Rick Rubin

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Nicole Atkins finds peace in her darkness

A lot seemed to go wrong for Atkins after Columbia Records released her classic-pop imbued debut Neptune City four years ago. The singer of the newly rechristened Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea watched everyone responsible for getting her signed to a
Fade to black
By JONATHAN DONALDSON | August 12, 2011

Roky Erickson With Okkervil River | True Love Cast Out All Evil

True Love Cast Out All Evil finds troubled Texas psych-rock legend Roky Erickson reflecting on a life filled with turmoil.
Anti- (2010)
By MIKAEL WOOD | April 30, 2010

Gil Scott-Heron | I’m New Here

It's always easy to forecast others' doom, announces Gil Scott-Heron near the end of his first album since 1994.
XL (2010)
By MIKAEL WOOD | February 26, 2010

Out, loud

"Did I turn this into a big gay interview?" Given I've been folding my boyfriend's briefs throughout our conversation, I don't think Gossip's Beth Ditto has anything to worry about on that front.
Might the world finally be ready for Gossip?
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | October 09, 2009

Flying solo (and duo)

Think about everything you know about Elijah Ocean and Dave Gutter: Ocean's work fronting the heavy rock trio Loverless, say, or his lead-guitar turn in the radio-rock foursome All the Real Girls; Gutter's piercing vocals out front of Rustic Overtones,
Elijah Ocean and Dave Gutter get busy taking it slow
By SAM PFEIFLE | August 07, 2009

Gossip | Music For Men

Working with master minimalist Rick Rubin, Gossip have lost more than the "The" from their name, as they've pared down their sound while amping up the pop and R&B-isms of their earlier work in this clear and earnest bid for the big kahuna.
Columbia (2009)
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | July 10, 2009

Fast-breaking music

WFNX has always been a maverick radio station.
You heard it here first
By TED DROZDOWSKI | December 01, 2008

Metallica

It’s hard to say who detests Metallica more.
Death Magnetic | Warner Bros.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 10, 2008

13 shots to the dome

What to do with LL Cool J?
The 10 hours and 29 minutes of LL Cool J’s career
By RICHARD BECK | September 02, 2008

Neil comes to Fenway

First song: “Sweet Caroline”— that Fenway anthem that booms throughout the park in the middle of every eighth inning. An hour later, Diamond played the thing again “for anyone who came late to the show.” And then, one more time .
Hot Diamond-on-Diamond action
By JIM SULLIVAN | August 27, 2008

Guitars are from Mars, Feist and Björk are from Venus

It’s 3 am. Do you know if you’re a man or a woman?
A musical battle of the sexes
By JAMES PARKER AND SHARON STEEL | March 19, 2008

Déjà vu

Prepare yourselves: R.E.M. have decided to become a rock band again.
Spring Arts Preview: R.E.M., B-52’s, Counting Crows, Breeders: what year is it again?
By MATT ASHARE | March 10, 2008

Dan Wilson

It’s as if he were trying to impress mom while keeping the kids at bay.
Free Life | American/Sony
By KEN MICALLEF | November 19, 2007

Chairmen of the boards

Not unlike Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, music is a language, with its own conjugations and (lewdly) dangling participles.
Our critics pick the 14 producers with the fattest, meanest beats
By PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | October 18, 2007

The big apple

With his big, bearish presence and Buddha-like air of reflective certitude, Rick Rubin has been christened savior of the music industry.
iTunes is still the answer
By MATT ASHARE | September 04, 2007

Cooking with Joe

Some rock stars travel with personal chefs. Joe Perry brings a grill — a Weber.
Aerosmith’s lead guitarist has grill, will travel
By MATT ASHARE | September 04, 2007

Devilution

There’s an interesting moment in the new memoir by former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, when the author finds himself on tour with Danzig and Marilyn Manson.
Glenn Danzig reveals his Lost Tracks
By JAMES PARKER | July 09, 2007

American classic

How old-school is Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin?
Charlie Louvin returns
By TED DROZDOWSKI | March 06, 2007

Having more fun

By the time Car Wheels on a Gravel Road came out, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris, and Tom Petty had all recorded Williams’s songs.
Lucinda Williams goes West
By MATT ASHARE | February 13, 2007

Justify my love

Oh, Justin. Even you know that your undeniable charisma and brilliantly executed choreography somehow balance out your post-boy-band status and lack of indie cred. Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live, "Dick in a Box" (YouTube)
He already brought sexy back. Now can Justin Timberlake shed his boy-band image and become a music legend?
By SHARON STEEL | February 05, 2007

On the racks: November 21, 2006

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead
Army of Anyone, Joanna Newsom, the Game, (+44)
By MATT ASHARE | November 21, 2006

All access pass

Rock and roll in black-and-white and in color comes to town this week, when Providence-based photographer Richard McCaffrey presents a show of his best work at the Dryden Gallery.
Richard McCaffrey’s “Troubadours, Rockers & Punks”
By BOB GULLA | November 15, 2006

Decemberist daddy

Donovan has never seemed to be quite of this world, since his best-known songs take place either in the skies (“First There Is a Mountain”), underwater (“Atlantis”), or within inner space (“Sunshine Superman”).
Donovan’s endless ’60s
By BRETT MILANO | November 13, 2006

Brazilian punk

That rumbling, booty-shaking bass, the whip-thwap drums, the familiar melodies with Portuguese lyrics. It’s called baile funk, and if you’ve been to a hip DJ show lately, you’ve probably heard it. Edu K, "Hot Mama (Bonde do Role mix)" (mp3)
Edu K helps baile funk survive hipsterdom
By DAVID DAY | October 03, 2006

Evil incarnate

Metal reveres above all the single mind, undivided by doubt or the gentle dialectics of sanity.
Slayer stick to their Satanic program
By JAMES PARKER | September 28, 2006

Bottom feeders

Punk rock has never been a seemly genre in which to grow old. The Adolescents, "OC Confidential" (mp3 via MySpace)
The return of the Germs, the Adolescents, and Flipper
By JIM SULLIVAN | August 22, 2006

The final journey

“The best ideas for songwritin’ are the true stories that happen — especially to people. When you get into the human spirit, you get some good ideas sometimes,” says Cash. Johnny Cash, "God's Gonna Cut You Down" Windows Media | Real Audio Five je
Johnny Cash’s A Hundred Highways and his Personal Files
By TED DROZDOWSKI | July 05, 2006

Second chances

When Rick Rubin went looking for Johnny Cash in 1993, he found a master songwriter and a living depository of American folk lore who’d been left behind by the changing tides of the industry and the times.
Rick Rubin’s parting gift to Johnny Cash
By TED DROZDOWSKI | June 27, 2006

Rebel Belles

No other performer has been as vilified as the Dixie Chicks were for speaking out — and they wouldn’t have been if they hadn’t made their name in the conservative space of mainstream country music.
The Dixie Chicks hold their ground and then some
By CHARLES TAYLOR | June 06, 2006

Double dosed

May has been a big month for mainstream rock, with high-profile releases by Pearl Jam, Tool, and Jack White’s Raconteurs racking up blockbuster sales and claiming pop-cultural real estate reserved more often these days for Kevlar-clad rappers.
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ two-disc epic
By MIKAEL WOOD | May 28, 2006

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