OK, tell me all about Wussy

Ass Ponys fans may be disappointed to find that Chuck doesn't sing on all the songs, but it doesn't really matter, cause the girl adds a whole new element. As the Dean said, it's more alt rock than alt country.

Best song is the first song, Airborne. That has both of them singing. In a better world, it would be a hit.

And all the treasure from the good days
Is going through the last phase
Of Yours and Yours and Mine
When something from the Yours pile
Shattered on the floor tile
And you went off like Frakenstein

The title cut is a shameless rip of The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks," and they cite VU and The Meat Puppets as influences, so I suppose their hearts are in the right place. If Funeral Dress had come out on Homestead Records in 1985, it would've been a CMJ chart topper.

But it's appropriate that Christgau says they "unlocked a silo or warehouse of hummable tunes, and worked out the harmonies" cause this is a very workmanlike album. There's "writer's workshop" damage all over this thing and if you told me they built this in the garage using power tools and The Singer-Songwriter Handbook For The Rock Musician I wouldn't be surprised. You know those wistful songs that TV shows like Scrubs or Grey's Anatomy play over concluding ain't-life-poignant montages of thoughtful character shots (lesson-learned voiceover optional)? If The Drew Carey Show ever indulged in such hijinks, Funeral Dress could've provided a half-season's worth of grist. OHIO!

As for the future, Wussy might:
A) release 3 more steady-rocking slabs like this one and then issue one hell of a greatest hits album
B) put 5 songs as good as "Airborne" on their next record and end up on everybody's top 10 list of 2006
C) resist their formalist tendencies and push what they've got into some weird new sonic territory
D) encourage Lisa Walker to extend her countrified girl-gone-bad-is-now-a-bitter-woman snarl (as evidenced in "Airborne") over the course of an album

... any of which would be a good thing, although C and/or D would be my personal preferences.

anyone heard the newest, Be here now? yet another A from X'gau and it may well be my favorite batch of songs. i guess they're kind of obscure in that i've never even seen their cd's at amoeba, and i don't think they've travelled West of the Rockies.

I love it – an angrier Yo La Tengo, although the male Wussy occasionally sounds like Adam Duritz.

weird I was just thinking about them the other day in that "what every happened to wussy" way

whatever, that is

what ever

whatevery

i guess "be here now" is a typo. it says "be the best" on the actual disc, but wussy's website refers to the disc as s/t. who cares

"and i don't think they've travelled West of the Rockies."

just got this e-mail from chris brokaw today:

"hi all,

wanted to let you know i have a solo show next week at pa's lounge, in somerville. i'll be playing a bunch of new stuff from recent records and upcoming ones. my good pals from ohio WUSSY will also perform, as well as NATHAN XANDER and PAPER AND SAND. come on down if you can!"

that would be friday, june 19th.

i love Funeral Dress.
like somewhere between The Vaselines, Yo La Tengo and New Pornographers.
The underrated Lisa Walker writes better songs than Cleaver - maybe thats why this record is better than anything Ass Ponys ever done imo\.

how are the other 2 Wussy records compared to Funeral Dress?

they keep getting stronger. esp. the songs/writing on the new one. i've only heard it about 7 or 8 times, but love it more with each listen.

Chuck Cleaver has been responsible for a buttload of great music in the 2000s. Haven't heard the new Wussy, but I loved the last two. And the Ass Ponys were seemingly incapable of writing a bad song, especially on the last two records, Some Stupid With A Flare Gun and Lohio.

I saw the Ass Ponys at Maxwells a few years back, as part of a triple bill with Neko Case and the Handsome Family. So good.

well, the new Wussy album is awesome.
yes - they do keep getting stronger.
the album is even more hooky and catchier than Funeral Dress,the production is cleaner and thicker, and the melodies reminding me stuff like Quasi or early BtS (meets YLT New Porno's).

one of the most underrated bands around this days - how come Matador/Merge didnt sign them yet?!
(on the other hand,a step like that might ruin them)

love:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyHa9OO63g

Downloaded this at amazon for $6.99. So great.

Still great.

yeah, they are pretty great (well, their songs are, anyway). i just really really REALLY fucking wish they didn't sound like such a demo band. Lord Lucifer please to bestow unto them a decent producer/engineer. kthxbye.

i like them, though they tend reapeat the same schticks (esp. with the male/female vocals) ans as a result some of their songs sounds like versions of older ones

I've just caught up with this year's record and love a lot of it. If they were to ever come through Toronto (maybe they already have, and I missed it), I would actually make the effort to see them.

New Wussy album!!!

http://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/strawberry

nothing's special on first listen

I like everything this band does, including this. There's nothing as immediate as Rigor Mortis, but even so, it's still vintage Wussy. Chuck Cleaver continues to rock.

Hey Wussy fans, read what Robert Christgau has to say about them.

Their song Motorcycle is one of my favorites of last 5 years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdJuHzw5PFw

live version is great too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdR5NagZYSw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYMkVn9u8vU

And what a great song this was (with simple but indelible guitar riff!) (charming video too)

just one more link - Yellow Cotton Dress (live)

That Grisly Adams guy plays some great guitar in this clip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X31p51zN19A

Normally my taste diverge that greatly from the ILX norm; but in this once case I can't recall a single other person expressing any kind of appreciation for what I consider one of best songs of the last decade: Mayflies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYMkVn9u8vU

I even got more of a favorably response when praising Northside a few years back..

I realize the grammar in that last post makes it sound like it was Google-translated from Russian

OK, my favorite album of 2013 has just come out, and it's free. Get your Wussy outtakes and live versions record at wussy.org. It's called Popular Favorites. Holy moley, so so so good.

I downloaded that the other day, but haven't had a chance to listen yet. "Pizza King" was high on my year-end list.

I don't pay any attention to Record Day, so I didn't realize there was a short one (seven songs) called Duo out there. No luck so far figuring out how to get hold of it.

I went through everything they've done and listened closely. (I've put songs of theirs on year-end lists, but I hadn't really taken time with each album.) If I made an introductory mix-CD, here's what I'd put on it.

