Popular Voices, Cultural Matters 2012-05-16T11:19:17Z Copyright (c) 2012, PopMatters.com ExpressionEngine tag:popmatters.com,2012:05:16 tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/feature/21.158623 2012-05-16T11:20:00Z 2012-05-16T11:20:00Z shathley Q James Robinson begins, and there's a kind of building-up. In my mind I imagine great machines powered by steam, machines of bespoke engineering from a bygone day, now already just slightly out of reach… ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/column/19.158217 2012-05-16T07:00:20Z 2012-05-16T07:00:20Z Will Layman The two most recent albums by these jazz artists, Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society and Norah Jones' Little Broken Hearts, go in different (and good) directions. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/feature/21.157316 2012-05-16T07:00:15Z 2012-05-16T07:00:15Z Sylvio Lynch III Podcasts where the cheap suit, smoky bar and tidy punch lines are left behind. Perhaps the jury is still out, but in sheer number of podcasts available, one can assume this is another pivotal moment in the history of American comedy. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158446 2012-05-16T07:00:10Z 2012-05-16T07:00:10Z Evan Sawdey A philosophical collection of essays dissecting the works and poses of Prince proves simultaneously fascinating and frustrating: their points are evocative, but the authors' personal weight in the matter breaks down subjectivity in the long run, hurting their cause. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158533 2012-05-16T07:00:10Z 2012-05-16T07:00:10Z Brent McKnight A bleak, desolate setting full of bleak, desolate men: A group of oil workers survive a plane crash and have to fight a pack of wolves across the Alaskan wilderness. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158210 2012-05-16T07:00:06Z 2012-05-16T07:00:06Z Benjamin Aspray Simian Mobile Disco's attempt at a headphones record, after making a name for themselves as blog-house practitioners, is marred by aloof monotony. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158171 2012-05-16T07:00:05Z 2012-05-16T07:00:05Z Catherine Ramsdell The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth -- it’s definitely not what Charles Dickens would have wanted us to be reading on the 200th anniversary of his birth. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158179 2012-05-16T07:00:05Z 2012-05-16T07:00:05Z Dean Brown The dynamos of instrumental disorder – Russian Circles, debut in Dublin. Possessing the power to run rings around their instrumental contemporaries, tonight Russian Circles push their foreboding sound onward with impressive style. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158435 2012-05-16T07:00:05Z 2012-05-16T07:00:05Z Emma H. Sundstrom While Family Perfume treads familiar lo-fi psych-folk ground, it does it well, as well as anyone since the weird ramblings of Elephant 6’s Olivia Tremor Control and Apples in Stereo. Good melodies, weird noises, basement tape production – what’s not to love? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158444 2012-05-16T07:00:05Z 2012-05-16T07:00:05Z W. Scott Poole Even Selene's icy blue stare can't hypnotize us into having fun with this one. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158174 2012-05-16T07:00:04Z 2012-05-16T07:00:04Z Henry Adam Svec Williams's latest batch of gritty, unapologetic blues allows us to walk, a little, in the shoes of a grizzled vet who’s seen it all but is still hungry. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158428 2012-05-16T07:00:03Z 2012-05-16T07:00:03Z Steven Spoerl This Danger Mouse-produced debut LP shows serious promise for the electro-pop duo. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158214 2012-05-16T07:00:02Z 2012-05-16T07:00:02Z Matt Cibula Her artistic vision remains as gritty and vital as ever, but somehow her melodies have gotten even more beautiful. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158034 2012-05-16T07:00:01Z 2012-05-16T07:00:01Z Nianyi Hong There are situations when this is the perfect album to play, but it is limited in its scope. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/media-center/15.158518 2012-05-15T19:00:00Z 2012-05-15T19:00:00Z Steve Jansen Turn amps to max and go jump up and down on a bed – because Poppy & The Jezebels' new single remix is the sound of life arrived with extra smiles. