May 2, 2008
Not Your Ordinary Joe
One of the most common exchanges we have when playing Joe Pug's Nation of Heat EP for a friend goes something like this:
Friend: "Wow, this is intense. How old is this guy?"
Chicagoist: "He's 24."
Friend: "Hooo-lee shit."
This scene has been repeated several times in the two weeks that we've had this little 7-songs wonder, and with good reason - Pug is the real deal. The kid’s got that weariness in his delivery that you can’t smoke or drink your way to because it comes from somewhere deeper than the vocal chords. It’s the same gritty, spirited voice that made Hank I, Kurt Cobain, and Bob Dylan iconic, and we as Chicagoans will be privileged enough to watch the kid develop from precocious youngster to out and out star.
A grainy delivery and smart, mature melodies may initially turn the critical spotlight on Nation of Heat, but it's Pug's impressive lyrical turn of phrase that'll keep this record viable and potent for years to come. When he astutely observes "I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child" on the poignant "Nobody's Man," it's hard to believe he still has to pay the underage driver's fee for a rental car. The entirely of "Hymn 101" is Dylan-worthy in its poetry, a captivating capsule of yearning, wanderlust, and Dust Bowl-reminiscent balladry: "The more I buy, the more I am bought/The more I'm bought, the less I cost." Yeah, catch him while you can.
MP3: Joe Pug - Hymn 101
Joe Pug plays Schubas tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m., $8, 18+
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Wow. Great find. Very reminiscent of Hank & Dylan. Hopefully he'll have a show one of the weekends I'm back in Chicago.
Thank you Lizz. Excellent; hope he comes through Cincy soon.
Eargasms. This is so awesome.
Yes, he is potentially a great lyricist, but unfortunately he has one troubling habit that may limit his greatness: some of his rhymes don't rhyme. For example, in "Hymn 101" he rhymes jaw with all, meet with sleep, kiss with insist, and, in the beginning, ship with both list and it. This is cheating. Dylan, one of the greatest rhymers of all time, rarely--less than 10% of the time--lazily matches only the vowels. And Shakespeare, to take another example, never cops out with a half rhyme in any one of his sonnets. If Mr. Pug is to realize his enormous potential, he will have to be a little more attentive to craft. I hope he does.
WHAT? It doesn't NEED to rhyme to be genious. . .I actually think sometimes its more genious NOT to rhyme. . .take Lou Reed's 'I Can't Stand It.'
"It's hard being a man
living in a garbage pail
My landlady called me up,
she tried to hit me with a mop"
Up and Mop don't exactly rhyme. . and COME ON. . it would have BEEN SO EASY to rhyme Man with Can, but he didn't b/c he didn't want to subscribe with that.
If you're listening to music just for the rhyming, then I suggest watching some School House Rock. . .If you're suggesting that an artist is only good if its an exact copy of Dylan, then you're even more foolish. Pug has his own style, and doesn't need to subscribe to copying an icon to fufill his greatness. That's just limiting your taste to a stupic prescribed formula, and I feel sorry for you.