Music

Behind the Red Curtain

Performance Outlook
On Saturday, four singer/songwriters will perform "in the round" at the North Star. Nothing necessarily unusual about that.

By SAM PFEIFLE | January 13, 2010

Review: Kino Proby's CD-release show the Big Easy

Music Seen
At Port City Music Hall, January 8

By BRYAN BRUCHMAN | January 13, 2010

Getting to know Audrey Ryan

We know, we know
Though she's primarily Boston-based at this point, Audrey Ryan grew up on Mount Desert Island and he's clearly retained some of that rough-and-tumble independence streak.

By SAM PFEIFLE | January 13, 2010

Lost Cause Desperados are quick on the draw
While the Lost Cause Desperados might be monickered like a bad alt-country band doing Eagles covers, they have managed to create on Desert of Broken Glass , the band's first full-length with bassist Stu Mahan and drummer Brian Higgins, as frenzied a high-plains drifter as you're ever likely to find.

By SAM PFEIFLE | January 13, 2010

A dead season of desolate grace

Sibilance
JOHN PAUL was back in town last week, and not just to play a gig at the Empire.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | January 13, 2010

Super 8-Bit Brothers | Brawl

The End (2010)
It's easy to forget how annoying certain pop-culture artifacts were in their heyday.

By BARRY THOMPSON | January 13, 2010

Bearstronaut | Broken Handclaps

Self-released (2010)
There's a distinct absence of wildlife or astronauts on Lowell electronica quartet Bearstronaut's latest release.

By DAVID BOFFA | January 13, 2010

Bob Blank | The Blank Generation: Blank Tapes NYC 1975 - 1985

Strut (2010)
These days, Bob Blank spends his time in his Connecticut studio, producing profitable music for ads and ringtones for the likes of Susan Boyle.

By GUSTAVO TURNER | January 13, 2010

Coolzey | The Honey

Public School Records (2010)
Coolzey is not the next big thing. Or even the next medium thing.

By CHRIS FARAONE | January 13, 2010

RJD2 | The Colossus

RJ's Electrical Connections (2010)
RJD2 has fallen prey to self-doubt — having decided, it would seem, that sample-based music lacks authenticity, he's embarked on an ill-advised attempt to become a "performer."

By MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | January 13, 2010

Spoon | Transference

Merge (2010)
Any year now, Spoon will release an album consisting of one 35-minute unfailing groove anchored by bass and peppered with erratic guitar-chord grunts and Britt Daniel's wordless exclamations ("Awright!") — an idealized endgame that distills the band's reductive technique to its purest state.

By ZETH LUNDY | January 13, 2010

Let's get Russian

A live album for a dead rock singer from Kino Proby
The quick back-story on Kino Proby: Three Mainers take a liking to the Russian band Kino, and its legendary lead singer Viktor Tsoi, who died in a car wreck in 1990 after becoming maybe the single most famous Russian rock star.

By SAM PFEIFLE | January 06, 2010