Email Author Robert Christgau

2005 Stories by Robert Christgau

• Disco Heat

  published June 21, 2005

  What a man he was. Born in 1947, Sylvester James first had sex in 1955, but he never claimed he'd been abused. "One of the choir leaders turned... More >>

• Sustenance Enough?

  published June 14, 2005

  Pick Hits SLEATER-KINNEY The Woods (Sub... More >>

• A Trip Back to the Gravy Days, When Philly Knew How to Take a Dump

  published June 7, 2005

  Bernie Lowe's Cameo Parkway label was synonymous with Philadelphia when Philadelphia was synonymous with Dick Clark rather than Gamble &... More >>

• Grownup Music

  published May 17, 2005

  Leah Archibald's favorite music quote comes from Andy Shernoff. "People like bands for the music," the Dictators' master theorist supposedly said.... More >>

• One Spouse to Another: Put Your Dishrag Down, Don't Be So Goddam Boring

  published May 17, 2005

  Sleeping on the Couch kicks off with a rock and roll genderfuck unlike any other. Keyed to a jumpy handclap chorus, it's called "Dishrag,"... More >>

• Beguilement and Rage

  published May 3, 2005

  Pick Hits THE GO-BETWEENS Oceans Apart (Yep Roc) Robert's... More >>

• Show Me the Money

  published April 19, 2005

  There's full disclosure, and then there's tooting your own horn. I keynoted the first EMP Pop Conference in 2002, served on its program committee... More >>

• Music

  published April 19, 2005

  Well, thinks I to meself, finally a Fats Waller CD. Good—I never play my Book-of-the-Month Club vinyl, or those unsorted Vintages. But soon... More >>

• Ignorants and Know-Alls Keep Out

  published April 5, 2005

  Pick Hits BLUEPRINT 1988 (Rhymesayers... More >>

• Career Opportunity

  published March 22, 2005

  Kanye West is the first hip-hopper ever to admit he's held a job only if alt-rappers don't count. Whether it's Pipi Skid manning the kitchen in an... More >>

• Music

  published March 22, 2005

  Sarah caught my eye at a Romare Bearden opening. Two nights later I bought her dinner at Alison on Dominick. The sex was lush, cushiony,... More >>

• DJ Kicks

  published March 8, 2005

  Pick Hits ASTOR PIAZZOLLA The Rough Guide to Astor... More >>

• Burning Bright

  published February 22, 2005

  Although M.I.A.'s "Galang" failed to render me instantly ecstatic the way a hot single should, soon enough Arular had my entire household... More >>

• Quotations From Charmin M.I.A.

  published February 22, 2005

  They were asking me to comment on really heavy world issues, like what I thought about America, globalization, President Bush. I had to... More >>

• Right, the Record

  published February 22, 2005

  The deepest cut on Arular is "Amazon," where M.I.A. the favela funk thief depicts herself as a cultivated Brit kidnapped by Brazilian... More >>

• Noise on Music Central

  published February 22, 2005

  "The Bowery, the Bowery! They say such things and they do strange things On the Bowery, the Bowery! I'll never go there any more!" "The... More >>

• He'll Eat Anything

  published February 8, 2005

  A sucker for a man who understands the important things, I became a Buck 65 fanatic six minutes into the fourth quadrant of 2002's Square:... More >>

• Music

  published February 8, 2005

  I don't expect the heroes at Archeophone, whose archival mission is built into their label name, to concoct a best-of from the painstakingly... More >>

• Music

  published February 8, 2005

  Prematurely ejaculated to exploit a skyrocket's diminishing name recognition, this 17-tracker—five from the debut, three each from two and... More >>

• Harmonies and Abysses

  published January 25, 2005

  Pick Hits JOANNA NEWSOM The Milk-Eyed... More >>

• Heads, Future and Past

  published January 4, 2005

  Pick Hits PAPA WEMBA 1977-1997 (Stern's... More >>