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Dave Heaton

PopMatters Associate Music Editor

Features

Music

Survival of the Fittest: The Hard Country of John Anderson

[11.Apr.08] :. Anderson is a distinctive country music artist whose ample, if intermittent, hits have not given him the hallowed stature or name recognition of many of his contemporaries.

Recent features

 

PopMatters Picks: The Best Music of 2007

The Best Indie-Pop of 2007

[12.Dec.07] :. 2007 was a year of independent thinking, where fresh and experienced bands alike stubbornly set off on their own course.

PopMatters Picks: The Best Music of 2007

 

Music

Play It for Today: 10 Years of Labrador

[17.Oct.07] :. The Swedish indie-pop label Labrador has been creating their own universe of imaginary blockbuster singles and celebrating the immortal power of "ba-ba-ba" for 10 years now.

Recent features

 

Music

The Last Cowboy in Town: Chris LeDoux

[13.Jul.07] :. The rodeo songs of bronco-riding champion Chris LeDoux may seem like the work of one man, but they offer a window into Country & Western mythologies, old and new.

Recent features

 

Music

Growing Up Hurts: Dolly Parton's Albums of "Independence"

[17.May.07] :. The songs in the new Dolly Parton re-issue series illustrate her story of attaining stardom, of growing up in a one-room cabin in the mountains of Tennessee as one of 12 children and then leaving that all behind for a career in Nashville.

Recent features

 

PopMatters Picks: The Best Music of 2006   Best Indie-Pop of 2006

Music   Waylon Jennings, Jukebox Hero

Reviews

Music

Various Artists: BIPPP

[14.May.08] :. It's the versatility of synthesizers that’s on display as much as the specific personalities these musicians created.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music

Moreland & Arbuckle: Eighteen Sixty-One

[14.May.08] :. I’m not sure what a specifically Kansan version of the blues would sound like, so I’m fascinated by the notion.

Recent Short Takes reviews

 

Music

Strategy: Music for Lamping

[12.May.08] :. Strategy prefers the descriptor "meditative" to "ambient". That distinction makes sense here.

Recent Short Takes reviews

 

Music

Willie Nelson: One Hell of a Ride

[25.Apr.08] :. Four jam-packed discs still represent a truncated guidebook to the maze that is Willie Nelson’s life work.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music

George Strait: Troubadour

[23.Apr.08] :. Massive in his hit-making legacy, yet enigmatic for his seeming ordinaryness, George Strait returns with his 37th album in 27 years.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music   Van Morrison: Keep It Simple

Music   Alan Jackson: Good Time

Music   Dolly Parton: Backwoods Barbie

Music   Mahjongg: Kontpab

Music   Various Artists: A Number of Small Things

Music   Laura Bryna: Trying to Be Me

Music   Pieces of Peace: Pieces of Peace

Music   Various Artists: Airport Symphony

Music   Jazzanova and Dirk Rumpff: Broadcasting From Offtrack Radio

Music   Willie Nelson: Moment of Forever

Books   Wax Poetics Anthology

Music   Hey Willpower: PDA

PopMatters Pick

Music

The Magnetic Fields: Distortion

[14.Jan.08] :. Distortion is a game, a question, a provocation, a distortion, a fable, a fake, and a collection of pop songs.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music   Lucky Soul: One Kiss Don't Make a Summer

Music   Tender Forever: Wider

Music   Phosphorescent: Pride

Music   Various Artists: Summer Records Anthology 1974-1988

PopMatters Pick

Music

Wu-Tang Clan: 8 Diagrams

[11.Dec.07] :. Can we stop talking about the Wu-Tang Clan’s “decline” now? 8 Diagrams is as exciting as they’ve ever been.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music   Robin and Linda Williams: Radio Songs

Music   Goldmund: Two Point Discrimination

Music   Common: Thisisme Then

Music   Damon and Naomi: Within These Walls

Music   Saturday Looks Good to Me: Fill Up the Room

Music   Carolyn Mark: Nothing Is Free

Music   Saturday Looks Good to Me: Cold Colors

Music   Majesty Crush: I Love You in Other Cities

Music   Someone Else: Pen Caps and Colored Pencils

Music   California Snow Story: Close to the Ocean

Music   PJ Harvey: White Chalk

Music   Waylon Jennings and the Waymore Blues Band: Never Say Die

Music   Kanye West: Graduation

Music   Various Artists: Guilt by Association

Music   Butcher Boy: Profit in Your Poetry

Music   Bad Religion: New Maps of Hell

Music   Calvin Johnson and the Sons of the Soil: Calvin Johnson and the Sons of the Soil

Music   Fred Thomas: Sink Like a Symphony

Music   Watoo Watoo: La Fuite

Music   Panther: Secret Lawns

Music   Plants: Photosynthesis

Music   Walker Kong: Deliver Us From People

Music   Voxtrot: Voxtrot

Music   Michael Penn: Mr. Hollywood Jr. 1947; Palms and Runes, Tarot and Tea

PopMatters Pick

Music

El-P: Ill Sleep When Youre Dead

[13.Apr.07] :. Classic hip-hop sounds a lot different after you've filtered it through 1984, through the War in Iraq, through the Patriot Act.

