Features
Friday, December 24 2010
The 70 Best Albums of 2010
PopMatters is on its annual publishing break until 3 January 2011, except for some film reviews and blogs. In the meantime, enjoy some of the year's best...
The year's best albums are highlighted by the emergence of a future superstar, two veteran and virtuoso rappers, and a Dream Team of indie bands releasing career peaks.
Friday, December 24 2010
The 60 Best Songs of 2010
Sixty slices of musical greatness highlighted by one of the most delightful expletive-ridden hits in pop music history.
Friday, December 17 2010
The Best Live Albums of 2010
Successful live albums are challenging things, judged by their ability to adequately portray the power of a performance. 2010 proved that even a strong crop of carefully staged and recorded recent shows could still be overshadowed by legendary sets of the past.
Tuesday, December 7 2010
The Best Indie Rock of 2010
"Indie rock" has become a term as amorphous and hard-to-pin-down as some of its associated lingo. But for our purposes here, we'll go with a line of demarcation strangely omitted from the discussion much of the time: the rock portion of the equation.
Monday, December 10 2007
The Best Electronica of 2007
As electronic music's edges bleed out all over the genre map, some sounds have been resurrected, others minimally revised, but the sum total shows a genre that, diffuse identity or not, continues to exert its pull on rock, pop, and the dancefloor.
Reviews
Thursday, April 7 2011
LCD Soundsystem: 2 April 2011 - The Long Goodbye, NYC
If LCD Soundsystem resists the urge to reunite for some future Coachella or Lollapalooza, they will have said goodbye exactly as they should, as their music and attitude demanded, with a party for the ages. The life-affirming power of music and collective experience was in full effect at Madison Square Garden, and no amount of joyful hyperbole could come close to explaining how much it all meant.
Monday, February 7 2011
LCD Soundsystem: London Sessions
LCD Soundsystem's London Sessions is a magnificent swan song for one of the premiere acts -- both in and outside of the studio -- of the past ten years.
Monday, May 17 2010
LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
Serving up a comprehensively postmodern survey of pop culture with wit, panache and an enviable dose of hooks, LCD Soundsystem take its place on 2010's shortlist of year-defining albums.
Wednesday, November 11 2009
LCD Soundsystem: 45:33 Remixes
The music has not only been remixed, but has also had its original purpose radically reconfigured.
Friday, June 22 2007
LCD Soundsystem
Imagine Rupert Murdoch sitting Sliver-style in front of a bank of televisions, watching James Murphy and his band run through disco-affected, punk-funk tunes. What do you think he would think?
Blogs
Tuesday, April 12 2011
LCD Soundsystem: Who Cares About an Edge, Anyway?
Among all the fervent eulogizing of the late LCD Soundsystem, a backlash has kicked up some funereal dirt. So, where to lay the band to rest -- with the hippest of the hip, or the bright-but-empty space with most of the other Madison Square Garden clientele?
Friday, April 1 2011
LCD Soundsystem + Shit Robot: 30 March 2011 - New York
Wednesday’s show at Terminal 5 already seemed like the penultimate ending to an incredible tenure.
Sunday, February 6 2011
LCD Soundsystem Announce "Last Show Ever"
James Murphy is apparently sticking to his plan to retire LCD Soundsystem as a touring band. Over the weekend, the dance-punk band announced on their…
Friday, December 17 2010
LCD Soundsystem Session at KCRW
LCD Soundsystem stopped by the KCRW studio recently in the middle of their “last big tour forever,” according to founder James Murphy. Everything sounds so…
Tuesday, November 9 2010
"Pow Pow" Supervideo: LCD Soundsystem w/ Anna Kendrick (video)
Pop culture magazine MEAN (Music. Entertainment. Art. News), in conjunction with MTV, recently announced the launch of a series of groundbreaking, star-studded music videos entitled…
News
Tuesday, January 31 2012
Sundance 2012: Documentary bears witness to the breakup of LCD Soundsystem
PARK CITY, Utah — Rock stars tend to exit the public stage in one of two ways: with a burst of drama or by fading…
Tuesday, October 26 2010
How Does a Band Build a Set List?
How much thought goes into building a set list? This is not just talking shop. Three acts — LCD Soundsystem, Max Weinberg and Scottish band the Vaselines — tell us how they build a set list.
Thursday, January 21 2010
Coachella lineup is model for recessionary times
LOS ANGELES — This year's Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival might have a mogul — rap patriarch Jay-Z — on the marquee, but the…
Monday, March 26 2007
In praise of challenging albums
What is glaringly absent from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "Definitive 200" list are challenging listens.
