Mischief Brew

Songs from Under the Sink (2006)

Brian Thompson

"Folk-punk" doesn't have to be a dirty phrase. Even "anarcho folk-punk" (no matter how many out-of-tune acoustic guitars, bad parodies of "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" or strong odors it evokes) shouldn't automatically gain a listener's ire. I used to be one of the naysayers, but Mischief Brew reminded me of what sparked my interest in the genre. Thankfully, their songs come across more as a Crassed-out American Billy Bragg with a less cheesy sense of humor, than as aping any one of today's influential political acoustic guitar-wielders.

Mischief Brew consists chiefly of Erik Petersen, as he writes all the songs and usually tours alone. The records often credited with launching him into the punk public eye, the EP Bakenal and a split LP with Robert Blake, chiefly feature the sonic contributions of Petersen. A friend pops up every now and then to assist with some makeshift percussion or strum a mandolin, but it wasn't until the debut full-length, 2005's Smash the Windows, that Mischief Brew was ever an electrified, intense full band. Petersen's technically impressive songs make for an engaging listen, but often seem out of place in this context; a good example is how a re-recording of one of the strongest songs from Bakenal went from anthemic to almost comical due to the bouncy bassline.

If nothing else can be said for it then, 2006's Songs from Under the Sink is a strange sophomore album. It can be called a return to form in that the vast majority of the musical burden falls upon the metaphorical shoulders of Petersen's lone acoustic guitar. However, as Petersen remarks in the liner notes, it is "a collection of [songs]…written from 1997 - 2002." So all of the second full-length was written well before the first full-length. This sheds light on why Petersen's guitar virtuosity seems scaled back from Windows, and also accounts for the lack of stylistic tendencies that his more recent songwriting has displayed (specifically the pirate punk swagger of certain songs).

Songs from Under the Sink begins with Petersen's statement of intent, "Thanks, Bastards!". This song is among one of the best that he's penned; the cheery staccato guitar strumming is instantly memorable as he thanks various authority figures (police, mayors, and the like) for driving him to political radicalism; "