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Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau

@rxgau.bsky.social

2.6K followers 26 following 99 posts

Rock critic since 1967, ain't stopping now. Consumer Guide reborn at robertchristgau.substack.com.

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Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 11d

Having chosen to watch a documentary to help my wife and I go to sleep a week or so ago, I ended up so moved and impressed that I felt compelled to spread the news about the late anthropologist Jane Goodall's "famous last words."
robertchristgau.substack.com/p/a-compelli...

A Compelling Document of Sheer Goodness

'Famous Last Words: Dr.Jane Goodall' (2025)

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 2d

Even scarier (I hope) than Trump's third-term dreams, ProPublica (via TPM) outlines how the North Carolina Supreme Court has been rejiggered to turn it sharply right, with special attention to those uppity nonwhite voters. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/biblica...

‘Biblical Justice’: How North Carolina’s Chief Justice Transformed His State and America

This post first appeared at ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 4d

I'm not webwise enough to follow or fully comprehend the ins and outs of online election trolling. But this Marcy Wheeler piece on rightwing information distortion posted by Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo is recommended to those capable of fully grasping it talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/witho...

Without Online Trolls, There Would Be No Donald Trump

On July 8, something happened to Donald Trump that I’ve not seen...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Reposted by Robert Christgau

CajunBlue 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · 17d

🚨Officer Michael Fanone keeping it short and sweet. ✊🏼

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 6d

I watch Lawrence O'Donnell a lot, but his first 20 minutes tonight was breathtaking: an out-and-out attack not just on Trump but on the media he manipulates INCLUDING NOT JUST CNN BUT MSNBC ITSELF. Carola's under the weather and I'm a tech doofus. But if anybody's taped it let me know.

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 8d

We have only one child, an adopted Honduran-born daughter who has somehow just turned 40. To our amazement she was weeping by the time it ended. Reason: it reminded her of her beloved grandma Hope, a Mayflower descendant who I adored myself and who believe it or not did evoke Goodall's goodness.

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 11d

Having chosen to watch a documentary to help my wife and I go to sleep a week or so ago, I ended up so moved and impressed that I felt compelled to spread the news about the late anthropologist Jane Goodall's "famous last words."
robertchristgau.substack.com/p/a-compelli...

A Compelling Document of Sheer Goodness

'Famous Last Words: Dr.Jane Goodall' (2025)

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 13d

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo asked his readers to send him No Kings Day photos. Lighten your spirits for a few minutes by checking them out. However temporarily, we do still have a sense of humor. talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/phot...

Photos: ‘No Kings’ Anti-Trump Protests See Massive Turnout Across the Country

An estimated 7 million people turned out Saturday at more than 2,700...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 18d

Sixty years of great music, the statistically decisive rise of the CD, francais vs. anglais, grading A-to-E, Gratitude, and Geese inspire me to fill out the October 2025 edition of Xgau Sez in my Substack whosawhatsis And It Don't Stop
robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-o...

Xgau Sez: October, 2025

Let us praise first-rate collections of first-rate songs but let us skip the twenty-four albums awarded some variation of the E grade. Also: albums vs. songs, Mary J. Blige, Geese, and chansons.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 18d

Sixty years of great music, the statistically decisive rise of the CD, francais vs. anglais, grading A-to-E, Gratitude, and Geese inspire me to fill out the October 2025 edition of Xgau Sez in my Substack whosawhatsis And It Don't Stop
robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-o...

Xgau Sez: October, 2025

Let us praise first-rate collections of first-rate songs but let us skip the twenty-four albums awarded some variation of the E grade. Also: albums vs. songs, Mary J. Blige, Geese, and chansons.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Reposted by Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 25d

The October Consumer Guide is more about love than about the onslaught of fascism, which I wish I could tell you bodes well for a loving future. robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-g...

Consumer Guide: October, 2025

Nearly half an hour of covers that qualify as beautiful, a remarkably warm and rich love album, facing down this grim moment with perky bad-assness, and amorous vulnerability intensified by a croak.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · 25d

The October Consumer Guide is more about love than about the onslaught of fascism, which I wish I could tell you bodes well for a loving future. robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-g...

Consumer Guide: October, 2025

Nearly half an hour of covers that qualify as beautiful, a remarkably warm and rich love album, facing down this grim moment with perky bad-assness, and amorous vulnerability intensified by a croak.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 26

robertchristgau.substack.com/p/the-big-lo...

The minute Janis came on the room went electric. The crowd was screaming. I remember her pleading with the crowd, “Please, please don’t make me do ‘Ball and Chain’ again!” But they did. I felt as if I’d put my hand right in an open electrical socket.

