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Cat Power

CAT POWER comes out of her indie-rock shell with a backing band of Memphis ringersIt may be her own fault, but Chan Marshall can’t seem to win for losing. In a decade as Cat Power, with the aid of Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley and his downtown NYC buddies, this quiet Southern girl’s been plugging away in the big city at the kind of broken-souled, sparely arranged, introspective pop just catchy and pretty enough to keep a cult of fans infatuated and more than skewed enough to ensure it wouldn’t go beyond that. With The Greatest, she comes out of her indie-rock shell and, with a backing band of Memphis ringers who’ve sessioned with everyone from Al Green to Booker T., adds orchestral strings, grand piano arpeggios, tasteful hooks, full-bodied vocals, and even — gasp! — a sexy bit of groove. Exactly the sort of thing that would appeal to, say, a Fiona Apple fan. Chan’s MO hasn’t changed that much: she’s still the tragic poet, full of sorrow, longing, and ennui. And in spite of a few Southern soul and R&B touches, a swinging beat here and a little Delta slide guitar there, she remains at heart a preciously torchy indie popstress. But with its warmer, more welcoming production, The Greatest is poised to reach a much wider audience. It’s the Cat Power album most likely to grow on you even as diehard fans recoil in horror.

Latest Articles

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 At the Somerville Theatre, October 9, 2009
The mid-March release date of Portland-based singer/songwriter Mirah’s newest solo album, (A)spera , seemed ill fitting.
By CARRIE BATTAN  |  October 15, 2009
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Photos + Review: Pretenders, Cat Power at Pavilion

The Pretenders + Cat Power + Juliette Lewis | August 12, 2009 at Bank of America Pavilion
The Pretenders + Cat Power + Juliette Lewis | August 12, 2009 at Bank of America Pavilion
By MIKE MILIARD  |  August 14, 2009

Letters to the Portland editor: June 12, 2009

Thanks for honesty
I'm writing to thank you for your brief, honest assessment of our band's performance and constitution (see " Bands Come, Go, and Get Bashed ," by Christopher Gray, June 5).
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS  |  June 10, 2009
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Put your skirt on

Isobell are a girl with style, grace, and muscle
Portland's aggressive new frontgal can hit all the notes while she hits you in the face.
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Feel the music

We may be the last generation to give tangible tunes for Christmas
I personally find it comforting that the current number-one single in the country has a chorus that goes "I'll gas up the jet for you tonight, and baby we can go wherever you like."
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Susanna | Flowers of Evil

Rune Grammofon (2008)
Flowers of Evil — a covers record, though it includes two originals — lacks power.
By DEVIN KING  |  November 24, 2008
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Photos: Lollapalooza 2008

Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, Gnarls Barkley, Girl Talk, Broken Social Scene, Cat Power, Grizzly Bear, and more
Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, Gnarls Barkley, Girl Talk, Broken Social Scene, Cat Power, Grizzly Bear, and more
By MELISSA POCEK AND MEREDITH HASSETT  |  August 07, 2008
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Times a' changed

The 2008 Newport Folk Fest mixes it up
Ever since Dylan plugged in (gasp!), the Newport Folk Festival has preserved a noble tradition of ignoring what folk is supposed to be in favor of defining the stuff for itself.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR  |  July 22, 2008
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The ultimate balancing act

An extraordinary documentary opens the 2008 Maine International Film Festival
About 100 films deep, MIFF ’08 has intriguing offerings for cineastes of all stripes. Here’s a slice of what to look out for.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY  |  July 09, 2008
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Slideshow: Tattoo you

Some of Boston's best tattoos
Inspired by the Peabody Essex Museum’s current exhibition on Maori tattoos, we raised a call to adventurously inked souls in Boston.
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Campfire blues

Snock a/k/a Michael Hurley
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Guitars are from Mars, Feist and Björk are from Venus

