"These 4 songs represent the first chapter of Mould. Most of them stem from jams we had during soundchecks on tour as Fenne Lily's backing band for her Breach album tour. Once we got back from tour we decided to replace Joe's solo project Slonk (which we all played in) with a fresh new collaborative beast, we called that beast Mould."

TRACK LISTING

1. Cables
2. The Space You Take Up
3. Birdsong
4. Glow

Demon Records presents Distortion: Live, the fourth and final edition in a series of expansive vinyl box sets chronicling the solo career of legendary American musician Bob Mould. Bob Mould’s career began in 1979 with the iconic underground punk group Hüsker Dü before forming the beloved alternative rock band Sugar and releasing numerous critically acclaimed solo albums. The final volume in the series features 8LPs of live recordings from across Mould’s solo career.

TRACK LISTING

LP 1 & 2
Bob Mould
Live At The Cabaret Metro, 1989

Side A
1. Sunspots
2. Wishing Well
3. Compositions For The Young And Old
4. Heartbreak A Stranger
5. Dreaming, I Am

Side B
1. If You're True
2. Poison Years
3. Sinners And Their Repentances
4. Lonely Afternoon

Side C
1. Brasilia Crossed With Trenton
2. See A Little Light
3. Whichever Way The Wind Blows
4. All Those People Know

Side D
1. Shoot Out The Lights
2. Hardly Getting Over It
3. Celebrated Summer
4. Makes No Sense At All

LP 3 & 4

Sugar
The Joke Is Always On Us, Sometimes

Side A
1. Gift
2. Company Book
3. Hoover Dam
4. After All The Roads Have Led To Nowhere

Side B
1. Where Diamonds Are Halos
2. Slick
3. Going Home
4. Running Out Of Time
5. Frustration

Side C
1. Changes
2. Can't Help You Any More
3. Helpless
4. If I Can't Change Your Mind
5. In The Eyes Of My Friends

Side D
1. Clownmaster
2. Gee Angel
3. Explode And Make Up
4. The Slim

LP 5 & 6

BobMouldBand
LiveDog98

Side A
1. Moving Trucks
2. Taking Everything
3. First Drag Of The Day
4. I Hate Alternative Rock
5. Stand Guard

Side B
1. Classifieds
2. Hear Me Calling
3. Art Crisis
4. Anymore Time Between

Side C
1. Skintrade
2. Eternally Fried
3. Roll Over And Die
4. Lonely Afternoon

Side D
1. Egoverride
2. Reflecting Pool
3. Disappointed
4. Hanging Tree
5. Man On The Moon

LP 7
Bob Mould Band
Live At ATP 2008

Side A

1. The Act We Act
2. A Good Idea
3. I Hate Alternative Rock
4. See A Little Light
5. Hoover Dam
6. Circles

Side B
1. Paralyzed
2. I Apologize
3. Chartered Trips
4. Celebrated Summer
5. Makes No Sense At All
6. New Day Rising

LP 8

Bob Mould
Distortion Plus: Live

Side A - Live At First Avenue, March 1995

1. Fort Knox, King Solomon
2. I Hate Alternative Rock

Side B - Live At The 9:30 Club, 7th October 2005

1. Could You Be The One?
2. I Apologize
3. Chartered Trips 

Demon Records presents Distortion: 2008-2019, the third in a series of four expansive vinyl box sets chronicling the solo career of legendary American musician Bob Mould. Bob Mould’s career began in 1979 with the iconic underground punk group Hüsker Dü before forming the beloved alternative rock band Sugar and releasing numerous critically acclaimed solo albums. Volume three in this new series covers the period 2008-2019 and contains many of Bob Mould’s most celebrated recordings including Silver Age (2012), Patch The Sky (2016), and Sunshine Rock (2019).