Recent Music reviews

 
PopMatters Pick

Music

Lucky Soul: The Great Unwanted

[9.Apr.07] :. UK-based Lucky Soul offer more pop songs about the broken-hearted on their debut LP, but these are something truly special. Witness soulful, mod pop at it's best and brightest.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music   Various Artists: International Sad Hits

Music   Eluvium: Copia

Music   Lucky Soul: Aint Never Been Cool

Music   Rjd2: The Third Hand

Music   Jill Cunniff: City Beach

Music   Harry Connick, Jr.: Oh, My Nola

Music   Lucky Dragons: Widows

Music   The Television Personalities: My Dark Places Remixes

Music   Gang Starr: Mass Appeal: The Best of Gang Starr

Music   Sloan: Never Hear the End of It

Music   Pipas: Sorry Love

Music   Sonic Youth: The Destroyed Room

Music   Etta Jones: Dont Go to Strangers

Music   Phish: Colorado 88

Music   National Eye: Roomful of Lions

Music   Sven Libaek: Inner Space: The Lost Film Music of Sven Libaek

Music   No Wait Wait: About You

Music   Awesome Color: Awesome Color

Music   Parenthetical Girls: Safe as Houses

Music   Bright Eyes: Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998 – 2005)

Music   Damien Jurado: And Now That Im in Your Shadow

Music   Various Artists: Tiny Idols, Vol. 2

Music   Various Artists: The Kids at the Club: An Indiepop Compilation

Music   My Morning Jacket: Okonokos

Music   Stereolab: Serene Velocity: A Stereolab Anthology

Music   Method Man: 4:21... The Day After

Music   Jennifer OConnor: Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars

Music   M. Ward: Post-War

Music   Adam Green: Jacket Full of Danger

Music   Phish: Live in Brooklyn

Music   The Impossible Shapes: Tum

Music   Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys: Turntable Matinee

Music   Maher Shalal Hash Baz: Kunitachi Kibun: Live 1984-85

Music   Sonic Youth: Rather Ripped

Music   Absentee: Schmotime

Music   Tilly and the Wall: Bottoms of Barrels

Music   Filastine: Burn It

Music   Kimya Dawson: Remember That I Love You

Music   The Coup: Pick a Bigger Weapon

Music   Boyracer: A Punch Up the Bracket

Music   Sonic Youth: Sonic Youth

Music   Casey Dienel: Wind-Up Canary

Music   The Caribbean: Plastic Explosives

PopMatters Pick

Music

Willie Nelson: You Don't Know Me: Songs of Cindy Walker

[14.Mar.06] :. Willie sings from the Great American (Country and Western) Songbook.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music   Stereolab: Fab Four Suture

Music   The Elected: Sun, Sun, Sun

Music    O.C.: Smoke & Mirrors

Music    Talib Kweli: Right About Now

Music    Kammerflimmer Kollektief: Absencen

Music    Public Enemy: New Whirl Odor

Music    Múm: Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today is OK

Music    Little Brother: The Minstrel Show

Music    Head of Femur: Hysterical Stars

Music    Doug Hoekstra: Su Casa, Mi Casa: The Official Live Bootleg

DVDs    Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation: The First London Invasion Tour 1987 [DVD]

PopMatters Pick

Music

Architecture in Helsinki: In Case We Die

[19.May.05] :. By painting their already imaginative songs with dazzling new colors, Architecture in Helsinki are quietly reinventing the pop song.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music    Beck: Guero

Music    The Perceptionists: Black Dialogue

Music    Adam Green: Gemstones

Music    Dear Nora: Mountain Rock

Music    De La Soul: The Grind Date

Music    Mos Def: The New Danger

Music    Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Shaheedullah and Stereotypes

Music    Tony Bennett: Cloud 7

Music    Guided by Voices: Half Smiles of the Decomposed

Music    Rjd2: Since We Last Spoke

Music    Bad Religion: Generator [remastered]

DVDs    Bad Religion: Along the Way [DVD]

DVDs    Superchunk: Crowding up Your Visual Field [DVD]

Music    Kanye West: The College Dropout

Music    Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere

Music    RZA: Birth of a Prince

Music    David S. Ware String Ensemble: Threads

Music    Rasco: Escape from Alcatraz

DVDs    Various Artists: Mush Tour Spring 2002 Live [DVD]