A musical battle of the sexes
It’s 3 am. Do you know if you’re a man or a woman?
By JAMES PARKER AND SHARON STEEL  |  March 19, 2008
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Mad lulling

Mia Doi Todd's dark folk
Attendees of this week’s José González show on March 13 at the Paradise will be treated to an opening set from LA’s Mia Doi Todd.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR  |  March 04, 2008
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Less is best

The spare science of José González
González possesses the will power and the patience to dig into each of his songs until he has exhumed its bleeding heart.
By SHARON STEEL  |  March 04, 2008
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Dancing in the Dark

Cat Power at the Orpheum Theatre, February 7, 2008
If you’re a Cat Power devotee or even a casual fan, you’ve heard the horror stories about Chan Marshall’s live performances.
By MEGAN V. BELL  |  February 12, 2008
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Cover girls

Cat Power and Shelby Lynne
On Cat Power’s second album of covers, she might be traveling the same territory Elvis did in “Kentucky Rain” — a country road with low clouds on a chill, gray afternoon.
By CHARLES TAYLOR  |  February 04, 2008
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Buzz babes

The new "It" girls
Among the top contenders early on: a mom setting the tone of a teen-pregnancy flick.
By VICTORIA WELCH  |  January 14, 2008
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Start with some Spice

A recipe for a tuneful 2008
The game is on for the reunited Spice Girls.
By MATT ASHARE  |  December 26, 2007
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Dead white females

From Fall Out Boy to One Night in Paris , modern pop culture is what it is today thanks to 10 long-expired ladies
Can you remember the last time you curled up under the covers with Marcel Proust’s I n Search of Lost Time ?
By SHARON STEEL  |  August 08, 2007
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Digital or timeless?

‘Opening Night at Tanglewood,’ the Dutch and the Danes at Jacob’s Pillow, ‘The Unknown Monet’ at the Clark
Garrison Keillor went into one of his trademark reveries and began to tell us about Tanglewood’s “designer” fireworks.
By JEFFREY GANTZ  |  July 18, 2007
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Rockin' neurotic

Cat Power, Avalon, July 8, 2007
Nervously pacing the stage in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, Cat Power’s Chan Marshall is about the last performer you’d ever mistake for Tina Turner.
By BRETT MILANO  |  July 09, 2007
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Tween troubles

Kelly Clarkson’s fall from grace
Poor Kelly Clarkson.
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Folk heroics

Or, how M. Ward became such a big deal
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By MIKAEL WOOD  |  June 19, 2007
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Playlist: June 1, 2007

DJ C’s five favorite tracks made by MySpace friends
Exillon, Ghislain Poirier, Alter Ego V Lil Keke, and more.
By DJ C  |  May 29, 2007
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Flowing forward

EL-P, Middle East Downstairs, May 1, 2007
There were just a few holdouts from the backpack era for last Tuesday's El-P’s Middle East show.
By MATTHEW GASTEIER  |  May 07, 2007
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Tone def jam

This Icon is just a con
Def Jam: Icon is a marketing memo disguised as a video game, a conceptual nightmare that collapses under the weight of brand names and ill-advised “synergy.”
By MITCH KRPATA  |  March 27, 2007
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Guest lists

 What 30 of the Phoenix 's music critics liked this year
What small, private lists like this remind us is that big, honking institutional lists are largely fictions, mirages of a consensus that no longer exists, if it ever really did in the first place.
By PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF  |  January 02, 2007
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Mad scientists

Labseven finally put it all together with North Winds
Successful hip hop is all about braggadocio.
By SAM PFEIFLE  |  November 21, 2006
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Southern accents

Cat Power reveals the secrets of her stability
It wasn’t so long ago that a Cat Power show was a roll of the dice. Cat Power, "The Greatest" (mp3)
By MATT ASHARE  |  September 01, 2006
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Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited

Various Artists| Verve Forecast  
Mark up another score for the seductive spirit of Serge Gainsbourg.
By SIMON W. VOZICK-LEVINSON  |  August 01, 2006

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