The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Every Tuesday, the Sounding Board is a space for a short-ish review of a recent-ish release and conversations about new-to-you music. We’ll get things started with a write-up about a newer, likely under-heard album, and invite you to share your music musings in the comments.
Somehow, the Bug Club returned.1
Less than 12 months after their last long-player, the U.K.-based band is back with a new, very good and anatomy-fixated album, Every Single Muscle.2
It would be impressive enough if vocalist-guitarist Sam Willmett and vocalist-bassist Tilly Harris cranked out 10 to 12 songs for the album. Still, Every Single Muscle is an 18-song behemoth as towering and odd as the looksmaxxed cow with a John Kricfalusi-style mug on the album’s cover.
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2409822967/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://thebugclub.bandcamp.com/album/every-single-muscle">Every Single Muscle by The Bug Club</a></iframe>Every Single Muscle puts its super-sized tracklist to good use. It’s a keyed-up, eclectic and fairly goofy album in the spirit of virtually anything by Ween, Bee Thousand by Guided By Voices and Double Nickels on the Dime by Minute Men, who were recently in the Bug Club’s heavy rotation.3
There is a decent bit of sonic variety on Every Single Muscle — blues scales, lurching metal riffs, distorted weirdness, nimble bass lines and rumbling low-ends — but Willmett and Harris don’t cycle through as many styles as those estimable comparators. The Bug Club, with very few exceptions, makes high-energy, hook-heavy oddball indie rock with coed harmonies and the occasional tag-team vocal volley. All roads lead to a catchy chorus and tasty riffs, even if it’s a bit of a walk to get there. That’s especially true on Every Single Muscle, which is slightly rowdier and musically more homogenous than last year’s excellent Very Human Features.4
Still, Every Single Muscle clearly shares a sketchbook sensibility with totemic weirdoes.
Some of its songs are obscene doodles, like “How Can We Be Friends,” which repeatedly poses the question, “I’ve never seen your penis, so how can we be friends?” Some are funny-poignant multi-panel comics, like “Make It Count,” which might include the most anxiety-riddled depiction of an apparently successful sexual encounter outside of a Woody Allen movie.5 A few, including the self-explanatory “Look Like Me,” and improbably “Miss Wales 2012,” are self-portraits.6
Whether the tone is sweet, spicy, sullen or strange, anatomical depictions abide as another unifying force. Sometimes they’re the primary lyrical focus of the song as in the case of the LP’s title track, which is built around a half-assed litany of major muscles the group possesses. Anatomical references can also sneak in as an odd bit of marginalia.7 The physical-mindedness can be clinical or complementary, but is more often messy, off-putting or unexpected. Still, it’s never quite as lewd as it threatens to be. A song titled “My Uncle Warren Drives a Passat” will include an unfavorable comparison to a greyhound’s penis, while one called “Shiny and Wet” is a reference to crying. It’s a lyrical preoccupation that will keep lyrics listeners on their toes.
Willmett and Harris somehow manage to make every impish impulse rock. Every Single Muscle’s every is defiantly constant throughout. That, coupled with some fairly short runtimes for most of the album’s songs, helps the sprawling tracklist pass relatively quickly. Still, 18 manic songs are a bit of an endurance test for a single sitting. It’s not that tracks 12-18 are completely fungible, or even much weaker than the rest of the album, but ‘Semo-Automatic,” with its pummeling rhythm and a chorus about breaking guitars, would have been a great place to wrap things up while staving off a bit of desensitization.
It’s a bit too much of a good thing, but by definition, that means there’s a lot to like, especially if the LP is consumed in chunks. Every single song on Every Single Muscle is worthy of adding some manic quirk to someone’s playlist. That’s ultimately quite a flex.
About the writer
Ben Hohenstatt
Ben Hohenstatt is an Alaska-based dog owner who moonlights as a music writer and photographer.
For more information, consult your local library or with parental permission visit his website.
