The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Best2012Vote-1000x50

richard beck

Latest Articles

kaki list

Song of herself

"Listen, I will go on record saying I love Feist, I love Neko Case. I love that music. But that shit's easy listening for the twentysomethings. It fucking is. It's not hard to listen to any of that stuff." Kaki King is right, of course — whatever edge
Kaki King adds her voice to the mix
By RICHARD BECK  |  August 07, 2009
096005_grizz_list

Photos: Grizzly Bear at Berklee Performance Center

Grizzly Bear, live at Berklee Performance Center, June 3, 2009
Grizzly Bear, live at Berklee Performance Center, June 3, 2009
By DAVID F. NICHOLSON  |  June 12, 2009
090522_annie_list

St. Vincent's Actor gets a run-through

There were not one but two clarinets on stage at the Somerville Theatre on Tuesday night, and that gives you some idea of how intricate Annie Clark's chamber-pop compositions can be.
St. Vincent, live at the Somerville Theatre, May 19, 2009
By RICHARD BECK  |  May 29, 2009
090522_grizz_list

Local color

It's become a commonplace to say that "indie" is too vague to mean anything useful, but that's not actually true.
Grizzly Bear try to break out of the blogosphere
By RICHARD BECK  |  May 29, 2009

Tape complex

Andy Bernick set up the on-line Richmond County Archives while he was living on Long Island.
A peek inside the Richmond County Archives
By RICHARD BECK  |  February 24, 2009
090220_noise_list

Noise Night at Willoughby and Baltic

Circuit benders are people who customize electronics (frequently toys) to make them sound bad.
Circuit bending with Jimmie Rodgers
By RICHARD BECK  |  February 18, 2009
year_ahead_big-Hurt_thumb

The Big Hurt: Pop 3000!

I'm sometimes pigeonholed as some kind of Negative Nelly: a pessimist, a cynic, a grouch , even.
At the dawn of a new millennium, pop cries out for innovation
By DAVID THORPE  |  December 29, 2008
IMG_3030list.jpg

Peaceful Easy Feeling

The members of Calexico look like dads. They play a little like dads too.
Calexico at the Somerville Theatre, November 16, 2008
By RICHARD BECK  |  November 18, 2008
Mdysonlist.jpg

A meme deferred

Nobody knows exactly what Obama means yet, but Dyson is having a great time figuring it out.
Michael Eric Dyson changes the subject at Harvard
By RICHARD BECK  |  November 11, 2008
081024_russell_list

Get around to it

You would not guess, listening to his music, that Arthur Russell grew up in Oskaloosa, Iowa. In fact you might not guess that he came from anywhere.  
Belated props to Arthur Russell
By RICHARD BECK  |  October 21, 2008
tricky_list.jpg

Tricky | Knowle West Boy

Who is not glad to have Tricky around?  
Domino (2008)
By RICHARD BECK  |  October 08, 2008

Thugs on parade

I would like to commend Anne Elizabeth Moore on a fantastic job of reporting from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.  
Letters to the Boston editor, October 10, 2008
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS  |  October 08, 2008
080918_roth_list

Positively Phil

We all know Philip Roth’s preoccupations.
Roth goes back to college
By RICHARD BECK  |  September 16, 2008
080905_LL_list

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
okkervillist.jpg

Okkervil River

The real problem with taste here is that Sheff doesn’t have any.
The Stand Ins | Jagjaguwar
By RICHARD BECK  |  September 02, 2008
hansonlist.jpg

Jeff Hanson

Hanson has augmented the sparse, acoustic folk of his previous albums with a backdrop of strings and horns, thus giving these songs greater depth and body.
Madam Owl | Kill Rock Stars
By MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY  |  August 19, 2008
deathvessellist.jpg

Death Vessel

My only criticism of Death Vessel’s second LP is their trouble with slow songs. Otherwise, it's an astonishing forward leap for this Brooklyn-based folk group.
Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us | Sub Pop
By RICHARD BECK  |  August 19, 2008
080704_blevin_list

The play’s the thing

“I like rhythmic structure,” Bevin Kelley says on the phone from Providence, where she lives.
The audial oddities of Blevin Blectum
By RICHARD BECK  |  June 30, 2008
silverjewslist.jpg

Silver Jews

Wry, witty, and weird, this not-quite-coherent set of songs is a more freewheeling tour of lead singer David Berman’s increasingly playful lyrical sensibilities.
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea | Drag City
By RICHARD BECK  |  June 24, 2008
080627_holdsteady_list

Diminishing returns

For a while, Hold Steady lead singer Craig Finn wrote terrific stories.
The Hold Steady make it hard to Stay Positive
By RICHARD BECK  |  June 24, 2008
SHOW_KANYElist

Iri-decent

Kanye’s music more than lived up to his visual and conceptual audacity.
Kanye West and Rihanna at Tweeter Center, May 15, 2008
By RICHARD BECK  |  May 29, 2008
085023_dizz_list

Bangers + Mush

About five years ago, when grime came crashing through the gates, many thought that England had finally found a homegrown answer to American hip-hop.
Dizzee Rascal and El P at the Middle East Downstairs, May 11, 2008
By RICHARD BECK  |  May 19, 2008
05/16/2008_Roots_list

The Roots | Rising Down


Def Jam
By RICHARD BECK  |  May 12, 2008
LISTHoAg_1_web_JBGalusha[1]

Here's the beef

Standing underneath a leaky tarp, I looked across the courtyard and saw a guy pushing mud around with a stick. That was kind of a low point.
MIT's Steer Roast at Senior Haus at MIT, May 2-3, 2008
By RICHARD BECK  |  May 06, 2008
080229_rare_lsit

Strings ’n’ bass

This week we’re hitting the sonic extremes.
Helmut Lachenmann comes to town, plus DJ G Notorious’s Dubwise monthly
By SUSANNA BOLLE  |  February 26, 2008
080229_bassline_list

The low end

The British rave revolution of the late ’80s/early ’90s is accurately viewed as the source of the ever increasing number of dance genres in the UK.
The bassline house invasion
By RICHARD BECK  |  February 26, 2008
list_FREEWAY---FREE-AT-LAST

Freeway

The Philly native isn’t the popster they hoped he would be.
Free at Last | Roc-a-Fella
By RICHARD BECK  |  February 05, 2008
listjamesJJ-FILM-039

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

In Andrew Dominik’s revisionist Western, Jesse James is not a character.
One of the year's best movies
By RICHARD BECK  |  October 05, 2007
070913_rappers-list

War of the words

50 Cent has a long history of initiating beefs before he releases a new album.
50 Cent versus Kanye West
By RICHARD BECK  |  September 12, 2007
070810_rkelly_list

Explicitly yours

The easiest way out with R. Kelly — as with Bill Clinton or Paris Hilton — is sex jokes.
R. Kelly after the sex jokes
By RICHARD BECK  |  August 07, 2007

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed