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
Expert Witness: Some Serious Anti-Trump Music 
New in Expert Witness:
- Dawn Oberg: Nothing Rhymes With Orange (Blossom Theory) A
- Tim Heidecker: Too Dumb for Suicide: Tim Heidecker's Trump Songs (Jagjaguwar) B+
- Mavis Staples: Livin' on a High Note (Anti-) ***
- Mavis Staples: If All I Was Was Black (Anti-) **
- Downtown Boys: Cost of Living (Sub Pop) *
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-12-22] Expert Witness: Some Delta Blues Gems and Country Blues Moments 
New in Expert Witness:
- American Epic: The Best of Blues (Lo-Max/Third Man/Columbia/Legacy) A
- 24 Classic Blues Songs From the 1920's: Vol 15 (Blues Images) A-
- American Epic: The Best of Country (Lo-Max/Third Man/Columbia/Legacy) B+
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-12-15] Expert Witness: Now That's What I Call Expert Witness with Robert Christgau! 
New in Expert Witness:
- Now That's What I Call 90s Pop (Sony Music Entertainment) A-
- Now That's What I Call Tailgate Anthems (Sony Music Entertainment) A-
- 13 Days of Xmas (Bloodshot) **
- Nick Lowe: Quality Street (Yep Roc) *
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-12-08] Expert Witness: Saint Etienne and St. Vincent's Admirable Charms 
New in Expert Witness:
- Saint Etienne: Home Counties (Heavenly/PIAS) A-
- St. Vincent: Masseduction (4AD) B+
- SZA: Ctrl (RCA) ***
- Rev. Sekou: In Times Like These (Thirty Tigers) ***
- The Relatives: Goodbye World (Luv N' Haight) **
- Primate Fiasco: Massachusetts Winter (self-released) **
There's also a recent interview with Christgau in the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-12-01] Expert Witness: A Near-Perfect Kasai Allstars Album and Some Afrobeats 
New in Expert Witness:
- Kasai All Stars: Around Félicité (Crammed Discs) A-
- Afrobeats Hot Hits: New Urban Dance Grooves From Africa (Shanachie) B+
- Siama: Rivers: From the Congo to the Mississippi (self-released) ***
- Kasai Allstars: Tradi-Mods Vs Rockers (Crammed Discs) **
- Zaire 74: The African Artists (Wrasse) **
- Kasai Allstars: Congotronics 5: Beware the Fetish (Crammed Discs) **
- DRC Music: Kinshasa One Two (Warp) *
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-11-24] Expert Witness: Matt Berninger's Depressive Tendencies 
New in Expert Witness:
- The National: Sleep Well Beast (4AD) A-
- Deer Tick: Vol. 2 (Partisan) A-
- The Paranoid Style: Underworld U.S.A. (Bar/None) A-
- Shilpa Ray: Door Girl (Northern Spy) ***
- LCD Soundsystem: American Dream (Columbia) **
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-11-17] Expert Witness: Alt-Rock in Fraught Times 
New in Expert Witness:
- Lee Ranaldo: Electric Trim (Mute) A-
- Pere Ubu: 20 Years in a Montana Missile Silo (Cherryred) A-
- Howe Gelb: Future Standards (Fire) ***
- Thurston Moore: Rock and Roll Consciousness (Caroline) **
- Filthy Friends: Invitation (Kill Rock Stars) **
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-11-10] Expert Witness: The Grown-Up Feelings of A. Savage and Big Thief 
New in Expert Witness:
- A. Savage: Thawing Dawn (Dull Tools) A-
- Big Thief: Capacity (Saddle Creek) B+
- Ape Records Vol. 1 (Ape) ***
- Mitski: Puberty 2 (Dead Oceans) **
- Baby in Vain: More Nothing (Partisan) **
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-11-03] Expert Witness: A Songwriter Who Can Linger on the Word "Gerrymander" 
New in Expert Witness:
- Robt Sarazin Blake: Recitative (SameRoom) A-
- Dylan Hicks: Ad Out (Soft Launch) A-
- Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls: Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls (Blootshot) ***
- Chuck Prophet: Bobby Fuller Died for Your Sins (Yep Roc) **
- Thomas Anderson: My Songs Are the House I Live In (Out There) *
- Ray Wylie Hubbard: Tell the Devil . . . I'm Gettin' There as Fast as I Can (Bordello/Thirty Tigers) *
Also new:
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-10-27] Expert Witness: A Batch of Cover Albums 
New in Expert Witness:
- Motörhead: Under Cöver (Silver Lining Music) A-
- Gentle Giants: The Songs of Don Williams (Slate Creek) A-
- Let It Be: Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison (Ace) ***
- Ryan Adams: 1989 (Blue Note/Pax Am) **
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-10-20] Expert Witness: 'American Epic,' Americana, and an Epic 
New in Expert Witness:
- American Epic: The Collection (Lo-Max/Third Man/Columbia/Legacy) A
