OK, tell me all about Wussy

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.

Wow

Comes out mid-month...I love driving videos!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnF8gypAOGA

It's wild seeing clips of Edinburgh in the video among all the other places. They were so great that night in The Electric Circus (a horrible venue that's now part of a Gallery). Genuinely one of my top 5 gigs of all time

Bought the new one a couple of weeks ago, finally got it onto a disc and into the car. I'd say about half of it's great on first listen. I've developed a marked preference over the years for Lisa-sung songs (maybe also the ones she writes, I don't know). First track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0y6AiXleAE

I just love listening to them in the car surrounded by empty snowy fields in all directions.

I think the two songs above are masterpieces. My third favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixNabaWf6os

Sounds a lot like "Black Hole" from What Heaven Is Like. Which I love, so that's okay--keep rewriting that one.

It's good! And gets better with repeated listens. I concur that Lisa's songs are more immediate. I've never seen them live, hope to next year.

I never see live music anymore, but I'll die disappointed that I never got to see them. I don't know if they ever got up to Toronto pre-COVID, but I know they haven't been in Canada anywhere since.

No surprise, an A from Christgau for Cincinnati Ohio. If I've got this right, their eight regular-issue LPs are A/A/A/A/A+/A-/A-/A on the Consumer Guide.

Will listen for the first time in a few.

In my mind Wussy and Kathleen Edwards occupy adjacent spaces, wonder if anyone else feels similar.

Looks like she released two songs last year and has been recording a new album.

Anyway, back to this new Wussy album.

Should have worded it “if anyone else feels similarly, or am I a cigarette alone?”

He actually reviews three Wussy records this CG.

Does this band have a fan base outside of Christgau acolytes?

Must have.

I liked the first two or three albums but their output after 2014 is so, like, Fisher Price Yo La Tengo that their admittedly well-observed lyrics fail to rise out of the mild noise.

As far as I'm concerned everything they've released aside from What Heaven Is Like is on a spectrum from good to great with Attica a high water mark.
The new one is really also really good. I particularly like Inhaler and Winged. It will be in my top ten of albums released in 2024 when I get round to finishing that list

I've seen them live a couple of times and the first show of theirs I attended is in my personal top ten out of the hundreds of gigs in my life

I live in Scotland and I have never knowingly read any Christgau

record store clerks
Midwestern dads who read Pitchfork in their teens/early 20s
alt-country lifers
aging punks/college radio DJs in the Chicago/Cincy/St. Louis triangle

these are all larger groups than "Christgau acolytes"

i would say the size of their fanbase is something like "Being There-era Wilco"

How often do nursing homes take the remaining Christgau acolytes on shopping trips to the record store?

All right, rabbit, you've convinced me. I've only been listening to Wussy with enjoyment because of misguided tribal alliances. I'll be doing a Wussy Sucks bonfire auto-da-fé of all my Wussy recordings come the weekend.

Treefell: we're Wussy twins. Heaven's the only album I don't like (except for "Dropping Houses"), Attica is my favourite (or at least tied with their debut), and my two favourites on the new one are "Inhaler" and "The Great Divide."

They're able to make it to Scotland but not Canada? Ouch.

#2 on Christgau's year-end, right behind Louis Armstrong.

That Armstrong album is great.

This is fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xsgu7mSIOk

Quite content with where I live, but I do wish I could go out on a Saturday morning to a Wussy garage sale.

https://i.postimg.cc/15rvT63C/wussy.jpg

A little too expensive from Canada, but hope to catch up this eventually:

https://wussyworld.com/music/factoryfloor

"with"

What a great tracklist!

Nice cover art tribute there.

I looked for the skull and dagger but didn't see one.

Heh. Me neither.

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

― mookieproof, Sunday, November 14, 2021 11:50 PM (four years ago)

still the greatest

imagine neil *not* doing cod jamaican on cortez; this is better