Boston Globe
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Brian Wilson, by Ben Stas for the Boston Globe The ticket: Pop musicSunday, June 19, 2016 BRIAN WILSON WITH THE BOSTON POPS The Beach Boys maestro, joined by Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his art-pop milestone “Pet Sounds” by playing the album start-to-finish, reportedly for the last time. Two
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Cedric Bixler-Zavala of At the Drive-In, by Matt Roberts/Getty Images The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, June 16, 2016 JAM’N 94.5 SUMMER JAM + KISS 108 CONCERT These popular smorgasbords offer a range of current hitmakers catering to diverse tastes. Fetty Wap, Ty Dolla Sign, and Kevin Gates are among the big names at Summer
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Dixie Chicks, by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images The ticket: Pop musicSunday, June 12, 2016 DIXIE CHICKS It’s been 13 years since this chart-topping country-crossover trio landed in hot water for giving President Bush the stink eye on stage, and to judge by reports of a defaced Donald Trump banner in use during the group’s first North
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Mashrou'Leila The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, June 9, 2016 MASHROU’LEILA Having established itself as an art-rock septet, this popular, controversial Lebanese band took a sharp turn on its fourth LP, “Ibn el Leil,” fashioning an artful strain of dance pop as engrossing as it is propulsive. June 9, 7 p.m. $40, advance $30. Middle
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King Woman, by M.J. Bernier The ticket: Pop musicSunday, June 5, 2016 WAX IDOLS + KING WOMAN Two of the most consistently fascinating acts operating at the cusp of shoegaze, metal, industrial, and goth, each fronted by an intense, darkly magnetic vocalist: Hether Fortune (formerly of White Lung) with Wax Idols, Kristina Esfandiari with King
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Venom Inc. The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, June 2, 2016 BEYONCÉ We’d barely stopped vibrating from Queen Bey’s stark, enigmatic “Formation” when she rocked the world with her new video album. When life gives you “Lemonade,” you jump in the car and make tracks for the stadium. June 3, 7:30 p.m. $50-$310. Gillette Stadium,
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Braids The ticket: Pop musicSunday, May 29, 2016 BRAIDS There likely was no song issued in 2015 that was more intimate or painful than “Miniskirt,” an unflinching account of abuse, resilience, and healing on “Deep in the Iris,” the third LP from a Canadian trio best known for dizzy, dreamy electropop. The story continues with
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Brian Church and Aliana de la Guardia in 'Beowulf,' by Liz Linder Photography "In Hannah Lash's 'Beowulf,' an unconventional monster to grapple"Boston Globe, May 22, 2016 My review of Beowulf, the melancholy, moving new 80-minute chamber opera by composer Hannah Lash, presented by Guerilla Opera in its world premiere last Friday, ran in Sunday's Globe.
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Rhys Chatham, by Roland Owsnitzki The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, May 26, 2016 RHYS CHATHAM The 2nd SHIFT Music Series welcomes the punk-minimalist visionary, an auteur of symphonies for armies of electric guitars. Paradoxically, in his first local appearance since 2007 he’ll play enhanced solo-guitar music of the sort found on his entrancing new
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Four Tet The ticket: Pop MusicSunday, May 22, 2016 WEAKENED FRIENDS This snappy Portland, Maine, trio came in second place at this year’s Rock ’n’ Roll Rumble, earning a spot in the competition’s not-winners pantheon alongside Mission of Burma, the Lemonheads, and Morphine. An addictive new EP, “95,” arrives in July, but is worth celebrating
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Bent Knee, by Chris Anderson Say So by Bent Knee My brief review of Say So, the much-anticipated third album by Boston prog-rock-only-not-like-that sextet Bent Knee, is live on the Globe website and out in print today, too. The band already put on its record-release concert last night in Somerville; keep an eye out, because
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Weakened Friends The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, May 19, 2016 BENT KNEE “Say So,” the third album from this young Boston art-rock sextet, is due on Friday; one night earlier, the wise, witty, and skillful group heralds the landing of a record that confirms its eloquence and ebullience, while also breaking new stylistic and
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The Kills The ticket: Pop musicSunday, May 15, 2016 TOGETHER BOSTON This weeklong festival of technology, art, and music opens with a live set from Floating Points (May 15, 8 p.m. The Sinclair, Cambridge), launching a don’t-miss series that includes the Black Madonna (May 17, 8 p.m. Middlesex Lounge, Cambridge), France Jobin and Tim Feeney
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The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, May 12, 2016 HALLELUJAH THE HILLS Boston’s favorite rocker-litterateurs have a lot to celebrate right now: 10 years of making friends and influencing people; five fine albums, including the newest, “A Band Is Something to Figure Out”; and at last a drummer who’s stuck around for two straight LPs.
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Justin Bieber, by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP The ticket: Pop musicSunday, May 8, 2016 JUSTIN BIEBER The process of a juvenile pop phenom’s maturation into an artist of staying power (or not) is never less than fascinating. If the jury’s out on where Bieber will land after his occasionally too-public growing pains, there’s no denying his 2015
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Anohni, by Alice O'Malley HOPELESSNESS by ANOHNI A very, very brief post this Friday evening, simply to call attention to my review of Hopelessness, the surprising, seductive, and harsh new album released today by Anohni – best known as the lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons, and recently in the news for an Oscar-related
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Mr. Lif, by Pat Greenhouse/Boston Globe The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, May 5, 2016 MR. LIF Storming back from a lengthy, unplanned hiatus, Boston MC and Def Jux survivor Mr. Lif celebrates the release of “Don’t Look Down,” his first solo album in seven years and a compelling testament to his artistic resilience. May
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"Jack Quartet, IRCAM prove electric company at ICA"Boston Globe, May 3, 2016 It's always good to catch up with the JACK Quartet, whose name I'll render here in its preferred all-caps-as-acronym form even if the newspaper declined to do so. (The group's fans know "JACK" = John Pickford Richards, Ari Streisfeld, Christopher Otto, and Kevin
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Santigold, by Donald Bowers/Getty Images The ticket: Pop music Sunday, May 1, 2016 BOB MOULD “Patch the Sky,” released in March, finds this punk-rock veteran swinging for the fences with his customary mix of buzzy guitars, bubblegum melodies, and ferocious drive. Ted Leo, another indie-rock perennial, raises the curtain. May 1, 7 p.m. $25. Paradise
Night After Night 