Rock, pop, etcetera
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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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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
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Horse Lords The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, April 28, 2016 DOPAPOD Last year’s three-night homestand by this charismatic Boston-born jam band ended with a nearly hourlong Pink Floyd cover that twisted through reggae, trance, and disco mutations. Will Dopapod attempt to top that feat? Find out here. April 28-30, 8 p.m. Tickets: $20, advance
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Julien Baker, by Ben Sklar/The New York Times The ticket: Pop musicSunday, April 24, 2016 JULIEN BAKER She just played Cafe 939 in January, and already this Memphis singer-songwriter, who specializes in sweetly voiced memories and intimacies, is back again to play a bigger room. Listen to her latest album, “Sprained Ankle,” and the appeal
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Slum Village The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, April 21, 2016 THE KING’S COURT TOUR: A TRIBUTE TO J. DILLA It’s been 10 years since James DeWitt Yancey, the gifted, influential Detroit hip-hop producer better known as J. Dilla, died of a rare blood disease at age 32. A prime mover behind neo-soul’s syncopated bump,
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Tom Carter The ticket: Pop musicSunday, April 17, 2016 Due to space concerns, these listings were trimmed in print. These are the untrimmed versions. MICHAEL HURLEY This roots-music maverick taped his 1964 debut LP on the same reel-to-reel machine used to capture Lead Belly’s last session; seems entirely plausible that some rare element stuck to
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Melvins, by Mackie Osborne The week ahead: Pop & rockThursday, April 14, 2016 PRINCE RAMA A near-death experience on an Estonian island, a mountaintop album debut, a Central Park raccoon attack. . . hard to know where mythology ends and reality starts for psychedelic pranksters Taraka and Nimai Larson. One thing we know for sure:
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Esperanza Spalding The ticket: Pop musicSunday, April 10, 2016 RIHANNA The most surprising thing about this arena date with the potent Barbadian R&B star is that tickets can still be had. Don’t take it as a sign that Rihanna’s star has dipped since her last solo trek in 2013; view it as proof that her
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Cloud Cult, by Graham Tolbert The week ahead: Rock & popThursday, April 7, 2016 2016 ROCK & ROLL RUMBLE Long viewed as the World Series of Boston rock, the Rumble rolls through the second half of its preliminary round, pitching heated battles among four worthy acts on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. (Semifinals will be
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Gogol Bordello The ticket: Pop musicSunday, April 4, 2016 2016 ROCK & ROLL RUMBLE Long viewed as the World Series of Boston rock, the Rumble rolls out its preliminary-round shows on Sunday night, pitching heated battles among four worthy acts every night except for Wednesday. (Semifinals will be held April 15 and 16, and the
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Tau Cross The week ahead: Rock & popThursday, March 31, 2016 SAVAGES Having put itself on the map everywhere with the short sharp shock of 2013 debut “Silence Yourself,” this explosively innovative London postpunk quartet broadens its perspective on the newly issued “Adore Life.” The musical attack remains edgy and lacerating, but the sentiments now
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Flatbush Zombies, by Theo Wargo/Getty Images Since last week, when Boston Globe staff music critic Sarah Rodman departed for sunnier climes, I've taken over writing the paper's twice-weekly concert picks in the pop and rock category. Anyone who knows about the 13 years I spent at Time Out New York also knows that I've had
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Coheed & Cambria, by Ben Stas for the Boston Globe "Coheed & Cambria, unmasked but still heroic at House of Blues"Boston Globe, February 24, 2016 Long months after I spoke with Claudio Sanchez about The Color Before the Sun, the revealing newest album from prog-punk quartet Coheed & Cambria, for the Rolling Stone website last
Night After Night 