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CHRISTOPHER GRAY

Latest Articles

Love and consequences

Three restless souls try to settle down
Two of indie music's most popular and tortured songwriters, Will Oldham and Neko Case, try to reconcile encroaching middle age with a past of bad habits on their new albums.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 18, 2009

Everything is illuminated

Samantha Hunt weaves historical fiction from Nikola Tesla's biography
A solemn pigeon, a rolling thunderstorm, flecks of dust: nearly everything speaks in The Invention of Everything Else , Samantha Hunt's second novel.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 11, 2009

Truth, not falsity

Keep your eyes peeled for these docos
Here are some of the documentaries you can expect to see in Maine this year.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 12, 2009

Greater than fiction

Mainers find ideas and connections at a Missouri film festival
The True/False Film Festival, which just wrapped up its sixth year in Columbia, Missouri, presents an encouraging object lesson in how to establish a destination film festival in an unlikely location.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 04, 2009

The outsiders

Ocean join the Pantheon
Ocean's album Pantheon of the Lesser — a two-track, hour-long, deconstructionist monster — is the linchpin of what's become an exciting moment for the Portland doom metal four-piece.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | February 25, 2009

In a Dream

Personal collapse in impressive structure
If you find yourself groaning through the first five minutes of Jeremiah Zagar's Academy Award-shortlisted feature documentary about his artist father Isaiah, you might just be its target audience.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | July 01, 2009

Phosphorescent | To Willie

Dead Oceans (2009)
No stranger to ragged, defeatist country/folk, Matthew Houck and friends sound right at home on To Willie.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | February 03, 2009

Music Seen: Dead of Winter

SPACE Gallery, January 24, 2009
Peaks and valleys are the name of the game with any showcase of too many songwriters that too many people attend, but by and large, Dead of Winter retains its status as a premier night of homegrown entertainment.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 28, 2009

Interview: Greil Marcus

Rock's critic-in-chief talks rock and roll photography
Greil Marcus on rock-and-roll photography

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 21, 2009

The ignorami

Getting hip to Mission of Burma, 30 years later
Mission of Burma formed in Boston 30 years ago — the year Joy Division, Gang of Four, and the Pop Group released notorious post-punk releases in the UK.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 21, 2009

Rehearsing their choir

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper are easy to find, easy to love
Epically twee, and then simply epic, "Comet Flies Over the Underbelly" — the fourth track on Lady Lamb the Beekeeper's Samples for Handsome Animals — is, for a minute or two, almost unbearable.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | December 31, 2008

And then some...

An addendum to the year in local music
Aside from the second season of Mad Men , Barack Obama, and Puppycam, I think we can all agree that it was a pretty mediocre year in national pop culture.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | December 23, 2008

Five for fighting

Ripe pickings in The Orchard
Ripe pickings in The Orchard

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | December 17, 2008

Live: Lady Lamb the Beekeeper

"Tower of Song," December 5
The first hints of bouncy reverb can be heard from the Stadium on Free Street, and the echo chamber carries all the way to this monthly concert's home at the top of a building at the corner of Congress and High streets.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | December 10, 2008

Tweak-folk

Reimagined folk songs by Sam Amidon
Released this summer, Nico Muhly's Mothertongue (Bedroom Community) — the latest album by the ambitious contemporary classical music composer, a protégé of Philip Glass — offers listeners a bombastic example of the ongoing collaboration between the composer and Vermont-based folk singer Sam Amidon.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | December 03, 2008

Loud at Heart

A centuries-old singing tradition inspires twentysomething hipsters to praise the Lord
Shape note singing requires that you forget most of what you know about reading music. It's different, but much simpler.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | November 26, 2008

Raising the Bar (Rock)

The Hold Steady + The Drive-By Truckers at the Orpheum, November 9, 2008
On the "Rock and Roll Means Well" tour, Drive-By Truckers and the Hold Steady upgraded their respective brands of quintessential American bar rock with a number of arena-rock trimmings.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | November 14, 2008

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