August 30, 2002
SINCE WE'VE BECOME TRANSLUCENT
By DARRYL STERDAN

SINCE WE'VE BECOME TRANSLUCENT
Mudhoney
(Sub Pop/Outside)

Translucent? Try damn near invisible.

After these Seattle grunge pioneers got dropped and lost longtime bassist Matt Lukin a few years back, many assumed they were done. Well, don't stick a fork in 'em just yet.

Now reunited with a new bassist -- and back home on their original label Sub Pop -- Mudhoney rise again with the ass-kicking Since We've Become Translucent, their sixth studio album. Yes indeedy, we're happy to report the boys who called their first EP Superfuzz Bigmuff still know how to put the pedal to the metal.

This 10-cut disc finds Mark Arm and his cohorts still cranking out the same chugging, Stooges garage-gunk that is their wont, complete with wiry guitar riffs, sloppy drumming and Arm's nasal whining.

One new touch: A horn section pops up here and there, giving rockers like Where the Flavor Is a Stonesy '70s vibe and injecting free-form jams like Sonic Infusion with a dose of Iggy's L.A. Blues.

"I'm a winner 'cause I got nothing left to lose," yowls Arm. Translucent or no, we can see where he's coming from. (More on Mudhoney)

Track Listing
1. Baby, Can You Dig the Light
2. Straight Life
3. Where the Flavor Is
4. In the Winner's Circle
5. Our Time Is Now
6. Dyin' for It
7. Inside Job
8. Take It Like a Man
9. Crooked and Wide
10. Sonic Infusion