Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

JULY/AUGUST 2011 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM REVIEWS HOLE SNobody’sTEPHEN MALKMUSDaughter AND THE JICKS [Universal] Mirror Traffic [Matador] The first album released under the Hole moniker since 1998’s Celebrity Skin is really frontwoman Courtney Love’sIf you’re wondering how much of an effect last year’s Pavement reunion second solo album—co-founder, songwriter and lead guitaristhad on singer and guitarist Stephen Malkmus’ ongoing solo career, the Eric Erlandson isn’t involved,answer seems to be … well, some. The Beck-produced Mirror Traffic has nor is any other previous Hole member. So it’s Love anda three vaguely Pavement-ish anarchic feel and playful energy, veering from the ringers on 11 new songs—10 of which Love wrotepunchy with stop-start rhythm of the sarcastic political comment “Senator” to collaborators like Billy Corgan, Linda Perry and new guitarist Micko Larkin. (Perrythe gets languid full credit “Long on one Hard tune, Book.” Malkmus gets a little more expansive with “Letter to God.”) Much of the riveting intensitythe crumbly of the group’s guitars 1990s and gleaming keyboards on “Brain Gallop” (one of the heyday appears to have left along with her former Daniel Jackson few tunes that stretches past five minutes), while “Spazz” is exactly what bandmates, but there are fl ashes here of the snarling Too often, though, the slower songs trip her up. While once fury Love deployed to suchit sounds devastating like, effect thanks back in tothe aday. jumble they wereof knotty showcases guitars for harrowing and Malkmus’ displays of naked yelping emotion, She spits out her vocals with vengeful disdain on “Skinny Little Love sounds more dispassionate these days. The production Bitch,” overdriven guitarsvocals. roiling atop His an lyrics elastic arebassline typically that doesn’toblique, help—the but songsMalkmus have an always airless, sanded-down sounds like feel that speeds up as the song races toward a climatic pile-up at the doesn’t fi t with her visceral persona. Courtney Love’s tumultuous end. She shifts tempos andhe’s attitude having on the fun—never more contemplative more sohistory than suggests when that the she songs has a compelling skirt the story edge to tell, of and “Pacifi c Coast Highway,” taking stock as layers of acoustic and perhaps she does. It’s just not the one she’s telling on Nobody’s electric guitars chug alongchaos. behind It’sher. not the new PavementDaughter album. –Eric R.hardcore Danton fans had hoped for, but Mirror Traffic is more than a mere consolation prize. –Eric R. Danton COURT YARD HOUNDS A side project of new offering suggested that its creator was a few strides closer to Dixie Chicks’ Martie crafting something truly monumental in both musical and social terms. Court Yard Hounds Maguire and Emily This cold and private set isn’t it, although that’s probably due more to [Columbia] Robison, Court Yard personal circumstances than anything related to talent. Wainwright Hounds delivers wrote All Days Are Nights while his mother, Kate McGarrigle, was much-anticipated dying of cancer, and there is a quiet, complex sadness even in its insight—both musical and personal—into the sisters who have less autobiographical material. There’s nothing here except piano for so long ceded center stage to Chicks singer Natalie Maines. and vocal, and Wainwright doesn’t project his words in the way Though steeped in familiar instrumentation, the album offers little we’ve come to expect from him. Instead of serenading the person of the barn-burning brashness that made the Chicks famous (save in the farthest corner of a packed theater, he’s singing to himself in perhaps the gutsy “Ain’t No Son”). Instead, its delicate folk-pop an otherwise empty room. –David Styburski prettiness perfectly suits Robison’s more-than-capable voice and the jumble of emotions, sunny and melancholy, that emerge in a song Ozomatli’s music has been called a collision cycle inspired by her 2008 divorce. Maguire’s weeping fi ddle and OZOMATLI of styles, a cultural mash-up, and a 20-car seamless‘His harmonieslyrics are welcomeare astypically always, and her one turnoblique, on but pileup of genres. It’s also some of the most lead vocals (“Gracefully”) is so warmly affecting that listeners may joyfully energetic music you’ll ever hear. On wish she stepped to the mic more often. Court Yard Hounds ably its fi fth album, the L.A.-based band stirs its demonstrates that, whether with their fellow Dixie Chick or without, blend of salsa, ska, samba, funk, and hip-hop Malkmusthese ladies’ talent always runs deep. –Katie sounds Dodd like he’s havingin ways few groups could conceive. Imagine Fire Away tossing the English Beat, Herb Alpert and the For a dozen years, the [Mercer Street/Downtown] Tijuana Brass, Caetano Veloso, and Sly and fun—neverRUFUS more so arrangementsthan whenon Rufus the songsthe Family Stone into a magical blender and Wainwright’s albums got you get some sense of Ozomatli’s eclectic approach. High points WAINWRIGHTskirt the edgebusier and of his sometimes chaos.’ on their latest, Fire Away, include “Are You Ready?,” a horn-and- All Days Are Nights: Songs naughty, occasionally percussion-driven blast of salsa-fl avored ska; “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah,” for Lulu angry declarations of gay an exultant Latin pop anthem fi tted with shrieking sax; and “Gay Vatos [Decca] pride got louder. Each in Love,” a rockabilly-tinged tune with a soaring chorus. Even when 70 MAY 2010 JULY/AUGUST 2011 M MUSIC & MUSICIANS MAGAZINE M3_v10.indd 70 5/14/10 3:37 AM.

Load more