Ten years ago, many critics (and at least a few sane people, too) thought that rock had breathed its last. The early-90’s grunge wave had crested and broken, leaving behind lots of second- and third-tier bands but not much in the way of captivating music. Britpop was a non-starter for most folks who aren’t English. Read More
Ten years ago, many critics (and at least a few sane people, too) thought that rock had breathed its last. The early-90’s grunge wave had crested and broken, leaving behind lots of second- and third-tier bands but not much in the way of captivating music. Britpop was a non-starter for most folks who aren’t Read More
Fifteen years and six studio albums into their professional career, the five members of Radiohead find themselves in an unprecedented position. Their longstanding contract with the multinational recording conglomerate EMI—under the terms of which they created, among other things, two critically lauded artifacts of late-20th-century anxiety, OK Computer (1997) and Kid A (2000)—has now expired, Read More
Fifteen years and six studio albums into their professional career, the five members of Radiohead find themselves in an unprecedented position. Their longstanding contract with the multinational recording conglomerate EMI—under the terms of which they created, among other things, two critically lauded artifacts of late-20th-century anxiety, OK Computer (1997) and Kid A (2000)—has now expired, Read More
Sometime back in the late 1990's, Britt Daniel, the leader of the Austin, Tex.–based band Spoon, figured out what he wanted to do with himself. His life's mission, he told CMJ New Music Monthly in a 2002 interview, had become clear: "to add to the history of great rock records." Most people would call this Read More
On Feb. 23 at Carnegie Hall, the American Composers Orchestra gave three pieces of music their world premiere and, in so doing, provided a reunion of sorts for two well-traveled musicians. Film composer Danny Elfman's first orchestral work for the concert stage, Serenada Schizophrana, was the evening's biggest event. Immediately prior to Mr. Elfman's piece, Read More
You've seen the ad: Shadowy figures wearing white earpieces gyrate against brightly colored backdrops as U2 pumps out an abbreviated version of its new single, "Vertigo"-all in the service of Apple's iPod. Perhaps you were disheartened by the sight of one of rock's most famously idealistic bands shilling for a computer company. If so, it Read More
Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul, by Craig Werner. Crown, 352 pages, $24.
In the 1960's, the term "soul music" defined the deepest in black American pop. Now it seems caught in history's aspic, like Yippies, love-ins and transcendental meditation. Soul's latest replacement, "neo-soul" (think Read MoreSteve Burns used to make his living as the television sidekick of an animated blue dog. The job entailed, among other things, breaking into a goofy dance whenever the mailman arrived and engaging in long, pregnant pauses while searching for an answer to simple questions. For six years, the fresh-faced and admirably patient Mr. Burns Read More
The world is not exactly rife with rock musicians who've made successful forays into writing. But at least a few rockers-Pete Townshend, Nick Cave and Julian Cope among them-have shown they can manage a pen as well as a plectrum. On the other hand, I can think of only one proven writer who's gone on Read More
Ah, springtime: the season when, after a quiet winter, compact discs begin to cover-like pollen-every flat surface in a pop critic's humble abode. Time to play catch-up with a wrap-up of 14 records that I've consigned to one of three categories for ease of consumption.
1. Remember (Enjoying Steady Rotation) The Black Keys, thickfreakness (Fat Read MoreO.K., it's been a few weeks now since the latest annual installment of The Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll made its newsstand debut, but no-lifer that I am, I'm still obsessing over the results. My smug inner contrarian was happy to see that precisely zero of the other 694 critics who participated voted Read More
Nick Cave is the Christopher Walken of pop music. Both performers love to create and inhabit characters that carry creepiness to uncharted heights. And yet they manage to infuse those characters with an emotional commitment so strong that we're often as attracted to them as we are repulsed.
Take, for example, Mr. Walken's performance as the Read MoreThe early commercial success of George Harrison's latest and, I'll presume, last album, Brainwashed (Capitol)-it debuted in the Billboard Top 20-may prove that even in the midst of widespread Eminemania and Avrilidolatry, an audience still exists for guitar-based pop in the hallowed 1960's-70's tradition.
Then again, it may only prove that nothing sells quite like death. Read MoreThe Oct. 30 murder of Run-D.M.C.'s Jam Master Jay has predictably inspired a plethora of wheezy editorials on the cultural significance of hip-hop's violent streak. But for me, the news, sad as it was, triggered some fond memories. Seeing Run-D.M.C. in the headlines brought me back to my high-school days, when Jay and his two Read More
