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