Jamaica Plain, MA, at Streetcar, 8pm, w/Beth Kaplan and Kathy Snax (CHRIS BROKAW RECORD RELEASE SHOW)
May 18 -- Chris Brokaw (solo)
Brooklyn, NY, at Record Grouch, 6pm sharp, w/Mark Morgan (CHRIS BROKAW RECORD RELEASE SHOW)
June 6 -- Chris Brokaw (solo)
Florli, Norway, for the 3-day annual arts event Outpost Florli, w/Lee Ranaldo/Leah Singer, Findlay/Sandsmark, and more
June 21 -- Lupo Citta
Allston, MA, at O'Briens, w/SAVAK, The Whimbrels, and Andy Cohen (Silkworm)
Chris is teaching guitar and drums by video and in person. Email him at redcities2002@yahoo.com for details.
Contributions for online shows can be made via PayPal (chrisbrokaw@yahoo.com) and Venmo (@Christopher-Brokaw-2).
Read a 2022 interview Chris did with Dmitry Samarov. Follow Chris on Instagram and Facebook for the most up-to-date news. This website can be a few weeks behind.
[updated May 16, 2025]
“Ghost Ship” is a landscape meditation (at sea) for vocals and electric guitars. It comes four years after his rock juggernaut “Puritan.” “I set out to make an 8 song statement like 'Desert Shore' or 'Raw Power', but it became a 9 song...something else,” says Chris. “I've described it to friends as 'Twin Peaks-ish' but that feels only part right.” He wrote the songs quickly, “in a kind of fever.” Chris will be touring internationally in 2025 to perform "Ghost Ship" both solo and with his trio, the Chris Brokaw Rock Band, with Clint Conley and Luther Gray. Read more and purchase at the 12XU Bandcamp site. The album is available as an LP (grey vinyl or black vinyl, with a digital download) or just a digital download.
Chris has been recording medieval pieces for vocal and electric guitar with Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses, Belly). They finished overdubs and edits recently at Woolly Mammoth Waltham. “No name, no label, but I'm really excited about this music,” says Chris.
The new 7" by The Martha's Vineyard Ferries was released Feb 28, 2025. “Decorations” b/w “Context” is available at a variety of services for purchase or streaming.
Reuss Musical Instruments (Copenhagen) has released a third run of Chris' guitar pedal, the Reuss RECIDIVIST Chris Brokaw signature pedal. Both the first and second editions sold out. All the circuitry and sounds are the same on this third batch; a couple of tweaks include staggered knob layout, and inputs on top rather than sides (better for pedal board real estate concerns). If you are interested and in the US, contact Chris. Limited supply!
Chris began playing drums in a trio a few years ago called Lupo Citta. The band's first LP was released Jan 12, 2024 on 12XU Records of Austin, Texas. Their second album is in process. Read more at 12XU.
Lupo Citta is Jennifer Gori, Sarah Black, and Chris Brokaw.
Chris scored a new film by Julia Halperin and Jason Cortlund, "Crookedfinger." It was presented at the Independent Film Festival of Boston in May 2024, among other festivals. This is the third film Chris has scored for Julia and Jason. The others are "Now Forager" and "Barracuda," a 2017 feature film that was nominated for the SXSW Gamechanger Award and the SXSW Grand Jury Award. Chris is currently scoring for a new HENI TALK titled "Nam June Paik: We Are In Open Circuits," by director Roddy Bogawa. HENI Talks are short films with insights about art history from leading experts. Chris and Roddy previously collaborated on films with Jonas Mekas on Andy Warhol, Ashley Bickerton on Gaugin, and Hal Foster on Cindy Sherman. See Chris' other movie work.
Codeine played the US Midwest, Canada, and its first-ever dates in Australia, Japan, and Mexico in 2024. On tour were original members Stephen Immerwahr, John Engle, and Chris Brokaw. This followed an exhilarating 2023 touring Europe, the U.K., and the East and West Coasts of the US. The shows have been in celebration of "Dessau," a previously unreleased studio album from 1992. It came out September 9, 2022 on Numero Group. It's for sale at Numero Group and at the Codeine Bandcamp page.
Codeine in Berlin, Sept 1 2023
A profile in The Guardian noted "the glacial pleasures of slowcore."
NPR says of the music when it was created: "There was quite simply nothing else like it."
