Possibly Cat Power at the 9:30 Club
The music starts up minutes before Cat Power strides on stage. Her backing trio is conjuring up a kind of soundscape of pointillist notes, more structured than tuning up, but…
Riding Rev. Horton Heat’s Holiday Hayride
The Rev. Horton Heat issued his Christmas album 13 years ago, but only for the last few years has he loaded up a big holiday revue that includes a few…
Rufus Wainwright Looks Back
Rufus Wainwright is an accomplished enough figure in music, having just opened his second opera, that he needn’t resort to nostalgia. Lucky for his longtime fans that he is, marking…
Celebrating ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’
“One hundred years from this day,” Gram Parsons once wrote. “Will the people still feel this way?” Alas, he wouldn’t live to find out. Twenty-two when he wrote it, he…
Another Final Show of ‘Pet Sounds’
It’s been two years since Brian Wilson’s 50th anniversary tour of the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” started doing their “final performances” across the states and around the world. But the…
Elvis Costello Does DAR Constitution Hall
Normally super-prolific, Elvis Costello went five years between new albums recently, going so far as to tour an old album, "Imperial Bedroom” last year rather than release a new set…
A New Orleans ‘Take Me to the River’
It’s less than a half a year to Fat Tuesday, but the heart of Mardi Gras is on the road, in the form of the "Take Me to the River"…
Guided By Voices Hits Its Target
They were playing Captain Beyond before the Guided by Voices’ super marathon at the Black Cat Friday and that was about right: post psychedelic, pre-prog rock Brit/American mix with all…
Bottle Rockets Share With Sarah Borges
The Bottle Rockets have always had a flinty, no-nonsense way of expressing the very concrete things of everyday life that sets it apart from most bands. There’s a hard-won Midwestern…
Death Cab for Cutie Rolls In
Despite its jokey name, lifted from a Bonzo Dog Band song title, Death Cab for Cutie have been releasing intriguing, largely wistful albums for 20 years now. Their latest, Thank…