Reviews

Nikki Sudden

A "Eulogy"

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Review Date: 2006-04-09

When -on March 26 of this year- Nikki Sudden passed away, music lost one of it’s most devoted creators. With a prolific recording history, and an influence that reaches into the post-punk era to inspire bands like Sonic Youth and Wilco, you can understand the loads of publicity surrounding his death. It is apparent even on the first Swell Maps (which Sudden formed with his brother, drummer Epic Soundtracks) that there is an entire genre of music that owes it’s existence to this man. Most of us, however, have never even heard of him.

Featuring a production ethic that tends to include everything AND the kitchen sink, and energy over production, Swell Maps sets themselves apart from most punk bands appearing after The Clash/Sex Pistols era. Arguably, they sound more like T-rex than either of these bands. Added to that, the diversity apparent on even their first album, which starts as simple punk music and goes through many developments(including much a lot of sonic experimentation in the way of sound effects and random conversations included over top of songs) and ends up even exploring surf-rock. Listening to this disc and having any kind of expectation for it is a mistake. When we wind up at “Gun Boats” after having been shown most of the history of punk in the space of half an album, we are somewhat surprised to hear that this sounds more like a Pink Floyd album(featuring Syd Barret, at least) than most albums that pretend to be influenced by Pink Floyd ever do. It is apparent, on a first listen, that Nikki Sudden(whether you like him or hate him) is a genius. I mean, the last two songs on Trip to Marineville are over 7 minutes long! How many punk bands do you know capable of sustaining a song for that long?

Myself? I’m a new man to the Nikki Sudden scene. I’d never even heard of him before Dan asked me to “eulogize” him. And in fact, I don’t listen to a lot of punk, for mostly the same reasons that Brandon mentions in many of his reviews- that is, simply, that punk music has become so watered down in recent years that it’s hard to really get into it. When you hear a couple of killer bands (I absolutely LOVE the Dead Kennedy’s, for instance) it hurts to hear an entire universe of crappy bands, or posers as I like to call them (despite the fact that I could reasonably be called a poser). So, this opportunity is a welcomed one in the sense that I am exploring new music, even though it has been around forever. And by “forever” I simply mean “before I was born.” On the other hand, it is a very heartbreaking one- because I know now that I should have been into this long before. That I should be one of the mourning fans. Because this music can save lives. It’s everything that this kind of music should be, and nothing that it shouldn’t be.

Back to the prolific part. Because this next information should not be overlooked. Nikki Sudden, in one project or another, released at least one album a year from 1979 to 1991(In some cases 2) took a year off, and then released an album a year(and sometimes 2) from 1993 to 2000, before taking 4 years off before the Treasure Island solo disc. In this day and age, this kind of production is almost unheard of. The rare band or artist manages to do it, but even then the quality seems to suffer greatly. This is not readily apparent with Sudden.

His last album is much like his first in a certain way. That is, the sense of humor. Clearly, by the time Treasure Island came out, he’d had much time to polish his music sensibility. It is possible that had he not attempted to grow, there is no chance of a Nikki Sudden album being made after 1995, but let’s not go there today. What is interesting that the “new” stuff is very finely crafted song writing, while the early stuff could be said to have avoided that at all costs. That’s not to say that nothing of the early ethic remains in his later stuff. You can still hear echoes of the original sonic experimentation. But they tend to come at odd times and only for a moment or two. One more quality also remains- Nikki’s ability to surround himself with spectacular musicians. You could say he’s gotten cheesy. But I doubt he’d have cared, were he able to hear you say it. It is apparent that the original soul is still in the music. It’s gotten older, and maybe more tired. But he still loves the shit, and it’s apparent in every note.

If you like punk music, you are not going to like his latest work. His latest work is more reminiscent of Bob Dylan folk-rock-country. Kind of like the “Time out of mind” disc. But it’s different, too. It sounds less sardonic, though the lyrics themselves are tinged with irony for sure. It’s just that there’s a sense of hope that, while it sometimes comes across as overly happy, seems largely more sincere. I’m not going to lie to you- it’s not as brilliant as Swell Maps, but it has its place for sure.

You can’t fault the man for continuing to explore different avenues until the day he died.

Score: 10

This isn't a perfect score, this isn't an album review. But the site asks for a score, so how do you score a eulogy anything but?

- Bobwell Gaines