Music    Irving: I Hope You're Feeling Better Now

DVDs    Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: God Is in the House [DVD]

Music    Various Artists: Russendisko: Hits

Music    Superchunk: Cup of Sand

Music   Pole: self-titled

DVDs    Various Artists: The Revenge of the Robots [DVD]

Music    A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory

Music    The New Constitution: On 4

Music    The Like Young: "Looked Up" Plus Four

Music    Freddie Foxxx/Bumpy Knuckles: The Konexion

Music    Awol One and Daddy Kev: Slanguage

Music    Cherrywine: Bright Black

PopMatters Pick

Music

Akrobatik: Balance

[20.May.03] :. Aiming barbs at hypocrites, phony MCs and power-hungry politicians alike, Akrobatik is skilled at cutting through the glitz and hype to get to what's genuine and important, in music and life.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music    M. Ward: Transfiguration of Vincent

Music    Rjd2: The Horror

Music    If Thousands: Lullaby

Music    Gary Lucas: The Edge of Heaven

Music    Vic Chesnutt: Silver Lake

Music    Beans: Tomorrow Right Now

Music    Burnside Project: The Networks, The Circuits, The Streams, The Harmonies

Music    Various Artists: Acuarela Songs 2

Music    EL-P: Fandam Plus: Instrumentals, Remixes, Lyrics & Video

Music   Robert Pollard: Motel of Fools

Music    Guided By Voices: The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet

Music    The Roots: Phrenology

PopMatters Pick

Music

Talib Kweli: Quality

[27.Dec.02] :. Quality is filled with songs that are ripe for the radio, at least in an ideal world where radio paid any attention to songs.

Recent Music reviews

 

Music    Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: Answering Machine Music

Music    The Mountain Goats: Tallahassee

Music    Ron House: Obsessed

Music    Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: Ooo Baby: The Anthology

Music    Blevin Blectum: Talon Slalom

Music    Of Montreal: Aldhills Arboretum

Music    The Apples in Stereo: Velocity of Sound

Music    Supersprite: Color Mixing

Music    Slum Village: Trinity (Past, Present and Future)

Music    Doug Martsch: Now You Know

Music    Atmosphere: God Loves Ugly

Music    Calvin Johnson: What Was Me

Music    The Bevis Frond: What Did for the Dinosaurs

Music    The Flatlanders: Now Again

Music    Con Dolore: This Sad Movie

Music    Nathaniel Merriweather: Lovage: Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By

