mssv: mike baggetta + stephen hodges + mike watt with Mute Duo

 

mssv, composed of guitarist Mike Baggetta, Stephen Hodges on drums and mike watt on bass, creates music that is a heretofore unimagined hybrid of a punk power-trio and a dreamy experimental rock band, though they prefer the term “post-genre.” Their last full-length album, Human Reaction, finds the oddly memorable hooks of their noir-tinged adventure music with a lot more vocals from Main Steam Stop Valve leader Baggetta, adding more personality than ever before, alongside his bandmates, Hodges and watt, who also share in the vocal duties throughout the album.

 

With inventively churning drum textures from Hodges (an instantly identifiable sound honed in his days with Tom Waits and David Lynch) and the full-steam-ahead all-in attitude from watt, (as he’s displayed throughout his storied career with MINUTEMEN, fIREHOSE, and The Stooges), there is the impression of “pressure, combustion, power, and hissing clouds of sonic poetry,” as Premier Guitar said. Also evident is the more fearless exploring that comes from a band that has spent a lot of time together crafting their vision, as well as making room for guests like J Mascis, Petra Haden and Nels Cline on some of their previous releases. 

 

Even though Baggetta, who has also worked with David Torn, Jim Keltner, Psychic Temple, Jeff Coffin, Henry Kaiser, Rev. Fred Lane, and Viktor Krauss among many others, wrote all the songs specifically for these bandmates to play, there’s no telling which way the band will turn at any given moment, a proposition that becomes a promise when they break down and reassemble these songs live, with an instinct for restraint and an openness to anarchy.

 

mssv‘s 3rd full-length studio album comes out Spring 2025 on BIG EGO Records.

 

 

Chicago’s Mute Duo is Skyler Rowe (drums/percussion) and
Sam Wagster (pedal steel). Building on simple, composed
melodies, Mute Duo explores an atmosphere ranging from
sparse chimes to pummeling drone with a free, rhythmic
fluidity, and minimal electronic textures. Their second LP,
‘Lapse in Passage,’ was released by American Dreams Records
in 2020, followed by ‘Migrant Flocks’ which came out in the
spring of 2023. The duo frequently plays with special
guests and recently released the cassette,’5amSky,’
(featuring a live collaboration with Matthew Lux, Andrew
Scott Young, and Chelsea Bridge) on Astral Editions. In the
summer of 2024, the Duo opened for REZN on an extensive
three week West Coast tour.