Steely Dan

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Dreadnaught’s Justin Walton has a solo release

If you've followed Justin Walton's work in the likes of Dreadnaught and the old Actual Size, you'll probably be comfortable with the scope and variety of his sprawling debut solo release, It Takes a Toll .
Some steak and sizzle
By SAM PFEIFLE | January 13, 2012

Twos for the road

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | June 19, 2010

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti | Before Today

If the gradual polishing of Ariel Pink’s sound — and it’s not all that much more polished — puts his loyalists at odds with his albums, I count that as good news.
Cuneiform (2010)
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | June 04, 2010

Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo

Look, I get it: the last thing we need right now is yet another band who can be described as “sun-baked,” “reverb-soaked,” or even just “psychedelic.” But Avi Buffalo (I know! An animal name to boot!) are worth your attention for a few reasons.
Sub Pop (2010)
By RYAN STEWART | May 28, 2010

Chinnock of the North

How did I not know that Bill Chinnock was Dick Curless’s son in law?
The re-release of Dime Store Heroes , and a look back
By SAM PFEIFLE | April 23, 2010

Reeling in the years

Call John Pizzarelli a mensch — he's smart, chatty, and a hot ticket. Hell of a guitarist, too.
John Pizzarelli keeps jazz moving on
By JIM MACNIE | February 26, 2010

Excerpt: Evening’s Empire by BIll Flanagan

In this chapter, "The Drugs Don't Work," aging rock star Emerson Cutler and his manager, Jack Flynn, are seeking inspiration — and desperately trying to jumpstart his career.
An excerpt from Bill Flanagan’s new novel, Evening’s Empire , the true story of a band that never existed
By BILL FLANAGAN | February 05, 2010

The Funn(k)y Drummer

Johnny Carson was revered for his impeccable comic timing. It was "so precise," wrote one newspaper in his obituary, "that we wouldn't be surprised to find buried in his skull a quartz crystal." And why might that be? Perhaps because Johnny Carson was a
What's the connection between comedy and percussion?
By MIKE MILIARD | August 14, 2009

Madeleine Peyroux | Bare Bones

You could say that Peyroux's third album for Rounder in five years is just more of the same.
Rounder (2009)
By JON GARELICK | March 03, 2009

Testifying

My memories of Thom Enright and his big talent and bigger heart go way back to when I was a young teenager growing up in East Greenwich.
Tales from bandmates and a lifelong fan
By CHRIS CONTI | November 05, 2008

A history of violins

To paraphrase (very loosely) Ben Franklin, wherever you go in this world of ours — and that includes Sweden, native land of Dungen mastermind Gustav Ejstes — nothing is certain but death, taxes, and being picked on mercilessly if you’re a kid who plays
The bigger, better sound of Dungen
By MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG | October 21, 2008

Dungen | 4

The playing is looser and rougher than you might expect, with tons of drum fills that teeter on the verge of sloppy, but this adds to Dungen’s trademark unpredictability.
Kemado (2008)
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 23, 2008

Nine-step program

The history of rock, as a technical story, is a mix of skilled craftsmen and total doofuses sticking their fingers in wall sockets over and over.
The best pedals ever to happen to rock music
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 08, 2008

Lifer

As soon as you think you’ve got Catherine Russell figured out, she lobs another detail your way that throws the whole thing off.
Catherine Russell’s rich musical path
By JEFF TAMARKIN | February 26, 2008

Death Cab’s Chris Walla aims for the heart and the mind

Chris Walla knows he’s never going to make a Steely Dan album.
Solo shots
By MIKAEL WOOD | February 05, 2008

Rudder

This New York City instrumental quartet hold their ground somewhere in among Morphine, Kraftwerk, Joy Division, and Bitches Brew–era Miles.
Rudder | Rudermusic.com
By TED DROZDOWSKI | October 01, 2007

Police profile

One of these days, in a British crime movie, there will appear a gangland boss with a fetish for the Police.
They never were your average punks
By JAMES PARKER | July 27, 2007

Back to the '80s

If one thing’s changed about the Psychedelic Furs since their heyday in the ’80s, it’s frontman Richard Butler’s stage presence.
Psychedelic Furs, the Fixx, and the Alarm, Avalon, July 10, 2007
By BRETT MILANO | July 16, 2007

No sweat

Age seems to agree with Steely Dan, whose leaders are looking more like the kind of jazz musicians they used to idolize.
Steely Dan, Bank of America Pavilion, May 29, 2007
By BRETT MILANO | June 04, 2007

New Orleans notes

This year as last, the refrain at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was: “We’re back.”
A city holds fast to its soul
By JON GARELICK | May 08, 2007

A Kind of homecoming

The scene: four chairs, four acoustic guitars, four semi-famous, sensitive singer-songwriters on a small stage in a room with a few dozen chairs.
Dave Gibbs returns to Boston with Low Stars
By JIM SULLIVAN | March 14, 2007

The Autumn Defense

An amiable soft-rock duo comprising two members of Wilco, the Autumn Defense provide a refuge for alt-country traditionalists vexed by Wilco’s increasing artiness.
The Autumn Defense | Broadmoor
By MIKAEL WOOD | March 12, 2007

From the top

The scene was not atypical for a Thursday night at the Lizard Lounge. Club d'Elf, "Intro/Bass Beatbox" (mp3)
Mike Rivard and Club d’Elf finally rehearse
By JON GARELICK | October 04, 2006

Steely Dan

It wasn’t until the third song, “Josie,” that, 20 minutes into their nearly-two-hour set at the Tweeter Center last Sunday, Steely Dan found their hypnotic groove.
The mechanized hum of another world
By CHRIS FUJIWARA | August 29, 2006

Want it all

Morgan Fogg & Grimmett, like Medeski Martin & Wood, eschew the comma on their debut release together, but they embrace the period on This Is What You Want.
Morgan and Grimmett find themselves in the Fogg
By SAM PFEIFLE | August 02, 2006

Continental cool

Brothers Laurent “Branco” Brancowitz and Christian Mazzalai fidget in a Left Bank café in the spring of 2004.
Phoenix try to loosen up
By TONY WARE | May 02, 2006

Ballot crunching

For the sake of whetting your whistles, here is a brief primer to the Portland Best Music Poll ballot’s major categories.
Don’t be an uneducated BMP voter
By SAM PFEIFLE | April 05, 2006

Crossing over again

The latest assault on the jazz crossover audience comes to town this Saturday in the form of “What Is Jazz?”, a touring caravan headlined by the Christian McBride Band with support from the Charlie Hunter Trio and drummer Bobby Previte with DJ Logic.
“What Is Jazz?” comes to town
By JON GARELICK | April 04, 2006

Steely man

For a rock band who wrote songs about prostitutes, Eastern gurus, pedophilia, heroin, niece lust, Charlie Parker, and a post-apocalyptic world, Steely Dan have always had something akin to the last laugh.
Donald Fagen takes a solo shot
By KEN MICALLEF | March 09, 2006

Just a day away

Pete Morse and Charlie Kitchings had an idea they’d hang out for the summer, record an album, and see what happened; the result is Backroads for Tomorrow and the duo’s debut album, Before the Bridge Breaks .
Pete Morse and Backroads for Tomorrow’s Before the Bridge Breaks
By SAM PFEIFLE | February 09, 2006

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