Reposted by Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 23

This month's And It Don't Stop hands the ball to my wife Carola Dibbell, who as a transplanted Londoner way back in 1968 was knocked out of her socks by this American singer she'd never heard of named Janis Joplin. robertchristgau.substack.com/p/the-big-lo...

The Big Lookback: Janis Joplin

An excerpt from Carola Dibbell's memoir "Young Me: Travels With an Old Self 1967-1970"

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 23

This month's And It Don't Stop hands the ball to my wife Carola Dibbell, who as a transplanted Londoner way back in 1968 was knocked out of her socks by this American singer she'd never heard of named Janis Joplin. robertchristgau.substack.com/p/the-big-lo...

The Big Lookback: Janis Joplin

An excerpt from Carola Dibbell's memoir "Young Me: Travels With an Old Self 1967-1970"

robertchristgau.substack.com

Reposted by Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 17

Chagrined to report that the new Xgau Sez is marred by an oversight — failed to name the greatest Samuel R. Delany novel: Dhalgren.
robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-s...

Xgau Sez: September, 2025

African American science fiction, Eno before and after rocking, where (or who) in the world is Stephen Malkmus, first musical loves, variants of the art-rock mindset, and listening without prejudice.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 17

Chagrined to report that the new Xgau Sez is marred by an oversight — failed to name the greatest Samuel R. Delany novel: Dhalgren.
robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-s...

Xgau Sez: September, 2025

African American science fiction, Eno before and after rocking, where (or who) in the world is Stephen Malkmus, first musical loves, variants of the art-rock mindset, and listening without prejudice.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Reposted by Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 10

This month's edition of Christgau's Consumer Guide features a link to Peter Stampfel's 23 pages of notes to "Song Shards," his highly recommended single-disc assembly of 66 jingles, some of which also count as hymns. I strongly suggest you check it out.
robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-g...

Consumer Guide: September, 2025

Soul jingles meet ad jingles, "Dumb Luck” rhymes with “IDGAF,” three L.A. sisters savor sex and tunes, and the Mahotella Queens shine on their own.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 10

This month's edition of Christgau's Consumer Guide features a link to Peter Stampfel's 23 pages of notes to "Song Shards," his highly recommended single-disc assembly of 66 jingles, some of which also count as hymns. I strongly suggest you check it out.
robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-g...

Consumer Guide: September, 2025

Soul jingles meet ad jingles, "Dumb Luck” rhymes with “IDGAF,” three L.A. sisters savor sex and tunes, and the Mahotella Queens shine on their own.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Reposted by Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 3

I just wrote at some length about the highly recommended Ed Sullivan doc Sunday Best. Awkward occasionally, but it holds up. robertchristgau.substack.com/p/a-really-g...

A Really Great Doc

Sacha Jenkins, ‘Sunday Best’ (2025)

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Sep 3

I just wrote at some length about the highly recommended Ed Sullivan doc Sunday Best. Awkward occasionally, but it holds up. robertchristgau.substack.com/p/a-really-g...

A Really Great Doc

Sacha Jenkins, ‘Sunday Best’ (2025)

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Aug 20

Looking forward to what that immaterial motherfucker AI has to say about the August 2025 edition of Xgau Sez robertchristgau.substack.com/p/xgau-sez-a...

Xgau Sez: August, 2025

Thoughts on AI, advice to young critic, the Angry Samoans as dinner music, "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" as ASMR, the road to humane politics, and 21 Louis Armstrong albums in no particular order.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Reposted by Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Aug 13

Kentucky troubadour explores the world, New Zealand ingenue explores Canal Street, and Greenwich Villagers can't stop won't stop in the August '25 edition of the unstoppable Consumer Guide robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-g...

Consumer Guide: August, 2025

Kentucky road dog goes global/cosmic, no longer pure heroine has erotic adventures, Afro-prop variants assembled into a congruent groove, and gifted singer-songwriter essays a concept album.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Aug 13

Kentucky troubadour explores the world, New Zealand ingenue explores Canal Street, and Greenwich Villagers can't stop won't stop in the August '25 edition of the unstoppable Consumer Guide robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-g...

Consumer Guide: August, 2025

Kentucky road dog goes global/cosmic, no longer pure heroine has erotic adventures, Afro-prop variants assembled into a congruent groove, and gifted singer-songwriter essays a concept album.

robertchristgau.substack.com

Reposted by Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau @rxgau.bsky.social · Jul 30

Dug out some early not actually hyperbolic contextualization of the insufficiently legendary Mekons for this week's Big Lookback at my Substack newspiece And It Don't Stop.

open.substack.com/pub/robertch...

The Big Lookback: The Mekons

"The Curse of the Mekons," from "The Village Voice," 1991

open.substack.com