Munki
Dennis Lim / Spin
09.1998
09.1998
(Volume 14, Number 9)
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Munki
SubPop
The Jesus and Mary Chain sputtered into existence with the sweet buzz-saw massacre of Psychocandy, followed it with some stark reflective ballads on Darklands, then settled into an increasingly pointless and enervated quest for an elusive middle ground. Munki, Jim and William Reid's sixth studio album, is by no means a breakthrough, but it's certainly a sensible regression - the sound of confirmed adolescents fending off middle age the only way they know.
The record's most gratifying aspect, especially bracing after 1994's apathetic Stoned & Dethroned, is its reliable scuzziness. Mazzy Star's snoozy Hope Sandoval guests on - and decisively anesthetizes - one track, "Perfume," but Munki mostly crackles with the rude, restless energy that the brothers misplaced circa 1989's Automatic. Opening with the alarmingly earnest "I Love Rock'n'Roll," the new album further simplifies, and somehow roughs up, the trusty dumb-hooks-dumber-words formula. Fans will savor the guttersnipe groove of "Crackin' Up," the brute catchiness of "Fizzy," the sheer freak show/karaoke quality of "Mo Tucker" (sung by the Reids' off-key sister Linda to alternately scary and joyful effect). Detractors will grumble Munki is rock'n'roll distilled to cliché. That's exactly the point, though well beyond self-parody, the Jesus and Mary Chain may have finally found a niche as their own tribute band.
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Munki
SubPop
The Jesus and Mary Chain sputtered into existence with the sweet buzz-saw massacre of Psychocandy, followed it with some stark reflective ballads on Darklands, then settled into an increasingly pointless and enervated quest for an elusive middle ground. Munki, Jim and William Reid's sixth studio album, is by no means a breakthrough, but it's certainly a sensible regression - the sound of confirmed adolescents fending off middle age the only way they know.
The record's most gratifying aspect, especially bracing after 1994's apathetic Stoned & Dethroned, is its reliable scuzziness. Mazzy Star's snoozy Hope Sandoval guests on - and decisively anesthetizes - one track, "Perfume," but Munki mostly crackles with the rude, restless energy that the brothers misplaced circa 1989's Automatic. Opening with the alarmingly earnest "I Love Rock'n'Roll," the new album further simplifies, and somehow roughs up, the trusty dumb-hooks-dumber-words formula. Fans will savor the guttersnipe groove of "Crackin' Up," the brute catchiness of "Fizzy," the sheer freak show/karaoke quality of "Mo Tucker" (sung by the Reids' off-key sister Linda to alternately scary and joyful effect). Detractors will grumble Munki is rock'n'roll distilled to cliché. That's exactly the point, though well beyond self-parody, the Jesus and Mary Chain may have finally found a niche as their own tribute band.
