Email Author Rob Harvilla

Awards

• 2010 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published October 13, 2009

  "On 50 Cent's Self-Help Book"

• 2010 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published November 3, 2009

  ""On Michael Jackson's 'This Is It'"

• 2010 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published December 8, 2009

  "Go See Phish at Least Once"

• 2009 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published August 5, 2008

  "A Running Diary of Hip-Hop Superfest Rock the Bells"

• 2009 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published September 17, 2008

  "Ride the Plastic Lightening"

• 2009 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published November 26, 2008

  "Why Chinese Democracy's Fine Print is Way More Fun than the Record Itself"

• 2008 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published November 1, 2007

  "The Fey Highwayman"

• 2008 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published August 9, 2007

  "The Disorientation of Lauryn Hill"

• 2008 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published March 8, 2007

  "Hot Hot Heat"

• 2008 - Deadline Club Awards/New York City Society of Professional Journalists, published March 8, 2007

  "Hot Hot Heat"

• 2007 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published September 18, 2006

  "Spankmaster and Servant"

• 2007 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published August 21, 2006

  "Get Busy Living"

• 2007 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published July 5, 2006

  "Crazy For You, But Not That Crazy"

• 2006 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published August 17, 2005

  "Powerpop for Now People"

• 2006 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published March 30, 2005

  "The Titmaster Tommy Lee"

• 2006 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published July 20, 2005

  "Race Against Rockism"

More

2009 Stories by Rob Harvilla

• The Agony and the Ecstasy of Dirty Projectors

  published June 10, 2009

  To thwart photographers attempting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Chinese government flooded the... More >>

• The Not Even Remotely Cruel Summer Jams of French Pop Sensations Phoenix

  published May 27, 2009

  As with the Pulitzer Prize, an esteemed and inviolable committee—a slightly larger one, in this case, as it comprises the entire American... More >>

• Live on the LES with the Punch Brothers

  published May 20, 2009

  "We were reminded of this tune in Burger King," announces Noam Pikelny, a/k/a Pickles, a/k/a the banjo player. And then the Punch Brothers... More >>

• Whale-Watching With Björk

  published May 13, 2009

  It's gauche, of course, to fixate on the boldface-name, see-and-be-seen socialite aspects of Friday night's highly touted Björk/Dirty... More >>

• The Literature of the Spindle-Hole: Ben Greenman's Please Step Back

  published May 6, 2009

  To peg Ben Greenman as a mere rock critic does him a great disservice. His résumé—New Yorker writer/editor, author... More >>

• Sporadically Vibrant Reports From the R&B Salt Mines with Ciara and Chrisette Michele

  published May 6, 2009

  For the benefit of a probably tiny but still vital fraction of Ciara's target audience, I feel compelled to make absolutely clear that "Like a... More >>

• Booker T. Jones, Man at Work

  published April 29, 2009

  Booker T. Jones's alarmingly raucous new record, Potato Hole, is a more vital component of your next barbecue than the meat, the booze,... More >>

• Please Do Not Taunt Neko Case

  published April 22, 2009

  I would bet the Vermont farm she now apparently owns that no one in the past decade has put up with more slobbering, dunderheaded audience... More >>

• How Superdrag's Resurrection Really Feels

  published April 15, 2009

  "I think our last show here was in 2003," muses Superdrag frontman John Davis Thursday night at Bowery Ballroom. "I was there!" hoots one... More >>

• Rock of Ages: Start Believin'

  published April 8, 2009

  You may regard a $99 ticket as a wee bit steep, and understandably so, but there's undeniable value—entertainment value, kitsch value,... More >>

• On the Gleeful, Disarming Dissonance of Micachu & the Shapes

  published April 1, 2009

  Mica Levi, the 21-year-old proprietor of chaotically twee London trio Micachu & the Shapes, makes for an unlikely noise-rock heroine, which, of... More >>

• The Hesitant Triumph of Britney Spears

  published March 18, 2009

  Someday, a brave, stunningly complex young actress—so complex she can simultaneously evoke naive sweetness and garish self-destruction,... More >>

• No U2 Schadenfreude, Baby

  published March 11, 2009

  The new U2 record is pretty lousy, and that's lousy news for us all—devout fans, professional detractors, and the defiantly indifferent... More >>

• SXSW Tip Sheet 2009

  published March 11, 2009

  Yes indeed, South by Southwest is upon us once again, my friends, and for those NYC denizens not making the trip this year due to the ongoing... More >>

• David Byrne Remains in the Light

  published March 4, 2009

  David Byrne is the most nonchalantly confident stupendously awkward person probably in all of history, but certainly in the history of those... More >>

• 

  COVER STORY

  The Roots Take Manhattan

  published February 25, 2009

  The Roots, perhaps hip-hop's most deified live act-and an increasingly rare sure-thing concert draw for a desperately flailing music... More >>

• On the Bad-Sex Revenge Fantasies of Lily Allen

  published February 18, 2009

  I am concerned about the long-term sustainability of Lily Allen's obsession with writing songs about her unsatisfying sexual encounters; for... More >>

• Cat Power's Live Karaoke at the Apollo

  published February 11, 2009

  "God bless Mr. James Brown," intones Chan Marshall, a/k/a Cat Power, on Friday night, from the remarkably dimly lit Apollo stage, in a rare... More >>

• Hipster Runoff Explained (Maybe)

  published February 4, 2009

  Altbros, altbags, blipstaz, "blog house" enthusiasts, Tumblr addicts, and uneasy rock critics alike have for the past two years found... More >>

• Celebrating the Tentative Dawn of a Brave New Era with Fucked Up

  published January 28, 2009

  It is Inauguration Night, and you are jubilant but trepidatious, devout in your joy but still somehow disbelieving, and you'd like to be out... More >>

• How M.I.A. (and America) Got Her Swagger Back

  published January 21, 2009

  When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Or they demand comically oversized jewelry in exchange for romantic fealty. Or they commit... More >>

• How the Music Industry Died: Steve Knopper's Appetite for Self-Destruction

  published January 7, 2009

  Congrats to Lil Wayne, whose Tha Carter III was the best-selling record of 2008—and the weakest-selling yearly bestseller since... More >>