Most of the Songs Eschew a Tech-Heavy

MARCH/APRIL 2012 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM REVIEWS HOLE FNobody’sLYING COLORS Daughter [Universal] Flying Colors [Mascot] The first album released under the Hole moniker since 1998’s Celebrity Skin is really frontwoman Courtney Love’sFlying Colors spotlights five veteran musicians with unbeatable second solo album—co-founder,progressive pedigrees—guitarist Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple), songwriter and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson isn’t involved,drummer Mike Portnoy (who recently exited Dream Theater), bassist Dave nor is any other previous Hole member. So it’s Love andLaRue three (a frequent collaborator of Morse and Portnoy), keyboardist Neal ringers on 11 new songs—10 of which Love wroteMorse with (formerly of Spock’s Beard) and singer Casey McPherson (Texas’ collaborators like Billy Corgan,Alpha LindaRev). Perry Think and Toto—top-flightnew players who don’t look down snootily guitarist Micko Larkin. (Perry gets full credit on one tune, “Letter to God.”) on the idea of mainstream appeal (indeed, Flying Colors’ “Kayla” carries Much of the riveting intensity of the group’s 1990s heyday appears to havea hintleft along of vintage with her Toto).former ButDaniel Jackson Morse and company take their high-octane 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 suchcollaborative devastating effect spirit back several in the day. stepsthey werefurther. showcases Most for ofharrowing the songs displays eschewof naked emotion, a She spits out her vocals tech-heavywith vengeful disdain approach on “Skinny while Little emphasizingLove sounds more instrumental dispassionate these telepathy—there days. The production Bitch,” overdriven guitars roiling atop an elastic bassline that doesn’t help—the songs have an airless, sanded-down feel that speeds up as the song areraces echoes toward a climaticof the pile-upDregs at andthe Dreamdoesn’t fi t Theater,with her visceral naturally, persona. butCourtney also Love’s Yes tumultuous and end. She shifts tempos and attitude on the more contemplative history suggests that she has a compelling story to tell, and “Pacifi c Coast Highway,”King taking Crimson—andstock as layers of acoustic maintaining and perhaps an edgy she does. accessibility. It’s just not the The one she’s power telling ballads on Nobody’s electric guitars chug along behind her. Daughter. –Eric R. Danton “Everything Changes” and “Better Than Walking Away” provide perfect COURT YARDcases HOUNDS in point,A althoughside project “Blueof new Ocean,” offering suggested “The Storm”that its creator and was “Forever a few strides in closer a to Dixie Chicks’ Martie crafting something truly monumental in both musical and social terms. Court Yard HoundsDaze” tout theirMaguire talents and justEmily asThis well. cold –Leeand private Zimmerman 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‘Most harmonies areof welcome the as always,songs and her one eschew turn on a 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 tech-heavythese ladies’ talent runs approach deep. –Katie Dodd while emphasizingin 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 RUFUS arrangements on Rufus the Family Stone into a magical blender and instrumental telepathyWainwright’s and albums gotmaintaining you get some sense of Ozomatli’s eclectic approach. High points WAINWRIGHT busier and his sometimes 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]an edgy accessibility.’pride got louder. Each in Love,” a rockabilly-tinged tune with a soaring chorus. Even when 70 MAY 2010 MARCH/APRIL 2012 M MUSIC & MUSICIANS MAGAZINE M3_v10.indd 70 5/14/10 3:37 AM.

Load more