Books   Anarchy! An Anthology of Emma Goldman's Mother Earth by Peter Glassgold

Music   The Apples in Stereo: The Discovery of a World Inside The Moone

Music    Afu-Ra: Body of the Life Force

Music    Actionslacks: The Scene's Out of Sight

Music    Aesop Rock: Labor Days

Music    The Allies: D-Day

Music    Aspera: Sugar & Feathered

Music    Ashley Park: Town and Country

Music    Aroah: Cuando Termines Con Todo, Habrá Terminado Contigo

Music    Alsace Lorraine: Through Small Windows

Music    Atom & His Package: Redefining Music

Music    Braid: Movie Music Volume One and Volume Two

Music    Built to Spill: Ancient Melodies of the Future

Music    Michael Barrett: Couches and Carpet

Music    The Best Friends Group: When Everyone's Around

Music    Black Eyed Peas: Bridging the Gap

Music    The Benjamins: The Art of Disappointment

Music    The Peter Brotzmann Sextet/Quartet: Nipples

Music    Busta Rhymes: Anarchy

Music    The Beauty Shop: Yr Money Or Yr Life

Music    Boredoms: Vision Creation Newsun

Music    The Clientele: A Fading Summer

Music    The Cherry Orchard: This World Is Such a Groovy Place

Music    The Cannanes and Steward: Communicating At an Unknown Rate

Music    Centro-Matic: Distance and Clime

Music    The Chamber Strings: Month of Sundays

Music    Clogs: Thom's Night Out

Music    Club 8: self-titled

Music    Cypress Hill: Live at the Fillmore

Music    Loren MazzaCane Connors: The Little Match Girl

Music    Cursive: Burst and Bloom

Music    California Oranges: self-titled

Music    Dead Prez: Let's Get Free

Music    Dice Raw: Reclaiming the Dead

Music    De La Soul: Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump

Music    DJ Smash: Phonography

Music    Dear Nora: We'll Have a Time

Music    Delinquent Habits: Merry Go Round

Music    Death By Chocolate: self-titled

Music    E*Vax: Parking Lot Music

Music    EC8OR: The One and Only High and Low

Music    Mark Eitzel: The Invisible Man

Music    14 Iced Bears: In the Beginning

Music    Freight Elevator Quartet: Becoming Transparent

Music    Fiver: Strings for Satellites

Music    The Free Design: Cosmic Peekaboo

Music    Fontanelle: self-titled

Music    Faultline: Closer Colder

Music    From Bubblegum to Sky: Me and Amy and the Two French Boys

Music    Fugu: Fugu 1

Music    Michael Franti & Spearhead: Stay Human

Music    The Gossip: Thats Not What I Heard

Music    Marvin Gaye: Midnight Love

Music    Guru: Jazzmatazz, Vol. 3: Streetsoul

Music    Green Velvet: self-titled

Music    A Girl Called Eddy: Tears All Over Town

Music    The Green Pajamas: In a Glass Darkly

Music    Kim Gordon / Ikue Mori / DJ Olive: self-titled

Music    Gauge: I

Music    James William Hindle: self-titled

Music    Hydroplane: The Sound of Changing Places

Music    The Holmes Brothers: Speaking in Tongues

Music    The Harvest Ministers: The Embezzling Kisses EP

Music    Her Space Holiday: Home Is Where You Hang Yourself

Music    Isobella: A 24 Syllable Haiku

Music    The I Live the Life of a Movie Star Secret Hideout: Autumn Girl Archers Horsemen Bring Arrows

Music    Jenifer Jackson: Birds

Music    Killah Priest: View From Masada

Music    KRS-ONE: The Sneak Attack

Music    Kleenex Girl Wonder: Smith

Music    Kevin Kling: Stories off the Shallow End / Home and Away

Music    King Black Acid: Loves a Long Song

Music    Jeff Kelly: Indiscretion

Music    Kleenex/Liliput: The Complete Recordings

Music    Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek: Reflection Eternal

Music    Labtekwon: Song of the Sovereign

Music    Luna: Live

Music    Lenola: Treat Me To Some Life

Music    Charles Lloyd: The Water Is Wide

Music    Mark Mulcahy: SmileSunset

Music    J. Mascis and the Fog: More Light

Music    Metrovavan: Retrofitting

Music    The Microphones: The Glow, pt. 2

Music    Roy Montgomery: The Allegory of Hearing

Music    Mirah: You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This

Music    Angus Maclaurin: Glass Music

Music    My Morning Jacket: At Dawn

Music    Mall: 05.17.2012 01:34:28 PM -0400

Music    Mollycuddle: The Best Place For You

Music    The New Amsterdams: Never You Mind

Music    Of Montreal: Horse & Elephant Eatery (No Elephants Allowed): The Singles & Songles Album

Music    The Olivia Tremor Control: Presents: Singles and Beyond

Music    Old 97s: Satellite Rides

Music    William Parker Trio: Painter's Spring

Music    Phife Dawg: Ventilation: Da LP

Music    Pinkie: My Little Experiment

Music    People Under the Stairs: Question in the Form of an Answer

Music    Poi Dog Pondering: Soul Sonic Orchestra

Music    Run DMC: Crown Royal

Music    Henry Rollins: A Rollins in the Wry

Music    R.E.M.: Reveal

Music    Jonathan Richman: Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow

Music    The Real Tuesday Weld: L'Amour et la Morte

Music    The Shermans: Falling Out of Love

Music    Gil Scott-Heron: The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron: A Collection of Poetry and Music

Music    Sigur Rós: Agætis Byrjun

Music    Sneakster: Pseudo-Nouveau/Fifty-Fifty

Music    Snailhouse: Fine

Music    Slowcoach: New Strategies Are Necessary, This Is Not Solid Ground

Music    Spring: The Last Goodbye

Music    Bobo Stenson Trio: Serenity

Music    Shalini: We Want Jelly Donuts

Music    Robert Scott: The Creeping Unknown

Music    Stereolab: Sound-Dust

Music    The Sixth Great Lake: Up the Country

Music    Saint Low: self-titled

Music    Son, Ambulance: Euphemystic

Music    Sarge: Distant

Music    Shark Quest: Man on Stilts

Music    Space Ballerinas: If Goth Was Pink

Music    Tom Daily: The Burlington Northern

Music    Tipsy: Uh-Oh!

Music    34 Satellite: Radar

Music    Tristeza: Dream Signals in Full Circles

Music    Ultimate Fakebook: This Will Be Laughing Week

Music    Versus: Hurrah

Music    Vancouver Nights: self-titled

Music    Volante: 45 Degrees North

Music    Wobbleshop: Bittergreen

Music    Wu-Tang Clan: The W

Music    John Wolfington: self-titled

Music    Willie D: Loved By Few, Hated By Many

Music    Shannon Wright: Dyed in the Wool

Music    Yume Bitsu: Auspicious Winds

Music    Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Life

Music    Neil Young: Landing on Water

Music    Various Artists: Little Darla Has a Treat For You, v. 17

Music