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The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Year of the Month
A new Iceage album is now treated like a Capital-E Event. That wouldn't be the case without Plowing into the Field of Love.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
The Kids In The Hall, Season Five, Episode Twenty-one
“It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
[Paul Bellini smiles.]
“If we don’t get serious, we’re never gonna make it.”
“That doesn’t sound anything like “Saturday To Heaven”!”
“And I am so sick of showing up to high schools and they think we’re the damn janitors.”
“Are you saying we make it?”
[Jeff Berman’s hands.]
[Jeff Berman’s ass]
“We find Jeff Berman isn’t the sixth Kid In The Hall, Mark is.”
“Well, by not giving parts to actors and playing them myself, I saved the show a bundle of money.”
“Never let them get behind you.”
“Elizabeth Taylor never came here. The biggest Taylor we had was Rip.”
“Or maybe I shouldn’t have used all that lead paint.”
“Maybe Bruce was right. Maybe my monologues were too long.”
“Now the first sketch is called ‘Hitler Blanks a Donkey’.”
“God damn! It’s that dying kid! He put too much [blank] pressure on me!”
“I made it with my very own–”
“I’m a little confused as to the details, as I have been drinking since 9am.”
“Contrary to popular belief, countries are not companies.”
“Tanya, what are you doing?”
“Photocopying my breasts. I’m going back to stripping.”
“We’ll be requiring that you turn in your security passes, your coffee mugs, and your wigs.”
“Thank god that’s finally over.”
I watched this partly for the same reason I watch a lot of things – wanting to see the influences on one of my influences, in this case Nath. Between this, Mr Show, and Newsradio, I feel like I got the big ones that I didn’t also grow up with. I can actually really see it in that his comedy podcast had the same kind of sensibility here; I learned recently that the Kids in the Hall tended to write via improv, which explains the weird tone over everything and tendency to go for absurdism over punchlines, which I see on Nath sometimes.
It was also fun seeing the origin point of a lot of careers I was already familiar with; I don’t think Mark McKinney has ever stretched his acting muscles nearly as far as on this show, and it’s really funny having seen Kevin MacDonald adjust his style to specific characters like Pleakley. Most of all, I’m fascinated by how Dave Foley went from this to the pure comic foil of Dave over on Newsradio; the path from sketch to sitcom is a fascinating and apparently necessary one. I’m especially fascinated by how comedy – especially for this group – involved doing your own particular thing and following your own particular muse and then taking what you’ve learned to perform other people’s scripts and more long-form characters. It’s kind of inspiring me to go out and do my own comedy again, not because I think it’ll be any good but to see where it goes.
Backrooms – I had my reservations about this, largely due to the director being so upsettingly young that he should be out in the park playing sports with his friends and not giving instruction to Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve. But I really dug the vibe, the endless, odd corridors really do tap into a very particular kind of creepiness and this is up there with the best films when it comes to recreating the feeling of an unsettling dream. I don’t think it’s quite as strong when it comes to the characters or dialogue but casting a couple of solid, serious actors in the lead roles does give it a little more weight. I was effectively creeped out for much of the running time and if this spawns a franchise then I would not be upset by that – the stuff around the edges with Mark Duplass, scientist (and the hefty box office) makes me think that could well happen. Or I guess I could go and watch the webseries but I don’t want to because I hate YouTube and young people.
Colgate Theater, “The Fountain of Youth” – Media Magpies gets results! I went and looked it up, being into such things, and found that this delight aired as part of a broader anthology series. And that it won a Peabody Award, the only unsold pilot to do so. (It’s all true, and on Wikpedia.) I don’t know if this format would have really been sustainable for long, though I suspect Welles would have treated it not like a series of short movies but as radio plays but for TV, and given his track record, that could have worked. I also have some doubt that he would have had the attention span for this, but I could have said the same of Hitchcock and that would have been wrong. A lot works here, but above all else Orson himself. Aside from his considerable skill as writer and director, he has screen presence unlike any other. I would happily listen to him read the phone book. Alas, both the phone book and Orson Welles belong to the ages.
