For years now — in fact, since the 1996 release of Chavez's spellbinding release, Ride the Fader (read a disappointingly understated review here) — I've been wondering when guitarist/singer Matt Sweeney would resurface in another rock escapade. Well, that day has arrived. And he's playing with some other cats with some past rock experience: a freakish chap who goes by the name of Billy Corgan, and a former bandmate of his named Jimmy Chamberlin. Oh yeah, in the band are also David Pajo and Paz Lenchantin, bassist from A Perfect Circle.
A rock supergroup of sorts — or at least one that fuses a pair of iconic popular rock figures with a duo of esteemed independent rock musicians whose underground street cred matches the name recognition of the former two. In addition to Sweeney's prior work with Chavez and Skunk, Pajo played bass on two seminal albums with post-rock cornerstone, Tortoise — 1996's Millions Now Living Will Never Die and 1998's TNT, together considered by many to be the pinnacle of the post-rock movement. If that weren't enough to make indie post-geeks green with envy, Pajo also played guitar with Slint — who ranks only behind Fugazi in this humble writer's opinion as the most influential and groundbreaking band in indie/punk rock — and also had stints with the For Carnation, various Palace incarnations, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and Mogwai.
With that lengthy introduction behind, Corgan and Chamberlin and their intriguing supporting cast have on the whole succeeded in their most critical task: exorcising the ghost of the Smashing Pumpkins, and especially distancing their new endeavor from the Pumpkins' last two mediocre albums — Adore and Machina. Admit it, if you've followed the Pumpkins at all, you've expected Zwan to sound nothing different. In my opinion, this fact accounts for one of the critical reasons why there is so little hype about the new album. With a musician of Corgan's stature and the recent downward trend in music sales, one would think that corporate execs would be swarming over this release, even touting it as the renaissance of rock or grunge.
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