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/media-center/15.158552 2012-05-15T18:00:00Z 2012-05-15T18:00:00Z PopMatters Staff Underground metal faves Baroness return on 17 July with their new album Yellow and Green after a solid three months of touring. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/notes-from-the-road/27.158471 2012-05-15T16:00:00Z 2012-05-15T16:00:00Z Sachyn Mital Horrid purple light often created a similar effect to that of wearing old school red and blue paneled 3D glasses, but that did not stop the crowd from having fun with Electric Guest. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/media-center/15.158559 2012-05-15T15:00:00Z 2012-05-15T15:00:00Z Sarah Zupko This Vincente Minnelli-directed Lerner and Loewe movie musical is often considered the last great big screen MGM musical production. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.158466 2012-05-15T14:00:00Z 2012-05-15T14:00:00Z Bill Gibron Their combined names are synonymous with creative risk-taking within a mainstream movie dynamic. Here's how we rank the eight (and counting) collaborations between this eclectic duo. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/media-center/15.158551 2012-05-15T13:00:00Z 2012-05-15T13:00:00Z PopMatters Staff Ghostly International is putting out Gold Panda's latest single "Mountain" b/w "Financial District" today and both tunes are available to stream online. The physical 7-inch single (limited to 1,200 copies) will hit record shops on 12 June and you can pre-order it over at Ghostly's website. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158548 2012-05-15T11:48:27Z 2012-05-15T11:48:27Z shathley Q It's some infinite underneath, some dark and warm somewhere, some ugly place that just goes on forever. "The Colony" is a hell built for teenagers, and the most striking thing about it, at least at first blush for me, is its very clear resemblance to the idea that caused the once-immortal friendship between 19th century psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung to simply run out… ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/graphically-speaking/40.158521 2012-05-15T11:44:00Z 2012-05-15T11:44:00Z Patricia Trutescu Those searching for the more traditional Marvel Black Widow in The Avengers will be disappointed. This film, with the help of Scarlett Johansson, beats the imperturbable superhero out of Natasha Romanoff. But something entirely new, possibly better takes its place… ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/feature/21.158527 2012-05-15T07:00:25Z 2012-05-15T07:00:25Z Karen Zarker "I was a Scientologist for 12 years, which is a lot more embarrassing than saying Hi, I’m a transsexual SM dyke living with borderline personality disorder," Kate Bornstein tells PopMatters 20 Questions on the release of her memoir, A Queer and Pleasant Danger. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/feature/21.158327 2012-05-15T07:00:20Z 2012-05-15T07:00:20Z John Garratt Horror movie directors. The Vaccines. Forming a country-based side-project despite not being all that much into country. This is just a day in the life of Keane pianist/songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley, and for his second PopMatters sitdown, he tells us all about the band's latest back-the-the-basics album Strangeland ... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/column/19.157946 2012-05-15T07:00:15Z 2012-05-15T07:00:15Z Lynnette Porter One of the most challenging aspects for Ali Bannister, head of the equine hair and make-up department on the set of War Horse, was keeping artists safe when applying mud to the rear ends of over 80 horses. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.157644 2012-05-15T07:00:10Z 2012-05-15T07:00:10Z Catherine Ramsdell White bread might be bland, but White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf is not. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158452 2012-05-15T07:00:10Z 2012-05-15T07:00:10Z J.M. Suarez Albert Nobbs, the story of a woman living as a man in 19th century Dublin, is a film that quietly and subtly explores not only gender roles, but identity at its most basic level. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158514 2012-05-15T07:00:10Z 2012-05-15T07:00:10Z Carolyn Kellogg Etgar Keret’s satire may be local, but his ironies are global; this is a master storyteller, creating deep, tragic, funny, painful tales with scarcely more words than you’ve read in this review. