Music | Thursday, April 6,2006

Music notes

Boss Martians, the Coup, and notable new releases

SHOWS A-GO-GO! You will like the Boss Martians, because Steven Van Zandt likes the Boss Martians. The Seattle foursome won the coveted “Coolest Song of the Year” on Little Steven

Music | Thursday, March 30,2006

True to form, brilliantly

Centro-matic can make the same record over and over and never get boring

By René Spencer Saller

Will Johnson, Centro-matic’s singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter, is more than a frontman; he’s a frickin’ franchise. Besides cranking out eight

Music | Thursday, March 23,2006

Contemporary antiquaries

Kiefer and Kraus are a pair of time-traveling minstrels

By René Spencer Saller

Christian Kiefer and Sharron Kraus The Black Dove (Tompkins Square) On their first collaboration, songwriter/brainiacs Christian Kiefer (a Ph.D. candidate in

Music | Thursday, March 16,2006

Our wild American

Kris Kristofferson has lived enough for 20 men, and he’s not done yet.

By René Spencer Saller

Rhodes scholar. Army pilot. Janitor. Singer/songwriter. Drunkard. Movie star. Kris Kristofferson, who turns 70 this year, has lived enough for 20 men, and heR

Music | Thursday, March 9,2006

Eek! Amid Eef’s gems, a gaffe or two

Barzelay’s solo debut: one measly voice and one measly acoustic guitar

By René Spencer Saller

Eef Barzelay’s solo debut is exactly that: a solo album, consisting entirely of one measly voice and one measly acoustic guitar (well, almost — one very short

Music | Wednesday, March 1,2006

Reaching beyond his inner geek

Never before has a Destroyer album sounded so accessible

By René Spencer Saller

Destroyer leader Daniel Bejar is the perfect pinup boy for a small but insanely devoted faction of rock critics, music bloggers, grad-school dropouts, and die-hard

Music | Thursday, February 23,2006

A Kink in the pink

Ray Davies proves he's the best of the aging '60s British invaders

By René Spencer Saller

Ray Davies Other People’s Lives (V2) Of all the aging veterans of the ’60s British Invasion, Ray Davies has held up the best. Sure, Mick has harder abs and Sir

Music | Wednesday, February 15,2006

Blind Joe Death lives

I Am the Resurrection isn’t your typical tribute album.

By René Spencer Saller

Is it wrong to look a tribute album in the mouth? It seems nasty, I know, to compare well-meaning musicians to gasbag grandees hogging the dais at a televised fu

Music | Thursday, February 9,2006

Guided by Pollard

In a parallel reality, the former Guided by Voices frontman is a rock god

By René Spencer Saller

Robert Pollard From a Compound Eye (Merge) Nestled in a black hole somewhere in the unobservable universe, there is a parallel reality in which Robert Pol

Music | Thursday, February 2,2006

Memphis in Chan

Never before has Chan Marshall sounded more like herself

By René Spencer Saller

Since 1995, Chan Marshall has been making music as Cat Power, a band in constant flux. Marshall is the only permanent member of this band, the only one who matters.