1. "Airborne" (2005)
2. "Crooked" (2005)
3. "Bought It Again" (2005)
4. "Mayflies" (2007)
5. "Millie Christine" (2007)
6. "Tiny Spiders" (2007)
7. "Sun Giant Says Hey" (2007)
8. "Melody Ranch" (2007)
9. "Vivian Girls" (2007)
10. "Gone Missing" (2009)
11. "Happiness Bleeds" (2009)
12. "Muscle Cars" (2009)
13. "All the Bugs Are Growing" (2009)
14. "Airborne" (2011 acoustic version)
15. "Crooked" (2011 acoustic version)
16. "Magnolia" (2011)
17. "Pizza King" (2011)
18. "Little Miami" (2011)
19. "Runaway" (2013)
20. "North Sea Girls" (2013)

A title..."The Last Phase of Yours and Yours and Mine." They've been my favourite band for the past couple of years.

thank you this thread for reminding me of "earth to grandma."

But....but....how could you have a Wussy best-of without Rigor Mortis or Grand Champion Steer. or Maglite fer crying out loud!

Just not crazy about any of them. I don't know, past "Airborne," they seem like a blank slate where favorites could fall anywhere. (I love the Ass Ponys' "Astronaut," too.)

Fighter Pilot is another great Ass Ponys song. And Kung Fu Reference and Dried Up from the follow up.

You could make a strong argument for Chuck Cleaver being the best songwriter of the millennium with Ass Ponys and Wussy together.

How can I get North Sea Girls?

I got it through a well-known secret file sharer. (So well known that I feel silly doing the thing with the asterisks--but if I don't do it, I worry that I'll bring the whole operation to a ruinous end.) It's only seven short songs--if you're not particular about vinyl, I'm sure I could get it to you in a couple of e-mails. Or you could go through the well-known secret file sharer.

I would definitely add Maglite and the Funeral Dress II version of Conversation Lags. That chorus drives me insane:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brgBSZReyH8

The new album is excellent so far.

I voted for "North Sea Girls" last year, so I already know that's good. Found a site where I was able to hear "Teenage Wasteland"--also very good, and I like how the beginning paraphrases what you'd expect. (I guess they were inspired by One Direction's "Best Song Ever.") The album cover's kind of ugly; with such a great title, I think they could have done better there. Still looking forward to it, of course.

http://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/attica-limited-edition-pre-release-cd-downloads
new wussy

Their best album.

Still don't have the album...I'm going to look around tomorrow and try to figure out a way to order it fairly cheaply. (I want something physical.)

Started skimming the Charles Taylor piece that's getting some notice and stopped on this:

It's the underlying edge of condescension used to address anyone who hasn't bought a house or had kids, as if we couldn’t possibly know what being an adult really meant.

I won't read the rest of it--hits too close. I've been going through that in a major way the past few years, and it's something I wanted to try writing about myself eventually. (I've got the house, not the kids.) Facebook makes this much, much worse.

I've been playing Attica in the car for the last few days. Through three songs the first time, I felt apprehensive--I already knew "Teenage Wasteland" was really good, but the next two were heavier and tuneless. The rest is fine, so I've just been skipping those two songs. I don't know if it's their best album or not. My favorite songs are scattered all over their LPs; the third one would probably still be my pick. Anyway, my favorites on Attica after "Teenage Wasteland" are "North Sea Girls," "To the Lightning," "Halloween," "Home," and "Beautiful." The last has a line that puzzles me: "I'm not the monster that I once was/Twenty years ago I was more beautiful than I am today." That seems contradictory...or not; I like mulling it over.

Really wish they had used a photo from the Attica riot for the cover. As is, it's quite an eyesore.

I agree that "Bug" is the worst thing.

Their album art is often atrocious. "Halloween" is great, though. I like the title track, too. Chuck's songs on this one, less so...

Chuck's such a great looking character, but I've definitely developed a preference for the songs Lisa sings. I'm sure "Teenage Wasteland" will be high on my year-end list.

Acetylene is a great song.

The new one is definitely dominated by Lisa songs, but Strawberry was all Chuck.

Square this up, and there's your CD cover:

http://bcdownload.gannett.edgesuite.net/rochester/36517057001/36517057001_1135879362001_retaking1.jpg

Really like that they mention Townshend and Moon by name on "Teenage Wasteland," even more the "Sugar Mountain" reference on "Halloween." Putting their music aside, I love that they're oldish people preoccupied with stuff that nobody (present company excepted) much cares about any more, which they often allude to--"so far away," "surrounded by the things accumulated here," "something you'd remember from a dream."

How do you rate the Wussy Duo stuff? Is it acoustic? There's been a copy collecting dust at the record store here and I always wonder about it.

You mean Duo and Funeral Dress II? I've saved stuff from both--"North Sea Girls" from the former (now redundant), "Airborne" and "Crooked" from the other. As long as they're not charging too much (I think Duo was a Record Store Day thing), I'm sure you'd like both.

Has anyone who's never read Robert Christgau ever been into Wussy?

The last has a line that puzzles me: "I'm not the monster that I once was/Twenty years ago I was more beautiful than I am today." That seems contradictory...or not; I like mulling it over.

That's my favorite line on the record, and one of my favorites they have written. Agreed that the album is a bit filler-prone ('Rainbows and Butterflies'?!), but 'Beautiful', 'Halloween', 'To The Lightning',
and the best fan-tribute since 'Alex Chilton' are so ridiculously good I don't even care.

Radio versions somebody posted on Facebook:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qdu587me9w1sfuo/Wussy%20-%20Best%20Radio%20Sessions%202009-2014%20MP3.zip

The four Attica songs I play in the car all the time: "Teenage Wasteland," "Halloween," "Home," and "Beautiful."

Has anyone who's never read Robert Christgau ever been into Wussy?

I heard about this one guy who lives in North Dakota who fits this description. But that's it.

i'm into wussy because of chuck cleaver, and i'm into chuck cleaver because of the afghan whigs (covering the ass ponys)

not that the rest of them, particularly lisa walker, aren't awesome. anyway, christgau is not involved

I heard about them from a friend from Cleveland who put them on a mix CD.

Some of those radio versions I linked to are really good (and sufficiently different from the originals).

