TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010

MUSIC

STILL HOWLING:

Courtney Love’s newest is unconvincing, though.

KLMNO

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THE CLASSICAL BEAT

Post critic Anne Midgette offers her take on the classical music world at voices.

washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat.

CLICK TRACK

For more pop music news, reviews and features, visit ClickTrack, The Post’s pop music blog at blog.washingtonpost.com/

clicktrack.

QUICK SPINS

C3

Gogol Bordello

TRANS-CONTINENTAL HUSTLE

Few punks this side of the

DANIEL JACKSON

Love’s labor, lost

With ‘Nobody’s Daughter,’ she kills hope for Hole’s rebirth

by Joe Heim

There’s a lot to dislike about

Courtney Love. And almost all of what’s dislikable shows up on “Nobody’s Daughter,” the new album by Love’s band Hole. It’s petty and pretentious.

It’s self-absorbed and self-pity- ing. It rocks in only the most generic way imaginable. Although its failings were entirely predictable, given who Love has become, it’s still a dis- appointment. Many years ago, in a differ- ent century, Hole made a cou- ple of albums that mattered. They raged and railed. They drilled deep to emotional cores. In concert, Love was fearless, a howling demonic force whose performances seemed more an exercise in in- tense catharsis than an effort to simply wow a crowd. In the process she was able to con- vince doubters that she was more than simply Kurt Co- bain’s widow. She rocked in her own right, and people paid at- tention. What a waste, then, what has happened in the years since — especially the past decade as Love, 45, has starred in what is essentially her own troubled reality show: a seemingly un- ending string of public squab- bles, arrests, embarrassments, visits to rehab, court appear- ances, lawsuits and custody battles over her and Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean. This new album feels like it wants to be an apology for these lost years, or at least a case for resurrection, but it is entirely unconvincing. Instead it only reinforces the image of

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READ BEFORE YOU RESERVE. RESTAURANT REVIEWS IN THE SUNDAY MAGAZINE.

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JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET

“Shrieks of laughter night after

night.” -TheWashington Post

Thibaudet Plays Connesson & Ravel

Hans Graf, conductor Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

DEBUSSY: Images

CONNESSON: The Shining One

RAVEL: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand RAVEL: Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé

Thu., Apr. 29 at 7 Fri., Apr. 30 at 8 Sat., May 1 at 8

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“ ‘Triumph’ of comedy, performance

and song.” –TheWashington Post

TRIUMPH OF LOVE

Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead Music by Jeffrey Stock Directed by Clay Hopper

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And then there’s “Letter to

God,” which begins, “Dear God /I’m writing this letter to You / ’Cause I don’t have a clue / Can You help me?” Love might not want to hear the answer.

On “Someone Else’s Bed,” she

Love as the narcissist, wasteful of her own talent, scornful of others, bitter and vindictive. She’s still howling, only now it sounds so empty. It probably doesn’t help that

the new lineup for Hole in- cludes none of its previous members, most significantly guitarist Eric Erlandson, who had been with the band since its first album. But a bigger problem is the shabby song- writing. “Through villages of ether oh

my crucifixion comes / Will you sing my hallelujah / Will you tell me when it’s done,” Love sings on “Samantha.” On the title track we get this:

“And I will dig my own grave- yard / I’m Miss Begotten / I am the last one you save here / It’s all gone rotten.”

SINGLES FILE

A weekly playlist for the listener with a one-track mind

in May.

Blitzen Trapper: “Destroyer of the Void”

On the titanic, fantastical title track of their upcoming disc, the usually temperate folk archivists channel Kansas and ’70s Queen.

DJ Gemini featuring Kingpen Slim, et al.: “DMV Dream Team”

Gemini assembles an all-star cast of local heavyweights on this track from his probable new mix tape, “Welcome to the DMV,” set to drop

Tobacco featuring Beck: “Fresh Hex”

What do you get when the strenu- ously weird frontman of Black Moth Super Rainbow mates (at least in an electronic sense) with Beck? A track from Tobacco’s upcoming solo disc that resembles the strangest, most effects-overloaded “Odelay” outtake ever.

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affects her best Dylan imitation for a weird entry into what evolves into another dismal shoutfest. Like most of the songs, it follows a proto-grunge formula: soft part, followed by loud part, followed by louder part. But no amount of roaring guitars or thundering drums can camouflage such ordinari- ness.

