Wussy: The Best Band in America

November 30, 2014 3:12 AM

This year Wussy, the band that Robert Christgau called "the best band in America" released Attica!

Primary songwriters Chuck Cleaver (formerly of Ass Ponys) and Lisa Walker have been releasing albums for thirteen years as Wussy.

Wussy:
Teenage Wasteland
Beautiful
Yellow Cotton Dress
Bug
Maglite
Jonah
Pulverized
To The Lightning
North Sea Girls
Halloween
Airborne
Acetylene
Gene, I Dream
Motorcycle
Bought It Again

Attica! on Bandcamp
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Ass Ponys:
Little Bastard
Astronaut
Grim

posted by eyeballkid (21 comments total)

Somehow forgot Vivian Girls
posted by eyeballkid at 3:24 AM on November 30, 2014

I've come to love quite a few bands from reading Christgau, Wussy was the first.

Wussy have a song, Crooked, of which the first few lyrics initially made no sense to this Brit, until I stumbled upon the Wikipedia page on periodical circadas. That's Americana!
posted by mister_kaupungister at 5:00 AM on November 30, 2014 [4 favorites]

Christgau! Hah! Your favorite Rock Critic sucks!

Let me know when this band (that I stopped liking long before Mr. Christgau ever got inkling one of their existence) is reviewed by my favorite critic! Who, everyone knows, is a way way better critic and way way more relevant!

/hambourger

cool band! Thanks for the tip! Never heard of them before!
posted by From Bklyn at 5:00 AM on November 30, 2014 [4 favorites]

I am sure because it is way too early in the morning for me to be reading words, but I read that as "worst band in America". I expected something humorously awful. I kept clicking the links, waiting for the punchline. Then I started just getting incensed at Christgau.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 5:34 AM on November 30, 2014

The only rock band I still pay attention to. Holy cow they're good. Saw them on July 4 here in St. Louis - maybe forty or fifty people. One hell of a show.
posted by notsnot at 6:22 AM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

So great to see Wussy on CBS This Morning yesterday, getting some TV recognition for their work. You can catch their self-deprecating humor in the interview that eyeballkid linked, and there's a story by the band's tour manager, Venemous Valdez, on cincymusic.com, about the lead up to the show. There were three songs as well.
Teenage Wasteland
Beautiful (Chuck's mic is bad on this)
Pizza King

And a little inside-baseball: there's a Mefi connection. Metafilter's own cookergirl officiated at the wedding of band member Mark Messerly last summer.
posted by tizzie at 6:23 AM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Stonestock Relentless, you need an excuse to be incensed at Christgau?
posted by pxe2000 at 6:49 AM on November 30, 2014

Wussy and Ass Ponys: my two favorite new old bands! On continuous rotation since mid-summer. I'm at the age where creative survivors like Cleaver speak to me. He (and Walker) are amazing, eclectic song writers and lyricists.

A fave of the Ass Ponys not mentioned above: Kung Fu Reference
posted by mondo dentro at 7:20 AM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

What a treat! These guys are fantastic, and at a time when I'm needing some more great rock in my life. Thanks eyeballkid.

Walker's voice reminds me of Kathleen Edwards
posted by AAALASTAIR at 7:22 AM on November 30, 2014

Such good. Tnx4lnx.
posted by echocollate at 7:40 AM on November 30, 2014

I did indeed! Best wedding and reception I've ever been to. The vows were all lines from cheesy love songs! Mark is a dear, dear friend and Wussy deserves all the attention in the world.
posted by cooker girl at 7:48 AM on November 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

This is a good way to start the day. Little light thief also approves, and started dancing as soon as 'Teenage Wasteland' started.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:00 AM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Wussy on KEXP from July. Such wonderful songwriting and musicianship. Glad they're starting to get more attention.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:55 AM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

I wholeheartedly approve this post, they're one of my favorites although I'm a little surprised that they're getting more attention and praise this late into their musical careers.

Thanks for linking to 2 of my favorite songs: halloween and airborne!
(and the video for that is from a show at the beachland! last year.. Why did I miss that show!? just looked on foursquare, and I had one of my first dates with my girlfriend, aha).

I was looking for the lyrics to halloween and couldn't find them, so I just transcribed them. I haven't done that in probably 10 years. Any corrections are welcome!

we're lost in the town,
wiping fog out of our eyes, and wednesday morning coming down
you're last out the door,
trying to piece together all the shit you saw the night before

when it was just like halloween,
everyone was dressed up and drinking in the street
such [a night?] i'd never seen
like something you'd remember from a dream, oh no(?)

it reminds of when,
i was 14 at the fair, declaring things i've never been
well you've always said, it was just sugar mountain,
but i didn't know it then

and it felt like halloween,
everyone was waving as the car pulled out to leave
and that old song came back to me,
like something you'd remember from a dream
(oh-no)?

oh no, no no,

i dont drink anymore,
oh no, no, no,
smoked too much the night before

it was just like halloween,
everyone was dressed up and drinking in the street
and that old song came right, back to me
like something you'd remember from a dream

posted by fizzix at 11:30 AM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

The Christgau quote was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek. Seems like every article I've read about Wussy mentions that they've been called the best band in America. So I had to hunt down the source. Plus it makes for a great title on your standard your favorite band/music critic sucks MeFi post. :D.
posted by eyeballkid at 11:52 AM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wussy have been the best kept secret in rock music for some time now. Attica! is a masterpiece, and it's even better live. Do anything it takes to see them.
posted by naju at 12:14 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Oh, and I really like this performance of "Teenage Wasteland" for Cincinnati Magazine.
posted by naju at 12:18 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

A couple of my favorite tracks not yet listed:

Soak it Up
Mayflies
Asteroids
posted by tonycpsu at 12:30 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

tonycpsu, one of the earliest times that I saw Chuck and Lisa play without the full band was on a Sunday afternoon, outdooors, in the courtyard of the Taft Museum in Cincinnati. If I tell you it a bit of a blue-haired crowd, I am not exaggerating. The songs, mostly from Funeral Dress, sound pretty on the surface - but the lyrics are subversive and crazy, right? I remember particularly that during Soak it Up, about a third of the remaining crowd drifted toward the exits when they realized Lisa was singing, "I never thought I would drive this far without a gun."
posted by tizzie at 6:40 PM on November 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

1) This is pretty great, and just what I was in the mood for today.

2) They sound very similar to Eleventh Dream Day, who I also like. If you like Wussy, you will likely enjoy Eleventh Dream Day.
posted by klangklangston at 7:04 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Not to knock the band (I did just buy a couple of their albums), but I can see how Christgau would deem them the Best. Band. Ever. Wussy definitely has a sort of Velvet Underground drone thing going on, which fits neatly into Christgau's sweetspot for bands somewhere between VU to Pavement.
posted by Panjandrum at 8:41 AM on December 1, 2014