Chuck Cleaver had a record store back in the late 80s, maybe early 90s, and used to write some of the funniest Goldmine Magazine ad copy ever--I ordered a bunch of stuff from him (it helped that I was way into Ohio punk and indie). Later I heard that he and some of his employees had a band; checkout Ass Ponys' Electric Rock Music, really liked his boondocks tales(before Drive-By Truckers of The Hold Steady, or at least before I knew about 'em). Lo & Behold, "Little Bastard" was a hit of sorts< with a trailer park video on MTV.
Much later, got to cover some Wussy shows, which is pretty much when I started listening to them. Really like most of their album tracks, hoping for a live set. This just posted on Fecebook:
Hello...ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!!!

Okay...bad news first: due to some medical problems we won't be able to do any long distance traveling for the next four to six weeks so Wussy has cancelled the November 22nd CHICAGO show at Red Line Tap. We're very sorry but we have no choice in the matter.

Good news #1: since it's the long distance traveling that's the temporary problem the New Years Eve show at the The Woodward Theater is still on so that's cool.

Good news #2: the ATTICA! limited edition vinyl will be officially released on Tuesday, November 25th but can be pre-ordered from Shake It Records starting Tuesday, November 18th. There were supposed to be 1000 pressed but the number is actually closer to 900. They're on red vinyl with black swirls and there will be a download card included. Also, as of November 25th, it will also be available at selected indie record stores nationwide. And: it sounds AMAZING on vinyl.

So, there you have it. If you wouldn't mind sharing this, we'd really appreciate it, mostly to let our Chicago friends know that we aren't gonna be there on the 22nd.

There's another announcement on the way so hang tight. It's a good'un.

Thanks and take care...Wussy

Yeesh, sorry for typos.

also they're supposed to be on cbs this morning saturday the 29th

Here's the ltd. ed. vinyl:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0mnj0XIcAAjeRP.jpg:large

http://cincymusic.s3.amazonaws.com/files/Wussy1.jpg

Yep, it's all happening at the zoo---here's the inside story and some of what 2 expect, 11/29/14 AM:

http://cincymusic.com/news/2014/11/behind-the-scenes-with-wussy

http://cincymusic.s3.amazonaws.com/files/Wussy2.jpg

Wussy ‏@wussymusic 2h2 hours ago

Thank you to everyone who tuned into CBS This Morning If you missed it, or want to watch again, enjoy! Songs... http://fb.me/378L8xZgI

On Facebook, they've been regularly posting thank-yous to people who give them year-end recognition: Pop Matters, Greg Kot, etc. A few weeks ago, I mentioned in passing on their page--it really wasn't meant to be as ostentatious as it sounds; it was just part of whatever the conversation was--that I'd voted for them in Pazz & Jop the past four years. I didn't even get a little thumb. If I get a ballot, I'll vote for them again this year, but only because I'm a good person who never holds grudges*.

*(That's a joke.)

No surprise, I guess, that Christgau gives Attica an A+. Half of it is, I agree. Overall, I think the third album Wussy is still the best.

I don't think this band has a single bad song.

Generally, I don't care for their heavier side--the second song on Attica is like that, or maybe the second and third songs. But there are a few exceptions to that. There's a song on Wussy that mentions punctuation that I like, and that one's a little heavier.

One thing I don't get is why they've gotten so much more critical attention this year than in the past. Is it a publicity push, dumb luck, or something else?

I don't like the slow heavy ones like Bug as much either.

I can't explain the upsurge in attention. But it is a great underdog story, and they're so talented. Plus Teenage Wasteland was a particularly strong single.

"Bug" is a failure of arrangement rather than song.

Tried to say it on Twitter last week:
Wussy, Attica!: luvly noise x melody ---> strata of time & space as boondocks, astute students of Neil Y, hot peers of Truckers, Hold Steady. Thinking of narrators, "characters" or not, with personal history incl musical influences: where the DBT & THS comparisons come in. The Beautiful Losers bit on every track, but no prob listening over and over, which I rarely do with other albums. Anyway, Lisa Walker thanked me, retweeted, and now Wussy and I are Following each other. They better not start sucking.

"listening over and over" in one session, that is.

I finally got tired of not knowing what everyone was talking about re: this band, so listening to Attica right now. Quite good; I probably like the songs where the girl sings best ("Teenage Wasteland," "Halloween"), but I could definitely see myself getting into them. If so, this would actually be the first thing I've gotten into on the strength of Christgau's recommendation, which I guess offers something of an answer to jaymc's upthread question of "Has anyone who's never read Robert Christgau ever been into Wussy?"

In a major shock, they just won both album and single in a quasi-Pazz & Jop put on by the Expert Witness Facebook group.

Just heard "Buckeye", which I guess is a compilation of their first two albums? Love it, the alt country vibe and the boy / girl vocals remind me of The Bats at times. I will be buying me some Wussy.

Anyone who has never heard Eleventh Dream Day, a very close analog to Wussy, really should. I recommend "El Moodio." Check out these two (EDD fans, thanks for your patience):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpj35CdLWUc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K24piAMM2FE

Buckeye is a great compilation but there are no bad Wussy songs. You could make an equally great record from those first four albums, not even including Attica.

Yes! to Eleventh Dream Day. Lived To Tell is another great record of theirs.

EDD rules the school

Ursa Major is my fave EDD, but they have no outright duds...though, iirc, Xgau was decidedly not a fan.

(Also seek out Janet Beveridge Bean's collaboration with Green's Jeff Lescher, Jesus Built A Ship To Sing A Song To -- all Gram Parsons covers, with the hands-down definitive "Hot Burrito #1.")

Marcus was very big on Eleventh Dream Day. I bought Lived to Tell but don't remember much.

Tell me more: I've never really spent much time with EDD-appears all I have is their cover of Ocean on a VU comp. I saw some sort of reunion show a few years back and don't remember female vocals either.
are they in the Wussy/Fleetwood Mac camp lyrically?

Hmm. Not really, though there is a bit of tension (the guitarist and drummer used to be married). The lyrics are a bit more abstract and poetic, while the music is often a manic mix of Crazy Horse, the Feelies, whatever it is that Yo La Tengo does and high octane garage rock.

