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Neumu

Neumu, at www.neumu.net, was founded by writer Michael Goldberg as an online forum for discussion of art, writing and music. It ceased to be updated in January 2007.

 

69 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead: Relative Ways/Homage EP

Review by Yancey Strickler, Neumu, 2001

...AND YOU WILL Know Us By the Trail of Dead have been playing it smart all these years, and here we were thinking they were ...

Radiohead: In The Forest As The Fire Burns

Essay by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 23 June 2001

Esoteric? Non-Commercial? Then how come it's #1? ...

Tricky: The Drama You’ve Been Craving

Essay by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 30 June 2001

Michael Goldberg blows back with Tricky... and discovers the new Sly. ...

A Champion Of Punk Rides Off Into The Sunset: Saluting Howie Klein

Profile by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 7 July 2001

HE WAS THE CHAMPION OF PUNK ROCK, BACK IN '76 when no one quite knew what to make of it. ...

Rufus Wainwright Makes One Like They Used To Make 'Em

Essay by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 14 July 2001

A young man following in the footsteps of Randy Newman and Van Dyke Parks records a masterpiece ...

Buddy Guy Reinvents Hill-Country Blues

Report by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 21 July 2001

A trip to an Oxford, Miss., studio results in a stunning album by one of the last living bluesmen ...

The Dark Visions Of Raymond Pettibon

Profile by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 4 August 2001

Raymond Pettibon first got our attention with startling flyers for Black Flag shows. These days he's seen in the galleries and museums. ...

Gillian Welch: The Cost of Music

Essay by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 11 August 2001

"EVERYTHING IS free now," sings Gillian Welch. "That's what they say/Everything I ever done/ Gotta give it away." There is resignation in her voice. Though ...

Maria Muldaur's Perfect Moment

Retrospective by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 18 August 2001

Maria Muldaur's solo debut: among the best albums of any era Long, long ago, a collaboration of producers, musicians and a singer ...

The New Rolling Stone is... The New Yorker?!

Report by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 25 August 2001

Who would expect to find this year's best offline writing about music in The New Yorker? ...

Nirvana Still

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 1 September 2001

Ten years on, we search interviews and books for clues to the mystery of music that once shook the world. ...

Bob Dylan: Dylan Hits The Road In An Old Cadillac

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 8 September 2001

On his first album of new songs in four years, Dylan's still got plenty to say ...

Apocalypse Now: Reeling from the terrorist attack on America

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 15 September 2001

"THIS WICKED TONGUE says, 'God is a million miles away'," sings P.J. Harvey on her latest album. ...

Heavenly: Escaping Into Le Jardin de Heavenly

Retrospective by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 22 September 2001

Finding comfort in obscure pop sounds from the past ...

The Strokes: Beyond The Hype

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 29 September 2001

A media blitz has created a backlash this exceptional New York combo might not survive ...

X: The List

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 6 October 2001

Two decades on, 'The Unheard Music' is still the music you need to hear ...

Clinic: What's Behind Those Surgical Masks?

Interview by Yancey Strickler, Neumu, 9 October 2001

CLINIC SINGER Ade Blackburn's voice hiccups, squeals and coos, like a child just learning how to talk. Lyrics consist of unintelligible gibberish like "Tikki tikki ...

Erase Errata, Le Tigre: Le Tigre, Erase Errata: The Noise Of Revolution

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 13 October 2001

New albums from two post-riot grrrl bands demand your attention ...

Charley Patton, Skip James: The Spooky Blues Of Skip James

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 20 October 2001

Mystical, otherworldly sounds from the '30s ...

Grateful Dead: The Golden Road

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 10 November 2001

Reconsidering the Grateful Dead ...

Thoughts of a Rock Critic

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 17 November 2001

Four decades on, rock criticism is still (though barely) alive ...

The Big Sellout

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 1 December 2001

Art and ads still go together like a fish and a bicycle. ...

The Strokes, The White Stripes: Revenge Of The Underground: The Strokes and the White Stripes

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 8 December 2001

Is a new day at hand for 'alternative' rockers? ...

