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MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG

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Bold and beautiful

A Fine Frenzy emerges, swift as a shadow
Alison Sudol, the LA-based artist who records and performs as A Fine Frenzy, just loves it when I bring up the first show of her first-ever tour.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  October 27, 2009
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He, himself, and Hi

Eric Elbogen's Say Hi comes into its own
“I was always the kid who hated to do group projects at school because I always thought I could work better on my own.”
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  October 19, 2009
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Fly by night?

Fruit Bats aren't a Shins side project
For a decade, Eric Johnson's primary songwriting vehicle has been Fruit Bats, but the Portland-via-Chicago singer and multi-instrumentalist has always dipped in and out of other projects — Califone, Vetiver, Ugly Casanova among them.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  September 08, 2009
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Suite relief

Dirty Projectors' breakthrough has but one concept: Rule
For Longstreth, the pressure's been ratcheted up following the online leak a couple of months ago of Dirty Projectors' fifth LP, Bitte Orca (Domino) which is finally, officially out this week.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  June 10, 2009
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Bit players

Anamanaguchi are a shock to the systems
What do you get when you cross NYU music-technology majors just out of their teens, vintage Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy gear, traditional rock-and-roll instruments, a mysterious, robot-building fellow named José with half a middle finger on one hand, and a shadowy underground network of info-spreading Swedes? No.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  June 05, 2009
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Buzz band?

The glistening pleasures of Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
"The rise to the top is the best part," says Natalie Portman's Shaved Head multi-instrumentalist/vocalist David Price. "That's what Tupac said in the Biggie movie."
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  April 13, 2009
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Shiny happy people

Matt & Kim let the good times roll
In the event of thermonuclear war, only two things will survive: cockroaches, and the smiles on the faces of Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  March 16, 2009
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The electric company

The Builders and the Butchers plug in, take off
We all know how in 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, the previously all-acoustic Bob Dylan took the stage with an electric guitar, plugged in, enraged fans, and destroyed the folk-music scene forever.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  February 02, 2009
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Andrew Bird's whistled, wily works

Setting the mood
"Steamy, fecund, decaying, kind of mossy, woodsy . . . cloudlike, thick, saturated."
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  January 28, 2009
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Doing it live

Crystal Stilts hit the road
Crystal Stilts hit the road
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  December 05, 2008
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Riot act

Girl Talk plays a little bit of everything
Girl Talk plays a little bit of everything
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  November 17, 2008
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Wandering star

Jolie Holland’s got demons on her trail
Cleaning the kitchen of her Brooklyn apartment a few weeks ago — shortly before hitting the road in support of her fourth full-length, The Living and the Dead (Anti-) — singer-songwriter Jolie Holland was struck by an idea for her fifth album.  
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  October 28, 2008
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A history of violins

The bigger, better sound of Dungen
To paraphrase (very loosely) Ben Franklin, wherever you go in this world of ours — and that includes Sweden, native land of Dungen mastermind Gustav Ejstes — nothing is certain but death, taxes, and being picked on mercilessly if you’re a kid who plays the violin.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  October 23, 2008
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Lady killers

Vivian Girls find fans, lose shoes
“Maybe over there? Try over there . . . ” The muffled voice in the background sounds defeated.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  October 08, 2008
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A place of pure love

Jesse Sykes and her Sweet Hereafter
Far from being morose, Sykes is witty, sharp, and charmingly self-depreciating after each of her lengthy musings on life, energy, and the universe.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  September 16, 2008
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Nervous energy

The unlikely rise of Does It Offend You, Yeah?
“If I actually stopped to think about what’s going on, I’d probably shit myself,” says James Rushent, singer/bassist for UK electro-rock quartet Does It Offend You, Yeah?
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  August 26, 2008
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Unstoppable force

The sludgy juggernaut of the Melvins
“Basically it’s like, if you get what we’re doing, then no explanation is necessary, and if you don’t, then no explanation is possible.”
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  August 08, 2008
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Old souls

The Bouncing Souls stay relevant
“The very first Bouncing Souls show was a battle of the bands in high school. We took third place out of four bands. We sucked, though — we were terrible. Horrible ."
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  July 15, 2008
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Two for the road

The Watson Twins escape the shadows
Most music fans discovered the Watson Twins — 31-year-old identical sisters Leigh and Chandra — via their backing vocal appearance on Rabbit Fur Coat , the 2006 solo debut from Jenny Lewis.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  July 07, 2008
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Polvo give it another go

After a decade-long hiatus, the progenitors of math rock find their chemistry still exists
The North Carolina quartet’s noisy sound was music to a select group of ears.
By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG  |  June 17, 2008
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