Elementary, “Dead Clade Walking” – The title refers to one term for a specific theory about the fate of the dinosaurs after the Yucatan meteor strike and extinction event. And as with the earlier “Solve for X,” matters revolve around an academic dispute that at once is of no interest or importance to the average person, and of desperate importance to the killer. But the real highlights here are: 1) this was a cold case Sherlock botched while under the influence, and it’s only because Joan takes it on that it’s solved, and that Sherlock can wipe away his failure to help the victim’s family; 2) there is a second plot involving Sherlock and his sponsor that is really well done; and 3) Jane Alexander briefly appears as someone who can help with some information about auction houses but who knows Sherlock because they exchange emails with original erotic writing. Charming if strange scene.
The Twilight Zone, “Walking Distance” – Elegiac, bittersweet, beautiful. More to come, though I bet Lauren will beat me to the punch on most of my thoughts.
“Walking Distance” is one of my favorite episodes, so it will not surprise you that the article goes over 2000 words.
Tales from the Rez, “Queen’s Hotel”
A short anthology series adapting Blackfoot stories, both traditional and contemporary, framed by Charles Duck Thief’s Uncle Randalf’s intro and closing. This was made on a shoestring budget*, and it sometimes feels a bit stilted and underbaked, but the conceit rocks: honestly, all cultures should get to do their own riff on Tales from the Crypt, and I’ll watch all of them.
This episode features Eugene Brave Rock as Eddie, who’s (relatively) newly sober: he’s tentatively gotten his life together, even if he’s so rigid and silent that it’s easy to believe his control is more brittle than he’d like, and now he’s trying to help his younger brother, Jacob (Shane Ghostkeeper), get his together too. Eddie–with Jacob’s young son in tow, and this kid getting left in the truck for the whole episode was unintentionally hilarious to me–goes to fetch his brother from a bar, but the intervention takes a strange turn when his brother turns out to be in thrall to an eerie white man who shows up partway through. The central metaphor here works well, and there’s at least one detail that shows off top-notch horror instincts: when Eddie goes to pay Jacob’s tab and then comes back, he finds the white man sitting beside Jacob in the booth but on the wall side, which is much better and more uncanny than if he were on the outside. Instantly, we know that either he forced Jacob to get up to let him in when he could have easily sat elsewhere, which feels like a twisted power play … or, even more hauntingly (and plausibly, as his supernatural nature becomes clear), that he was there the whole time and is only revealing himself now. Either way, and whether or not the audience even thinks about it, it makes the situation more intimate and disturbing.
* I was assuming the odd, blackish liquor the white man forces Eddie to drink was intentionally unnerving and obviously Wrong, but then Uncle Randalf also drinks some at the end? And Uncle Randalf feels more benign than a traditional Cryptkeeper figure, at least so far, so now I legitimately can’t tell if this is supposed to be a creepy detail or if whatever prop liquid they were using was intended to look like real booze and simply didn’t.
There’s a podcast with indigenous Americans talking about their own supernatural encounters called Lodge Tales and it has a Blackfoot host. On the Spectre Vision Radio network too which has a ton of great horror and weird podcasts.
Oh, very cool! I’ll have to check that out.
Tales From The Crypt, “The Sacrifice” – Double Indemnity’s plot condensed into twenty minutes and somehow more reversals got crammed in? At least one shot rips off the Top Gun kiss yet is actually sexy. Despite Kim Delaney as well as Michael Ironside’s late appearance, this did little for me.
What did we listen to?
The Boys of Dungeon Lane, Paul McCartney
It’s McCartney. In line with Nath’s article on American Dad! last week, this feels like a solid 5/10 effort on his part; what little ambition is in his recollections of people we (as in the audience) know (as in feel we know), like his song about George Harrison, and otherwise, he’s just having a good time. The reason that putting in a consistent 5/10 amount of effort works is because, as Nath pointed out, that means a high floor, and I’m enough on McCartney’s wavelength to enjoy his floor and not too bothered about the (relatively) low ceiling.
