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Music
Friday, August 29 2008
By Ross Langager
Intimacy might not actually be all that intimate, but it is a thing of rough, recycled beauty.
By Mehan Jayasuriya
On their debut album, this promising young five-piece justifies the hype with musically rich, emotionally complex meditations on love and loss.
By Dave Heaton
Hurt is universal, and that lonesome tune just keeps carrying on, passed from generation to generation like a spirit.
By Ron Hart
To everyone’s surprise, Boston’s greatest funk-metal outfit emerges from a decade-plus-long hiatus with the best album of their careers.
By Matthew Fiander
Sure, he didn't have a perfect record before this album, but Matt Pryor has shown us enough before for us to know that he's better than this.
By Chris Conaton
One of the stronger debut albums of 2008, Jupiter One manage to play in a variety of styles, yet maintain a coherent sound and a surprisingly strong groove.
By Sarah Moore
The mandolin and voice behind jam band Leftover Salmon releases his third solo album, a dedication to the road.
Thursday, August 28 2008
By Adrien Begrand
At least Slipknot got one thing right: they couldn't have chosen a more apt title.
By Will Layman
The Blue Note debut of a prodigious pianist -- more proof that jazz is consuming contemporary popular music in the best possible way.
By Andrew Martin
Pierre de Reeder certainly isn't treading any new ground or shattering molds here, but he has shown he can succeed on his own.
By Chris Conaton
Telepathique is a bilingual electro-funk duo from Brazil. Their debut album attempts to merge pop sensibilities with club-oriented tracks, but only succeeds about half of the time.
By Deanne Sole
The songs on this album have a feeling of freedom about them, of unspamlike variety and decompression, as if each one on its own could easily roll on for hours without running out of steam.
By Chris Conaton
A band that consists of piano, cello, violin, and drums. An all-female group unafraid to cover Neil Young and the Beastie Boys. A song that compares a lover to Secretariat. E.S.L. is all of these things.
Wednesday, August 27 2008
By Evan Sawdey
They've evolved from Tom Petty-aping roots rockers into the best pop band the Midwest has to offer. Now is as good a time as any to jump onto the Backyard Tire Fire bandwagon.
By Ron Hart
Caustic, confrontational alt-punk in the grand tradition of SST-era Black Flag.
By Hanson Le
Lloyd is the latest in a long line of young, fashionable, and artistically faceless R&B vocalists peddling a worn-out trend.
By Mike Schiller
It's possible that Huffin' Rag Blues represents one of the first times Steven Stapleton has taken the practice of toying with our expectations too far.
By Juli Thanki
Unflinchingly honest country music that makes you want to lay down and die. In a good way.
By Anthony Henriques
This quick, deluxe reissue makes up for any label pandering by actually containing worthwhile bonus material.
By Marc A. Price
Songs fed through the early 1980s UK punk scene and spat out at velocity accompanied by a biscuit tin lid, a cheap Bontempi organ and a Speak and Spell. It's a noise, but a welcome noise.
Tuesday, August 26 2008
By Chris Conaton
Sweet has been low-profile for most of this decade, but Sunshine Lies is a great return to form for one of the best power-pop artists of the '90s.
By Dan Raper
The world's finest purveyor of space disco stretches his genre to its lengthiest incarnation yet on his debut proper.
By Adrien Begrand
It's been a big year for Max Cavalera. Busy? Absolutely. Consistent? That's another story.
By Andrew Martin
Although Jim Boggia doesn't re-invent the wheel on Misadventures in Stereo, he and his session musicians succeed in crafting simplistic, well-written pop songs.
By Jennifer Kelly
Adrenaline-pounding spazz-outs skitter and stutter across this second full-length from a Baltimore art noise trio. The record fits right in alongside drum-crazed, experimental improvisers like OOIOO and the Boredoms.
By Adrien Begrand
Most of us have no idea what Anna Järvinen is singing about, but she gets her message across loud and clear.
By Adam Williams
Older, wiser, but just as Mötley as ever.
more  Short Reviews
Friday, August 29 2008
Thursday, August 28 2008
Wednesday, August 27 2008
Tuesday, August 26 2008
more Features
Thursday, August 28 2008
By Adrien Begrand
Ronnie James Dio's original three-year sojourn with Black Sabbath was mercurial, but it completely transformed and re-energized the band.
Wednesday, August 27 2008
By Thomas Hauner
Even though I shed my DMB obsession years ago, I can't help but feel this is the end of an era. With Moore's passing, the band has lost its saxophone pillar, an irreplaceable voice, and they will never be the same.
Tuesday, August 26 2008
By Eddie Ciminelli
With their new album The Seldom Seen Kid fresh on shelves, the guys in Elbow sit down with PopMatters to reflect on the losses, tragedies, and hopes that got them to where they are now, all while celebrating the music that continues to unite this group over nearly two decades of existence.
Monday, August 25 2008
By PopMatters Staff
Larry Love of Alabama 3 may be 'sick' but he ain't dead, yet. He claws his way out of a groovin' but dark, existential place to answer PopMatters 20 Questions.
Thursday, August 28 2008
By Derek Beres
K'Naan stood on stage, drum in hand, focused on the two instruments that comprise and compose the totality of African storytelling: the voice and the drum.
(more Global Beat Fusion)
Monday, August 25 2008
By Jennifer Makowsky
The kids who grew up in the '90s had the haunted Kurt Cobain; my generation had the tormented Ian Curtis.
(more The Box Office Belletrist)
Thursday, August 21 2008
By Will Layman
Dave Brubeck has been incredibly popular, neither simplistic nor crass, yet critics have never much liked his music. What if you listen to him -- to his long career -- with fresh ears?
(more Jazz Today)
Friday, August 29 2008
By Kevin Pearson
Like the festival site -- an old steel mill that was raised and re-built upon -- each band attempted a similar brand of resuscitation, albeit of the musical variety.
By Wilson McBee
Sandwiched between Lil Wayne’s lyrical wizardry and Kanye West’s globetrotting techno-populism, Bob Dylan gave one of the festival’s rare encores on a day when nearly every band deserved one.
Thursday, August 28 2008
By Chris Catania
From Radiohead’s transcendent set on Friday night to Kanye West’s emotional homecoming hit parade on Sunday, Lollapalooza offered the sold-out crowds over 120 acts as well as over-hyped rumors of a Senator Obama visit that never happened.
By Wilson McBee
With a line-up that read like a quick scroll through an FM radio dial, the Virgin Mobile Festival attempted to please every faction of the musical market and had more successes (Rodrigo y Gabriela, Sharon Jones, Wilco) than shortcomings (The Offspring).
Wednesday, August 27 2008
By Greg M. Schwartz
Yellowjackets with Mike Stern are an incredibly tight ensemble with a modern sound and an impressive ability to vary their dynamics on a dime.
more DVD Reviews
Thursday, August 21 2008
By Will Layman
The five hottest New York studio musicians of the mid-1970s give a class in Groove 101.
Monday, August 11 2008
By Kirby Fields
Rarely do movies change my mind about anything, rarer still about rock 'n' roll, but Shine A Light did just that.
Thursday, July 31 2008
By Christel Loar
Informative and educational, intriguing and entertaining, part American history lesson, part biography and part concert film.
Thursday, August 28 2008
Wednesday, August 27 2008
Sunday, August 24 2008
Friday, August 22 2008
Thursday, August 21 2008
Tuesday, August 19 2008
Friday, August 29 2008
Thursday, August 28 2008
Wednesday, August 27 2008
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