Joe Lally - Nothing Is Underrated

by Simon T Diplock

Fugazi bassist can't top past glories

"The fact that Guy Picciotto plays guitar and Ian Mackaye sits in the producer’s chair here makes ‘Nothing…’ as close to a Fugazi reunion as you're likely to get."

Drop the name Joe Lally in some circles and you’ll get instant respect, credibility and cool. Bring the admittedly legendary Fugazi bassist up in a conversation about solo albums though, and it’s likely to have the opposite effect. See, for all his highly-imaginative and incredibly consistent work in the alt-rock heroes, Lally hasn’t posted the greatest of one-man accounts. And while ‘Nothing Is Underrated’ isn’t all bad, it’ll do very little to change the way things are.

That's not to say this ain’t going to have every Dischord Records fan salivating. The fact that Guy Picciotto plays guitar and Ian Mackaye sits in the producer’s chair here makes ‘Nothing…’ as close to a Fugazi reunion as you're likely to get, there’s the same air of musical freedom present as surrounds their full-time efforts and some of the sparse, wintry friction of that band can’t help but occasionally froth into this project.

However, and still for all Lally’s earnest efforts and clever connections, it’s not long before the problems that have previously plagued his solo stuff begin to reappear here. Opener ‘Day Is Born’ doesn’t exactly kick things off, instead sounding as if it’s always waiting for something, some bigger force to come along and change it into a real song. ‘Map Of The World’ and ‘The Space Program’ feel half-finished and while ‘Motora’ manages to be subtle as well as spooky and fascinating, ‘Strascinata’ seems like something Lally wrote with his last three minutes of studio time.

Any ex-Fugazi-member solo effort, maybe even any further Fugazi material, is rather predictably going to be overshadowed by the band’s impressive CV, but more often than not this feels like an unnecessary, self-indulgent and disparate muddle rather than something that could even start getting close to carving out a solid, singular identity. Continue to be careful dropping Lally’s name then.
Mr. Chris said on May 16th 2008 [report abuse]

I love this album. I don't think Joe's remotely trying to live up to some kind of Fugazi standard that all the critics keep holding him to, especially because this stuff is much more akin to some type of surrealist visual art than the punk rock of Fugazi. It's apples and oranges. This album's quiet, contemplative style fit the man appropriately in my opinion, and the listener is treated to an honest expression of the artist himself, which should ultimately be at the core of any work.

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