2001: The Music That Mattered

Overview by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 22 December 2001

Thirty albums that challenged my perceptions, kept things fresh or, at the least, chilled me out. ...

Sleater Kinney: Sleater-Kinney Search For “Hope, Goodness And Faith”

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 2002

The punk trio answer their own questions on their new album, One Beat ...

The Sound Of Amélie

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 5 January 2002

film soundtrack gets it right ...

The Ramones: Why The Ramones Really Belong In The Hall Of Fame

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 12 January 2002

One of the world's great bands gets its due ...

Sparklehorse: Saving Good Morning Spider From The Black Hole

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 19 January 2002

Taking another listen to a '90s masterpiece. ...

My Problem With CDs & Records

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 28 January 2002

Learning how not to hoard music. ...

John Hiatt, Starsailor: John Hiatt & Starsailor: Making Classic Rock Sound Good

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 16 February 2002

A couple of years ago the singer/songwriter/guitarist John Hiatt recorded Crossing Muddy Waters, an acoustic album for the revived Vanguard label. ...

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Boards Of Canada: Deciphering The Code

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 23 February 2002

Boards of Canada and ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead offer a musical yin/yang that will blow your mind ...

Ranting About The Record Business

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, March 2002

It's no surprise major-label music sales are down – the music sucks!. ...

Sleater Kinney: What Makes Great Rock 'N' Roll Great?

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 9 March 2002

A question about Sleater-Kinney opens a Pandora's Box of confusion ...

Big Star: What Makes Great Rock 'N' Roll Great, Part Two

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 16 March 2002

Sometimes great rock 'n' roll is simply pure pleasure. Like sex, only without the complications ...

Is The Record Industry Killing Itself?

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 23 March 2002

Chasing the elusive million-seller could be the kiss of death for the corporate music business ...

N.E.R.D.: Inventing The New Funk

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 29 March 2002

Pair the Neptunes and Kelis and what you get is state-of-the-art groove music ...

What is Rock Criticism?

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 12 April 2002

Why do writers pursue this often-thankless "profession"? ...

Hey, It's OK To Think About Rock Too!

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 19 April 2002

When journalists and academics met in Seattle for a pop music conference, they learned that you can think about the music and and feel it ...

Big Brother & The Holding Company, Janis Joplin: In Defence of Big Brother!

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 17 May 2002

A recent documentary reminds us that Janis' bandmates mattered too ...

Moby's Schtick

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 24 May 2002

Is Herman Melville's great-great-great-great-great-grandson a new kind of artist, or just a technician assembling easy-listening hits? ...

Bert Jansch Takes The High Road

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 31 May 2002

Discovering the idiosyncratic yet influential Scottish folk singer. ...

Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu: Another Music In A Different Kitchen, Pt. 1: Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 21 June 2002

From Trout Mask to Dub Housing: how did music that once seemed so harsh and incomprehensible come to sound so good? ...

Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu: Another Music In A Different Kitchen, Pt. 2: Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 21 June 2002

WHEN THE noble savage theory of punk rock was first laid out in the early-to-mid-'70s, I bought in. According to one version of the mantra, ...

Guided By Voices: GBV's Abstract Expressionism

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 5 July 2002

Putting the mystery back in rock ...

The Flatlanders Deliver A Classic

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 19 July 2002

Can a new country recording be "authentic"? ...

Bruce Springsteen's Non-Event

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, August 2002

He may be on the cover of Time again, but The Rising sure ain't Born to Run ...

Beck, Sue Garner: Low Down and Low Key: Taking the Road Less Travelled

Essay by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, September 2002

BECK SOUNDS like he's channelling the long-dead British folk-rock poet Nick Drake on his latest album, Sea Change (Geffen). For ‘Round the Bend’ the pace ...

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty Takes A Stand

Essay by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, October 2002

FACED WITH the constant change and uncertainty that is life these days, it's a relief, on occasion, to be able to count on a band ...

Wilco's "Basement Tapes"

Review by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, October 2002

THE INK THAT says Wilco YHF Demos is slightly smeared on the home-printed white cover of the CD that arrived the other day. The 21 ...

