New Rock & Roll & column at Barnes & Noble Review:

• Maturity for Modern Kids: The Arcade Fire: The Suburbs

Christgau writes: "Linked below find the second dispatch in my unexpected new role as NYC dance music reporter for MSN Music. If I stumble onto another great show, there may be a third. The main subject is Swedish ex-teenqueen Robyn."

• Robyn: Dancing Into Rock

With the Consumer Guide discontinued, Christgau will continue to write occasional Music News items for MSN Music:

• Split Decision: M.I.A.'s Hard Festival Trial

• Tokyo Police Club Slows the Pace With Champ
• Macy Gray: A Spiritual Comeback With The Sellout
[posted by Webmaster on 2010-07-29]

New Rock & Roll & column at Barnes & Noble Review:

• Illygirl Steppin Up: M.I.A.: Maya

New Consumer Guide for July 2010. Featured albums:

• Bako Dagnon: Sidiba (Discograph) [B+]
• The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards (Third Man/Warner Bros.) [B+]
• Bad Reputation: Pierre de Gaillande Sings Georges Brassens (Barbès) [A-]
• Étoile de Dakar: Once Upon a Time in Senegal: The Birth of Mbalax (Sterns Africa) [A]
• Macy Gray: The Sellout (Concord) [A-]
• LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening (DFA/Virgin) [A-]
• The National: High Violet (4AD) [A-]
• The Pernice Brothers: Goodbye, Killer (Ashmont) [A-]
• Tokyo Police Club: Champ (Mom + Pop) [A-]
• Rokia Traoré: Tchamantche (Nonesuch) [A-]
• Them Crooked Vultures: Them Crooked Vultures (DGC/Interscope) [B-]

Honorable Mentions: Laurie Anderson, African Pearls: Sénégal -- Echo Musical, John Prine, The Soft Pack, Salif Keita, Uffie; Eccentric Breaks & Beats, A.C. Newman, Erykah Badu, Blk Jks, Sweet Talks, Mates of State; Mimicking Birds, Deer Tick, Youssou N'Dour, Jason Collett, Renée Fleming, Soft Machine, Devin the Dude, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Raise Hope for Congo, The New Pornographers, Preservation.

Choice Cuts: Michael Jackson, Those Darlins, Josh Ritter, The Herbaliser, Ozomatli, Bettye LaVette, Screaming Females.

More Duds: Animal Collective, Toni Braxton, Jackson Browne/David Lindley/El Vivo Con Tino, Karen Elson, Alec Ounsworth, Tribute to a Reggae Legend.

New Rock & Roll & column at Barnes & Noble Review:

• Who Knows It Feels It: Chris Salewicz: Bob Marley: The Untold Story

New Consumer Guide for June 2010. Featured albums:

• African Pearls: Congo: Pont Sur le Congo (Syllart) [A]
• Elizabeth Cook: Welder (31 Tigers) [A]
• Hole: Nobody's Daughter (Mercury) [A-]
• Nas & Damian "JR. Gong" Marley: Distant Relatives (Def Jam) [A-]
• Ouaga Affair: Hard Won Sound of the Upper Volta 1974-78 (Savannahphone) [B+]
• Tin Huey: Before Obscurity: The Bushflow Tapes (Smog Veil) [B+]
• Titus Andronicus: The Monitor (XL) [A-]
• Julian Marley: Awake (Universal Republic) [B]

Honorable Mentions: The Hold Steady, Jimi Tenor/Tony Allen, Kate Nash, Fishtank Ensemble, Issa Juma and Super Wanyika Stars, The Apples in Stereo, Egypt Noir: Nubian Soul Treasures, Ryan Leslie; The Fall, Robin Thicke, Lagos Disco Inferno, Tony Allen, This Moment in Black History, African Pearls: Côte d'Ivoire: West African Crossroads, Timbila, Sierre Leone's Refugee All Stars, Mean Jeans; Eric Bibb, Hendy Odem, Ton3x, Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, Ryan Leslie, Strange Boys, Etran Finatawa.

Choice Cuts: Fefe Dobson, Court Yard Hounds, Mayer Hawthorne, NOFX.

More Duds: Cobie Caillat, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Gallows, Lady Antebellum, Shelby Lynne, Ky-Mani Marley, Pissed Jeans, Trey Songz, Carrie Underwood.

New Rock & Roll & column at Barnes & Noble Review:

• Pops as Pop: Louis Armstrong

New Consumer Guide for May 2010. Featured albums:

• Balkan Beat Box: Blue Eyed Black Boy (Nat Geo Music) [A-]
• Beatles Beginnings (Rhythmand Blues) [A-]
• Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain't No Grave (American) [A]
• Cornershop: Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast (Ample Play) [A-]
• Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip: The Logic of Chance (Sunday Best) [A-]
• Merle Haggard: I Am What I Am (Vanguard) [B+]
• MC Esoteric: Saving Seamus Ryan (Fly Casual) [A-]
• Quasi: American Gong (Kill Rock Stars) [A-]
• Surfer Blood: Astro Coast (Kanine) [A-]
• MGMT: Congratulations (Columbia) [C+]

Honorable Mentions: Gogol Bordello, Hot Chip, Drive-By Truckers, Texas Tornados, Jaguar Love, Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Holmes Brothers, Danny Barnes; Bela Fleck, Broken Bells, Lyle Lovett, Drakkar Sauna, James Hand, Willie Nelson; Peter Karp & Sue Foley, Easton Corbin, St. Vincent, The Reverend Horton Heat, 7L & Esoteric, Beach House.

Choice Cuts: Gorillaz, Flight of the Conchords, Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova, She & Him.

More Duds: Bobby Bare Jr., Built to Spill, Jakob Dylan, The Low Anthem, Meth Ghost and Rae, Miike Snow, Rain Machie, 7L & Esoteric, Blake Shelton.

New Consumer Guide for April 2010. Featured albums:

• Mose Allison: The Way of the World (Anti-) [B+]
• MC Paul Barman: Thought Balloon Mushroom Cloud (Househusband) [A-]
• The Bundles: The Bundles (K) [A-]
• Fever Ray: Fever Ray (Rabid/Mute) [A-]
• Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca: Isabela (Mopiato Music) [A-]
• Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca: Retrospectiva (Mopiato Music) [A-]
• Lil Wayne: No Ceilings (free download) [A-]
• Love Is All: Two Thousand and Ten Injuries (Polyvinyl) [A-]
• Kinito Méndez: Éxitos de Kinito Méndez (J & N) [A-]
• Freeway & Jake One: Stimulus Package (Rhymesayers Entertainment) [B]

Honorable Mentions: The Da Vincis, Project Ahimsa Presents Global Lingo, Los Campesinos!, Bettie Serveert, MC Paul Barman; Wetdog, Röyksopp, Donwill, Kid Cudi, Dr. Dooom, Roberto Rodriguez, Lil Wayne, Kleenex LiLiPUT; Gucci Mane, Felt, Gil Scott-Heron, Souls of Mischief, Abraham Inc., Snoop Dogg Presents the West Coast Blueprint, Cock Lorge Band, Ludacris.

Choice Cuts: Peter Gabriel, Masha Qrella, Young Money, Lil Wayne.

More Duds: Dap C & Lil Wayne, Dead Man's Bones, Dum Dum Girls, Fabolous, Freddie Gibbs, Hopsin, The Knife, Kool Keith, Snoop Dogg.

New Rock & Roll & column at Barnes & Noble Review:

• The Triumph of the Id: Lil Wayne