I still remember the first time I heard Rusty. I had ordered it weeks prior from a bookstore with no idea what it would sound like. A friend had told me, “Hey, you like Slint? Check out Rodan, they’re even better.” With a recommendation like that I couldn’t resist, and I spent those new couple weeks wondering what I would be in for. Finally it came. I had picked it up and was getting a ride home from a friend and his dad, the dad asked what CD it was and if I wanted to play it. I reluctantly said sure, not really knowing what was to expect.
Thank god for the opening track. If you haven’t heard Rusty’s stunning seven minute opener, please just click the link right now and come back. For an album with a reputation involving the words “post-hardcore,” “math-rock,” and “lots o’ screaming,” the guitar instrumental “Bible Silver Corner” is often overlooked. It sets the perfect ominously beautiful tone for what’s to come, while keeping you in the dark in terms of all the surprises this band has.
Seven minutes. The car ride took six and a half, and I got my CD back without hearing track two. Had we been stuck at an extra light or something and allowed another 30 seconds, the speakers would have exploded with “Shiner,” a brief blast of hardcore at the polar opposite of the gentle opener. Thankfully I was able to avoid that awkward situation, get home and hear Rusty from start to finish for the first time.
Spiderland is kind of a slow build until the end, Rodan gives you their strongest moment as the centerpiece of the album. After the lengthy complex guitar workout and “Shiner’s” raving hardcore freak-out comes “The Everyday World of Bodies,” an 11-minute synthesis of the two. Guitarists Jeff Mueller and Jason Noble’s guitars are constantly shifting and transforming into new sections, as do the vocals which go everywhere from barely-there whispers to blood curdling screams. That final section, with the call-and-response (although scream-and-scream-back-louder is probably more appropriate) of “I WILL BE THERE (SWEAR!)” still gives me chills.
While the first half of Rusty consists of that perfectly logical evolution to “Bodies,” it sort of plateaus in the second half. That’s a good thing. Songs like “Jungle Jim” and “Gauge” explore and develop the sound introduced by “Bodies,” but with an added surprise: bassist Tara Jane O’Neil. Her vocals create a tremendous impression and without her sudden vocal appearance half way through the album, Rusty could have been at risk of sounding a little same-y by the end. Instead she adds wonderful personality to the songs she sings on, especially closer “Tooth Fairy Retrubution Manifesto,” where her mumbled vocals eventually turn into fierce growls as Noble and Mueller slice through with shimmering harmonics.
The frustrating fact is Rusty might forever be cursed to play second fiddle. Just as Ride’s Nowhere is an album people come to after spending a great deal of time with Loveless, many people (myself included) came across Rusty due to its endless comparisons to Slint’s Spiderland. But while it is similar to Spiderland in sound, Rusty is a progression of it, not a retread. The comparisons, to me, have less to do with the distinctive musicianship, and more with the real sincerity coming through on the records. Sincerity is something that has seemed increasingly elusive for bands labeled “post-rock” that are willing to float by with complex but predictable songs and long pretentious names, but Rodan is more than weird time signatures. It has a sense of gravity to it from the moment you hear the first darkly elegant notes of “Bible Silver Corner,” and there’s toughness thanks in part to Bob “Rusty” Weston, the album’s engineer and namesake.
I still have that same CD that I ordered back in high school, though it’s considerably worse for wear. I started listening to the album again recently as I’m sure many people did after what happened last month. For the first time in a few years, the experience left me really happy. I was surprised at how familiar and great these songs which I hadn’t visited in so long still felt. It’s been amazing being able to rediscover them, I just wish it was under different circumstances.
RIP Jason Noble.