The New Yorker writes, "During its original incarnation, in the early-nineties underground, the doom-laden New York band Codeine issued two LPs, “Frigid Stars” and “The White Birch.” Listen to Stephen Immerwahr’s dour poetry, John Engle’s tolling guitars, and Chris Brokaw’s glacial drumming, and picture falling snow." Treble says “Dessau is the band’s codex, a monument to their own aural navigation of sadness, contemplative, crushing, and finally complete.” See Codeine's full discography. Chris said of 'Dessau': “It was heartbreaking, for me anyway, when we shelved it. I thought it was the best thing we'd done.”
With the rerelease of "ELEVEN:ELEVEN" on April 20, 2024, Fire Records of London has now reissued the entire catalog of Come, the Boston-based band that toured the globe in the 1990s. "ELEVEN:ELEVEN" was the band's debut, from 1992.
Come in Boston, May 13 2023
"NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE" (from 1996) was released June 2, 2023 and includes 3 extra songs (which Chris says "I think not only compliment but complete the album"). It joins "GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM" (from 1998), released April 22; "PEEL SESSIONS" recorded live at the BBC in 1992 and 1993, which came out in 2022; and the first reissue, "DON'T ASK DON'T TELL" (from 1994), which came out in 2021.
The original lineup of the band (Thalia Zedek, Arthur Johnson, Sean O’Brien, and Chris) regrouped to celebrate the releases and spent much of 2023 touring Europe, the UK, and the US.Chris played drums on "Austere" by Ativin, with Dan Burton (Early Day Miners) and Chris Carothers (Hunting People, Grizzly Daughter), and a guest appearance by Alison Chesley. The record was released June 23, 2023, on Joyful Noise. Listen to a track and buy it here. They worked together in New Orleans and recorded in Chicago with Steve Albini producing.
Chris traveled to Norway in June 2022 to perform at a small festival at a decommissioned power station in Florli. He'll be returning to play in June 2025. A recording, "LIVE AT THE DECOMMISSIONED POWER STATION IN FLORLI, NORWAY," was released by 12XU January 19, 2023. The cassette (limited edition, 150) and digital download are for sale at 12XU's Bandcamp. "As 'post covid rejuvenation get togethers' go this one was pretty great," Chris writes. "The tape a good memento to an inspiring weekend." Watch a short video clip of the performance.
COME "ELEVEN: ELEVEN" lp -- Fire Records, April 20, 2024 – Deluxe reissue of Come’s debut album from 1992. Includes the ‘Fast Piss Blues’ single and its flipside, a cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘I Got the Blues’. Also includes a download link to ‘Live At Vermonstress Festival’ recorded November 1992. “Like watching someone howl into a rainstorm.”--Entertainment Weekly. Read more and purchase here. With this release, Fire Records has now reissued the entire catalog of Come.
LUPO CITTÁ "LUPO CITTÁ" lp -- 12XU Records, January 12, 2024 – Debut album of Boston-based trio Jennifer Gori (drums and vocals), Sarah Black (guitar and bass), and Chris Brokaw (guitar and vocals). In a June 2024 review, Aquarium Drunkard's "Best Of 2024 So Far" praised their "gothy, surfy, rock-and-roll havoc," writing that the record "weds Brokaw's incendiary leads with Gori's dream-haunted vocals and Black's surreal guitar/bass atmospherics, the ghosts of Link Wray and the Ventures looking on in approval." Read more and purchase at 12XU.
COME "NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE" lp -- Fire Records, June 2, 2023 -- Originally out in 1996, now with 3 bonus tracks from the same era. Includes new liner notes and photographs. Limited edition pink vinyl. CMJ New Music Monthly says: "Near-Life Experience is heavier, and at the same time prettier, than Come has ever sounded." With Chris Brokaw (guitar/vocals), Thalia Zedek (guitar/vocals), Mac McNeilly (drums), Bundy K. Brown (bass), Kevin Coultas (drums), and Tara Jane O’Neil (bass).
COME "GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM" double lp -- Fire Records, April 22, 2023 -- Originally released in 1998, the band for this record is Chris Brokaw (guitar/vocals), Thalia Zedek (guitar/vocals), Winston Bramen (bass), and Daniel Coughlin (drums). Reissue on 2 lps, 180g vinyl, gatefold sleeve, new liner notes. Edition of 1000 copies. Includes digital download.
CHRIS BROKAW "LIVE AT THE DECOMMISSIONED POWER STATION IN FLORLI, NORWAY" cassette and digital download -- 12XU, January 19, 2023 -- This transcendent solo electric set was recorded June 2022 at Rimi/Imir's fest in Florli, Norway. Edition of 150. Available at Chris' Bandcamp page.