Famous origin story: they were signed to Atlantic by Bettina Richards, and their shitty treatment on said label is what prompted her to found Thrill Jockey. More recently, EDD (on Thrill Jockey) has sort of hovered between their guitar roots and a slightly post-rocky bent, though you would never confuse them for anything but rock.

Some good EDD performance and interview footage here from a 1990 Dutch TV special, with fellow Chicagoans Green -- both bands were much bigger in Holland than in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b34CdwgOAvY

Music video! Janet's pretty dolled up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFsGYnGNjN0

I suppose Dream Syndicate is another touchstone for them.

Other EDD related origin story: the bass player from EDD and the drummer from Precious Wax Drippings while both bands were on tour together hatched an idea to form a dubby-influenced band with them as the drum/bass axis and later on they formed Tortoise.

Also EDD is totally awesome and their most recent record "Riot Now!" is great

Oh weird, I had no idea there was a Tortoise/Precious Wax Drippings connection!

Yeah, Johnny Machine aka John Herndon.

Saw them Saturday night, which filled in some gaps in my appreciation. I already liked them well enough, and liked Attica a lot, but I didn't really get what a great, noisy guitar band they are. The three guitars (on most songs) give them great depth and layers of sound. Terrific show.

There's a new Magic Words LP out there for download. (I'm not quite a professional shill for Wussy, not yet--just one of the top-ranking amateurs, as Guy Woodhouse would say.)

http://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/the-day-we-ran-away-magic-words-demos

Having trouble w the link, but it's prob some firefox shit---meanwhile, is Magic Words a Wussy side project?

I hadn't thought of comparison w EDD, but can see it. Haven't kept up, but their early sound made me think of traveling back to Jefferson Airplane's San Franciso, then to Jack London's, and (mainly) north to the Klondike, the Yukon: way up on a lunar mountain range, with searchlight (or at least flashlight)guitars, all-weather drums, and sometimes a helluva view (but layers of storm-sounds too).

(xpost) I think it was Lisa Walker's band before Wussy.

looks like there is some sort of new record store day thing too:
http://wussy.ella.net/projects/public-domain-vol-1/

Video for "Halloween."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjopi16hNkM

19m
Shamelessly sensitive melo("music")drama as increasingly cosmic noise rock folk, always true to the tune & words/plot https://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/public-domain-volume-i
https://f1.bcbits.com/img/a3075847013_16.jpg

Listening now... this is not an acoustic album as they've done in the past -- it's the full-on Wussy alt.drone applied to traditional songs.

Finally got around to burning the Magic Words record that came out earlier this year (The Day We Ran Away). Fantastic. The versions (earlier? later?) of Wussy songs are usually so different they're barely recognizable, and there are at least a couple of excellent (what I think are) new songs.

New album "Forever Sounds" out in March.

"...exploring such themes as hauntings, false prophets, aliens and The Big Lebowski" (not too excited about that last part)

http://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/forever-sounds

https://soundcloud.com/wussy_official/dropping-houses-shake-itdamnably-2016

song rules, they're playing NYC twice in march, love this band

What's the deal with the debut, "Funeral Dress"? It's way out of print, any plans for a reissue?

Another fantastic song. This band is so great.

And they're finally starting to get more attention. I can't think of a band that deserves success more than them.

x-post

The MP3 album is available on Amazon. Not sure about the physical CD.

The Big Lebowski song is actually outstanding (and I was nervous about it too before I heard it).

Where did you hear it?

I know a guy who's reviewing it. I tried to get a copy but no dice. That was one of the two songs I heard, at least I'm reasonably sure it was one of them, since it had lines taken directly from the film in the lyrics (Walter's funeral speech).

Saw the trio show tonight, which was excellent despite some fits and starts.
When it all clicks and Chuck & Lisa sing together it's just mesmerizing, like a darker, Midwestern X or Fleetwood Mac.
They also went super obscure and played the Twinkeyz 'Aliens In Our Midst'.

The guitars are just huge on this one.

This is my second Wussy album, and it sounds less varied and certainly a lot slower and more abrasive than Attica. Most notably, nothing here shimmers like "North Sea Girls." Not saying I don't like it, I just need some more time with it.

It's definitely a departure from their other records. Chuck's songs are better here, where Lisa dominated Attica.

"she killed hundreds" and "my parade" are the early standouts (besides "dropping houses"). i'm seeing them tonight in the 5-piece configuration, interested in seeing how the new songs work live.

Video for "She's Killed Hundreds"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4jUTWKy35Q

New album's good but not blowing me away.

i think the production is kinda murky and not in an atmospheric way. live it was much more blistering and raucous. they covered "ceremony" too.

I'm still not sold on the whole thing--the Lebowski song is a slog--but the closing four-song stretch is fantastic. Love how they follow (imho) the album's best rocker ("Sidewalk Sale") with three rather textured ballads.

Great sound, but the songs aren't as strong as usual. Still an excellent record.

They did a nice cover of New Order's "Ceremony" for RSD:

https://soundcloud.com/damnably/wussy-ceremony-rsd-7

A track of theirs came up in my Discover Weekly this week and I am digging it. Have to admit I wondered for a bit if the female vocalist was Karen O.

Song i listened to even referenced my current screen name.

My new favorite band, based on Funeral Dress and my other other meanderings through the catalog.

Has anyone who's never read Robert Christgau ever been into Wussy?

I heard about this one guy who lives in North Dakota who fits this description. But that's it.

― clemenza, Saturday, August 30, 2014 3:55 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm into wussy because of chuck cleaver, and i'm into chuck cleaver because of the afghan whigs (covering the ass ponys)

not that the rest of them, particularly lisa walker, aren't awesome. anyway, christgau is not involved

― mookieproof, Saturday, August 30, 2014 4:12 AM (1 year ago)

But yeah, "Bug" is problematic. Is it named after the Dinosaur, Jr. album?

