Get Your Hands Dirty and Drop the Screens

After the Democrats did their usual Democrat-ing on Sunday evening and folded in the government shutdown battle like $30 trousers from Men's Wearhouse, I was pissed. Not despondent or hopeless. Pissed.

It's not the end of the world and probably not even the worst thing that happens this week. But it made me want to put on loud music and play it loudly, and I was reminded that I've wanted for the last couple of weeks to write an appreciation of the Irish band Just Mustard and their new album WE WERE JUST HERE. I was reminded, too, that The White Stripes were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame over the weekend, and that I loved one particular part of Jack White's acceptance speech, when he said: "To the young artists, I wanna say, get your hands dirty and drop the screens and get out in your garage or your little room and get obsessed. Get obsessed with something, you know, get passionate. We all want to share in what you might create."

I don't know much about Just Mustard. I know they're a 5-piece from Dundalk, Ireland. I know I started listening to them about 3 years ago because I love shoegaze and guitar squall generally, and their first couple of albums – Wednesday and Heart Under – checked all of my boxes. I know that WE WERE JUST HERE is a joyful racket. It's the sound of young artists, as Jack might say, getting obsessed about making noise unlike anyone else.

It's easy to doom all the time now, particularly if you're hardwired that way. Getting your hands dirty and dropping the screens helps. Getting smacked in the face with a wall of feedback also helps.