CODEINE "DESSAU" lp and digital download -- Numero Group, September 9, 2022 -- "Dessau" is a previously unreleased studio album from 1992 featuring Codeine's original line up of Stephen Immerwahr, John Engle, and Chris. “The sound, which typified the slowcore indie-rock subgenre, is so chilling, precise, and beguilingly extreme — shy, then crashing — that it recalibrates the vast spaces around each inquisitive note,” says The New Yorker. Available in a variety of vinyl colors (Barely Green, Sea Blue, Smoking Room, black) as well as cassette and digital download.
SUNSET TO THE SEA "LOT COP" cassette and digital download -- Tape Drift, March 4, 2022 -- This duo of Chris and Jeff Barsky weaves "a heavy and dense magic, with repetition and depth...[and] a crackly warmth and humanity." Studio recording, made in Maryland, guitars and electronics. For sale at Chris' Bandcamp.
COME "PEEL SESSIONS" lp -- Fire Records, February 25, 2022 -- Live sessions recorded for the BBC's John Peel in 1992 and 1993 showcasing "the magnificent guitar interplay between Chris Brokaw (Codeine) and Thalia Zedek (Live Skull)." Second release of Come's catalog, in a project running through 2023. Details here.
COME "DON'T ASK DON'T TELL" double lp/double cd -- Fire Records, October 22, 2021 -- This is the first release of the reissue of Come's entire catalog from the 1990s. The package includes the 1994 album, extra singles, b-sides, and a few previously unreleased gems from that era. The reissue landed on "Best of 2021" lists, with MOJO giving the reissue four stars. Read more at Pitchfork and Fire Records.
CHRIS BROKAW "PURITAN" lp, cassette, and digital download -- 12XU, January 15, 2021 -- Many years in the making, "Puritan" is Chris' first all-out rock album since 2012's "Gambler's Ecstasy." It features bassist Dave Carlson and drummer Pete Koeplin. LP and cassette for sale at Chris' Bandcamp page; digital at 12XU. Read about Puritan.
THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD FERRIES "SUNS OUT GUNS OUT" lp and digital download -- EJRC, February 26, 2021 -- Third release by guitarist/vocalist Elisha Wiesner (Kahoots), bassist/vocalist Bob Weston (Shellac, Mission Of Burma) and drummer/vocalist Chris Brokaw. The Ferries' Bandcamp page includes videos and links.
CHRIS BROKAW AND GEOFF FARINA "ALL OUT & DOWN" lp -- Landland Colportage, 2021 -- A 2016 collaboration of guitars and vocals by Chris and Geoff Farina (Karate). This reissue is a deluxe silkscreened edition, the 3rd version of the album, created by Dan Black and Landland Colportage. The album includes covers of the Carter Family, Gun Club and more. Numbered edition of 145 copies; for sale at Landland.
CHRIS BROKAW "END OF THE NIGHT" lp and cd -- VDSQ and tak:til/Glitterbeat, May 24, 2019 -- Chris and Steve Lowenthal came up with the idea: create the perfect last record of the night. Chris explains the evolution. MOJO gave the record 4 stars ("pensive mood-mastery") and Uncut hailed its "flinty, deep-breathing guitar." For sale at VDSQ (U.S., LP) and tak:til/Glitterbeat (Europe, CD, and digital). Read about End of the Night.
LEMONHEADS "VARSHONS 2" cd and lp -- Fire Records, February, 2019 -- As with "Varshons 1," this album is a set of covers of 13 artists, from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to Lucinda Williams. Chris played guitar on the album, including "Can't Forget" by Yo La Tengo. Track list here.
"CHARNEL GROUND" lp -- 12XU, April 6, 2018 -- Charnel Ground's debut release was recorded in Brooklyn, NY, and features Kid Millions (Oneida/Boredoms) on drums, Chris on electric guitar, and James McNew (Yo La Tengo) on bass and organ. Listen on Bandcamp. Described as going from “white-hot feedback” to “sunshine-infused pop numbers.” For sale here with download code. Read about Charnel Ground.
CHRIS BROKAW "THE HAND THAT WROTE THIS LETTER" cd -- Capitan Records, November 28, 2017 -- A friend asked Chris to play her wedding, requesting David Bowie and Prince covers. Chris turned some of their songs into classical guitar instrumentals and decided to make an album. Tracks include THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD, I WOULD DIE 4 U, and CONTROVERSY. Read about The Hand That Wrote This Letter.
Chris' Bandcamp page sells many of these recordings along with other lp's, cd's, test pressings, limited edition posters, and other miscellany.