Mike Watt Hyphenated-Man LP (Yellow & Black Marble Vinyl)

Twenty-six years after The Minutemen's landmark Double Nickels on the Dime, Watt returns to the familiar punk- and jazz-influenced sound he and his band made famous. This time, it's more refined and more mature without lacking any of the energy or urgency of yesteryear. Hyphenated-Man features thirty songs in 47 minutes with Watt on bass, his deep baritone singing melodies and reciting spoken word while the Missingmen (Raul Morales and Tom Watson) wail on drums and guitar.

Mike Watt is a guy who thinks a lot about his music; some musicians are content to come up with a dozen or so worthwhile songs, record them, and leave it at that, but each of Watt's solo efforts have been governed by some overriding concept or narrative, and while he's a man who avoids pretension at every turn, each of his albums have been literate, challenging, and imaginative, and 2010's Hyphenated-Man is no exception....Watt is a musician with a rare gift for interacting with other players, and with Watson and Morales he's approached the philosophy and attack of the Minutemen while giving this material a sound and structural logic of its own (particularly in the willingness of these songs to slow down and explore their inner workings). Hyphenated-Man demands more from its audience than most music, but given how much thought went into it, that's only fair, and in his fifth decade, Watt's music is no less ambitious or brave than it was in his youth, and for all the inner rumblings of Hyphenated-Man, the final product reflects an agile and active mind that's not about to stop confronting anyone with the courage to listen.