TRACK LISTING

LP 1 – District Line (2008)

Side A

1. Stupid Now
2. Who Needs To Dream?
3. Again And Again
4. Old Highs, New Lows
5. Return To Dust

Side B

1. The Silence Between Us
2. Shelter Me
3. Very Temporary
4. Miniature Parade
5. Walls In Time

LP 2 - Life And Times (2009)

Side A

1. Life And Times
2. The Breach
3. City Lights (Days Go By)
4. MM 17
5. Argos

Side B

1. Bad Blood Better
2. Wasted World
3. Spiraling Down
4. I'm Sorry, Baby, But You Can’t
Stand In My Light Any More
5. Lifetime

LP 3 – Silver Age (2012)

Side A

1. Star Machine
2. Silver Age
3. The Descent
4. Briefest Moment
5. Steam Of Hercules

Side B

1. Fugue State
2. Round The City Square
3. Angels Rearrange
4. Keep Believing
5. First Time Joy

LP 4 – Beauty & Ruin (2014)

Side A

1. Low Season
2. Little Glass Pill
3. I Don't Know You Anymore
4. Kid With Crooked Face
5. Nemeses Are Laughing
6. The War

Side B

1. Forgiveness
2. Hey Mr. Grey
3. Fire In The City
4. Tomorrow Morning
5. Let The Beauty Be
6. Fix It

LP 5 – Patch The Sky (2016)

Side A

1. Voices In My Head
2. The End Of Things
3. Hold On
4. You Say You
5. Losing Sleep
6. Pray For Rain

Side B

1. Lucifer And God
2. Daddy's Favorite
3. Hands Are Tied
4. Black Confetti
5. Losing Time
6. Monument

LP 6 – Sunshine Rock (2019)

Side A

1. Sunshine Rock
2. What Do You Want Me To Do
3. Sunny Love Song
4. Thirty Dozen Roses
5. The Final Years
6. Irrational Poison

Side B

1. I Fought
2. Sin King
3. Lost Faith
4. Camp Sunshine
5. Send Me A Postcard
6. Western Sunset

LP 7 – Distortion Plus: 2008-2019 (2021, First Time On Vinyl)

Side A

1. Dear Rosemary (Foo Fighters)
2. Father's Day (Butch Walker)
3. I Don't Mind

Side B

Etching 

Distortion: 1996-2007 is the second in a series of four expansive vinyl box sets chronicling the solo career of legendary American musician Bob Mould. Bob Mould’s career began in 1979 with the iconic underground punk group Hüsker Dü before forming the beloved alternative rock band Sugar and releasing numerous critically acclaimed solo albums. Volume two in this new series covers 1996 to 2007, beginning with the 1996 self-titled solo album and continuing through to Mould’s 2006 collaboration with Rich Morel Blowoff. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: As one of the most well regarded and enduring figureheads of the punk movement, this box set of Bob Mould's covers mid 90's to the mid 00's, some of his greatest work including his first solo album.

TRACK LISTING

LP 1: Bob Mould – Bob Mould
Side A
1. Anymore Time Between
2. I Hate Alternative Rock
3. Fort Knox, King Solomon
4. Next Time That You Leave
5. Egøverride
Side B
1. Thumbtack
2. Hair Stew
3. Deep Karma Canyon
4. Art Crisis
5. Roll Over And Die

LP 2: Bob Mould – The Last Dog And Pony Show
Side A
1. New #1
2. Moving Trucks
3. Taking Everything
4. First Drag Of The Day
5. Classifieds
6. Who Was Around?
Side B
1. Skintrade
2. Vaporub
3. Sweet Serene
4. Megamanic
5. Reflecting Pool
6. Along The Way

LP 3: Bob Mould – Modulate.
(First Time On Vinyl)
Side A
1. 180 Rain
2. Sunset Safety Glass
3. Semper Fi
4. Homecoming Parade
5. Lost Zoloft
6. Without?
7. Slay/Sway
Side B
1. The Receipt
2. Quasar
3. Soundonsound
4. Hornery
5. Comeonstrong
6. Trade
7. Author's Lament

LP 4 & 5: LoudBomb – Long Playing Grooves.
(First Time On Vinyl, 45 Rpm)
Side A
1. Theme (It's A Perfect Day)
2. Guys Like You
3. Devil V. Angel
Side B
1. I Cannot Reverse You
2. The Fall Collection
3. This Is The Way I Want It
Side C
1. BB DuBois
2. Factory Builders Convention
3. NumberNine
Side D
1. Heaven's On Fire
2. We Need The Truth
3. Helium

