Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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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:

MSN Music: Lucinda Williams
This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

  • Buck 65/M.I.A.:
    • Buck 65: 20 Odd Years (WEA) A-
    • M.I.A.: Vicki Leekx Mixtape (vickileekx.com download) B+
  • Louis Prima/Carmen McRae:
    • Louis Prima: Zooma Zooma: The Best of Louis Prima (Rhino '90) A
    • Carmen McRae: Carmen Sings Monk (Bluebird '02) A-
This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

  • Robyn:
    • Robyn: Robyn Is Here (RCA '97) B+
    • Robyn: Robyn (Konichiwa/Cherrytree/Interscope '08) A-
  • Drive-By Truckers/Hayes Carll:
    • Drive-By Truckers: Go-Go Boots (ATO) A-
    • Hayes Carll: KMAG YOYO (Lost Highway) B+
Rock & Roll &: Dancing on Her Own

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

This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

  • Old 97's:
    • Old 97's: The Grand Theatre Volume One (New West) A-
    • Old 97's: Mimeograph (New West) B+
  • Jazmine Sullivan/Drake:
    • Jazmine Sullivan: Love Me Back (J) A-
    • Drake: Thank Me Later (Universal/Motown) B+
Perfect Sound Forever

Robert Christgau is guest editor of the February/March 2011 issue on online music magazine Perfect Sound Forever. For more info, see his Introduction.

This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

  • Flying Lotus/Eskmo:
    • Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma (Warp) A-
    • Eskmo: Eskmo (Ninja Tune) A-
  • Girl Talk/Nicki Minaj:
    • Girl Talk: All Day (Illegal Art download) A
    • Nicki Minaj: Beam Me Up Scotty (Trapaholics download) A-
This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

  • Deerhunter/Best Coast:
    • Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest (4AD) A-
    • Best Coast: Crazy for You (Mexican Summer) A-
  • Die Antwoord/Shangaan Electro:
    • Die Antwoord: $O$ (Cherrytree/Interscope) A-
    • Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa (Honest Jons) A-
Rock & Roll &: Live Albums

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

MSN Music: Dakar Diary Part II

Part two of Christgau's two-part African trip diary:

This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

  • Das Racist:
    • Das Racist: Shut Up, Dude (Mishka download) A-
    • Das Racist: Sit Down, Man (Mad Decent download) A-
  • Corin Tucker Band/Robyn:
    • The Corin Tucker Band: 1,000 Years (Kill Rock Stars) A
    • Robyn: Body Talk (Konichiwa/Cherrytree/Interscope) A-
MSN Music: Dakar Diary

Part one of Christgau's two-part African trip diary:

This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

  • Eminem: Recovery (Aftermath/Interscope) A-
  • Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot . . . The Son of Chico Dusty (Def Jam) A-
  • Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday (Young Money/Cash Money) A
  • Far East Movement: Free Wired (Cherrytree/Interscope) B+
This Week in Expert Witness

New posts this week in Robert Christgau's Expert Witness blog:

  • Rachid Taha: Bonjour (Knitting Factory) A
  • Rachid Taha: Diwan 2 (Wrasse '06) A
  • Care Bears on Fire: Girls Like It Loud (S-Curve download) A
  • Sleigh Bells: Treats (Mom + Pop) A-

Posts from previous weeks:

  • Bouncing Cats: Hip-Hop Heroes
  • Systems Solar: Systems Solar (Chusma) A-
  • D.O. Misiani and Shirati Jazz: The King of History (Sterns Africa) A-
  • Scissor Sisters: Night Work (Downtown/Polydor) A-
  • Of Montreal: False Priest (Polyvinyl) A-
  • Tabu Ley Rochereau: The Voice of Lightness Vol. 2: Congo Classics 1977-1993 (Sterns Africa) A
  • Angola Soundtrack (Analog Africa) B+
  • Allo Darlin': Allo Darlin' (Fortuna Pop!) A-
  • Jon Langford & Skull Orchard: Old Devils (Bloodshot) B+
  • The Roots: How I Got Over (Def Jam) A
  • Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Roc-a-Fella) A
  • Shad: TSOL (Black Box/Decon) A-
  • Tricky: Mixed Race (Domino) A-
Rock & Roll &: Discovering Teranga

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

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