The song that'll change your life...

...is right here! I decided that this one just couldn't wait until I finally got around to banging out a review of the cinematic Rolling Stones' Cocksucker Blues (I'll give you a preview: not as good as Gimme Shelter). Today's mp3 is the sublime powerpop classic "Casualty" by Love Nut from their 1998 CD Baltimucho!. Love Nut was a Baltimore band who started indie, got signed (and dropped by) Interscope. I remember getting their lone Interscope CD Bastards of Melody from the record label, and thinking it was good powerpop with a few rough edges. From how I understand it, they recorded their second CD Baltimucho! with the legendary Ed Stasium producing while they were still on Interscope. As part of their severance, they must have been allowed to take possesion of the masters of the unreleased Baltimucho! CD. They then signed to the short-lived Big Deal label, who released the truly classic Baltimucho! CD. What was once tentative on Bastards of Melody is now confident, muscular, and a hell of a lot more on Baltimucho! Phenomenal CD, and criminally out of print.

Love Nut never officially broke up from what I can tell (I believe the term "indefinite hiatus" has been bandied about), although a band van accident and lack of success took the wind out of their sails. Andy Bopp (the primary Love Nut songwriter) has since turned his Myracle Brah side project into his main band; they are a wonderful band which seems to take each album as an opportunity to cleverly pastiche another powerpop-related genre worthy of their tribute. It's wonderful music, but Andy Bopp and Love Nut really nailed it with Baltimucho! If you like this one, there's a hell of a lot more on the full CD where this one came from.

So what do you think?