My new favorite band

me too

Finally listened to Forever Sounds, which earns its name--which, if they didn't consciously make from Forever Changes and Pet Sounds, might as well have, cos it's that kind of vibrant sonic monument, made of Grade-A Collector's Guide Catnip---but so far can't hear why xgau says it's more the sound than the songs; to me it's the sound of songs, of detail curving in through the wide windscreen strata of perspective (doesn't seem all that overdubby though, even on headphones: think they could get a lot of the same effect on stage, or recording live in the studio).
Title also related to the mythopoeic power and ambition and hope and compulsive urge in their surge, x fatalistic or morbid themes: they're off to see thee wizard, even though we're all gonna die sometyme--so: folk music, and big loud catchiness too; sounds like they still like the Who as well as Richard and Linda maybe even more compatibly than ever, and this is what we get after Attica! and Public Domain Vol. 1(harmonium and piano from the splintered parlor show up on intro of last track, even).
This pulled me in right away, which isn't absolutely necessary but always favored.
Lisa and Hungry Chuck: Mom 'n' Pop ov Dragons (Midwestern loose meat sandwich ones, of course).

"all gonna die someday" if we haven't already, with at least one song about (calling himself)a ghost(because he can be or call himself whatever he wants to) glimpsed already.

that post's a little too off the deep end for me but i think i agree with the sentiment, that there is something special about this album :)

(doesn't seem all that overdubby though, even on headphones: think they could get a lot of the same effect on stage, or recording live in the studio).

this is definitely true. it just sounds like a guitar indie rock band, just a really really good and exquisitley recorded one \o/

I also agree with this, from a p4k review: "there remains something resolutely midwestern in the delivery" which I think you are getting at with Lisa and Hungry Chuck: Mom 'n' Pop ov Dragons (Midwestern loose meat sandwich ones, of course).

dropping horses -> she's killed hundreds is the best one-two punch album opener of the year

So with this band are we supposed to assume every perceived reference to something else is really there, for instance that the fire-starting "cigarette alone" of "Beautiful" is the same one smoked on the steps by the fireworks-noticing Joe Doe in "4th of July"?

Uh, John Doe. Don't know who Joe Doe is or how he got in there.

Yes, you track down every word referred to by every word of every song. We don't, but you do. Get workin'.

Okay. I'll be back in a little bit

Digging the cover of "Ceremony."

I hate this band name so much and that they're supposed to be like actually good bugs the shit out of me

dude,

1) the name's not that bad???

2) they're siick

They write good songs.

Great name, great band. You want a bad band name, check out his previous band the Ass Ponys. They were great too.

I am enjoying a Wussy song. :(

Maybe Christgau is right.

Which one?

Don't hold Christgau against them.

It was from the new album. I think it was Gone. (Was just playing things on shuffle.) Now I'm playing the album.

Snow day here, no students; looking around for something to play, noticed the whole Buckeye compilation is on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T70rE2aB9EQ

Oops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8feB5IhNG8

Stuck in the corn maze
With only a transistor radio

I recently tweeted:
These days I'm not likely to get hooked on "droney dream pop" w Radio Shack beats, but @muncie_girl makes it work, most of the time, on this 18-track Magic Words collection https://themagicwords.bandcamp.com/ The most unusual talent can be a bad influence: "Hey I can do that!" Probly not.

(she's been promoting it w UK shows)

those magic words tracks are so great, kind of gives lie to the Wussy creation myth though.
personally think she is the best vocalist in rock right now.

This comes out in May. I don't really get why all the prices are British--the songs look they're new, it's not a UK-only compilation.

http://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/what-heaven-is-like

"look like"

That's weird.

They have a bunch of songs I like, but the fact that the new one is inspired by the Fargo TV show is kind of lame.

They've added the American CD/Vinyl links now.

Recently heard an interview with one of the guys from this band and it became pretty clear he doesn't like leaving the house, so there you go.

I wonder if we're in for a new era of Iron Maiden-esque songs about movies and tv shows.

Tracks so far are pleasant enough. Looking forward to the album.

So I wouldn’t have asked for this Beatles cover but...

afghan whigs cover is a bold choice but sounds good!

Is this the new album you're talking about?

I was talking about title track of new EP. Is new album out?

I think the new album comes out next month.

The new one is out and it is predictably excellent. It's a continuation of the noisy sound they developed on Forever Sounds, but the songs are stronger this time around.

I miss their pop moments.

Finally caught up with the not-new-anymore LP and EP. Except for "Dropping Houses," my favourite song of last year, the last one made no impression on me whatsoever. So I think I was intentionally slow getting to Heaven.

Didn't get anything out of the first three songs, but my interest picked up when Lisa Walker came in with "Look away, look away, don't watch me" on "Tall Weeds." After that, except for the pedestrian "Oblivian," excellent. "Firefly" and "Black Hole," the two slow ones from Lisa, are great. "Aliens in Our Midst" is a shameless copy of "Brimful of Asha," and as such, it's insanely catchy. I really like "Nope," and "Skip"..."Skip" is a masterpiece. I can't think of anybody--no American band, anyway; maybe there's some Loveless in there--who's ever made music that sounds like "Skip." If I die in the next couple of years, it'll be in a fiery car crash--single-vehicle, no else involved--because I was playing "Skip" too loud and ran into a tree.

Great "Getting Better" cover on the EP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvsQO1UTSfM

I still need to give it another listen, but I liked "Aliens in Our Midst" the first time through (and I certainly like it better than "Brimful of Asha").

"Heaven" is much more engaging than "Forever Sounds". The opener, "One Per Customer" grabbed me and everything flows really well.

I'll give it another listen for sure at the end of the year when I rank albums, but this was to me the boringest of Wussy albums -- the only one from which I kept not a single tune.

I didn’t care for it much on first listen but it’s grown on me.

The opener, "One Per Customer" grabbed me and everything flows really well.

Played those first three songs again in the car this morning; "Cake" and "Gloria" still seemed a little ordinary, but yeah, "One Per Customer" has a really spacey appeal, even if they missed (or, more likely, resisted) the most obvious rhyme in the world, "Knievel" with "appeal."

I'm not a big lyrics guy, but I usually take notice of certain lines and phrases from Wussy. "Aliens in Our Midst" has a verse about a friend who dresses up in his sister's clothes and gets a beating from his dad, and you can also hear the word "dreamers"; it might be a Trump song, unless it's about actual aliens.

