OK, tell me all about Wussy

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.