(Sub Pop)
What is it with our middle-aged Alternative Nation icons turning to mid-’90s trip-hop beats in the later days of the George W. era?
Perhaps The Gutter Twins, Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan, can go on tour with Bob Mould — We’re 40-something and Fierce! co-sponsored by Paste magazine and Zima, for those of you who used to rock but are now in recovery and/or too sore.
Though their press release brags them up as “The Satanic Everly Brothers,” Dulli and Lanegan are caught in the purgatory of their own creations. No longer 20-something hellions, not yet The Next Tom Waits — these aging bad boys are still vital artistically, yet more known commercially to people who haven’t watched MTV since Kennedy was introducing the next hot bands.
Lanegan, still one of the best singers in the world, is wise to share the stage with Dulli. The whiny Dulli tries hard and emotes often, but can’t sound much better than Alanis Morissette next to the bluesy, poetic Lanegan, a David Lynch muse whom Lynch just hasn’t discovered yet.
c. 2008 LEO Weekly