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158436 2012-05-15T07:00:06Z 2012-05-15T07:00:06Z Arnold Pan The sky might be the limit for Best Coast as a brand, but The Only Place only ends up highlighting Bethany Cosentino’s ceiling as a performer and songwriter. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158133 2012-05-15T07:00:05Z 2012-05-15T07:00:05Z Maria Schurr From the very start of his seventh solo album, Standing at the Sky’s Edge, it’s apparent that Richard Hawley’s sound has been defatted and pulverized, yet emotion and beauty remain intact. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158438 2012-05-15T07:00:05Z 2012-05-15T07:00:05Z Dan Heaton There are clever twists and surprises here, but we never connect with anyone enough to transcend the genre. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.157002 2012-05-15T07:00:04Z 2012-05-15T07:00:04Z Craig Hayes All Ufomammut's members are clearly adepts of Hermetic rock of the highest order. The band has crafted acclaimed albums in the past, but the rarefied distillation of the cryptically spiritual and the sonically stentorian marks Opus Primum as its finest work yet. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/37.158462 2012-05-15T07:00:04Z 2012-05-15T07:00:04Z Matthew Fiander tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/37.158330 2012-05-15T07:00:03Z 2012-05-15T07:00:03Z Justin Cober-Lake tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.157921 2012-05-15T07:00:03Z 2012-05-15T07:00:03Z Steven Spoerl Tomat's debut 01-06 June is an occasionally terrifying, often exhilarating, record that finds the delicate balance between structure and chaos. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158272 2012-05-15T07:00:03Z 2012-05-15T07:00:03Z Evan Sawdey Not even some forgettable openers can keep a well-oiled pop-rock machine like the Wombats down. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.157854 2012-05-15T07:00:02Z 2012-05-15T07:00:02Z John Garratt Cornetist Rob Mazurek and percussionist Chad Taylor have been at this Chicago Underground thing for a long time now, yet they still sound refreshingly bizarre. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/37.158488 2012-05-15T07:00:02Z 2012-05-15T07:00:02Z Steven Spoerl tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.157887 2012-05-15T07:00:01Z 2012-05-15T07:00:01Z Jeff Strowe Charming Alabama sister duo looks to capitalize on UK success with latest release. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158534 2012-05-15T07:00:00Z 2012-05-15T07:00:00Z Azmol Meah This is easily the weakest of Nintendo’s JRPG trinity. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/sound-affects/34.158474 2012-05-14T17:00:00Z 2012-05-14T17:00:00Z Brice Ezell Stupid Dream's eighth track, "Baby Dream in Cellophane", is a unique little experiment in that it merges Porcupine Tree's early psychedelic sonic with Steven Wilson's love of Beach Boys-styled vocal harmonies. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.158443 2012-05-14T15:30:00Z 2012-05-14T15:30:00Z Chris Barsanti The Avengers and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened on the same day... they're less different than you think. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/media-center/15.158515 2012-05-14T15:00:00Z 2012-05-14T15:00:00Z PopMatters Staff Neil Young has reunited with his old band Crazy Horse for a new album Americana that offers covers of classic American folk tunes. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158512 2012-05-14T14:07:00Z 2012-05-14T14:07:00Z Cynthia Fuchs In emphasizing the ways that the "food industry" does business, HBO's four-part series makes an important contribution to the ongoing discussion of obesity in America. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/reprint/33.158315 2012-05-14T14:00:00Z 2012-05-14T14:00:00Z Vince Carducci For a decade and a half, Steve Hughes has published Stupor, a zine that chronicles life in the age of diminished expectations. The newest issue was done in collaboration with international art star (and Björk main squeeze) Matthew Barney. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/media-center/15.158511 2012-05-14T13:26:27Z 2012-05-14T13:26:27Z PopMatters Staff Animal Collective has just announced that their latest album, CENTIPEDE Hz, will be releasing this September 4th via Domino Records... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158494 2012-05-14T13:15:00Z 2012-05-14T13:15:00Z Cynthia Fuchs The saga of the painting begins with a bit of bullying, with that Nazi taking the painting from the art dealer Lea Bondi in 1938. It was her own, private property, not part of any of the many museum and gallery collections the Nazis also confiscated that year. