Morning in America

Album review

Mudhoney left no doubts as to how they felt about life in America under the reign of Donald Trump on their 2018 album Digital Garbage, one of the angriest and most explicitly political releases of their career. Roughly a year after Digital Garbage came out, Mudhoney issued a follow-up EP, Morning in America, which confirms that 12 months haven't done a thing to make them feel better. Most of the seven songs on Morning in America were outtakes from the Digital Garbage sessions, including an alternate version of "Kill Yourself Live" (here titled "Let's Kill Yourself Live Again"), an English-language cover of the Leather Nun's "Ensam I Natt," the rare 7" track "Vortex of Lies," and a re-recorded version of "One Bad Actor," which first appeared on a split single with Hot Snakes. If this is a smaller dose of rage than Digital Garbage, it's no less powerful and stings just as much. If anything, the title track charts an emotional landscape darker than anything on the album as a nation sinks into its own self-loathing, and the slow crawl of "Vortex of Lies" communicates a profound disgust as they call for listeners to fight the power. So if you're a fair-weather fan who wants to groove to something like "Touch Me I'm Sick" or "Let It Slide," this might be a bit strong for your tastes. But this music sounds as fierce and committed as anything Mudhoney ever committed to plastic, and Mark Arm's righteous sneer and Steve Turner's weaponized fuzz are at full strength on this material. It's not exactly "We Shall Overcome," but these guys are saying what they mean as much as Pete Seeger ever did, and they happen to rock a lot harder while they're at it. Crank it up at your next voter registration drive.

© Mark Deming /TiVo