LP 6: Bob Mould – Body Of Song
Side A
1. Circles
2. (Shine Your) Light Love Hope
3. Paralyzed
4. I Am Vision, I Am Sound
5. Underneath Days
6. Always Tomorrow
Side B
1. Days Of Rain
2. Best Thing
3. High Fidelity
4. Missing You
5. Gauze Of Friendship
6. Beating Heart The Prize

LP 7 & 8: BLOWOFF – BLOWOFF
(First Time On Vinyl, 45 Rpm)
Side A
1. Hormone Love
2. Here And Now
3. Overload
Side B
1. Saturday Night All The Time
2. Life With A View
3. Man Keeps Winning
Side C
1. Lemonade
2. Tag It
3. Fallout
Side D
1. Get Inside With Me
2. Beautiful
3. The Ballad Of Mark Dirt

LP 9: Distortion Plus: 1996-2007
(First Time On Vinyl)
Side A
1. Dog On Fire (Demo)
2. Wanted Was
3. Eternally Fried
4. Doubleface
5. He Didn't
Side B
1. Castor And Pollux
2. Surveyors And Cranes
3. Love Escalator
4. Lowdown Ground
5. My Old Friend
6. Nihil

In the winter of 2019, Bob Mould bucked the era’s despair with his most melodic, upbeat album in ages, Sunshine Rock.

Cut to spring of 2020, and he has this to say: “We’re really in deep shit now.”

That sentiment informs the new full-length album, Blue Hearts (Merge, September 25), the raging-but-catchy yin to Sunshine Rock’s yang.

To be sure, we were in some shit back in 2018, when Mould recorded Sunshine Rock with longtime colleagues Jon Wurster (drums), Jason Narducy (bass), and Beau Sorenson (engineer). Back then, he had a song called “American Crisis” that didn’t fit the album.

“That song is the seed for what we’re talking about now,” Mould says from his home in San Francisco during the COVID-19 lockdown. “At the time, it just seemed too heavy. Today it seems fucking quaint.”

“American Crisis” is the third song in a walloping first half of an album that spits plainspoken fire at the people who fomented this crisis. “This is the catchiest batch of protest songs I’ve ever written in one sitting,” he says.

Through some of the most direct, confrontational lyrics of his four-decade career, Mould makes his POV clear: “I never thought I’d see this bullshit again / To come of age in the ’80s was bad enough / We were marginalized and demonized / I watched a lot of my generation die / Welcome back to American crisis.”

Why “welcome back”? Because Mould experienced deja vu writing Blue Hearts in the fall of 2019. “Where it started to go in my head is back to a spot that I’ve been in before,” he says. “And that was the fall of 1983.”

Back then, Mould was a self-described “22-year-old closeted gay man” touring with the legendary Hüsker Dü and seeing an epidemic consume his community. Leaders, including the one in the White House, were content to let AIDS kill a generation. Mould later realized why his mind wandered back there for Blue Hearts.

“We have a charismatic, telegenic, say-anything leader being propped up by evangelicals,” he says. “These fuckers tried to kill me once. They didn’t do it. They scared me. I didn’t do enough. Guess what? I’m back, and we’re back here again. And I’m not going to sit quietly this time and worry about alienating anyone.”

Recorded at the famed Electrical Audio in Chicago with Sorenson engineering and Mould producing, Blue Hearts nods to Mould’s past while remaining firmly planted in the issues of the day. Acoustic opener “Heart on My Sleeve” catalogues the ravages of climate change. “Next Generation” worries for who comes next. “American Crisis” references “Evangelical ISIS” and features this dagger of a line: “Pro-life, pro-life until you make it in someone else’s wife.”

“There are songs that have no room,” Mould says, laughing. “The other songs, there’s room. There is room for imagination on the second half of the record.”

That’s where the songs turn personal in a different way. Tracks like “When You Left,” “Siberian Butterfly,” and “Everyth!ng to You” are grounded in personal relationships. “Racing to the End” captures the economic disparity of Mould’s neighborhood, and “Leather Dreams”… well, maybe Jon Wurster put it best.

“Jon turns to Jason and asks, ‘Is this the dirtiest song you’ve ever played on?’” Mould recalls with a chuckle. “I clearly did not put the edit tool to that one. Those are all pretty true bits. What kind of person could possibly have a life like that?” He laughs again. “Says the author.”