- Celebrate Ornette (Song X) A-
- Grateful Dead: Crimson White & Indigo (Rhino) ***
- Van Morrison: . . . It's Too Late to Stop Now . . . Volumes II, III, IV & DVD (Legacy) **
- Grateful Dead: Cornell 5/8/77 (Rhino) *
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-10-13] Expert Witness: The Blended Flavors of Two New West African Releases 
New in Expert Witness:
- The Rough Guide to the Music of West Africa (World Music Network) A
- Trio da Kali & Kronos Quartet: Ladilikan (World Circuit) A-
- Fanga/Maâlem Abdallah Guinéa: Fangnawa Experience (Strut) ***
- Kondi Band: Salone (Strut) ***
- Simo Lagnawi: The Gnawa Berber (Riverboat) **
- The Rough Guide to African Blues (World Music Network) **
Some old pieces not previously mentioned here:
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-09-29] Expert Witness: Gogol Bordello's Search for a "Higher Self" 
New in Expert Witness:
- Gogol Bordello: Seekers and Finders (Cooking Vinyl) A-
- Umphrey's McGee: Zonkey (Nothing Too Fancy) A-
- Hard Working Americans: We're All in This Together (Melvin/Thirty Tigers) A-
Also new:
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-09-22] Expert Witness: Some Bright Australians and an Indie-Rocker's Upswing 
New in Expert Witness:
- Rolling Blackouts C.F.: Talk Tight (Sub Pop) A
- Fred Thomas: Changer (Polyvinyl) A-
- Rolling Blackouts C.F.: The French Press (Sub Pop) B+
- Walter Martin: Arts & Leisure (Ile Flottante) ***
- Walter Martin: My Kinda Music (Ile Flottante) **
- Fred Thomas: All Are Saved (Polyvinyl) *
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-09-15] Expert Witness: Fat Tony's Realism and an Abundance of Mello Music 
New in Expert Witness:
- Fat Tony: MacGregor Park (self-released) A-
- L'Orange & Jeremiah Jae: The Night Took Us in Like Family (Mello Music) A-
- Stik Figa: Central Standard Time (Mello Music Group) **
- L'Orange & Stik Figa: The City Under the City (Mello Music Group) **
- L'Orange & Kool Keith: Time? Astonishing! (Mello Music Group) **
- L'Orange & Mr. Lif: The Life and Death of Scenery (Mello Music Group) *
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-09-08] Expert Witness: Swet Shop Boys, Grime Luminaries, and a Reggae Newcomer 
New in Expert Witness:
- Swet Shop Boys: Cashmere (Customs) A-
- Swet Shop Boys: Sufi La (Customs) A-
- Wiley: Godfather (self-released) ***
- Dizzee Rascal: Raskit (Dirtee Stank/Island) **
- Wiley: 100% Publishing (Big Dada) **
- Chronixx: Chronology (Virgin) **
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-09-01] Expert Witness: The Soul and Fury of Hamell on Trial and Algiers 
New in Expert Witness:
- Hamell on Trial: Tackle Box (New West) A
- Algiers: The Underside of Power (Matador) A-
- The Isley Brothers/Santana: Power of Peace (Legacy) ***
- Amina Baraka & the Red Microphone (ESP-Disk) **
- Garland Jeffreys: 14 Steps to Harlem (Luna Park) **
- Living Colour: Shade (Megaforce) *
Robert Christgau contributed to both of these, after announcement
that the Village Voice will no longer publish on paper:
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-08-25] Expert Witness: Waxahatchee's Brilliant New Anger 
New in Expert Witness:
- Waxahatchee: Out in the Storm (Merge) A
- Beth Ditto: Fake Sugar (Virgin) A-
- Paramore: After Laughter (Fueled by Ramen) **
- Valerie June: The Order of Time (Concord) *
- Waxahatchee: Ivy Tripp (Merge) *
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-08-18] Expert Witness: 'The Bob's Burgers Music Album' as Avant-Garde Art 
New in Expert Witness:
- The Bob's Burgers Music Album (20th Century Fox/Sub Pop/Bento Box) A-
- Howsla (Owsla) B+
- Kill the Noise: Occult Classic (Owsla) ***
- Brexit Blues (Riverboat) **
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-08-11] Expert Witness: Randy Newman's Album of the Year Contender 
New in Expert Witness:
- Randy Newman: Dark Matter (Nonesuch) A
- Randy Newman: The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 3 (Nonesuch) A-
- Burnt Sugar: All You Zombies Dig the Luminosity (AvantGroidd) ***
- Arto Lindsay: Ciudado Madame (Northern Spy) ***
- Chaim Tannenbaum: Chaim Tannenbaum (Storysound) **
- James Luther Dickinson: I'm Just Dead, I'm Not Gone: Lazarus Edition (Memphis International) **
[posted by Webmaster on 2017-08-04] Most Recent -- More Recent -- More Ancient
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