Don't expect anything new from Bob Mould at this point.
Mould was originally from Husker Du, which influenced Green Day, Nirvana, Pixies, Superchunk, and Soul Asylum. He later formed Sugar and is now just Bob Mould.

 On "District Line", Bob Mould is pleasingly angry and remorseful throughout. It’s too bad that a few of these songs sound like others on the cd, or at least make you feel like you’ve heard this once before. There aren’t too many surprises.

 The start of the opener, "Stupid Now" starts slow but picks up momentum as it goes along. There’s not much sense of urgency on it, until he starts screaming how he’s been played again, how everything is “stupid now" that the relationship is ending.

Mould is trying to keep up with the sounds of today, with a twist. Sometimes he takes it a bit too far. On “The Silence Between Us” Mould inserts some weird technical effects on his voice, it’s difficult to understand the meaning of it. Sometimes on the cd he makes his voice skip, or sound somewhat futuristic. The formula doesn't always work. 

“The Silence Between Us” is the typical radio hit that’s stealing some air time right now. The catchy chorus helps move things along. He is definitely bitter- as on “Again and again”, one of the better songs on District Line. The angst is pretty raw.

Many of the songs start off slow, like a regular rock song, and then the trademark Husker Du “wall of sound” comes in, with Mould screaming and all systems go, which works most of the time.

“Shelter me” has a space-like melody which is soothing. His voice on “Very Temporary” is pretty grating and rough. Could be that age thing rearing its ugly head.

“Miniature Parade”  has an honest vibe about it. He even inserts some strings with a sort of circus-like quality to drive his point home, which could be considered overkill. Guitar-based  “Return to Dust” has some fire to it when he kicks it out with electric strings.

He’s certainly going back to those good old days -  the music doesn’t stray too far from that mindset. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it's not always a good idea to mix it up with funny tricks you can do now, just because you can.

Download this track now: "Shelter Me"