“Leather Dreams,” “Password to My Soul,” and “The Ocean” were composed during a writing binge before a January 2020 Solo Electric tour, when Mould stayed up for three straight days. “Songs just kept coming out,” he says. “‘Leather Dreams’ and ‘The Ocean’ both appeared within hours. I barely remember writing them.”

That feels right for an explosive, hook-laden album like Blue Hearts. Only there’s nothing forgettable about it.

TRACK LISTING

1. Heart On My Sleeve
2. Next Generation
3. American Crisis
4. Fireball
5. Forecast Of Rain
6. When You Left
7. Siberian Butterfly
8. Everyth!ng To You
9. Racing To The End
10. Baby Needs A Cookie
11. Little Pieces
12. Leather Dreams
13. Password To My Soul
14. The Ocean

The cliché that circulated after the 2016 election foretold a new artistic golden age: Artists would transform their anger and anxiety into era-defining works of dissent in the face of authoritarianism.
Yet Bob Mould calls his new album Sunshine Rock.
It’s not because Mould—whose face belongs on the Mount Rushmore of alternative music—likes the current administration. His decision to “write to the sunshine,” as he describes it, comes from a more personal place – a place found in Berlin, Germany, where he’s spent the majority of the last three years. Here Mould would draw inspiration from the new environments.
“Almost four years ago, I made plans for an extended break,” Mould explains. “I started spending time in Berlin in 2015, found an apartment in 2016, and became a resident in 2017. My time in Berlin has been a life changing experience. The winter days are long and dark, but when the sun comes back, all spirits lift.”
These three years in Berlin would quite literally shed new light on Mould’s everyday mindset.

“To go from [2011 autobiography] See a Little Light to the last three albums, two of which were informed by loss of each parent, respectively, at some point I had to put a Post-It note on my work station and say, ‘Try to think about good things.’ Otherwise I could really go down a long, dark hole,” he says. “I’m trying to keep things brighter these days as a way to stay alive.”

That makes Sunshine Rock as logical a product of the current climate as any rage-fuelled agit-rock. Variations on the word “sun” appear 27 times in five different songs over the course of the album’s 37 minutes. To hear Mould tell it, the theme developed early.
“Sunshine Rock is one hell of a way to wrap up the busiest decade of my career,” he shares. “The autobiography, the Disney Hall tribute show, reissues of several albums from my catalogue, three current rock band albums, several world tours, and now this new album — I’m humbled and grateful to still be making new music while celebrating my lifetime songbook.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The aptly titled Sunshine Rock is indeed another side to Mould, eschewing the dark undertones of his previous work, focusing on the more optimistic pop spirit that has always provided the counterfoil to his trademark gloom. Major-key resolutions to slowly-grown unease lifts the mood once again into shining summer haze. Exactly as accomplished as you'd expect from Mould, but a good deal more optimistic. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

01 Sunshine Rock
02 What Do You Want Me To Do
03 Sunny Love Song
04 Thirty Dozen Roses
05 The Final Years
06 Irrational Poison
07 I Fought
08 Sin King
09 Lost Faith
10 Camp Sunshine
11 Send Me A Postcard
12 Western Sunset

Having left a permanent mark with both his bands, Hüsker Dü and Sugar, and with a half-dozen, uncompromising solo albums released during and after these bands lived, Bob has long been regarded as a name at the forefront of American music. Not one for sentiment, Bob prefers to ignore his legacy and 'cult status', going straight to what he does best – namely that of making hair-raisingly emotional, undeniably catchy, loud, mature, guitar rock. "District Line" instantly sounds both familiar and classic. Providing a backbone to the record is Brendan Canty (Fugazi), a perfect foil to Mould's determined guitar riffs, insistent basslines and passionate, vulnerable singing, while the beautifully bittersweet cello comes courtesy of Amy Domingues. They make a huge sound for a small team and fans will delight in this, a new 'Loud Bob' record. Recorded in a warehouse space with a mobile studio, "District Line" is a dozen flavours of Mould's inspired, instantly memorable, melodic songwriting and playing.