The Breeders

 Mountain Battles | 4AD
By MICHAEL BRODEUR  |  April 29, 2008
2.5 2.5 Stars
The_Breeders_inside
A big part of maintaining a lasting, fruitful relationship with the Breeders is acceptance. You’re not going to get too far pining for Josephine Wiggs or Tanya Donnelly or that drummer with the serious tube socks to show up again. By now it’s unrealistic to expect vestigial Pixies characteristics, and it’s downright unfair to demand the same feather-light rasp from Kim Deal’s chimney. In other words, there will be no future Pod, and Last Splash was just that. The uncertainty of sound and spirit that characterized 2002’s Title TK is still palpable — but that’s not to shortchange uncertainty. If anything, this time around, the Breeders sound more comfortable with no prescription (no mean jab intended); when Kim Deal diversifies her portfolio with the Spanish-sung “Regálame Esta Noche,” or the (you guessed it) German-sung “German Studies,” or the ecstatically repetitive opener, “Overglazed,” or the porchy hoedown of “Here No More,” it often amounts to silly, albeit highly satisfying, dabblings. It’s reasonable, given the variety of their back catalogue, to hope that the Breeders never commit to any given motif — but there’s a fine line between a fearless band testing several fresh approaches and a piecemeal album that has you longing for the glories of “Glorious.”
Related: loudQuietloud: A Film About The Pixies, Raw deals, Rock, stop, and bop, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Kim Deal, Tanya Donnelly, THE BREEDERS
| More

Most Popular
Blogs
 More: Phlog  |  Music  |  Film  |  Books  |  Politics  |  Media  |  Election '08  |  Free Speech  |  All Blogs
ARTICLES BY MICHAEL BRODEUR
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   FOLK ACT  |  June 26, 2010
    Vikesh Kapoor
  •   BOSTON PRIDE WEEK: OFF THE MAP  |  June 07, 2010
    We may seem a little cranky, but us local gayfolk just love a parade, and we’re actually heartened by this annual influx of brothers and sisters from every state of New England and every letter of our ever-expanding acronym.  
  •   THE NEW GAY BARS  |  June 02, 2010
    If I may channel the late, great Estelle Getty for a moment: picture it, Provincetown, 2009, a dashing young man with no discernible tan and an iffy T-Mobile signal languishes bored upon the sprawling patio of the Boatslip Resort.
  •   ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI | BEFORE TODAY  |  June 01, 2010
    If the gradual polishing of Ariel Pink’s sound — and it’s not all that much more polished — puts his loyalists at odds with his albums, I count that as good news.
  •   MORE THAN HUMAN  |  May 26, 2010
    It’s hard to talk about Janelle Monáe when your jaw’s fallen off.

 See all articles by: MICHAEL BRODEUR

LATEST SLIDESHOWS

All Slideshows