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.
01. USA UP ALL NIGHT 02. CREEPER 03. DRUG RUG 04. WE MAY NEVER BE THIS YOUNG AGAIN 05. ALL YOU CAN EAT 06. THE LITTLES 07. SUPERKID II, TRYING TO DO THE THING THAT I THOUGHT I WAS BORN TO DO 08. HONORABLE MENTION WITH JAM SHOW 09. PEOPLE PLEASER, YOU’RE THE MAN OF THE HOUSE NOW 10. ORDINARY GIRL 11. THAT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE NOW
