MIKE VIOLA – GODMUFFIN

Godmuffin follows-up Viola’s 2018 album The American Egypt, and is his first return in over a decade to the more conventional rock and pop sound that he first broke through with as front man of Candy Butchers during that band’s string of major label records in the late-90s to mid-2000s. Godmuffin was written and recorded alone in Viola’s home studio. He describes it as “11 songs about transformation” and Viola isn’t afraid to let you see. “It’s youthful in the chances it takes,” he says. “It doesn’t give a fuck.” In the face of fine-tuning everything into oblivion, Godmuffin is the least experimental-sounding experimental record you’ll hear this year. Viola records on half-inch tape and mixes on a vintage Auditronics console without the advantage of digital editing. “The recording is linear, ’cause I can’t punch and fix things very easily, especially when I’m playing drums. On the computer, you can repair all of your mistakes ’til you sound perfect. Or even worse, tune or beat detective the life out of it. I prefer rock music that’s beautifully flawed.” “It’s human,” he says.