Melvins absolutely kick ass

And it's not even close. It's so exciting when artists go out of their way to make an album that's truly fantastic. That being said, Beck's new album is kind of disappointing. It's weird, it's like he's trying to "make some social point" with a lot of the songs on his newest album. I downloaded Beck's latest release VIA the iTunes store, Modern Guilt, as well as Nude With Boots at midnight when both albums were slated to be released.

Sure, they're both completely different albums, but it's pretty easy to gauge the effort put into both. Beck just sounds bored, and as somebody who's been listening to his music since I was 10,that's really hard for me to say. He's always been somebody who's music gets me really excited. All of his albums have great tone. Even though many of them are sonically different, you always know it's a Beck album. This time, though, his lyrics are just laconic. The songs that are about love aren't the songs we're used to Beck singing that are about love. And like I mentioned earlier, he tries tackling issues, which is just stupid. 

What I think is cool about Nude With Boots is that it seems like after 25 years, the group finally seems to be taking themselves seriously. Their previous album kicked a lot of ass. Teaming up with two members of Big Business gave their sound a streamlined feeling. It sounded mature, but when you listened to it, you could still sit there and find little blips of the Melvins' creative peak in the early 90s: the attitude was there, they definitely wanted to revisit that artistic greatness again. 

And their last two albums definitely show that. A lot of people understand how important the Melvins are to alternative rock (mostly thanks to Kurt Cobain fellating their ego during his last few years on Earth, kind of like what he did with the Meat Puppets, too) but nobody ever gives them their credit. It's usually ushered towards Cobain. Rightfully so, but sonically, the Melvins' influence is much more visible. 

The Melvins are starting to remind me of Hawkwind, especially their days on United Artists. Sonic masterminds who really don't give a shit about selling records. They care about putting on a killer performance and making a great record. For me, Space Ritual is one of the five greatest live albums of all-time, and their follow-up to it, In the Hall of the Mountain Grill, kicks the living shit out of the terribly overrated Dark Side of the Moon.

Seriously, buy Nude With Boots. Not just because it's a great album, and you should support the Melvins and their label Ipecac Recordings, but because Buzz Osborne could beat the living shit out of Roger Waters and his stupid ego. If his ego were tangible, I'd punch it in the face.