Modulate (album)

Modulate is Bob Mould's fifth solo album, released in 2002. Although a few tracks on his previous release, The Last Dog and Pony Show, had featured tape loops and samples, Mould shocked his fans with such a dramatic embrace of electronica.

Mould dubbed the tour supporting this album The Carnival of Light and Sound. It featured him performing alone on stage, backed by prerecorded tracks as short films were projected on screens behind him.

Background and production

Bob Mould issued his fourth studio album The Last Dog and Pony Show in 1998, marking his final release for the record label Rykodisc. combined with Mould consuming club music from living in New York City, particularly in Chelsea, Manhattan, marked the beginning of his next album. until he spent sometime away from music, focusing on his personal life, including losing weight. One electronic release in particular, Xpander (1999) by Sasha, served as an inspiration; he subsequently purchased new electronic equipment for his studio. He re-learned the songwriting process, solely with samplers, synthesizers and digital recorders. which evoked the sound of New Order; Mould said he was against disco and electronic music when those styles emerged at the end of the 1970s, only for him to change his mind: "Now, 25 years later, I'm looking at it, going, 'This is really interesting. God Is in the TV writer Humphrey Fordham suggested that the drum and bass and trip hop track "Megamanic" from The Last Dog and Pony Show laid the groundwork for Modulate, comparing the album to other releases that saw legacy acts "going out on a limb", such as Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) by Joni Mitchell and Trans (1983) by Neil Young. Jon Wurster of Indy Week pointed out Mould's 1996 self-titled album for its employment of drum machines, in addition to highlighting "Megamanic" for it being Mould's initial foray into electronic music.

One track, 'Trade', was written back in 1987 and was actually played live by Husker Du on at least two occasions, during their last ever concerts.

Tracks

"180 Rain", which beings with car alarm and siren sounds, Preceded by the musique concrète track "Without?", Oko said with the guitar-centric "Slay / Sway", Mould shows that he "may yet find a way to align his Midwestern godfather-of-grunge past and NYC club-hopping present". According to Glauber, "Quasar" sees Mould use "synthesizers, samplers, and digital toys in another interesting layered clatter that’s tuneful and catchy, but suffers from its halfway treatment". It was issued on March 12, 2002 through the label Granary Music, which Mould founded. The music video for "SoundonSound", which was directed by Scott Stuckey, features footage of Mould playing a guitar, interspersed with animation of a couple interacting with various animals.

Modulate was reissued on CD as part of the career-spanning box set Distortion: 1989 – 2019 (2020), and on vinyl as part of the smaller Distortion: 1996 – 2007 (2021) box set. Alongside this, "180 Rain" was included on the compilation album Distortion: The Best of 1989 – 2019 (2021).

Critical reception

Modulate was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 61, based on 11 reviews.

Critics were mixed on the overall quality of the album. Erlewine remarked that it was the "sound of growing pains. Since Mould is an accomplished songwriter, there are some good songs here (although there are many more that miss the mark), but the defining characteristic of this album is not the songs, but the approach to the songs -- the way he layers on sequencers and vocoders as if each subsequent overdub brought him further into new sonic territory, even when his writing hasn't changed that much". Blashill considered it to be "more akin to the work of a devoted Beatles fan exploring a new studio full of electronic equipment". Kyle Ryan of The A.V. Club cautioned listeners that Modulate was "only for advanced studies" of Mould's work, adding that it is "worth hearing as a stylistic experiment, and it has good moments, but new fans would be better off digging through the rest of his work first".

Track listing

All songs written by Bob Mould.

Musicians

Bob Mould – vocals, guitar, synthesizers

Production and design

Bob Mould – producer, mixing
Damien Shannon – engineer
Gay Power Elite – artwork, design
Lisa Pearl – portrait of Bob

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Chart (2002)

! Peak<br />position

|US Billboard Heatseekers Albums

|align="center"|45

|US Billboard Independent Albums