6/10 from me. Perfectly cromulent, and I suspect I revisit it again, but not something that demands my attention often. Weirdly, at least two songs felt like Sir Paul is channeling Johnny Cash. Or more likely, 83 year old Sir Paul has the same sort of burr than late in like Johnny did. And…I mean, he’s 83 and still writing and recording new albums, and doing it pretty well. (And Ringo just did a new record too.) One has to be glad he didn’t die before he got old.
Another Blank Check with a good movie and good guest that will take me several days to listen to. But I suspect Hodgman will not go off the rails much. I would actually rewatch Master and Commander if it were streaming where I could get to it this month.
1001 Albums, etc.
Peter Gabriel – So: kind of admirably ambitious and densely arranged but also just not really my thing. I admired some of the detail in the music but I don’t particularly like his voice and it all feels a little exhausting after a while in the way a lot of massive 80s studio albums do.
Anthrax – Among the Living: not my least favourite of the pioneering thrash metal albums (Metallica still hold that crown) but it’s absolutely not my genre. Why are all their songs so long? If you’re going to be this full-on then I prefer short bursts.
Dinosaur Jr – You’re Living All Over Me: this theoretically COULD be my genre, but I’ve never really clicked with them as much as some of their indie-rock peers. They have the occasional great song though and at least a couple of them are represented here, so it was a fun listen in a bit of a bleak era.
Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris – Trio: three massive names, no memorable songs.
Def Leppard – Hysteria: another one with the excessively fatiguing 80s production. I don’t mind a little corny hard rock but this mostly just left me tired.
REM – Document: possibly the first REM album I ever bought myself? And probably my second favourite of the IRS era, after Murmur. Definitely feels like a major step towards their bigger, breakthrough sound although with enough darkness and lyrical weirdness to keep it feeling fresh and odd. Great stuff.
Prince – Sign O’ The Times: I only listened to the original album of course but I feel like I should note that the “super deluxe” version of this that is the go-to version on streaming is eight hours long. Get some sleep, Prince! Anyway I enjoyed it well enough although the kinda shiny synthpop end of Prince’s style is my favourite and this was more into sexy funk jam territory which I find appealing but have to be in the mood for.
The Cult – Electric: I love “She Sells Sanctuary” but never really dug into this band beyond that, turns out this is from the album where they abandoned that sound in favour of a kind of bluesy hard-rock that makes them sound like a British ZZ Top, but worse. Hated this, one of my least favourite albums on the whole list.
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Screen Drafts, “Restaurant Movies” – kinda funny but infuriating episode, one of the guests just didn’t really understand the assignment at all which was somewhat amusing but also I love food / restaurant movies so I wish this had had the usual level of nerdy over-preparation that people do for this show. The end list wasn’t bad though, to be fair.
Started the Blank Check episode on The Truman Show and it feels like it’ll be a good one but I still have like 3hrs to go and I’m not finding a massive amount of podcast time lately.
Re: the “Restaurant Movies” draft: I was boggling straight from the Green Book pick, let alone all the Google AI comments and the unfamiliarity with Big Night. As you said, not ultimately a bad list, but not the nerdy level of movie talk I want. The Fourquels draft was pretty charming, though.
Just putting this here because it’s also Screen Drafts related: in my slow going-through of old episodes, I’ve hit the Best of 2022 Draft, and Ryan plaintively ending almost every pick with, “Please don’t veto me,” is both adorable and–thus far–totally working as a strategy! This should happen more often. (I’m annoyed by a guest GM’s characterization of Aftersun as a self-indulgent coming-of-age story, though.)
I like that they make a concerted effort to get new GMs involved rather than going back to the regulars every episode but it’s definitely a big part of the show’s vibe to hear people saying “I watched or rewatched every related movie for this because I’m slightly insane”.
I guess I can kinda see why Aftersun wouldn’t work for everyone but it definitely hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t THINK I’ve listened to that episode although I’ve managed to lose track of my past listening thanks to changing phones and podcast apps a couple of times so now I’ve no idea where I’m at with the archives.
