Reviews
Music

The Killers' 'Imploding the Mirage' Promises Dynamite Rock Yet Delivers Tepid Synthpop

Imploding the Mirage marginally reinvents the Killers' sound, but the lyrics problematically redesign archaic ideology, resulting in a regressive album.

Recent
Music

Nashville's Brontë Fall Have Finished with School

Folk-pop's Brontë Fall opt for a black leather jacket instead of a wedding dress in their version of Finishing School.

Music

The Lemon Twigs Amp Up the Glam Rock Obsession on 'Songs for the General Public'

The Lemon Twigs' influences and tastes run deep, and Songs for the General Public shows that they can wrap all these ideas into a beautiful, oddly consistent package.

Music

Raul Malo and the Mavericks Go 'En Español' on Their New Genre-Bending LP

Alt-country veterans the Mavericks mix their Latin heritage with their rock and country roots on En Español.

Music

Eli Winter Comes Into His Own With 'Unbecoming'

Experimental folk guitarist Eli Winter finds new directions to explore on Unbecoming, including expanding into ensemble work.

Music

Bully's 'SUGAREGG' Is Loud and Noisy

The good news is that Bully are still loud and noisy on SUGAREGG. That's what makes them such a great live band. Alicia Bognanno explodes with energy.

Music

Mary Chapin Carpenter's 'The Dirt and the Stars' Is Warm and Sublime

Mary Chapin Carpenter ponders life, love, depression, and political mendacity on The Dirt and the Stars.

Music

The Texicana Mamas Make Beautiful Tex Mex Music

San Antonio singer-songwriters Tish Hinojosa, Stephanie Urbina Jones, and Patricia Vonne join together to make beautiful Tex Mex music as the Texicana Mamas.

Music

Hip-Hop Since the Don of Rhyme: Shabazz Palaces' 'The Don of Diamond Dreams'

With the release of Shabazz Palaces' The Don of Diamond Dreams, producer-rapper Ishmael Butler envisions yet another lunar world of sound disturbed by his anxieties and desires.

Music

H.C. McEntire Delivers Her Masterpiece with 'Eno Axis'

Born in isolation not so much by outside mandate as by natural inspiration, H.C. McEntire's Eno Axis is a masterwork of deep, spiritual escapism.

Music

Meridian Brothers Get Funky and Experimental on 'Cumbia Siglo XXI'

Bogotá's Meridian Brothers return with another avant-garde take on electric cumbia with Cumbia Siglo XXI.

Books

'Gender Explorers' Offers Insight into Youth Perspectives on Gender

Trans activist Juno Roche's latest work, Gender Explorers, is about listening to youth, not dictating to them.

Books

Sheena Kamal's 'No Going Back' Unfurls a Thrilling Noir

Kamal's psychological thriller, No Going Back, utilizes crime-noir tropes but with purposeful deviations.

Music

Jon Hassell's Argument for a Fourth World Continues with 'Seeing Through Sound'

At 83, it's clear Jon Hassell's music is forever contemporary. All he's had to do is leave open space for the next exploration, as he does on Seeing Through Sound.

Music

Webber/Morris Big Band Are Tightly Arranged and Gorgeously Free on 'Both Are True'

The new jazz gets a treatment from a thrilling 18-piece big band playing compositions by saxophonists Angela Morris and Anna Webber on Both Are True.

Music

A New Erasure Album Is Precisely What This Pandemic Needs

Cue Erasure's new album: The Neon. Music may not by itself cure our societal ills, but the virtue of superb electropop is that it helps make them seem a bit less insurmountable.

Books

Manga 'The Sky Is Blue with a Single Cloud' Is a Superb Collection of Kuniko Tsurita's Works

The late manga artist Kuniko Tsurita's works virtually demand repeat readings: initially cryptic, always compelling, inviting the reader to try again, and offering new suggestions and meanings with each read.

Music

Less Bells Offer Poignant Post-Classical Ruminations on 'Mourning Jewelry'

Less Bells' Mourning Jewelry is not light music in the sense of weight, but it might be light in the sense of brightness or contrast. It's an engaging little series of tropes about loss and processes of grieving.

Music

A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean

Culture and nature are beautifully inseparable in the second volume of the environmentally-conscious A Guide to the Birdsong series.

Music

Phil Elverum Sings His Memoir on 'Microphones in 2020'

On his first studio album under the Microphones moniker since 2003, Phil Elverum shows he has been recording the same song since he was a teenager in the mid-1990s. Microphones in 2020 might be his apex as a songwriter.

Music

'Eight Gates' Is Jason Molina's Stark, Haunting, Posthumous Artistic Statement

The ten songs on Eight Gates from the late Jason Molina are fascinating, despite – or perhaps because of – their raw, unfinished feel.

Music

Washed Out's 'Purple Noon' Supplies Reassurance and Comfort

Washed Out's Purple Noon makes an argument against cynicism simply by existing and sounding as good as it does.

Film

Apocalypse '45 Uses Gloriously Restored Footage to Reveal the Ugliest Side of Our Nature

Erik Nelson's gorgeously restored Pacific War color footage in Apocalypse '45 makes a dramatic backdrop for his revealing interviews with veterans who survived the brutality of "a war without mercy".

Reviews
Collapse Expand Reviews
BROWSE ALL ALBUM REVIEWS


Features
Collapse Expand Features
PM Picks
Collapse Expand Pm Picks

© 1999-2020 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated.