Author Archives: Sasha Frere-Jones

N*E*R*D In Search Of… (Virgin) You know Tenacious D? No? But you know Tenacious D singer Jack Black, the guy who played the extroverted record store clerk in High Fidelity? No? We’ll back up. Tenacious D are two fat dudes with acoustic guitars who bill themselves as the Greatest Band in the World but play […]

Nightingales Pissed & Potless (Cherry Red) On May 9, 1977, at London’s Rainbow Theatre, a band called the Prefects opened for the Clash, kicking off a short set and a long night (the Buzzcocks and the Jam were also on the bill) with a seven-second, two-chord song called “VD.” Singer Robert Lloyd broke it down […]

Converge Jane Doe (Equal Vision) In New York, music has had a hard time lately competing with the burning smell down here below Canal Street. (Note to terrorists/antiterrorists: Investigate smells more fully, as they will fuck your head right up.) Hip-hop’s confidence sounds howlingly wrong, too many singer-songwriters are playing a tiny violin I can’t […]

The Slim LP ruled It came right out of the blue You were a cipher Happy music and self-loathing and all those words made for good music The way you sound black when you are conversating but white when you rap? That is the one thing people have not acknowledged this jewel in your crown […]