RSSRock & Roll &: Monster Anthems
New Rock & Roll & column at Barnes & Noble Review:
- Monster Anthems: Lady Gaga
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-06-22]
And It Don't Stop on Substack
Robert Christgau's newsletter And It Don't Stop appears three (or four) times a month on Substack. Subscribe here.
Robert Christgau's Big-Hearted Theory of Pop
Book Reports features reviews of not only the pop-music tomes you'd predict but also literary fiction, Marxist-adjacent cultural commentary, feminist debates over pornography, and even books about the past decade's financial crisis. It follows a collection that Christgau published last year, Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017, which includes Christgau's takes on, among many other things, classic rock, Kanye West, the music of Desert Storm, Lollapalooza, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and so-called guilty pleasures--a category that Christgau rejects, since, for rock critics, as he puts it, "pleasure is where meaning begins." Together, these collections make the sneaky case that Christgau is not just the Dean of American Rock Critics, his self-awarded and perhaps slightly off-putting nickname, but one of America's sharper public intellectuals of the past half century, and certainly one of its most influential--not to mention one of the better stylists in that cohort. Fun is a big part of why.
--David Cantwell, The New Yorker
News
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Skull Orchard Revisited:
- Book: Jon Langford With David Langford: Skull Orchard Revisited (Verse Chorus Press)
- Frank Ocean/Blaqstarr:
- Frank Ocean: Nostalgia, Ultra (free download) A
- Blaqstarr: The Divine EP (N.E.E.T./Interscope/J.B. Starr Productions) A
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-06-17]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Garland Jeffreys/Thurston Moore:
- Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between (Luna Park) A-
- Thurston Moore: Demolished Thoughts (Matador) A-
- Battles/Archie Bronson Outfit:
- Battles: Gloss Drop (Warp) A-
- Archie Bronson Outfit: Coconut (Domino) B+
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-06-10]
MSN Music: Tammy Faye Starlite: Channeling Nico
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-06-09]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Vieux Farka Touré/Group Doueh:
- Vieux Farka Touré: The Secret (Six Degrees) A-
- Group Doueh: Zayna Jumma (Sublime Frequencies) A-
- Nine 11 Thesaurus/Bombino:
- Nine 11 Thesaurus: Ground Zero Generals (The Social Registry) A-
- Bombino: Agadez (Cumbancha) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-06-03]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Afro Latin:
- Afro Latin Via Dakar (Syllart Productions/Discograph) A-
- Afro Latin Via Kinshasa (Syllart Productions/Discograph) A-
- Brad Paisley/The Lonely Island:
- Brad Paisley: This Is Country Music (Arista Nashville) A-
- The Lonely Island: Turtleneck & Chain (Universal Republic) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-05-27]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Phil Spector/Etta James:
- Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector 1961-1966 (Phil Spector/Legacy) A
- Etta James: The Essential Modern Records Collection (Virgin) A-
- Let's Wrestle/The Henry Clay People:
- Let's Wrestle: Nursing Home (Merge) A-
- The Henry Clay People: Somewhere on the Golden Coast (TBD) B+
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-05-20]
MSN Music: A Tribute to Kate McGarrigle
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-05-17]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Gurf Morlix/Blaze Foley:
- Gurf Morlix: Blaze Foley's 113th Wet Dream (Rootball) A-
- Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah (Lost Art) B+
- Raphael Saadiq/Beastie Boys:
- Raphael Saadiq: Stone Rollin' (Columbia) A-
- Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (Capitol) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-05-13]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- An Horse/PJ Harvey:
- An Horse: Walls (Mom + Pop) B+
- PJ Harvey: Let England Shake (Vagrant) B+
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle:
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Tell My Sister (Nonesuch) A
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Odditties (Querbeservice) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-05-06]
Rock & Roll &: Sister Oh Sister
New Rock & Roll & column at Barnes & Noble Review:
- Sister Oh Sister: Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Also in Expert Witness today:
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle:
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Tell My Sister (Nonesuch) A
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Odditties (Querbeservice) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-05-04]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- AfroCubism/Monguito El Unico and Laba Sosseh:
- AfroCubism: AfroCubism (Nonesuch) B+
- Monguito El Unico and Laba Sosseh: Salsa Africana--Monguito El Unico and Laba Sosseh in U.S.A. (Sacodisc '05) A-
- Poly Styrene/Gang of Four:
- Poly Styrene: Generation Indigo (Future Noise Music) A-
- Gang of Four: Content (Yep Roc) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-04-29]
Poly Styrene, Punk Pioneer
A trifecta of pieces on former X-Ray Spex vocalist Poly Styrene, who died just as her first record in quite a while was released:
- Poly Styrene, Punk Pioneer, Dies at 53: obituary, on NPR's All Songs Considered blog
- Poly Styrene: Taking Moral Stances Solo: music review, on NPR
- Expert Witness: review of Generation Indigo; also Gang of Four: Content
The latter two pieces were written before her death.
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-04-26]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- No Age/Superchunk
- No Age: Everything in Between (Sub Pop) A
- Superchunk: Majesty Shredding (Merge) A-
- tUnE-yArDs/Ustad Massano Tazi:
- tUnE-yArDs: w h o k i l l (4AD) A
- Ustad Massano Tazi: Musique classique andalouse de Fès (Ocora '88) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-04-22]
MSN Music: TV on the Radio
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-04-15]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Rainbow Arabia/Britney Spears
- Rainbow Arabia: Boys and Diamonds (Kompakt) A-
- Britney Spears: Femme Fatale (Deluxe Edition) (Jive) B+
- Paul Simon/TV on the Radio:
- Paul Simon: So Beautiful or So What (Hear Music) A
- TV on the Radio: Nin Types of Light (Interscope) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-04-15]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Saigon/Ski Beatz
- Saigon: The Greatest Story Never Told (Suburban Noize) A-
- Ski Beatz: 24 Hour Karate School (DD172 New York) B+
- Generation Bass/Yuck:
- Generation Bass Presents: Transnational Dubstep (Six Degrees) A-
- Yuck: Yuck (Fat Possum) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-04-08]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- Sonny Rollins
- Sonny Rollins: Road Shows Vol. 1 (Doxy/EmArcy '08) A+
- Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard (Blue note '99) A-
- Those Darlins/Middle Brother:
- Those Darlins: Screws Get Loose (Oh Wow Dang) A-
- Middle Brother: Middle Brother (Partisan) A-
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-04-01]
This Week in Expert Witness
New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:
- The Year Before the Flood: A Story of New Orleans
- Drive-By Truckers:
- Drive-By Truckers: The Fine Print (A Collection of Oddities and Rarities): 2003-2008 (New West '09) A-
- Drive-By Truckers: Live From Austin TX (New West '09) B+
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-03-25]
Rock & Roll &: The Righteous Path
New Rock & Roll & column at Barnes & Noble Review:
- The Righteous Path: Drive-By Truckers
[posted by Webmaster on 2011-03-24]
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