Grant Hart is back

The coincidental timing of his first album-release party in a decade wasn't lost on Grant Hart. He plays 7th Street Entry on Thursday, two nights after his former Hüsker Dü bandmate and ever-active sparring partner Bob Mould performs next door for probably 10 times the crowd at First Ave.

No matter. As if it's not already obvious from the fact that he went 10 years between discs, Hart said he doesn't measure success in numbers.

"[Bob] has a business acumen that I don't bother exercising because it's not a motivation to me," he said. "Putting things in that focus is pollutive. We're talking about something that is spiritual sustenance to me."

Plenty of fans (including this writer) balk at Hart's constant, biased put-downs of Mould's music, but the point here is he also acknowledges that he hasn't been savvy about flaunting his own music. If there's one major flaw in Hart's post-Hüskers career, that's it. The guy has been cursed with unfruitful record deals and troublesome tours, and it's partly his own fault.

The last bad deal he cites was with Pachyderm Records for his little-heard 1999 album, "Good News for the Modern Man." He said the label was "nothing more than a tax write-off" for former owners of Pachyderm Studio, but the upside was it gave him full access to their famed recording compound in Cannon Falls, Minn.

"I made the kind of record even Warner Bros. wouldn't have afforded me to make," he said.

"With this new record, I learned that that situation is an illusion, anyway. I can make any kind of record anytime I want to, and not by going the ProTools route, either. I can do it just by persevering."

"It was a terrific situation, with a purely artist-run studio and great well of talent," Hart said.

However, with only about half of "Hot Wax" finished, the traveling became too much of a hassle. Plus, he said, "I realized those guys didn't necessarily want to chase the same exact pinpoint I was chasing."

So Hart finished the album in Minneapolis with go-to producer and Rank Strangers bandleader Mike Wisti. Said Wisti of their sessions, "Grant has a very unforced, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to recording that can be time-consuming when it doesn't work. But it pays off when it does."

Wisti also observed, "There's a quality to his songwriting that's ageless."

One can certainly hear the melodic, punk-meets-Phil-Spector sound that Hart brought to the Hüsker table in softer new songs such as "Barbara," which the artists' magazine Esopus enlisted him to write, based on a submitted story about imaginary childhood friends. And the soulful howl of his 1985 classic "Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" echoes through the opening track "You're the Reflection of the Moon on the Water," featuring lyrics inspired by the Dalai Lama and music envisioned for his pal Patti Smith to cover.

Clarity is certainly not one of Hart's better-known qualities. His addiction problems in the '80s have been publicized to the hilt. In recent years, he has been known for putting on sometimes erratic stage shows, like the Turf Club gig last year when he kept reprising the Lee Dorsey classic "Ya Ya" and then briefly stormed out the club's back door. He chalked up such incidents to annoying audience members and his own determination "to make every show a religious experience."

"If the cantor isn't into the service, then the congregation won't be, either," he said.

Hart, 48, said he has been quite content over the past decade of musical dormancy.

He now lives in the same house in South St. Paul where his parents raised him. He has sold rare books and cashed enough royalty checks to get by comfortably. He still works as a collage artist, with Kinko's being his main studio of choice (seriously). And some of his biggest kicks of late have been traveling on Amtrak (there's one train song on the new record, "California Zephyr").

Amid talk of Hüsker Dü's still mile-wide rift and some of the more sordid details of his career, Hart acknowledged his approach to music can be prickly. But once again, he didn't sound apologetic.

Still much a-Dü Of all of Hart's bad record deals, the worst by far, he says, is still Hüsker Dü's long-contested involvement with SST Records, founded by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. Hart and Hüskers bassist Greg Norton recently sent "another" cease-and-desist order to Ginn via their attorney after the band's five SST albums continue to be "pilfered," including their recent, sudden appearance on eMusic.com.

All three members say they're due mounds of unpaid royalties, as do other bands. Sonic Youth, the Meat Puppets and others have taken back the rights to their SST albums and reissued them elsewhere. Hart said at least one big indie label is interested in taking over the Hüskers records. He may test the waters in the meantime by reissuing his 1989 SST solo disc, "Intolerance."

The next certain to-do in Hüskerville will be two books coming out on the band next year: one by Memphis writer Andy Earles for Voyageur Press, plus Mould's autobiography for Little, Brown & Co. Hart said he is "very interested" in reading the latter.

More CD parties If you can imagine Tool with a violin replacing the guitar, that's sort of the unlikely and weirdly fascinating sound of Marvelle, which will tout its eponymous debut album at the Hexagon Bar tonight (10 p.m., free). The band is led by violinist John Holm, who sings with a harrowing, dark but poetic style and ranges from elegant to frantic on his instrument. His quartet is rounded out by a Cloud Cult-style onstage painter.

Another folkie singer who raises money for CDs via house concerts and "sponsorship" events, Vicky Emerson returns to Bryant-Lake Bowl Saturday to promote "Long Ride," a mellow, introspective, piano-laden collection recorded at The Library in Minneapolis. It should add to all the Shawn Colvin comparisons (10 p.m., $8-$10).

Random mix After the successful Replacements tribute to promote Jim Walsh's book two years ago, First Ave is hosting another 'Mats revival on its two stages the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 27), which will reportedly include a version of "Let It Be" in its entirety. Idle Hands, Gospel Gossip, Jeremy Messersmith, Lookbook, Brutal Becomings and the Tisdales are among the participants. ...

Big Quarters' show Saturday at the Triple Rock with Benzilla (10 p.m.) is the second installment of their Zip Disks Break 2009 series, wherein the $8-$10 cover gets you a free CD of instrumental tracks. ... Low's Alan Sparhawk seemed really proud of the just-finished Retribution Gospel Choir album when I spoke to him last month, and apparently Sub Pop agrees: The famed Seattle label (also Low's home) will issue the disc, "2," in January. ...

Bands are lining up to play the Uptown Bar before it closes Nov. 1 -- even former Turf Club mavens the Mammy Nuns, who play a rare show there tonight with the Tisdales, Flamin' Ohs and Kruddler. Saturday features Mel Gibson & the Pants and Digitata (both shows 10 p.m., $5). ... Famous Dave's Uptown is hosting a dog-shelter benefit Saturday after Braveheart Dog Rescue founder Brandi Tracy placed a Craigslist ad asking bands for help. Wolves at the Door, Armadillo Jump, the Bourbones and more will play (1-6 p.m., $10). ...

Fuzzed-out boy/girl guitar/drums duo the Red Pens, led by Howard Hamilton III of Busy Signals notoriety, have their first show (9 p.m. Sunday in the Entry, $6) since demolishing the competition in City Pages' Picked to Click poll. A well-deserved win.