Joe Lally

Why Should I Get Used to It (Dischord)

This third solo LP in the wake of Fugazi’s 2003 hiatus finds group co-founder/bassist Joe Lally couching his life questions in bookend mantras. Barbwire guitar work from Lally and Elisa Abela laces spare ribs of bass and drums (Emanuele Tomasi) as queries are posed: “Who am I foolin'” (“Revealed in Fever”), “Why do you do everything they expect you to do” (“Philosophy for Insects”), and the title cut – none with a question mark. Spoiler alert, the answers: opener “What Makes You” happy (“All that has been given can always be taken away”), “Let It Burn,” and muscled closer “Last of the Civilized,” with its final monastic sentiment, “There is no other moment, just the moment that is here.” (Sat., 1:55pm, Orange stage)

***.5

This article appears in November 4 • 2011.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.