Tom Lynch

Bob Mould's legacy, a term that would probably make him chuckle, took the inevitable detour at the end of the nineties when he decided to hang up his guitars. The frontman of uber-influential rock outfit Husker Du and, afterward, Sugar, went electronic with two efforts--"Modulate" and "Long Playing Grooves"--with little artistic success. Mould returned heavy this summer on Yep Roc with "Body of Song," a new record that fuses the Mould-ish guitar of old and the new electronic side of the songman to challenging heights, a solid record and, while not exactly the "return to form" that was promised, an small gem from a songwriter who still has much to offer.

"In Husker it was always a rush to get the records out," Mould says. "Now I take a little bit of time between records. I go with just instinct. As I get older, I get more particular. I think it's a strong record. A lot of this may sound crass, but I think it's contemporary sounding. There are a number of tracks that are radio-friendly. This record's a real curious one, I think."

Just as surprising as a radio-friendly Bob Mould is his decision to incorporate pieces from the Husker Du and Sugar catalogues into his live shows, a move he's shunned in the past and surely a draw for Mould's older following. "[In the past] I felt that [the Husker Du and Sugar songs] were written for that time and place," he says. "But now--to hell with it. I'm so divorced emotionally from the legend of Husker Du that I can't care less. It's not weird at all to play the songs."

On top of Mould's acceptance of his past in the new millennium, he seems to generally be having outright fun creating music, a far cry from the lonely-in-my-head persona he held for years. "In the last ten years technology has gotten so cheap," Mould says. "Anybody can be a DJ or an electronic musician. There are great, new ideas--non-linear ways of looking at music. The ability to speed up, slow down, change pitch--it's a lot more of a random process. When you work with organic instruments, you know what you're gonna get. When you toss around a sound file you never know what you'll get with effects and experimentation. I just like to keep it fresh and new. I'm really excited...I'm a little nervous."

Bob Mould plays Metro, 3730 North Clark, (773)549-0203, September 29 and 30.

(2005-09-27)

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