Sugar is the band that Bob Mould formed after his Husker Du and Solo stints. This EP was recorded during Sugar's Copper Blue LP recording sessions in 1992.

The whole EP has one huge seemless sound that never drags or lets up, a sound that you can get lost in. Layers. Dense layers of sound, layers of melody, layers of fuzz, building up to an unbareable intensity which is released, often with a pained vocal from Bob, only to build up once more.

Track one - Come Around - has a fuzzed out drony dreamy ambience. It's melodiousness isn't from obvious hooks but more the result of the different seemingly opposed tones suddenly converging to create new ones out of nowhere.

Track two - Tilted - is faster with energetic drumming. It has a great ending that starts with a short and sweet fast lead guitar part, then guitar drone segues into track three with a morse code like guitar noise.

Track three - Judas Cradle - starts with a huge layered intro and a big scream curtesy of Bob. There's some subtle elements of Helmet/Players Club noise rock in this one with an angular central riff fading in and out between a powerful vocal and ominous prolonged drawn out guitar notes.

Track four - JC Auto - has an intro with a more straight forward agressive vocal delivery and riff, suddenly turns on a dime into a melodic passage, then straight back to the heavyness. The special talent of theirs is to make these changes seem so natural that you have to double-take to realise they have happened at all.

Track five - Feeling better - at first appears to be a pop song with happy keyboard hooks, It quickly and effortlessly shifts gears to an abrasive section. It continues to do this all the way through, that abrasiveness always just below the surface.

The final track six - Walking away - is a ballad, based around a sad church organ keyboard refrain, which will pitch-bend now and then just slightly to give it a slight unsettling feeling that it's all about to go wrong. It returns to the dreamy ambience of track one with a distant quality, mainly from it's echoey, far away vocals. The track ends in an understated and un-spectacular way.

Unspectacular in a good way that makes you want to press play and start all over again.

Big Sugar..yes? They get lotsa play up here on q107 radio station. Not bad music at all. Are they not Canadian, or at least Bob Mould is?

Nah, just ''Sugar". Bob's from Washington US I believe. Beaster is the best thing Sugar did I think, way less commercial than their albums. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVj6fEilo40

My appologies, I definately got these bands mixed up. This song here is way heavier than anything Big Sugar has done. Ive never heard of this band before. But this does not suprise me, as theres so many good ones out there hiding hahaha.

Bob Mould was first in post-punk/hardcore band Hüsker Dü who you've probly heard of before, not that I've ever got into them that much. Sugar had a minor hit with a song called Hoover Dam from the 'copper blue' lp that you may have heard also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBqZHPTCV58 nice song, but Beaster EP was way rawer/heavier and cooler. Wish thay had done more like that.

Yes Husker Du I am familiar with, however I never went out of my way to listen to their music. I do have to admit i did like the hardcore many moons back, but never came across the band.

LOVE the track by track analysis! Was going to post a thread to do just that to classic recs.
Mould formed Husker Du in Minniapolis, (yeah, i can't spell fer shit), and may've been from there. I suggest Husker Du's, "metal circus" and "zen arcade" for this board. Altho some of the speedy overdriven classic hook driven stuff is pretty good; "new day rising", esp.

I've always thought Beaster was the cream of the Sugar stuff-AND I think its just about the most direct anticedent to the new Torche.

NP: Midnight Snake-"acid wash".

Yes the track by track analysis is great. Especially for the older stuff that people are not familiar with.

Husker Du, were definitely under-rated. The took the whole post-hard core scene into new directions. Mould has released some interesting solo stuff too, like Workbook(?) his first album. But I've never given Sugar a serious listen. I'll do it.

Heh, i'd thought of Big Sugar right after I woke up this morning, ironically. Not really sure why, but they were a great band--always liked 'em.

It's awesome to see people bringing up some awesome records that aren't necessarily stoner rock related. In regards to "Beaster", it is a great recording. It's definetely more My Bloody Valentine influenced--Bob was really into MBV around that time (check the bridge riff in "Your Favorite Thing" versus "Blown A Wish"!), as there's more maybe slightly atmospheric or textural things going on in the songs. I think that I like Mould's output in Sugar better (at least on a more consistent basis) than in Husker Du....and i'm a huge Husker Du fan, but probably not as much a Grant Hart fan.

My take on Bob Mould is that he's pretty much usually suffered from refusing or not wanting a producer on the recordings (ditto for Husker Du).....Sugar at least had co-production usually from Lou Giordano, so I feel that had got more out of him. "File Under Easy Listening" is unrelenting in it's melodic power pop punk attack--amps cranked, always excellent vocals, excellent songwriting and chord choices.

That was the best work by Sugar, and my favorite Bob Mould release.