All Authors >
JONATHAN DONALDSON
Latest Articles
Memphis Industries (2012)
The buzz about Britain's Field Music has been growing for some time.
Life vérité
There is a trend among critics to describe the songs of Welsh performer Cate Le Bon as something new, but with a bit of listening the music of the 28-year-old songwriter is actually pleasantly familiar.
Bye-bye lo-fi
Sometimes when we settle into the tattered sofa of lo-fi pop music, it's easy to imagine that the artists intended for it to be made this way.
About a boy
Sometimes a writer winces at the thought of having to ask the obvious but necessary question. So I'm grateful to Teddy Thompson for answering before I can even ask.
Burying the hatchets
It only took 15 years, but Joe Pernice is finally on the road to making amends with the friendships he left behind when he quit — and effectively dismantled — the Scud Mountain Boys in 1997 to focus on the Pernice Brothers with a rotating cast of musicians, including his brother, Bob.
Promiscuous love
When it comes to making music, Chris Brokaw is an easy lover.
Teen Beat (2011)
Who really cares about evaluating the long-term importance of how a record fits into an artist's oeuvre?
Elektra
Released almost exactly two years ago, Charlotte Gainsbourg's brain-injury inspired IRM (French acronym for MRI) was a late entry on many critics' 2009 best-of lists.
Germination X
For a movement that was rooted in a deep hatred for everything that had become plastic and tame about youth culture, punk rock was supposed to be about the music before anything else.
Rock audition
As an actor-turned-songwriter trying to find success fronting a band, Halle Petro knows that jumping into the new world of music, with its über-knowledgeable geeks and coarsely seasoned players, makes her feel a little "uncool."
Warp (2011)
For those who enjoyed Brian Eno's collaboration with English poet Rick Holland from earlier this year, Drums Between the Bells, this follow-up EP may be a nice digestif.
4AD (2011)
If 4AD were to send a memo to Bradford Cox saying "not so much reverb" and "please write more than two-chord vamps," he'd be screwed.
Stone pony
It's late Sunday afternoon and singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose is folding laundry and watching a movie on BET in her Nashville home.
Double bubble
Double releases, double-necked guitars, double mirrors, and double rainbows. When it comes to interviewing the unclassifiable Japanese group Boris, nothing can be single-minded.
Technicolor noir
If you were listening to the audio version of this interview, you might find yourself sifting through lots of reverb and the rumble of a passing motorcycle.
Thrill Jockey (2011)
High Places have changed their sound a great deal since their cool ride together began five years ago with a fresh breeze of homespun sounds, household percussion, and trickling vocals.
40 Rock
Last Saturday, for the third consecutive year, Boston Band Crush's Ashley Willard and Richard Bouchard hosted One Night Band.
Bloodshot (2011)
Considering that the Mekons have made almost 20 albums and have been around since CHiPS debuted on television (1977), they are keeping it pretty fresh.
Full bodied
Like a husky boy after his second plate at the Thanksgiving table, Elbow's music has become pretty damn comfortable.
Landing spot
If music can be a refuge for the open-minded, it should also be able to take the lead in changing entrenched attitudes.
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2012 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group
