Staff Reviews

Alan Vega Alex Chilton and Ben Vaughan - Cubist Blues (remastered)

Review by Gavin Miller

There’s an awful lot to get your teeth into here»

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The unlikely union of Suicide's Alan Vega, Big Star's Alex Chilton and singer-songwriter Ben Vaughn happened in December 1994 in a fog of cigarette smoke at two barely-lit, all-night improv sessions at Dessau Studios in New York. What transpired was the group's only release, a brilliant album called 'Cubist Blues'. Some kind of alchemy happened. The elements are disparate - Vega, known for Suicide's grinding, pre-industrial drone, Chilton for his ultra-melodic FM rock, and Vaughn for his outsider art. Put together, what came out was something totally unexpected, a long, mesmeric incantation built on Elvis-meets-Ian Curtis vocals, rockabilly guitar, growling synths, and metronomic drums. So-called supergroups get a bad rap for not equaling the sum of their parts. Vega, Chilton, and Vaughn add up to something from a place beyond any of them. Originally released by Henry Rollins on his 2.13.61 label via Thirsty Ear, the album failed to find any sort of audience-remarkable, considering its players, but reflective of the lull following Kurt Cobain's death and the collapse of the all-conquering grunge sound. The group played two live shows and then promptly went their separate ways. Timeless, groundbreaking in sound even now, this is a chance to hear a woefully overlooked album that-had it not been so-might have re-shaped the next decade of music.
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