Compared to the publicity blowout that preceded the season-opening production of Lucia di Lammermoor—a wild-eyed Natalie Dessay plastered over dozens of city buses—the Metropolitan Opera’s promotion of the company’s first production of Philip Glass’ 1980 opera, Satyagraha, which opened April 11, was almost restrained.

“Could an opera make us stand up for the truth?” asked one poster. “Could an opera make us warriors for peace?” asked another.  read more »

In 1992, Moby was among the bristling avant garde of dance music, at a time when that genre seemed poised to break through to the mainstream in a big way. It was with him that it did break, just a few years later. 1999’s Play, mainly a roster of scratchy blues and gospel samples layered over languid, housey tracks, sold nine million copies worldwide, spawned a series of hits, and introduced us to the ubiquity principle, whereby artists and their albums’ success can be measured by the fact that you hear them everywhere. He was Feist before Feist, “Young Folks” and “Crazy” all rolled into one, somehow pumping out of speakers at the Gap, the Duane Reade, your doctor’s office, your best friend’s cocktail party, and all those Silicon Alley startup parties. Every single track on Play was licensed for commercial use. The future was then.

Like the era of "irrational exuberance" that produced it, that album is likely to be the achievement for which Moby is best remembered, though he recently remarked that “in hindsight, it wasn't fun being the crucified poster child for selling out.”  read more »

So there's no way Adam Green could have known that, when asked by director Jason Reitman what music her character ought to listen to, Juno star Ellen Page would reply "The Moldy Peaches" faster than you can say "homeskillet."

And there's no way Mr. Green could have known the film would become such a runaway success, or that a tune by his old band, the Moldy Peaches, featured prominently therein would become one of iTunes' hottest downloads, or that the soundtrack would rocket to the top of the Billboard 200, or that he'd end up reuniting with ex-band mate Kimya Dawson after a four-year hiatus to perform their old songs in front of the ladies on The View, or that thousands of teens across the country would record their own cover versions of Juno's unofficial theme "Anyone Else But You," and then load them up on YouTube.  read more »

As this decade wanes, some of the chaos in the world of music seems to be settling, as those looking for new sounds grow tired of bottomless discovery. It’s exhausting, really, this omnivorous accumulation of songs. How many albums have been downloaded only to languish somewhere in the catacombs of sprawling hard drives? Yet everything hasn’t devolved into ringtones and novelty singles. The furious dismantling of the pillars of corporate greed (so long, $18.99 CD!) hasn’t hurt enduring grass-roots indie musicians like John Darnielle, who records under the moniker the Mountain Goats. In fact Darnielle’s work, idiosyncratic and acquired-taste though it may be, is more popular than ever, and his latest, perhaps most welcoming album sees him poised to break through to even more new listeners. It’s notable, especially given that he’s been making his music for more than 17 years.  read more »

Nobody who heard Karita Mattila sing the title role of Strauss’s Salome on the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2004 production will ever forget it. That she stripped (briefly) nude at the climax of the Dance of the Seven Veils surely helped fuel the fire, but mainly it was stuff of the performance itself, a heady mixture of fearless vocal fireworks and a daringly sexualized dramatic presence. When Ms. Mattila took her bow, a frenzy erupted: Students, scenesters, stockbrokers and socialites were all on their feet, screaming in amazement and delight.

Ms.  read more »

Everybody needs to stop complaining about Chan Marshall. If I hear another person talk about how she has smoothed over the rough edges that made her so great and eradicated all the warts-and-all charm from her repertoire, I'm going to spit.

Just a year ago, after releasing the strongest album by far of her career, Ms. Marshall, or Cat Power as she's known, cancelled a tour due to a breakdown. Plenty reacted with smug I-coulda-called-it satisfaction given her reputation for stagefright and worse. Then, a few months later, Ms. Marshall emerged stronger, leaner, and meaner than ever, and has since been treating audiences (ever larger, ever more thrilled audiences) to some of the best performances of her life. One review of her new album actually praised her former "paranoid-but-pretty" style in contrast to the strength and poise she now exhibits. You'd think people wanted this woman dead.  read more »

January may be a dead time for the movie business, but in New York, at least, classical music snaps back with a vengeance. Last week brought an exceptional head rush, as fond returns and new beginnings crowded the calendar.

At the center of it was Lorin Maazel, who, despite his advanced age—and the critical drubbing he regularly endures—remains the most resilient conductor on the American scene. On Jan. 7, after an absence of 45 years, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera to lead a triumphant revival of Die Walküre.  read more »

There are two people's voices I can impersonate well: that of Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt and Project Runway frontman Tim Gunn. It seems Merritt is forever impersonating as well, or perhaps just exploring the many forms of his beloved pop and rock songcraft. (Alas, Mr. Gunn specializes in another kind of craft, one that falls outside the purview of this review.) Of course this diversity was most prominent on the Magnetic Fields' 1999 compendium 69 Love Songs, for which he and the band ran through nearly every permutation of the love-song conceit, and came to rest on the lucky number.

Yet, while the band has always been a sucker for a blunt conceit, the years since the release of 69 have seen the very bluntness become esoteric. 2004's i was a string-laden soft-pop ode to melodrama where all the songs began with the prime pronoun and were arranged alphabetically. Then there's the string of Mr. Merritt's side-projects, from the guest-vocalist-heavy 6ths to the Gothic Archies' morose children's songs, an accompaniment to the Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events books. Showtunes was a 2006 collection of Mr. Merritt's work for Chinese theater director Chen Shi-Zeng. Recently Mr. Merritt's voice even graced a Volvo commercial.  read more »

The most unpleasant experience of modern opera that I’ve ever had came last May at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, N.C., which presented the American premiere of the French composer Pascal Dusapin’s opera Faustus, the Last Night. What plot the opera had was contained in its title: Amid waves of static, senseless music, the knowledge-hoarding ex-philosopher learns from a Beckett-esque character named Togod that, when it comes to all those big questions—the existence of God, the fate of the universe, et al.—the answer is that there is no answer.  read more »

It was almost a disaster. Ghostface Killah's new album "The Big Doe Rehab" was slated for release today, and by chance so was the latest from Wu-Tang Clan (of which he is a member).

What a pickle! Ghost was upset. The rest of the group was upset. The fans... well they were just excited about the new music. After a few tense days things were set right, so we'll have to wait another week for that Wu-Tang album, but Ghost stands alone, and thank goodness.  read more »