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DANIEL BROCKMAN

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World's greatest boss

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band at TD Banknorth Garden, April 21
"Is anybody out there alive?" Bruce Springsteen's crack backing band were in the middle of a full-throttle sonic meltdown casually tossed into opening tune "Badlands," with three guitars wildly strumming open frayed chords like Sonic Youth at their most . . . Sonic Youthy. "I said, is anybody out there alive tonight?"

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | April 28, 2009

Bat girl

Kapow! Bat for Lashes conquers darkness with Two Suns
The strange world of Bat for Lashes is a lot like ours

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | April 22, 2009

Girl gone wild

Lady Gaga, live at the House of Blues, March 30, 2009
"My hair may be blond, but my heart is brunette," announced Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta — a/k/a Lady Gaga.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | April 02, 2009

Wizards of Oz

The Drones, live at T. T. the Bear's Place, March 29, 2009
Seeing Australian musicians in North America is like seeing stars in the night sky: their light has traveled so far for so long that you're getting just a ghost of the original.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 30, 2009

French tickler

Voulez-vous coucher avec Sébastien Tellier?
"The French language is perfect for talking about sex," muses hirsute Parisian singer and electronic-musician Sébastien Tellier.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | April 02, 2009

Kelly Clarkson | All I Ever Wanted

Sony BMG (2009)
Of all of the myths propagated in rock and roll, "it's the singer not the song" must be the most disingenuous.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 23, 2009

Review: Britney Spears at the Garden

Britney Spears' Circus Maximus at the Garden, March 16, 2009
"Oh my God, this is going to be so fucking crazy!" screams a teenage girl behind me.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 19, 2009

Reunited and it feels so . . . heavy

Throwing Muses, live at the Middle East Downstairs, March 14, 2009
Lead Throwing Muse Kristin Hersh has often said that she doesn't write her songs so much as channel them, so it wasn't surprising that at times it felt like tonight's sold-out crowd was witnessing an onstage exorcism.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 17, 2009

Swede relief

Soundtrack of Our Lives, live at the Paradise, March 9, 2009
“It’s great to be back here,” intoned lead Soundtracker Ebbot Lundberg, looking not completely unlike Brendan Gleeson unconvincingly playing St. Francis Of Assisi.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 13, 2009

Thoroughly maudlin

Tindersticks live at Somerville Theatre, March 7, 2009
It's not much of a feat for an amplified musician to show power, especially live. It's not so easy to show class at the same time.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 11, 2009

Counting backwards

Throwing Muses blow minds even as they push 30
When we listen to a song, whether it's an old favorite or a new sound, we rarely consider the circuitous path that the tune has taken to reach our ears.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 11, 2009

Battle of the banned

Authorities kick out the jams
It's one thing to be a musician and get thrown out of Disneyland (Velvet Underground) or banned from a national landmark (Ozzy Osbourne at the Alamo), but you've hit rock paydirt when you become the target of an entire nation.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 02, 2009

The wild ones

Can the Black Lips keep up with their rep?
It's surprising to talk to a band of yahoos and find out just how much focus and dedication goes into such mindless mayhem. Case in point: Atlanta's Black Lips.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 10, 2009

A voice from on high

The second coming of Antony and the Johnsons
On his new album The Crying Light, Antony Hegarty lifts his voice without raising it.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | February 18, 2009

One for the road

Yo! Majesty, live at Harpers Ferry, January 28, 2009
It was an uncomfortable moment when Yo! Majesty took the stage — what, after all, is the quorum necessary for a show to go on when one-half of a hip-hop duo isn't there?

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | February 03, 2009

Psychedelegates

How Major Stars exploded a loner scene
Conventional wisdom says that those who can't do teach — and that record collectors do not rock stars make.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | February 04, 2009

Review: Made in Mexico

A house in Allston, January 12, 2009
As a crush of enthusiastic dudes knocked into me in spastic reverie while watching Made in Mexico at a house show last week, I recalled how, mere hours before, the room had been empty save for a heap of cases and equipment and an inexplicable grocery cart filled to the brim with VHS cassettes of Korean porn

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | January 20, 2009