Alternative Canon | Milk Music – Beyond Living (2010)

by David Wilikofsky

In Alternative Canon, we take a closer look at an obscure or underappreciated album from the past that deserves more recognition. Some of these albums may be hard to find, but they’re always worth the effort to seek out.

I spend a potentially unhealthy amount of time seeking out music. I spend hours browsing websites like Discogs or Rateyourmusic or Bandcamp, looking for something new to fall in love with. The payoff is often scant, but the thought of finding an album that will become my new obsession is the omnipresent carrot dangling in front of me. I’m chasing the kind of feeling I get whenever I listen Beyond Living; almost a decade removed from first hearing it, I still get an endorphin rush listening to the opening notes.

Beyond Living was an early EP by Olympia, Washington rockers Milk Music. Sporadically active for the past decade, Milk Music have released some of the most earth shattering rock music of this era. Their output is small (just two LPs and a handful of EPs) but nothing they’ve released is anything short of brilliant. This one in particular has always been a personal favorite.

From its opening moments, Beyond Living is heavy music. Milk Music sound like the best band SST forgot to sign in their 80’s heyday. Think the best elements of early Hüsker Dü or Dinosaur Jr, and you can approximate the vibe here. Fuzzed out guitar riffs cascade over one another and envelop you; this is visceral music that rose up from the primordial stew. Far from being mere pastiche, Milk Music manage to take these influences and turn them into something all their own. Listen to “Fertile Ground”, the opening track, and try not to feel the earth move under you.

Unfortunately unavailable to buy directly from the artist on Bandcamp (although you can pick up a copy of Mystic 100’s there, another catalogue highlight), the EP can be streamed on all major platforms. The band seems to have recently rebranded as Mystic 100’s and was touring actively as of last year. Hopefully that means there’s new music on the horizon