Email Author Tim Grierson

2006 Stories by Tim Grierson

• Joanna Newsom

  published November 9, 2006

  Over the course of a 30-year career, Joni Mitchell went from being a distinctive folk singer to a pompous artiste drowning in highfalutin... More >>

• Moby

  published November 2, 2006

  Culminating a decade of spiritually searching dance music and blistering punk rock, Moby made, arguably, the last great album of the 20th century... More >>

• Badly Drawn Boy

  published October 26, 2006

  Damon Gough makes the same album every time, only more so. Recording under the name Badly Drawn Boy, Gough came to prominence with The Hour of... More >>

• Robert Pollard

  published October 26, 2006

  "When we quit, indie rock will die," Robert Pollard famously boasted about the breakup of his long-running band Guided By Voices. That was 2004,... More >>

• Lindsey Buckingham

  published October 26, 2006

  Lindsey Buckingham has always admired Brian Wilson, but beyond their shared studio perfectionism and reliably good pop instincts, their other... More >>

• Pet Shop Boys

  published October 26, 2006

  Pet Shop Boys Yes, they're still around. For more than 20 years, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have managed to do to dance-pop what Steely Dan did... More >>

• The Decemberists

  published October 12, 2006

  Like an indie-rock Bob Dylan, Decemberists front man Colin Meloy prefers a mythologized past to an uncertain here and now. While The Crane... More >>

• J Dilla

  published September 28, 2006

  Rap producer James "J Dilla" Yancey, who died of lupus at age 32 in February, didn't yet have the industry clout of peers like the Neptunes or... More >>

• Lambchop

  published September 14, 2006

  Albums without lyric sheets can frustrate fans who want to memorize the words they're singing and pore over their poetic meanings. But with... More >>

• The Album Leaf

  published September 7, 2006

  The best Album Leaf album, Seal Beach, distinguished itself in two ways: The songs were all instrumentals, and the record was only an EP.... More >>

• Don't Stop Believin'

  published August 17, 2006

  No matter how bad some things are for people, they cannot resist. You know you should watch your cholesterol, but every once in a while,... More >>

• Camera Obscura

  published June 1, 2006

  Impatient ears will hear the pretty indie gloss of Camera Obscura and quickly dismiss it as twee chamber pop, but while the sextet's sunny music... More >>

• Bruce Springsteen

  published June 1, 2006

  Has any American artist -- whether it be filmmaker, author or musician -- responded to 9/11 more vigorously than Bruce Springsteen? Between The... More >>

• Gnarls Barkley

  published May 4, 2006

  Continuing through his Rolodex of distinguished sub-popular MCs, producer Danger Mouse moves on from last year's MF Doom collaboration, The... More >>

• Kid Rock

  published April 20, 2006

  When his sex tape went public earlier this year, it merely cemented Kid Rock's nose-dive into that tacky level of celebrity culture where talent... More >>

• Calexico

  published April 6, 2006

  Despite the persistent hints of dread on Garden Ruin, Calexico manages its worried blues on these gracefully stripped-down acoustic... More >>

• Billy Joel

  published March 30, 2006

  The term "guilty pleasure" has become the blanket defense used by status-conscious critics for uncool acts they secretly love but can't admit to... More >>

• The Elected

  published March 9, 2006

  Who cries for Graham Coxon or Scott Kannberg? A better question: How many people even know their names? They are The Other Songwriters, talented... More >>

• The Hold Steady

  published February 16, 2006

  To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, there were two notable occurrences last year -- one intentional,... More >>