Mondo Generator - "A Drug Problem That Never Existed" (Ipecac Recordings IPC-41, 2003)
Uploaded to Aural Innovations: October 2003
This is a side project by Nick Oliveri of QOTSA (he also played in Kyuss and the Dwarves). He wrote all the songs and produced the CD. I wonder when he had time to record this one, as QOTSA have pretty much been recording and touring for 1½ years. He managed to pull in Brant Bjork, Dave Catching, Molly McQuire and a lot of other friends (Josh Homme, Mark Lanegan, etc.) to record a second record. This is really heavy aggressive stuff. I think this is a way for all these guys to get out some extra aggression and just fuck around a bit. The opening track has some interesting samples mixed in. "Here We Come" is a catchy song with some screaming vocals. This reminds me of some 80’s hardcore style stuff. The CD is packaged in short packages with 15 tracks and only 3 break the 3 minute mark! "Jr. High Love" features Mark Lanegan is one of the coolest songs on the CD, a very laid back groove for the most part. While the CD features songs that are sung with punk rock style vocals, there are quite a lot of melodic things about the tracks and some more experimental stuff mixed in the bottom here and there as well. "All I Can Do" is an acoustic song, sort of like for a country-western soundtrack! There is something for most to enjoy here.
For more information you can visit http://www.southern.net/mondo/drugs.
Reviewed by Scott Heller