CD Reviews

Various Artists | Songs For Chris Knox

Merge (2010)

By JONATHAN DONALDSON | February 16, 2010

3.0 Stars

On June 11 of last year, Chris Knox suffered a life-altering stroke. A critical figure in the New Zealand punk and pop scene (with groups like Toy Love and the Tall Dwarfs), he's as well known for being a supportive and exuberant DIY spirit as for his musical grace and tomfoolery.

So with proceeds going to help Chris and his family, musical compatriots were quick to organize. Legends from the Flying Nun scene — the Chills, the Bats, the Verlaines, David Kilgour (the Clean), and Alec Bathgate (the Tall Dwarfs) — all turn in fine tunes. The Americans really weigh in strong, with nouveau folkies Bill Callahan, Will Oldham, and the Mountain Goats rubbing virtual elbows with pop-pranksters (and therefore Knox kindred spirits) Yo La Tengo and Stephin Merritt.

But the songs that bring the biggest news come from a couple of side stories. Knox's close friend Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) releases his first recording here since 2001, "Sign the Dotted Line," and it's delivered with the big brassy voice and robust strum that Mangum fans have long been missing. Also included is one of the final tracks recorded by Jay Reatard before his death last month — a sparkling version of the stone-cold early-Knox classic "Pull Down the Shades." As musicians continue to struggle with iffy health coverage (remember Vic Chesnutt), it's heartening to see a wholeheartedly practical case for why we should buy music.

Related: Ghost stories, Wanting more, Photos: Most popular slideshows of 2009, More

Ghost stories
For all of the excitement that surrounded Wilco on the Maine State Pier or Sufjan Stevens at Port City Music Hall or the various sold-out Ray LaMontagne shows of the past year, there is no question that last Sunday's Phish show at the Cumberland County Civic Center was the biggest thing to hit our fair city in a very long time.
Wanting more
After its triumphant traversal of the complete Béla Bartók string quartets at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Borromeo Quartet was back for a free 20th- and 21st-century program at Jordan Hall, leading off with an accomplished recent piece by the 24-year-old Egyptian composer Mohammed Fairuz, Lamentation and Satire.
Photos: Most popular slideshows of 2009
Our most popular slideshows from the last year: including Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Dale Bozzio's crazy cat house, and much more.
2009: The year in Classical
This was a queasy year for classical music.
The future is now
Even with all the promise of the new year ahead, it's hard not to feel a little stiffed in the Future of Mankind department. Here it is, 2010, and there's nary a flying car to be seen.
Swing, etc.
The music may suffer plenty of economic slings and arrows these days, but it's still full of thrills galore. As usual, it's looking outside of its orthodoxy for invigorating ideas. Here are titles you truly need.
Beyond Dilla and Dipset
With a semi-sober face I'll claim that hip-hop in 2010 might deliver more than just posthumous Dilla discs, Dipset mixtapes, and a new ignoramus coke rapper whom critics pretend rhymes in triple-entendres.
Local flavor
Local journalist and acclaimed hip-hop scribe Andrew Martin has corralled a flavorful roster of Rhody-based rap talent on the Ocean State Sampler , 10 exclusive tracks available for free download.
John Harbison plus 10
Classical music in Boston is so rich, having to pick 10 special events for this winter preview is more like one-tenth of the performances I'm actually looking forward to.
Best in their field
The jazz scene continues to struggle — along with everyone else — through hard times.
Royal pain
Jesse Lortz is always ready to lay something heavy on you. As the primary architect and male half of Seattle indie-folk troubadours the Dutchess & the Duke (who come to T.T. the Bear's Place this Sunday), he spent their 2008 debut, She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke , contemplating loneliness, disgust, and death.
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