Randy Newman

Latest Articles

The Big Hurt: Unnecessary press release roundup

Aggregating
No matter how lazy music writers get, we can't spin every press release into a freebie news story, or even a scrap of "Web content" (shudder) for whichever shit aggregator pays our parking tickets.
By DAVID THORPE | December 14, 2011

For Chris Monti, Home is where the heart is

Nature's way
After a few spins through the latest solo release from blues/country/folk maestro Chris Monti, it's clear the man can spin a darn good, engaging tale with guitar (and harmonica and kazoo and fiddle) skills to match.
By CHRIS CONTI | March 02, 2011

Musician + Author = Crap

Worst of Both Worlds
On Tuesday, musician Ben Folds (formerly of the Five) and rock-obsessed novelist Nick Hornby ( High Fidelity ) released a collaborative record called Lonely Avenue . The result of this musical-literary team-up isn't excruciating.
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | September 29, 2010

Wrote a song for everyone

Name that tune
Political experts know the most important factor in a successful race for governor is the campaign song.
By AL DIAMON | May 05, 2010

Interview: Paul Provenza

Comedy life saver
In Satiristas! veteran comic Paul Provenza engages in revealing, surprising conversation with a diverse group about comedy’s role in revealing uncomfortable truths about our world and ourselves.
By ROB TURBOVSKY | May 04, 2010

Netsky notes

The KCB's main man talks Klezmer
Hankus Netsky founded the Klezmer Conservatory Band 30 years ago at New England Conservatory and sparked an American klezmer revival that continues to this day.
By JON GARELICK | February 25, 2010

Bringing it all back home

In the studio — a former pasta sauce factory in Central Falls — with the Low Anthem
"Pull around back, head up the fire escape and knock twice, someone will let you in."
By CHRIS CONTI | February 24, 2010

Jew note

First Annual Boston Jewish Music Festival, plus the Klezmatics
Defining "Jewish" music is pretty much a fool's task — not much easier than defining jazz.
By JON GARELICK | February 25, 2010

Various Artists | Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965 - 1968

Rhino (2009)
More than three years in the making, the most recent installment of Rhino's legendary archival garage-rock series offers an amazingly comprehensive excavation of an absurdly fertile scene.
By MIKE MILIARD | December 16, 2009

From kidneys to kittens

Killdevils frontman Jacob Haller’s Mistaken Identity
The Killdevils have been kicking around the area to much acclaim over the past six years.
By CHRIS CONTI | November 18, 2009

Lowe life

Nick Lowe on growing up and growing old in the music business
Nick Lowe is a rare creature, a punk rock founding father who has endured and evolved gracefully.
By MICHAEL ATCHISON | October 07, 2009

Falling fast

Let's get things started right away
As almost always seems to be the case, I have to start the "fall preview" by detailing this upcoming weekend, which promises to be one of the most active of the year.
By SAM PFEIFLE | September 16, 2009

Interview: Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit

Cleaning up with this year's BMP winners
In 2008, Passion Pit won Best New Artist in our Best Music Poll.
By CARLY CARIOLI AND RYAN STEWART | October 01, 2009

Levon Helm | Electric Dirt

Dirt Farmer Music/Vanguard
Helm's 2007 Dirt Farmer won the Best Traditional Folk Album Grammy for its acoustic arrangements of songs plucked from the Delta soil of the Band drummer and singer's rural Arkansas youth.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | June 23, 2009

Revival of the fittest

The deep, dark Americana of the Low Anthem
While we all snoozed on eggnog during the 2007 holidays, Jeff Prystowsky and the rest of the Low Anthem were shacked up in a rickety old house on Block Island, a deserted little hamlet full of empty summer cottages off the coast of Rhode Island.
By MATT PARISH | June 08, 2009

Giant step

The Low Anthem sign with Nonesuch Records
Indie-folk trio the Low Anthem — Jeff Prystowsky, Ben Knox Miller, and Jocie Adams — have signed with Nonesuch Records, which will re-release their highly-acclaimed disc, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, on June 9.
By CHRIS CONTI | April 15, 2009

2008 Listravaganza!

An absolute glut of cruelly reductive Top 10 lists from our dedicated staff of tirelessly enthusiastic writers
We are not at all sick of bands with animal names yet and seem to have a soft spot for Erykah Badu that we kept very hush about all year.
By BOSTON PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | December 31, 2008