The Wussy mix-CD I give to friends gets better and better; I'll probably bump three songs from it to make room for "Skip," "Black Hole," and "Getting Better."

Aliens in Our Midst is a cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44bkhkBYrew

Ha! Never read too much into a song... (I won't discount that they made a Trump connection from the title, though.)

What is everyone's favorite Wussy album?

The eponymous album or Attica!

Yeah, those but still like Funeral Dress a lot as well.

Left For Dead could be mine

I would have said Attica! or Wussy, but, initial excitement being what it is, I might pick Heaven today. (I'm absolutely certain that last year's was their worst.)

Funeral Dress plays like a greatest hits, it's ridiculous.

I'm digging the new one, much more than 'Forever Sounds'-and hell, even looking at that I see it has 'Majestic 12' and 'Hello I'm a Ghost'.
"Aliens' is such a brilliant cover, I saw them perform it a couple of tours ago, it's so great. and the second-half in particular is so back-loaded, I'm having a moment here with 'Nope'.

i love Forever Sounds

Strawberry gets overlooked, but it's great as well.

(xpost) "Nope" is great. They stole the melody of the verses from somewhere--driving me up the wall trying to figure out where--but that's okay.

the west coast has the sunshine and the girls all get so tan

Sort of! That works, but I think I'm thinking of something else (maybe a song that copied "California Girls" so Wussy could copy that song). It has to do with the way Chuck sings those verses too--the combination of that melody and that timbre, I'm sure I've heard it elsewhere.

Yeah I'm not sure California Girls is 100% it but it's close. There's something closer, though.

I do know they got sued by the Undertones for allegedly taking the melody of Teenage Kicks for the song Funeral Dress.

Somebody's Wussy collection:

http://wussycollection.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwAR3fplnE9MZnihAMzyPQ_YHhyZ6CZuNoQPn9az79Ikz-vyUNkrMp0k0rLRg

Also, the mix-CD I made for a friend recently:

1. airborne (2005)
2. crooked (2005)
3. bought it again (2005)
4. millie christine (2007)
5. tiny spiders (2007)
6. sun giant says hey (2007)
7. melody ranch (2007)
8. vivian girls (2007)
9. gone missing (2009)
10. all the bugs are growing (2009)
11. pizza king (2011)
12. little miami (2011)
13. teenage wasteland (2014)
14. halloween (2014)
15. home (2014)
16. beautiful (2014)
17. dropping houses (2016)
18. skip (2018)
19. black hole (2018)
20. getting better (2018)

"Getting Better" was mostly there to reel him in (I do like it); if it were for my own use, I'd replace that with "Aliens in Our Midst."

Geez, no Rigor Mortis or Grand Champion Steer? Those are two of my very favroites.

I think you mentioned that when I posted a different mix-tape a few years ago...I can't retrieve either in my mind, but I didn't save them on my hard-drive, so I guess I decided I didn't like them enough at the time.

Ha! I like to stay on message with all Wussy-related things. You should definitely give those another chance as they are quite possibly my two favorite. Another is the acoustic version of Crooked from Funeral Dress 2.

Re-listened to "Rigor Mortis" and "Grand Champion" off YouTube. Like them both. They've got so many good songs, an 80-minute CD isn't quite enough. But two 80-minute CDs would be too much...with the possible exception of Neil Young, there's nobody who could sustain two 80-minute CDs for me without drifting off into songs I like but don't love.

interesting list clemenza. love that you included the delightful and bizarre 'Sun Giant Says Hey'.
'Motorcycle' or 'Beautiful' are the two I'm most likely to pass on when friends ask about Wussy.

My favorite Wussy song has been "Airborne" from the first moment I heard them, and if you polled a hundred fans, I'd hazard a guess that that would almost certainly end up on top. But the last few months, "Melody Ranch" has been right there with it. It makes me think of Billy Altman's great description of "Black Dog" in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History: "indescribably chaotic."

Wussy does indescribably chaotic as well as anyone. Shunt and Pulverized certainly qualify. And Rigor Mortis maybe most of all.

I'm not so sure they do chaotic as well as anyone-if they did 'Forever Sounds' would be better.

This is a band that I initially thought, "Well I like this one album". Then as I started listening back I kept saying "I like this one, too, I'm all set" - until I had picked them all up. And now I compiled all their non-lp tracks (at least I think I've got them all):

Rigor Mortis EP
Breakfast In Bed - Dangerous Highway Vol. 3
Duo EP
Popular Favorites EP
Public Domain Vol. 1 EP
Folk Night At Fucky's - Dropping Houses 7"
Ceremony 7"
Getting Better EP

It's all very consistent, so much fun!

(xposts) Agree with both of you--sometimes they lose me when they get heavy and chaotic (like most of Forever Sounds), sometimes those are my very favourite songs ("Melody Ranch," "Dropping Houses," "Skip").

"Nope" is great. They stole the melody of the verses from somewhere--driving me up the wall trying to figure out where--but that's okay.

This may be what I had buried in my head, I don't know...the resemblance isn't as strong as I thought (no lawsuits pending), but I can hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1FQEcRayK0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKGSyXADYg

clemenza, I kind of hear something going on with the verse lyric as well, but can't place it either.
this song, jesus.

Thanks for the David Blue post! Somebody I always used to mean to check out, 'til he gradually faded from my mind (long RIP, right?).
Getting into What Heaven much more on second listen, though sound quality (of mp3 promo) is a bit distracting, for a whole album, even though I don't mind it on the Record Store Day EPs---anybody got the CD?? I'm getting hooked on those...

I'm getting used to it, but still wondering how CD sound compares. Good stuff anyway!

Chuck Cleaver
Send Aid
Shake It
19 July 2019

Chuck Cleaver (Wussy, Ass Ponys) has been writing and performing his thoughtful, idiosyncratic songs for over thirty years, developing a cult following of devoted fans across the United States, Europe and beyond. However, this summer’s upcoming Send Aid LP (on Shake It Records) marks his first recorded solo output.

