Sasha Frere-Jones

2 weeks ago | 4columns.org | Sasha Frere-Jones

Alien Roots: Éliane Radigue Sasha Frere-Jones Never the same experience twice for the ninety-three-year-old French composer. Alien Roots: EĢliane Radigue, edited by Charles Curtis and Lawrence Kumpf, Blank Forms, $25•   •   •In his introduction to Alien Roots, a collection of interviews with and texts by and about the ninety-three-year-old composer Éliane Radigue, coeditor Lawrence Kumpf makes an important point.

1 month ago | 4columns.org | Sasha Frere-Jones

To Hell With Poverty! Sasha Frere-Jones In a memoir by Jon King, the Gang of Four frontman looks back on the post-punk band’s formation amid the class struggles of a different era.

2 months ago | 4columns.org | Sasha Frere-Jones

Everybody’s Head Is Open to Sound Sasha Frere-Jones A new book on the late Tom Wilson, the uncelebrated producer of John Coltrane, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, the Velvet Underground, and more.

Mar 14, 2025 | 4columns.org | Sasha Frere-Jones

Run the Song Sasha Frere-Jones Sounds to run by: in his fifth book, Ben Ratliff triangulates the rhythms of music, the mind, and the moving body. Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening, by Ben Ratliff, Graywolf Press, 237 pages, $18•   •   •How do we escape the prison house of language? Music does it, much of the time, and sometimes, dialectically, language disables itself, which critic Ben Ratliff knows.

Feb 7, 2025 | 4columns.org | Sasha Frere-Jones

The World After Gaza Sasha Frere-Jones The mistitling of Pankaj Mishra’s new book. The World After Gaza: A History, by Pankaj Mishra, Penguin Press, 292 pages, $28•   •   •Israel is death. To say anything else is frosting.