Self-indulgent? Aftersun’s not even a long movie!
I don’t know if Dinosaur Jr. was ever better than on “Little Fury Things.”
Def Leppard is actually the origin of the “excessively fatiguing 80s production” you described – or, specifically, Mutt Lange is; he developed this production sound for the band, and it’s not only what we know as the big 80s arena sound now, but he took the same approach to then-wife Shania Twain’s albums in the 90s that broke her into the mainstream in a huge way. (I actually like a number of their singles, including five from this album, although I do have to be in the mood for that level of 80s cheese.)
Love is probably the best Cult album, being the one with “She Sells Sanctuary,” and also “Rain,” the single that probably sounds the most like “She Sells Sanctuary.”
Fun fact, Sign o the Times was supposed to be a triple album until Warner Bros understandably begged him not to do that. I also wrote a whole long essay/zine about “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” which speaks to how deep my Prince obsession goes.
I LIKE Dinosaur Jr., never loved them – that and living in Boston for a certain period meant every other band was either doing Berklee School of Music noise, J. Mascis, or Weezer, and this got pretty tiresome. (I am begging any of you to try to get laid by ripping off Pulp.)
Iceage has a new album and while I have followed this band since their start (they’re roughly the same age as me too) and seen them multiple times, this hasn’t quite gripped me yet the way their discography always has. Gonna listen to the whole record today.
Similarly, Aldous Harding got the BNM sticker from Pitchfork but the record I listened to first didn’t gel with me. Meanwhile this Jacques Brel best of album is excellent, especially the sweaty need of “Ne me quitte pas”, though “My Death” remains my favorite of his songs.
I am very confused by there being different bands called Ice Age and Iceage. Once again I am calling for the establishment of a Band Name Council to settle these matters.
That’s nearly my exact relationship to Iceage and response to the new album.
They picked the right song for a single with “Star” though– even if my brain always tries to mash its chorus into the melody of “Ghetto Superstar.”
Update: Good album but best doing meat and potatoes rock and roll. “Lifetime” is the worst song here.
I should probably check this out but I find that album cover so incredibly offputting! “Too much of a good thing” does kinda seem to be the Bug Club’s motto.
Very pleased that there’s somehow already another Bug Club album! And this description has me on the floor: “as towering and odd as the looksmaxxed cow.”
Geez, the Bug Club really puts out a new album every year, huh? I mean, they’re pretty cool, I should make more effort to listen to the full albums instead of just hoping to pick up on whatever single I can on the radio.
I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor.
I think Very Human Features is probably the best front-to-back listening experience, but this new one is perpetually loud and surprising in a way that makes it a great companion for a longer drive.
But I’m also an avowed fan of Los Campesinos! and Martha, so emotionally damaged power pop featuring heavily accented guy-girl vocals seems to be a thing I’m into.
Martha are one of my favourite bands but I’ve never clicked with Los Campesinos and I can’t really work out why that is.
I think, much like cilantro, some people carry an LC!-aversion gene.
That said, the do have different eras and have some lineup shuffles, including a co-lead singer change, meaning the ideal entry point can vary a lot person to person.
LP1: Pixie stick-sweet twee punk.
LP2-3: A nice schmear of noise-rock influence is applied to diaristic indie pop songs.
–Female vocalist, Aleks, leaves. Kim, who is lead singer-songwriter Gareth’s sister taps in–
LP4: A pivot toward something that might be more commercially viable and a strong incursion of emo influence.
LP5: Very similar vibe to 4, but more synths. I kind of thought this would be the last album, but it wasn’t.
LP6: A really solid career retrospective-type album, but mixed poorly, I think. Super dim sounding to me, even though some songs are top-notch.
LP7: A blend of Midwest emo and self-mythologizing. Similar ethos to LP6, meaning there’s a little something for fans of any previous LC! phase. Massive step up in production, really solid instrumentation, and the best traditional singing of Gareth’s career.