boys gone?" has a tough task ahead of itself. And if you want to hear what happens when the album flops musically, try giving "Oh the Move" a listen.
The one track from this disjointed and ultimately disappointing album that I, Helping Friendly Pitchfork Writer, can give an unequivocal thumbs-up is a two-minute sortie near the latter part of the album that hits it, quits it, and doesn't fuss about any worldly concerns. Of course, it's an instrumental. And, of course, it's called "A Brief Celebration of Indifference". If only this celebration lasted for 40 more minutes.
