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Bob Mould has been defying musical pigeonholes for the past two decades, from the revolutionary Alt.Rock of Hüsker Dü to the blistering Power Pop of Sugar to his genre-bending solo career. Considering Mould’s recent detour into Electronica (on his solo album Body of Song and producing/remixing under the nom de plume LoudBomb), the House work on Blowoff, his new collaboration with Deep Dish mixmaster Richard Morel, seems like a natural extension. The slightly more surprising aspect of Blowoff (a pro-wrestling term for the ultimate deciding match, a reference to the days when Mould wrote scripts for the WCW) is the rich Pop vein that Mould and Morel both provide to the Dance-drenched soundscape. Mould’s signature Rock/Pop heritage bubbles to the surface on Blowoff’s propulsive opener, “Hormone Love,” while the pair’s Dance prowess pulses effectively on the floor-filling “Saturday Night All the Time.” On the moodily powerful “Overload,” Mould’s guitar slinks through the proceedings, his vocals throb with Greg Dulli’s boozy intensity and Morel provides quietly pummeling beats and textures, an atmosphere that’s mirrored on the more Pop-oriented bounce of “Man Keeps Winning.” Throughout Blowoff’s debut, the duo’s lyrical themes are typically darker than their Electronic/Pop surroundings, but Mould has often examined the tension between bright musical upholstery and uncomfortable lyrical stuffing. Blowoff might ultimately appeal more to club denizens but there’s enough of Mould’s Pop/Rock DNA to attract his fans to the project. (Brian Baker) Grade: B+
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2006.