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158453 2012-05-14T12:00:00Z 2012-05-14T12:00:00Z Nick Dinicola There’s a lot of stuff you can ignore in Xenoblade Chronicles and a lot that you probably should ignore, but there’s even more worth embracing. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158316 2012-05-14T11:15:00Z 2012-05-14T11:15:00Z Jon Langmead Their live show is an occasionally uncomfortable mix of polish and genuine raggedness. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158491 2012-05-14T11:05:00Z 2012-05-14T11:05:00Z shathley Q Amid the chaos and devastation of Avengers Versus X-Men, Cyclops arrives at Wolverine's school for mutants. But this is not the kind of battle you might expect… ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/feature/21.158303 2012-05-14T07:00:20Z 2012-05-14T07:00:20Z Lana Cooper The past few seasons of Gossip Girl have sent a consistent message to the series' largely female audience: women who attempt to climb the social ladder won't get a happy ending. Even ladies born wearing Prada diapers can expect their share of misery. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/column/19.158298 2012-05-14T07:00:15Z 2012-05-14T07:00:15Z Brice Ezell The weapons deals in The International and the back-door negotiations between corporate lobbies and Congress are two sides of the same coin; both use overwhelming systemic violence to further their ends. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/column/19.158104 2012-05-14T07:00:10Z 2012-05-14T07:00:10Z David Masciotra Blues, gospel, and jazz singer Ruther Foster spent so much time on the road that her songwriting suffered -- yet the folk, Stax soul, and gospel that accompanied the sound of tires spinning on asphalt gave her a different kind of musical inspiration. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158055 2012-05-14T07:00:10Z 2012-05-14T07:00:10Z Scott Elingburg Peking, on the edge of World War II, couldn't have been more fraught with tension. The brutal murder of a young Englishwoman was the proverbial match struck to this powder keg of a city. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158267 2012-05-14T07:00:10Z 2012-05-14T07:00:10Z Stuart Henderson This is an exquisite film set in the twilight of the high class Parisian brothel. It's languid, even sleepy, and yet utterly spellbinding. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158195 2012-05-14T07:00:06Z 2012-05-14T07:00:06Z Zachary Houle Bloom should be to the year 2012 what Loveless was to 1991, or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was to 2002, or Funeral was to 2004: a landmark release. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.157417 2012-05-14T07:00:05Z 2012-05-14T07:00:05Z Sean Murphy Ian Anderson, who has cycled through sidemen the way his more hedonistic compatriots once speed-dialed through dealers, has yet another cast of characters for this recording. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158291 2012-05-14T07:00:05Z 2012-05-14T07:00:05Z James Williams This comprehensively researched portrait of Elizabeth I falls short of capturing the Virgin Queen ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158407 2012-05-14T07:00:05Z 2012-05-14T07:00:05Z Jedd Beaudoin What could have been Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy meets My Architect, is instead The Fog of War meets 60 Minutes. But without much bite. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.158113 2012-05-14T07:00:04Z 2012-05-14T07:00:04Z Alan Ranta Just when you thought they were gone, Belgian electro-industrial artists come raging back with their first new album in over a decade… Much like herpes. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/37.157638 2012-05-14T07:00:04Z 2012-05-14T07:00:04Z Zachary Houle OneTwoThreeFour EP sounds like a band that never went on a rather lengthy hiatus, and they take some iconic material and make it their own. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/37.157926 2012-05-14T07:00:03Z 2012-05-14T07:00:03Z Alex Ramon tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/review/5.157375 2012-05-14T07:00:03Z 2012-05-14T07:00:03Z Michael Kabran Saxophonist Kenny Garrett's latest studio effort, his most cohesive release to date, is a sprawling work that serves as a nice summary of his impressive career. ]]>