According to Cleaver, “folks have been trying to get me to do a solo record for years now”, but the thought of recording without his regular bandmates had always left him feeling a bit out-of-step. But then a prolific writing streak came along, and after Wussy had assembled their latest LPs (Forever Sounds and What Heaven Is Like), he was left with a near-album’s worth of extra material. He characterizes these solo tracks as “primarily Wussy rejects, although I wrote a couple just for this beast.”

And so.. with one track already in tow from the Wussy sessions at Ultrasuede, Cleaver aimed to craft the remaining songs with a more DIY approach that he describes as “somewhere between John Prine and Big Stick”. On Send Aid, he set out to fully explore his love of noise mixed with a stripped-down aesthetic.. then topping it off with a healthy dose of treated/doubled vocals. While a natural performer, Cleaver has always had a Lennon-esque disdain for his own singing voice, placing him in the role of reluctant frontman. But it is this vulnerability that shines through the layers of distortion and tape-delay.

Many of the off-the-cuff performances were recorded as first takes in practice spaces, engineered by frequent Wussy collaborator John Hoffman. The record’s fuzzed out edges are occasionally softened with the addition of cello, accordion, sitar or mandolin from Cleaver’s rotating backing band of friends and neighbors, who just happen to be among the best of Cincinnati’s thriving punk, indie rock and folk communities. The roster includes some of his Wussy bandmates, as well as appearances from members of Lung, Vacation, Dawg Yawp, Swim Team, Notches and Mardou. This record also marks Chuck’s final collaboration with the late (and greatly missed) mastering engineer Dave Davis; the two had worked together since the 1990s on multiple Ass Ponys and Wussy releases.

Much of Cleaver’s writing on Send Aid details the mundanity and memories of daily life, with other tracks unfolding as harrowing fictional narratives (two of Cleaver’s noted strengths). His struggles with self-doubt and pessimism are often laid bare in cheery three-chord pop format, as evidenced on the self-loathing opener “Terrible Friend”, as well as in “Bed”, in which he wards off thoughts of impending mortality with sleep: And as my time decreases / I’m sitting listening to “I Fall to Pieces” / And while the words are winding through my head / I think of all the things I should have said / Then I give up and go to bed.

Send Aid’s first single is “Anything”, an anthem to failed relationships, in which Cleaver laments, “It’s impossible, it seems, to not romanticize the past.” As if confirming his suspicions, he does just that in the final verse: Had it been a meaningless exchange, I don’t suppose I’d care / But the fuses all were lit, and bits of us were scattered everywhere / Though it’s really just my luck that I would try to find some comfort there / But I would do anything, I would do anything.

But not all is doom and gloom: In the sweet and instantly singable album closer “Folk Night at Fucky’s”, Cleaver recollects dancing around the house with his daughter as they listened to Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping”. Throughout the record, emotions range from despair to joy.. and everything in between. There are odes to bullets dodged (“Mess”, “Devil May Care”), megalomaniacs in positions of power (“Children of the Corn”), and the dual nature of passion (“Flowers and the Devil”).

No Cleaver record would be complete without a couple of tales from haunted small-town-Ohio, which always reside somewhere between reality and horror. His ominous “The Weekend That It Happened” details a fictional account of kidnapping and murder rooted in his real-life suspicion that “bad things always happen on the weekend”. Later on the album, “The Night We Missed the Horror Show” is a riff off of a Joe Lansdale short story title with one word altered. “I really just used the title,” he explains. “The song itself has nothing to do with the story. Except that there’s an element of overwhelming dread in the original – and a similar sense of dread in the song. But it’s about being afraid of things to come. It’s kind of a toss up as to what’s more horrific – the story or real life.”

The album’s cover photos were taken by his daughter Anna Stockton, and were discovered in a moment of kismet. Cleaver had been having difficulty deciding on a cover image, when she happened to send him a batch of photos she had recently taken of his hometown Clarksville, Ohio. The first image he pulled up was of a now-defunct business well-known to him from his childhood. He knew immediately it would be the cover. According to Cleaver, “It’s a former furniture store that just happened to be where I was waiting on the school bus one morning in the 70s, when the owner asked if I could go up the street to check on the town barber. I found him, but he was long dead and catfish-grey. It was not a pleasant memory.” As for the title, it “came from a sign that’s on the door. It’s still there.”

The back cover, also a photo by Stockton, depicts the decaying remains of Valley Steel, also in Clarksville – a once thriving mill that ceased to exist when the railroad disappeared from the region. “It’s by the #8 trestle” according to Cleaver (Ass Ponys fans may recognize “trestle eight” from the song “Grim”). “It’s a sad ass state of affairs.”

Cleaver, along with Wussy bandmates Lisa Walker and Mark Messerly, will be combining forces for a solo tour throughout the East Coast, New England and the Midwest in Summer 2019. The in-the-round style shows will feature material from Send Aid, as well as from Walker’s and Messerly’s recently-released solo albums (under the monikers The Magic Words and INERT, respectively). The trio will perform in a combination of one-, two- and three-person setups, sharing stories behind the songs as time permits. Some stripped-down Wussy numbers will be included in the set (a la Funeral Dress II and Public Domain), interspersed with new solo and duo material.

If you have any questions, contact riotactmedia.com.

Lisa Walker sings the majority of my more recent favourite Wussy songs, but I will still get hold of this soon.

I saw the three of them doing their solo stuff as support for Wussy when they played Glasgow last year. It was kind of shambolic at times but still very charming.
Hopefully the Chuck Cleaver record will be easier to get hold of than the Magic Words tape release or the INERT CD. I only managed to get the tape from the merch stand at the gig. I still don't have the INERT release.

The Chuck Cleaver record is out and it sounds excellent on first listen. It's his catchiest batch of songs since Attica. The production is just OK but his guitar and vocals are always so strong.

Agree. (Only took me eight months to buy it.) I love "Flowers & the Devil": "I'm so happy that I found you/I can't stand to be around you" is a great line.

