SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM REVIEWS HOLE GNobody’sREEN DAY Daughter ¡Uno![Universal] [Reprise] The first album released under the Hole moniker since Fourth1998’s act, Celebrity same asSkin the is first: really That’s the story Greenfrontwoman Day aims Courtney to tell Love’swith ¡Uno! , the first installmentsecond solo in a album—co-founder, trilogy of albums they’ll roll out oversongwriter the next few and months. lead guitarist Having played alt-rock heroesEric inErlandson the post-Cobain isn’t involved, ’90s and unlikely political rock-operanor is any dramatists other previous in the Hole member. So it’s Love and three Bush ’00s, the trio inches ringers on 11 new songs—10 backof toward which its Love punk wrote roots, with craftingcollaborators restless power-poplike Billy Corgan, Linda Perry and new tunesguitarist that—modern Micko Larkin. studio (Perry gets full credit on one tune, sheen“Letter notwithstanding— to God.”) mightMuch have of fit the on riveting1992’s pre-intensity of the group’s 1990s Daniel Jackson fameheyday Kerplunk appears. It’s a welcome to have left along with her former bandmates, but there are fl ashes here of the snarling change, and not just because Too often, though, the slower songs trip her up. While once fury Love deployed to such devastating effect back in the day. they were showcases for harrowing displays of naked emotion, the band’s last album, 2009’s She spits out her vocals with vengeful disdain on “Skinny Little Love sounds more dispassionate these days. The production Phil Mucci 21stBitch,” Century overdriven Breakdown guitars, roilingbuckled atop under an elasticthe bassline that doesn’t help—the songs have an airless, sanded-down feel that weightspeeds of its up own as thearena-rock song races ambition. toward Frontman a climatic pile-up at the doesn’t fi t with her visceral persona. Courtney Love’s tumultuous Billieend. Joe She Armstrong shifts tempos has always and attitude excelled on at the writing more contemplative history suggests that she has a compelling storyGreen to tell, Dayand songs“Pacifi for c pimply Coast youngHighway,” romantics—even taking stock asthe layers best of acoustic and perhaps she does. It’s just not the one she’s telling on Nobody’s songselectric on the guitars 2004 chug antiwar along song behind cycle her. American Idiot deal with Daughter. –Eric R. Danton teen angst—and on tunes like “Stay the Night” and “Fell for You,” he he asks, “Making a living, making a killing / What’s worth forgiving?” obsessesCOURT over girls, YARD unsure whetherHOUNDS to smotherA them side with project kisses of Thesenew offering Bay Area suggested boys have, that itsindeed, creator made was a killing,few strides but even closer though to or with pillows. Dixie Chicks’ Martie they’recrafting somethingrich old men—“the truly monumental last gang in both in town,” musical as and Armstrong social terms. sings Court Yard Hounds Maguire and Emily This cold and private set isn’t it, although that’s probably due more to Of course, you [Columbia]can’t turn 40, pen two rock operas,Robison, and Court become Yard onpersonal “Rusty circumstances James,” referencing than anything the Clash—they related to talent.consider Wainwright themselves your generation’s Bono without growing as a songwriter.Hounds Portions delivers of “toowrote young All Days to die.” Are They’reNights while searching his mother, for the Kate Fountain McGarrigle, of Youth, was and much-anticipated dying of cancer, and there is a quiet, complex sadness even in its ¡Uno! reflect the changes in Armstrong’s life, and on “Carpe Diem,” even if it’s a fool’s quest, it’s fun to tag along. –Kenneth Partridge 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 harmonies are welcome as always, and her one turn on 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 ‘Thewish trioshe stepped inches to the mic more back often. Court toward Yard Hounds its ably punk roots,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 these ladies’ talent runs deep. –Katie Dodd in ways few groups could conceive. Imagine crafting restless power-pop tunesFire Away that— 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 modern studio sheenWainwright’s notwithstanding— albums got 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,” might havefor Lulu fit on 1992’sangry declarations prefame of gay an Kerplunkexultant 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

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