Nick Drake

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John Cunningham | 1998 - 2002

Ashmont Records (2010)
This reissue compiles two out-of-print albums from British songwriter John Cunningham — 1998's Homeless House and 2002's Happy-Go-Unlucky .
By JONATHAN DONALDSON | July 20, 2010

Love by the numbers

The Blow and Laura Marling make their cases at SPACE Gallery
Khaela Maricich, of the Portland, Oregon-based, low-budget electro-pop group the Blow, and Britain’s dauntingly young and talented folk star Laura Marling don’t, frankly, deserve to be lumped together like this.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | May 05, 2010

5 for '10

New locals to love right away
I love baby bands, and I hope the ones I mention here don't mind my calling them that.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | January 22, 2010

Slow emotion

John Cunningham’s songs are worth the wait
Whatever happened to good old-fashioned reflection?
By JONATHAN DONALDSON | January 12, 2010

Best in their field

An early 2010 harvest
The jazz scene continues to struggle — along with everyone else — through hard times.
By JON GARELICK | December 30, 2009

A cut above

The Books, live at the ICA, April 10, 2009
From out of blearily luminous pools of spiraling orange fractals, the disembodied head of a stately-looking man emerged, coaxing us to attention with little more than his calming gaze and an invitation to “a new beginning.”
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | April 14, 2009

Swede relief

Soundtrack of Our Lives, live at the Paradise, March 9, 2009
“It’s great to be back here,” intoned lead Soundtracker Ebbot Lundberg, looking not completely unlike Brendan Gleeson unconvincingly playing St. Francis Of Assisi.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 13, 2009

Us and Them

Carolyn Currie speaks loudly on Waves of Silence
Written here in Maine (her fist album written here, actually), but recorded back in her old stomping grounds in the Northwest, Carolyn Currie's fourth full-length is a warm and smart disc, with fine arrangements of tunes that manage to explore a wide range of folk.
By SAM PFEIFLE | December 03, 2008

Horse Feathers | House With No Home

Kill Rock Stars (2008)
It’s not a sad album, but it is mournful, in the hushed and satisfying way that Sunday afternoons in November can be.
By NINA MACLAUGHLIN | September 23, 2008

Japanamayhem

Boris are completely out of control
Although Boris might seem just another Japanese drone-happy drop-tuned stoner-rock outfit, close inspection reveals instead a 16-year investigation of the meaning of sound and music itself.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | July 07, 2008

The T and the Tube

London’s Underground is seething with danger. Boston’s T has cuckoo juice
From time to time, upon discovering that I moved here from my native London, a well-meaning Bostonian will make the conciliatory observation that our two cities are not, after all, so very different.
By JAMES PARKER | April 30, 2008

Less is best

The spare science of José González
González possesses the will power and the patience to dig into each of his songs until he has exhumed its bleeding heart.
By SHARON STEEL | March 04, 2008

Show and tell

A whole new year of live music
After a brief late-December break from the usual boatload of good shows, the flood picks up right where it left off in early January.
By WILL SPITZ | January 04, 2008

18 big hits

Providence local music: 2007 in review
This year, the number of great albums increased twofold across all genres, from hip-hop to metal, from swing to punk.
By BOB GULLA | December 18, 2007

Brain power

Chinese Stars push the limits of decency and reason
It’s a brittle, pulsating blast of synth rock all sneering and robotic, as if someone shined a strobe on the band and recorded them breakdancing.
By BOB GULLA | October 24, 2007

Standards

Julius Hemphill at the Gardner, Cyrus Plays Elvis
For much of his life, no one played Thelonious Monk pieces except Thelonious Monk.
By JON GARELICK | October 23, 2007

Out of the dark

Marissa Nadler breaks into Boston
Needham native Marissa Nadler got her start as a singer-songwriter.
By RYAN STEWART | October 16, 2007

Irish sprung

Fionn Regan makes his way to America
Irish singer-songwriter Fionn Regan answers straightforward questions with beguiling sidesteps.
By WERNER TRIESCHMANN | September 24, 2007

Nick Drake

A film about an enigma
Thus the paradox of a man who left three albums of eloquent songs about his inner life and little else.
By DAMON KRUKOWSKI | August 01, 2007

Sister act

The unconventional rise of Tegan and Sara
There’s nothing conventional about Tegan and Sara.
By MIKAEL WOOD | July 30, 2007

Nick Drake

Family Tree | Tsunami
Family Tree is not a Ramones album.
By JEFF TAMARKIN | July 17, 2007

The National

Boxer | Beggars Banquet
The National’s new vessel turns out to be a pirate ship.
By MATT ASHARE | June 19, 2007

Nowhere man

The mysterious Jandek apparently exists — and he’s coming to Boston
The buzz about Jandek is . . . is . . . Well, let’s try again.
By JAMES PARKER | May 25, 2007

Éminence grise

Joe Boyd remembers; remembering Joe Boyd
When I first met Joe Boyd, I knew him only as a legend, the force behind the psychedelic and folk-rock movements of the 1960s.
By DANA KLETTER | March 27, 2007

No reason to complain

Escaping corporate rock — and the panel discussions — at SxSW
There are at least two ways to approach the South by Southwest festival in Austin.
By BRETT MILANO | March 20, 2007

Miller time

The Low Anthem's fragile wonder
Local boy Ben Miller started in Providence a few years back as a solo artist.
By BOB GULLA | March 14, 2007

Stockholm calling

Peter Bjorn and John, El Perro del Mar, and Lo-Fi Fink lead the new Swedish invasion
In “Young Folks,” the hipster hit by the Stockholm-based indie-pop trio Peter Bjorn and John, Peter Morén boasts that “we don’t care about the young folks.”
By MIKAEL WOOD | March 03, 2007

Size matters

The Shins tend to a growing fan base
The Shins’ third album, Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop), is as good as any rational mortal should expect an indie-pop album to be in the winter of 2007. The Shins, "Phantom Limb" (mp3)
By FRANKLIN SOULTS | February 06, 2007

Poor Nick

A folk legend’s brief life’s journey
His miraculous guitar technique was a protective force field shielding him from the sadness in his own songs.
By JAMES PARKER | January 09, 2007

Northern neighbors

Ontario musicians worth listening to
Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, is full of promising, undiscovered acts.
By IAN SANDS | November 28, 2006