Beth Gibbons, Portishead: Beth Gibbons: Out of Season

Review by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, November 2002

Portishead's singer delivers a solo album of extraordinary beauty. ...

Sigur Ros

Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, November 2002

A trip to Iceland unlocks the secrets of the ages to Michael Goldberg ...

Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue

Review by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, December 2002

At long last we get to hear the 24-track recordings from the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue. ...

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Missy Elliott, Isis, Liars, Secret Machines, The Streets, Wilco: Yancey Strickler's Favorite Recordings Of 2002

Retrospective by Yancey Strickler, Neumu, 31 December 2002

In terms of great music, 2002 is as good a year as I can remember. It says a lot that when making this list, and ...

We're Not On The Same Trip

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, March 2003

Michael Goldberg finds comfort in music as the war rages. ...

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever To Tell

Review by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, April 2003

KAREN O OF the New York trash-rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs leaves lots of room in her lyrics. Those lyrics are like idea fragments jotted ...

Jefferson Airplane: The Rise & Crash Of Jefferson Airplane

Book Review by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, May 2003

PERHAPS THE MOST endearing thing about Jefferson Airplane that emerges from Jeff Tamarkin's in-depth biography of the group, Got a Revolution! The Turbulent Flight of ...

The Minutemen: Minutemen Live On!

Memoir by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, June 2003

Bassist Mike Watt remembers his days in one of THE best rock bands – punk or otherwise – of the '80s. ...

Warren Zevon: Parting Shot: The L.A. Purveyor of rock noir Makes His Last Stand

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, September 2003

I FELT LIKE crying as I watched VH1's special on Warren Zevon. How sad. Zevon, as you likely know, died on Sunday, Sept. 8; he's ...

Tom Waits: Real Gone (Anti)

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, 2004

DID YA COME from outer space? Did ya kill that bird in the coop? Ooh there be a guitar like old Barney Kessel and something ...

Death Cab For Cutie: 'Soul Meets Body' (Atlantic)

Review by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 2005

IN 1987, WHEN R.E.M., one of the premier indie-rock bands of the '80s, scored a Top 10 hit with 'The One I Love', it gave ...

The Magnolia Electric Co.: Magnolia Electric Company: Trials And Errors (Secretly Canadian)

Review by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, January 2005

I’VE NEVER been a big fan of live albums. Maybe it's because I'm usually just not that interested in live versions of a bunch of ...

Smog: A River Ain't Too Much To Love (Drag City)

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, May 2005

THERE'S SOME kind of desert here, some grand landscape hinged between dusk and dawn that Bill Callahan evokes. ...

Teenage Fanclub: Man-Made

Review by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, May 2005

I SEE kaleidoscopic images, swirls of psychedelic color, a sunny day in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, with hippies everywhere, long-haired teenagers and twentysomethings blowing ...

David Pajo: Pajo: Pajo (Drag City)

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, June 2005

I DIDN'T KNOW what I felt about this record by David Christian Pajo. Then I hated it. ...

Kate Bush: Aerial

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, January 2006

IT HARDLY seems to begin or end. Just continue. With Aerial, Kate Bush's first CD in 12 years, we could be anywhere between her first ...

Rosanne Cash: Black Cadillac (Capitol)

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, January 2006

YOU CAN'T EXPECT these things. So let me start in another place to explain. ...

Bob Dylan: Modern Times (Columbia)

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, September 2006

THIS RECORD came in a wooden box. When I opened it, the hinges creaked. Inside there was an old phonograph and a dusty 78, cracked. ...

Jarvis Cocker: The Jarvis Cocker Record (Rough Trade)

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, November 2006

CAN HIPS BE witty? Jarvis Branson Cocker proved it last year as part of the stellar ensemble for Came So Far for Beauty, the Leonard ...

M. Ward: M Ward: Post-War (Merge)

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, Summer 2006

STRANGE TITLE: makes you wonder what he means. Though the words to M Ward's cover of Daniel Johnston's 'To Go Home' may get to the ...

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