Pere Ubu

These two records are vivid, exhilarating examples of how Americans can use New Wave
punk music for their own purposes. Both Pere Ubu and the Suicide Commandos are from
the Midwest (Cleveland and Minneapolis, respectively), and The Modern Dance and Make a
Record are the first two releases on Blank, an intelligently subversive subsidiary of
Mercury. Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance is harsh and willfully ugly, yet always mi... More >

Ubu's music is nowhere near as willful as it sounds at first. Riffs emerge from the cacophony, David Thomas's shrieking suits the heterodox passion of the lyrics, and the synthesizer noise begins to cohere after a while. So even though there's too much Radio Ethiopia and not enough Redondo Beach, I'll be listening through the failed stuff--the highs are worth it, and the failed stuff ain't bad. (Grade: A-)