POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Mould’s Sugar Is Strong but Limited

Bob Mould must have chuckled when he named his current group Sugar--there has never been anything remotely sweet about the introspective Angst and cathartic roar of the singer-guitarist’s music. While Sugar’s strong set at the half-filled Hollywood Palladium on Friday showed that the trio has cut the frenetic rush of his old band Husker Du with enough fresh touches to carve its own niche, it also made you wonder whether the group can expand its audience beyond the converted.

Bassist David Barbe’s thin, reedy lead vocals provided a contrast to Mould’s throaty rasp on a half-dozen songs, and Sugar also got the maximum mileage from occasional tempo changes and shifts in dynamics. It needed to, because the band works in a limited range--Mould’s songs boast plenty of pop touches, but they’re usually submerged in his patented, full-bore guitar roar.

Nor did Sugar’s virtually nonstop performance reach out to engage the audience. When a denim shirt thrown from the crowd landed on the mike during the encore, Mould looked momentarily startled before slowly toppling backward with the mike stand and finishing the song flat on his back. It was a nice, unplanned move . . . and a welcome break from the no-frills, all-business attack.

An impressive opening set by Magnapop, a Georgia quartet whose recent album was produced by Mould, showed off smart arrangements and an ace in the hole in guitarist Ruthie Morris’ born-to-it rocker’s intensity.