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JONATHAN DONALDSON

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Robert Schipul | Summersky

Starlet Records (2010)
From indie records to major-label releases, lots of new music is made in bedrooms.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  August 10, 2010
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Arcade Fire | The Suburbs

Merge (2010)
"Half Light I" sounds as if it could be the soundtrack to an American Express commercial.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  July 28, 2010
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Autolux | Transit Transit

TBD Records (2010)
As much fun as it is to be iconoclastic, it's tough for the art-rockers of today to escape the bones of the past when trying to break new ground.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  July 28, 2010
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John Cunningham | 1998 - 2002

Ashmont Records (2010)
This reissue compiles two out-of-print albums from British songwriter John Cunningham — 1998's Homeless House and 2002's Happy-Go-Unlucky .
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  July 20, 2010
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Sounds for older kids

Cambridge driven by Unrest
If there were a missing chapter in Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life , it would be about Unrest, the DC-based experimental-pop trio whose leader, Mark Robinson, has called Cambridge home for the past 10 years.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  July 20, 2010
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Hot freaks

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti leave home
Los Angeles is the land of the freaks — from subversive ones like Lindsay Lohan to out-and-out horror shows like Kim Fowley.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  July 20, 2010
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The Russians | Crashing the Party

Moontower Recordings (2010)
Boston songwriter/producer Scott Janovitz left us wondering what his next big move would be after Dragstrip Courage in the early 2000s. The answer is the Russians, a studio-riffic expression of Janovitz's musical fancies, skills, and resourcefulness.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  July 07, 2010
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Oranjuly | Oranjuly

Self-released (2010)
Three years is a long time to make an album. A band could either neuter every nuance that might have existed on the tape or patiently polish their songs like little gemstones.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  July 01, 2010
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The Cure | Disintegration: Deluxe Edition

Rhino (2010)
Originally released in 1989, Disintegration is not just one of the Cure’s masterpieces — it’s also their commercial peak.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  June 01, 2010
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Indian Jewelry | Totaled

We Are Free (2010)
Mystery and confusion are sexy, and Indian Jewelry get that.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  May 04, 2010
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Rufus Wainwright | All Days Are Night: Songs For Lulu

Decca (2010)
Songs for Lulu features Wainwright alone at his piano — where, on previous records, the Canadian songwriter has mostly been as part of sprawling pop ensembles.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  April 21, 2010
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Sightings | City of Straw

Jagjaguwar (2010)
City of Straw works less like a conventional album of songs and more like a portal torn into this esteemed NYC-based experimental trio’s ominous world of heavy industrial noise that stays open for just 40 minutes.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  April 15, 2010
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Mood swings

Chris Pureka makes highs out of lows
There’s nothing like getting socked in the head with a big fat metaphor — and if it’s carried along by some solid guitar playing, so much the better.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  April 06, 2010
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Liars | Sisterworld

Mute (2010)
Regardless of whether Liars have broken ground connecting the amateur groping of punk rock to the exotic modalities of modern (12-tone) classical and Eastern European music, Sisterworld feels utterly wrenched with bourgeois boredom.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  March 03, 2010
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Dee's so fine

The girl-group delights of the Deelinquents
Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents co-founders Jen D'Angora (the Dents, the Downbeat 5) and Ed Valauskas (Gravel Pit, the Gentlemen) won't come right out and say that they had ambitions of ever forming a '60s-style girl group — they won't even come out and say they're married.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  March 02, 2010
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Cotton Candy | Top Notch & First Rate

Teenbeat (2010)
Anyone who's seen Cotton Candy in person can attest that they're irresistibly camp and cute.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  February 23, 2010
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Review: Jonathan Richman at Middle East upstairs

Jonathan Richman, live at Middle East upstairs, February 18. 2010
The closing show of Jonathan Richman's three-night stand at the Middle East upstairs hit an early peak on the second song. "My Baby Love Love Loves Me" (from 2004's Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love ) smothered the audience with the intensely romantic side of his persona.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  February 24, 2010
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Various Artists | Songs For Chris Knox

Merge (2010)
On June 11 of last year, Chris Knox suffered a life-altering stroke.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  February 16, 2010
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Yeasayer | Odd Blood

Secretly Canadian (2010)
Yeasayer have created a decadent, densely produced mess of a second album.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  February 09, 2010
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Toro Y Moi | Causers Of This

Carpark (2010)
Toro y Moi's debut is a leap into a tactile æsthetic where surreal and sometimes unstable atmospheres lure listeners into simple, soulful songs.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  February 03, 2010
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The Magnetic Fields | Realism

Nonesuch (2010)
This will be labeled as the Magnetic Fields' folk album, and fairly so.
By: JONATHAN DONALDSON  |  January 27, 2010
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