The Nation Of Ulysses - The Nation Of Ulysses

 

Label: Dischord / K

Year: 1990

How many bands do you think The Nation Of Ulysses spawned in the mid-90's? Lesser-thans trying so hard to bite their combination of raved up Revolution Summer post hardcore pseudo-soul pastiche, and tongue-in-cheek revolutionary rhetoric were at every shitty "fest" in every town. They never had anything as witty to say, as Ian Svenonious did, and they never had the same confident swagger N.O.U. had (which made their cosplay so much more embarrassing). And what those second wave tribute bands definitely didn't have were the dueling guitars of Tim Green and Steve Kroner, that produced such an explosive and invigorating punch of interplay. The lyrics and presentation always get talked about (rightfully so) when you hear about The Nation Of Ulysses, but goddamn that band could go full fucking tilt. They somehow managed a dissonant swinging that propelled the whole wild-eyed conflagration into order. Or at least, close to it. Kind of.

All those nerdy wannabes almost ruined N.O.U. just by association, but the source material really is as good as could have been. Electric even. 

DL