Matthew Good Band – Audio of Being

I realize I’m going to take a lot of shit for this one, hell whatever punk cred I had remaining from my previous bold statement is going to get tossed out of the door for this one faster then Jazzy Jeff at Uncle Phil’s house. However, I don’t really care, this album is important to me. Besides, one can’t live in the “punk rock ghetto” for their entire lives, can they? There are other forms of music in this moderate universe of ours.

Yes, Matthew Good Band was radio rock fodder for the better part of the mid to late 90s until his band called it quits shortly after the completion of this album, stating creative differences as their reason. It’s a real shame, because as one following their career, the progression they made from album to album was astounding. While their previous outing Beautiful Midnight was decidedly acoustic based, Audio Of Being indulges in a U2 sensibility. They’ve combined arena rock sized guitars and delusions of grandeur into a neatly compacted formulaic, verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/final verse/chorus, song structure for your listening pleasure.

Have I scared you away yet?

Just when it seems as if all is lost, MGB hits the unaware listener with something completely out of left field for its type of music: some of the most brilliantly humbling lyrics ever placed in the mainstream world. In public, Matthew Good is just outspoken as Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra, Ian Mackaye or any of your other punk rock legends. While his music might not necessarily appeal to that market, his words alone are worthy of their own book (which he has, which is awesome). This is the aspect that makes MGB so breathtaking for me to listen to. He understands the core of the human heart and uses his own skewed visions to create profound lyrics that don’t come off as pretentious in any shape or form. Take the song I, The Throw Away with lyrics such as: “Made a man out of me, a killing machine. / Your baby’s gonna die, ma, you’re baby’s comin’ home. / You know they put a man on the moon, simply to prove that we all need some place to go, where we’re not known. / Where we’re not known.”

It’s deep stuff.

I probably won’t convince you to buy this album, it’s already been ingrained into most of your heads to hate this the second you hear it. However this entire album, while dabbling a little bit in guitar wankary here and there, contains some of the most heartfelt songs I’ve ever come across. Making this the definitive Matthew Good Band album.

It falters at some points, but overall it’s a stroke of brilliance in a market that rarely sees it.