I've never watched one of these, but Lisa and Chuck are doing a live Facebook thing right now.

http://www.facebook.com/wussymusic/videos/218542789408976/?v=218542789408976¬if_id=1586559423577212¬if_t=live_video

Some sad news. Our bandmate John Erhardt passed away this week. We are devastated, and we will miss him every day. It was truly such a pleasure to know him. The band’s full statement is below. pic.twitter.com/Po8OxhtEa7

— Wussy (@wussymusic) May 7, 2020

Just came to post that...They're my favourite band, but honestly, I don't know anybody except for Chuck and Lisa.

Same here essentially. RIP, John.

We're taking a week off from the Friday evening live stream but we'll be back next week. Didn't know this was a regular thing, glad they're continuing with it. RIP & rock on.

He was the guitarist of the Ass Ponys as well, he wrote all their best songs ("Mr. Superlove", "11:11", et. al.)

John recorded & mixed & produced the first four Ass Ponys records (as well as a bunch of the Wussy records):

John Erhardt @wussymusic approached the world with a beautiful mixture of curiosity, patience and joy; a creative wildcard that always made the hand stronger. I will treasure the laughs and music. Extra sad to lose someone like this because there are too few of them as it is. pic.twitter.com/pJQQzmI1Th

— John Curley (@MrJohnCurley) May 9, 2020

My favourite Ass Ponys song (couldn't really name an album) is "Astronaut" from--greatest album title ever--Some Stupid with a Flare Gun. Looks like he'd moved on by that point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UU0b_MO_HM

There was a great homemade video for that 10 years ago that appears to have been removed. Gotta remember to record these things before they disappear.

Still there! Forgot that someone took the trouble to hide it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUKZzCodSnA

Damnably has put together an online benefit w/concert footage from our May 2016 show at the Brixton Windmill. They're hosting a watch party today at 1pm PDT / 4pm EDT / 9pm BST. It’s a free online event, but donations to the funds listed in the YouTube link are welcome. ❤️ https://t.co/RzP6ejw3Ib

— Wussy (@wussymusic) May 11, 2020

Ghosts is quite good. My two favourites are "Days and Hours" and "She's Out There." There's a nice of cover Dusty Springfield's "Breakfast in Bed." And it's free!

http://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/ghosts

What's the deal with Friday livestreams?

Are they doing some kind of Vulgar Boatmen split band thing?

Doing a Badfinger cover right now

I watched most of the first one months ago. I'm just not someone to stick with something like that--hope they're making some money out of it.

I hear you. I was watching some of those things regularly but ultimately ended up feeling weird about it somehow.

Just in general, my boundless love for mankind in the first couple of weeks of the pandemic has gradually returned to me telling loud people to shut the fuck up under my breath and getting impatient in slow-moving lines.

I hear you

Got all excited when I found the Wussy/Paranoid Style record for $13 on Amazon, with free shipping, so I ordered it immediately. I had it in my wind it was a double-EP. It's a 12-inch single...I just paid $13 for a 12-inch single, quite probably the least frugal thing I've done in 45 years of buying records.

"in my mind"...a little extra proof it may be going.

Well maybe it'll be good---let us know. Paranoid Style vocals put me off, but I didn't stay with it long, whenever that was.
Forgot to paste this, from What Are You Listening To?:
Wussy's Ghosts is/are odds and sods, appropriately for The Who influence that keeps coming back, even on campfire and laundromat songs here (guitars tend to push back against and through woolgathering words, some the vocal levels take getting used to, but yknow studio field recordings, with some odd little ambient sounds---Lisa Gardner's voice always comes right out, even on one of her damn Magic Numbers Radio Shack tracks, where she comes out just enough to pull me in, or close enough to see her slow spin, in the dryer, like.

She also rolls one of the most startling highlights among several: a cover of the Eddie Hinton-Donnie Fritts classy chestnut "Breakfast in Bed," a highlight of the all-highlights Dusty In Memphis,here with guitars from another part of theeeee 60s.
you can listen to the whole thing here:
https://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/ghosts
Although the tracks are in a different order in the promo file; play 'em as you please, of course. Quite few releases on their bandcamp.

in lieu of a poll i hereby request lists of top wussy songs from clemenza and others

no doubt i'm the only one hung up on 'donny's death scene'

Love to! Here's the 80-minute CD I play in the car (goes up to What Heaven Is Like...I don't think they've released anything since).

1. airborne (2005)
2. crooked (2005)
3. bought it again (2005)
4. millie christine (2007)
5. tiny spiders (2007)
6. sun giant says hey (2007)
7. melody ranch (2007)
8. vivian girls (2007)
9. gone missing (2009)
10. all the bugs are growing (2009)
11. pizza king (2011)
12. little miami (2011)
13. teenage wasteland (2014)
14. halloween (2014)
15. home (2014)
16. beautiful (2014)
17. dropping houses (2016)
18. aliens in our midst (2016)
19. skip (2018)
20. black hole (2018)

Kornrulez6969 suggested above that I should have included "Rigor Mortis," and I think that is indeed a fan favourite--I like it, not quite as much as what I have.

nice, ty!

Hello friends!
We wanted to let you know that the Wussy Duo (Chuck and Lisa) will be teaming up with Undertow Shows for a fall living room tour. There are still a few tickets left in Cleveland, Buffalo, Montpelier, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
Tickets are available here: undertowshows.com/collections/wussy

Here's the full list of dates:
Oct 28 - Cincinnati (Sold Out)
Oct 29 - Cleveland
Oct 30 - Buffalo
Nov 1 - Montpelier
Nov 2 - Brooklyn (Sold Out)
Nov 3 - Philadelphia
Nov 4 - Baltimore (Sold Out)
Nov 5 - Pittsburgh
Nov 6 - Columbus (Sold Out)

It's been ages since we've been able to play live, and we're really excited to get back out on the road. We would love to see you there!
xo
Lisa & Chuck

Or that I was (guessing they don't mean Columbus GA or MS)

New album coming too.

oh sweet, thanks for the tip dow, hadnt heard about this, will definitely be scooping a ticket

I found Ghosts in the glove compartment the other day, the last thing they released (COVID year). Looking it up later led me to something I didn't know: Mark Messerly, their bassist, put out an album in 2019 under the name Inert. So I bought it from Bandcamp and, as I expected, if you're a Wussy fan it's quite good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTOCaqgjo5Y