Eichler, 31, has written occasional features and essays for the Times since the late 1990s, and began reviewing regularly for the paper in 2003. He has also written for the New Republic, Vanity Fair, Slate, The Nation, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as a freelance critic for Newsday and as an editor at Andante.com.

A graduate of Brown University, Eichler is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in cultural history at Columbia. He is a native of Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, and a violist.

The Globe also hired Sarah Rodman, most recently of the Boston Herald, to replace Steve Morse as pop music critic, and named Louise Kennedy, a Globe editor and reporter, as theater critic, replacing Ed Siegel.