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RICHARD BECK

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Year in Review: Music in Auto-tune

The year in Auto-Tune

By: RICHARD BECK | December 24, 2008

Review: Bon Iver at the Wilbur

A feast of heartbreak and isolated introspection
The crowd coming in from the cold was young, excited, and wrapped in flannel — as though the Wilbur Theatre had been given over to a village of wimpy lumberjacks.

By: RICHARD BECK | December 19, 2008

Review: Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak

West Coasts
Roc-A-Fella (2008)

By: RICHARD BECK | December 15, 2008

Live Review: No Age

No Age at the Middle East Downstairs, November 24, 2008
No Age are a punk duo from Los Angeles. A week ago Monday at the Middle East downstairs, their clothes helped explain what they were up to.

By: RICHARD BECK | December 02, 2008

Review: Girl Talk takes on Harvard

Girl Talk at Harvard Yard, November 20, 2008
Harvard is not a fun place. Girl Talk was going to change all that.

By: RICHARD BECK | November 25, 2008

Review: A Mercy by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison's colonial America
Toni Morrison's colonial America

By: RICHARD BECK | November 24, 2008

Review: Calexico relaxes audience into near-coma

Calexico at the Somerville Theatre, November 16, 2008
The members of Calexico look like dads. They play a little like dads too.

By: RICHARD BECK | November 18, 2008

Dyson analyzes what Obama means

Michael Eric Dyson changes the subject at Harvard
Nobody knows exactly what Obama means yet, but Dyson is having a great time figuring it out.

By: RICHARD BECK | November 14, 2008

Rare finds in Wild Combination

A somewhat revelatory documentary
There’s no explaining Arthur Russell. It’s best just to listen to his music. I hope Wolf’s documentary will encourage people to do precisely that.

By: RICHARD BECK | October 25, 2008

Arthur Russell revived in new documentary

Belated props to Arthur Russell
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.

By: RICHARD BECK | October 25, 2008

Tricky | Knowle West Boy

Domino (2008)
Who is not glad to have Tricky around?

By: RICHARD BECK | October 08, 2008

Positively Phil

Roth goes back to college
We all know Philip Roth’s preoccupations.

By: RICHARD BECK | September 16, 2008

13 shots to the dome

The 10 hours and 29 minutes of LL Cool J’s career
What to do with LL Cool J?

By: RICHARD BECK | September 03, 2008

Okkervil River

The Stand Ins | Jagjaguwar
The real problem with taste here is that Sheff doesn’t have any.

By: RICHARD BECK | September 02, 2008

Death Vessel

Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us | Sub Pop
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.

By: RICHARD BECK | August 19, 2008

The play’s the thing

The audial oddities of Blevin Blectum
“I like rhythmic structure,” Bevin Kelley says on the phone from Providence, where she lives.

By: RICHARD BECK | June 30, 2008

Silver Jews

Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea | Drag City
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.

By: RICHARD BECK | June 24, 2008

Diminishing returns

The Hold Steady make it hard to Stay Positive
For a while, Hold Steady lead singer Craig Finn wrote terrific stories.

By: RICHARD BECK | July 09, 2008

Iri-decent

Kanye West and Rihanna at Tweeter Center, May 15, 2008
Kanye’s music more than lived up to his visual and conceptual audacity.

By: RICHARD BECK | May 29, 2008

Bangers + Mush

Dizzee Rascal and El P at the Middle East Downstairs, May 11, 2008
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.

By: RICHARD BECK | May 21, 2008

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