Of the 11 tracks here, only

“Loser Dust,” a full-throttle screed, and the album-closing acoustic turn, “Never Go Hun- gry,” offer hints of the much- better album that might have been. But it’s far too little to hold on to. “Don’t tell me I have lost when clearly I’ve won,” Love growls on “Nobody’s Daugh- ter.” It’s the sort of deluded self- appraisal that just leaves you shaking your head.

heimj@washpost.com

Recommended tracks:

“Loser Dust,” “Never Go Hungry”

Mekons and the Clash make resistance sound as liberating as Gogol Bordello; ever fewer have made as many timely and great albums, and the group’s latest is no exception. Produced by the ubiquitous Rick Rubin, “Trans-Continental Hustle” relies more on acoustic instrumentation — Gypsy violins, sighing accordion, heavily strummed guitars — than the band’s last couple of releases. Its call for immigrants the world over to mobilize and unite, though, remains as urgent and relevant as ever. At stake, as Ukrainian American frontman Eugene Hutz sings in “Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rough),” are the destinies of people being “flushed down the bureaucratic drain.” In “Break the Spell,” giving voice to the anti-immigrant sentiment suffered by the Southern Slavic refugees now crowded into Italian shantytowns, he cries, “Just because I come from (the) Roma camp up the hill / They put me in a school for (the) mentally ill.” As the song’s marching cadence intensifies, he adds, “You love our music, but you hate our guts / I know you still want me to ride (in) the back of the bus.” Though not as bacchanalian as its predecessors, the music here — lusty choruses, Balkan beats, bold, indelible hooks — is hardly less visceral or commanding. Even more, in some respects, than Hutz’s righteous and incisive lyrics, it’s his band’s glorious multi-ethnic revelry, from Latin and Arabic flourishes to the occasional dub pulse, that embodies what an unfettered global community might look like.

—Bill Friskics-Warren

Recommended tracks:

“Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rough),” “Trans-Continental Hustle,” “Sun Is on My Side”

Gogol Bordello plays Rams

Head Live in Baltimore April 29 and 30.

Daddy Yankee

MUNDIAL

Daddy Yankee may be the pride of Puerto Rico, but international superstardom has made him a citizen of the world. The reggaetón star/standard bearer picked up some new sonic influences while touring and racking up passport stamps, and his latest album, “Mundial,” incorporates some of the sounds he heard while traveling the globe. Bringing in a new set of musical influences makes sense, in theory. Reggaetón is itself a stew of bacahata, plena, dancehall and hip-hop, among other genres, so it’s already well-established that Daddy Yankee knows how to play around with different sounds to good effect. On “Mundial,” he blends in some cumbia and batucada, but he’s also developed a frightening appreciation for European electronic dance music, which he liberally splashes all over the project. Tracks like “El Mejor de Todos los Tiempos” and “Vida en la Noche” reek of Euro-trash club, veering dangerously close to Sprockets-style parody. Still, “Mundial” contains

several solid, recognizably reggaetón tracks. “Que Es la Que Hay” is a return to the hip-winding partying style found on much of 2007’s “El Cartel: The Big Boss” and 2004’s excellent “Barrio Fino.” Lead single “Grito Mundial” is augmented by horn blasts and marching band bombast and second single “Descontrol” has the same bounce foundation as “Rompe.”

Despite some strange new elements, Daddy Yankee’s latest still succeeds: His goal has always been to make people dance, and he accomplishes it once again — even if the bodies “Mundial” is most likely to move are those at a disco in Prague.

— Sarah Godfrey

Recommended tracks:

“Que Es la Que Hay,” “Grito Mundial,” “Descontrol”

B.o.B.

THE ADVENTURES OF BOBBY RAY

It would have made sense for Decatur rapper-singer B.o.B. to use his debut major-label CD, “B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray,” as a showcase for his solo skills, a chance for the mix-tape star to let the world know he can hold down an entire studio album all by himself. Instead, he treats “The Adventures of Bobby Ray” as a collaborative party, seemingly using his status as the Next Big Thing to call on all of his favorite artists: T.I., Rivers Cuomo, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Lupe Fiasco, to name a few. B.o.B. goes it alone on only four tracks, but the cameos augment rather than overwhelm his talents. B.o.B., who produced most of the album, thoughtfully creates tracks to suit the strengths of each guest, with the one constant being his ability to adapt to almost any style. On album standout “The

Kids,” B.o.B. and Janelle Monáe drop non-preachy social commentary over a sample of Vampire Weekend’s “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance.” With “Bet I,” featuring T.I., B.o.B. reminds fans that, despite his pop and indie-rock leanings, he’s still a lyrical rap monster, and on “Airplanes (Part II),” Bobby Ray and Eminem imagine what life would be like if they’d never embarked on rap careers. “Nothin’ on You,” featuring Bruno Mars, has positively flooded radio, and for those who once loved it but have tired of hearing it, B.o.B. provides the sonically and thematically similar “Lovelier Than You,” another sweet, sentimental relationship ode. The album never settles on a single sound: B.o.B. seems to travel wherever his friends and his mood take him — but that’s exactly how an adventure should be.

— Sarah Godfrey

Recommended tracks:

“Airplanes II,” “Bet I,” “The Kids,” “Lovelier Than You”

Various Artists: “Orientalism: A Mix of Indian Film Music”

Dev from Twin Sister pays homage to Indian film music, with an em- phasis on ’70s Bollywood and the works of composer R.D. Burman, on this stellar new extended mix.

Gucci Mane: “Lemonade” (Solly remix)

DJ Solly improves upon Mane’s pre- viously-impossible-to-improve-upon hit.

— Allison Stewart

HOLD ON! Blitzen Trapper is getting all Kansas on us.

TODD ROETH

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