All Authors >

MICHAEL BRODEUR

Latest Articles

Folk Act

Vikesh Kapoor
Vikesh Kapoor

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | June 26, 2010

Boston Pride Week: Off the map

The best in fringy Pride-Week ragers
We may seem a little cranky, but us local gayfolk just love a parade, and we’re actually heartened by this annual influx of brothers and sisters from every state of New England and every letter of our ever-expanding acronym.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | June 07, 2010

The new gay bars

Is that a paradigm shift in your pocket?
If I may channel the late, great Estelle Getty for a moment: picture it, Provincetown, 2009, a dashing young man with no discernible tan and an iffy T-Mobile signal languishes bored upon the sprawling patio of the Boatslip Resort.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | June 02, 2010

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti | Before Today

Cuneiform (2010)
If the gradual polishing of Ariel Pink’s sound — and it’s not all that much more polished — puts his loyalists at odds with his albums, I count that as good news.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | June 01, 2010

More than human

Janelle Monáe is about to take over the planet
It’s hard to talk about Janelle Monáe when your jaw’s fallen off.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | May 26, 2010

Born Ruffians | Say It

Warp (2010)
Over the past half of Warp’s robust 20-year run, the label’s enduring legacy as a vanguard force in electronic music has drifted as its tastes have gone positively eclectic. The mixed-media future folk of Bibio, the experimental soul of Jamie Lidell, the polished post-punk nuts of Maximo Park.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | May 26, 2010

Unhappy birthday

The lines sag heavy and deep for Moz
It seems like only yesterday that I was huddled in the corner of my room, staring listlessly out the window through tear-smeared glasses, absently singing along to “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” and wondering when my life would finally show my heart a modicum of mercy. . . . Oh wait. That was yesterday.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | May 18, 2010

Personal space

Eluvium and Julianna Barwick find their voices
If you’re in a hurry, or you’re reading this in a tweet, here are some choice Julianna Barwick keywords (thank you, every music writer!): æthereal , ghostly , and luminous .

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | May 12, 2010

LCD Soundsystem | This Is Happening

DFA (2010)
If the self-conscious hypercontrivance of James Murphy ever appears to you at odds with his relentless quest for abandon, I hear ya.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | May 11, 2010

Fresh heirs

Dr. Dog have no Shame in their game
A tip for bands out there trying to impress people with blogs: when choosing the decade you’d like to be mistaken for hailing from, choose wisely.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | May 04, 2010

Contemporary heart

Yeasayer and Sleigh Bells open the present
Music is really just a form of time, so it makes sense that our many musics represent the many different ways we wrangle with this irritatingly linear mortal coil.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | April 27, 2010

The Radio Dept. | Clinging To A Scheme

Labrador (2010)
I like to think of this band from Lund, Sweden, as like a Velamint. On the good side, that means they’re smooth, cool, minty, sweet, refreshing, and maybe even a little obscure.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | April 21, 2010

Self-starter

Casey Dienel realizes her potential as White Hinterland
Behind all the oohs and ahhs inspired by nature lurk the uh-ohs.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | April 13, 2010

Growing | Pumps!

Vice (2010)
For my artful canoodling dollar, it really doesn’t get much better than Growing.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | April 07, 2010

Prog wild

The controlled chaos of Bear in Heaven
Let me just assure you, right off, that after this, I promise never, ever, to talk to you about this year’s SXSW again, but check it out: we passed by a tossed-up tent-and-chain-link venue with a long line jutting into the street, and from between the portajohns came one of the lowest frequencies I’d ever heard — you could hear their plastic locks rattle and feel it on the surface of your shirt.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | March 31, 2010

SXSW 2010: The band who wasn't there

Beach Fossils, Tanlines, Best Coast, and a wave of minimalism at SXSW
This past Saturday around noon, about a dozen of us were cracking our first Lone Stars of the day at Peckerheads, one of scores of dimly daylit venues lining Austin’s teeming Sixth Street.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | March 24, 2010

Thomas Fehlmann | Gute Luft

Kompakt (2010)
German maximal-minimalist mainstay Thomas Fehlmann’s first solo album in three years is actually a heavily pared-down 90-minute sampling of the hours and hours of music he produced as part of a commissioned score for the ambitious 24h Berlin TV documentary.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | March 23, 2010

The young and the restless

Box Elders break out of the basement
Clayton McIntyre of Box Elders has one of the better "why nothing makes me nervous" stories I've heard.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | March 17, 2010

PHX @ SXSW!

The Phoenix heads from Boston to Austin
Don't be so shocked if the coming week brings with it not just a stretch of balmier weather but also a palpable decrease in the douche point. That's because the vast majority of the music industry has up and JetBlued 2000 miles south to Austin for SXSW (a/k/a South by Southwest).

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | March 17, 2010

Spring clearance

Discriminatin' picks for the frugal music snob
I've seen the best music snobs of my generation destroyed by downloading — instead of savoring full albums the way one might enjoy a vintage claret, they're slamming down random shots of bands with stupid names, passing out, and blanking on what they heard the night before.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | March 09, 2010