RIFF SUMMER CHALLENGE
Wave of Mutilation
The Pixies and broken hearts
The shattered illusions of the world are mirrored in punk and The Pixies sharpened those pieces into a fine, eloquent edge. Kind of like the sweetness of longing that runs through a broken heart.
Joey Santiago’s surf guitar glides on that edge drifting us into the ’90s with a post-punk surf sound that is as haunting as it is idyllic.
The Pixies’ pleasantly neurotic undulation of noise alternating with silence endows their music an unexpected grace. But their surf interludes transcend the lulls and sail you away on a “Wave of Mutilation”.
The impossibly perfect, surf-drenched album Bossanova (1990) emotes a wistfulness of longing at the beach; of breaking, but breaking beautifully. A little over a decade later, Pixies albums like the indomitable Surfer Rosa were already classics but Bossanova became my summer soundtrack during my worst breakup.
I was drowning in sadness and a good friend, Lung, noticed and whisked me over the border and down the coast to Cannon Beach, Oregon. We listened to The Pixies on the way down and communed with the ocean for a weekend.
When I asked Lung to give me a bear hug before bed one night, we both heard a resounding pop. He accidentally cracked a…
