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Music Featured: Top of Home Page Features Lists Music Features PopMatters Picks

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of May 2026

By
Spyros Stasis
/ 26 May 2026

In May’s best metal, Spirit Adrift close their heavy metal journey, Funebrarum return to cryptic death metal, and Godthrymm proceed with their epic doom/death.

FEATURES

Paul McCartney’s First 1970s Classic Arrived in 1967
Music

Paul McCartney’s First 1970s Classic Arrived in 1967

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Sal Cataldi
/ 26 May 2026
Why Tokyo Has So Many Record Stores
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Why Tokyo Has So Many Record Stores

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Michael Schoolnik
/ 20 May 2026
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Michael Barrett
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Did Drake and Kendrick Lamar Kill Battle Rap?

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Alecia Hodges
/ 19 May 2026
Meme Culture’s Corrosive Effect on the American Heart
Culture

Meme Culture’s Corrosive Effect on the American Heart

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Alyssa Charpentier
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‘Recomposed’ Performs a Fundamental Interpretation of the Music Industry
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‘Recomposed’ Performs a Fundamental Interpretation of the Music Industry

By
Jeremy McDonagh
/ 18 May 2026
PopMatters Music

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Phish Go Gonzo in Return to Sphere Las Vegas

By
Greg M. Schwartz
/ 27 May 2026
Music Music Reviews PopMatters Picks Reviews

Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien Embraces Poetry and Prog Rock

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Eoghan Lyng
/ 27 May 2026
Music Music Reviews PopMatters Picks Reviews

Phillip Golub Tackles Stunning Microtonal Maximalism

By
Chris Ingalls
/ 27 May 2026
Teddy Thompson Delightfully Remains the Same
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Teddy Thompson Delightfully Remains the Same

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Steve Horowitz
/ 27 May 2026
Laurie Anderson Helps Us Face Catastrophe on Live LP
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Laurie Anderson Helps Us Face Catastrophe on Live LP

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Adriane Pontecorvo
/ 20 May 2026
Social Distortion Return with Their Teeth Bared
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Social Distortion Return with Their Teeth Bared

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Sam Weller
/ 20 May 2026
Chris Potter Tells the Story of Abolitionist John Brown
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Chris Potter Tells the Story of Abolitionist John Brown

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Will Layman
/ 20 May 2026
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Weird Nightmare’s Power Pop Is Hard-Rocking and Catchy

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Chris Conaton
/ 20 May 2026
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SUSS Unleash More Quietly Atmospheric Beauty

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Chris Ingalls
/ 20 May 2026
Braxton Keith Finds the ‘Real Deal’ in Classic Country
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Braxton Keith Finds the ‘Real Deal’ in Classic Country

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/ 19 May 2026
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Wendy Eisenberg Strikes the Perfect Songwriting Balance

By
Adriane Pontecorvo
/ 19 May 2026

The Music Archive

Albums Released 10, 15, and 20 Years Ago [subscriber exclusive]

Gold Panda Says Good Luck and Do Your Best
Music

Gold Panda Says Good Luck and Do Your Best

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Pryor Stroud
/ 27 May 2016
Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘Codes & Keys’ Is Their Worst Album
Music

Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘Codes & Keys’ Is Their Worst Album

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/ 31 May 2011
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Boris Explore Sounds and Try New Genres on Two LPs

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/ 24 May 2011
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Dixie Chicks Express Veiled Rage on ‘Taking the Long Way’

By
Jeff Vrabel
/ 23 May 2006

Features

Music Featured: Top of Home Page Features Lists Music Features PopMatters Picks

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of May 2026

By
Spyros Stasis
/ 26 May 2026
Music Feature Sub Head Features Music Features

Paul McCartney’s First 1970s Classic Arrived in 1967

By
Sal Cataldi
/ 26 May 2026
Music Features Culture Feature Sub Head Featured: Top of Home Page Features Music

Why Tokyo Has So Many Record Stores

By
Michael Schoolnik
/ 20 May 2026
Did Drake and Kendrick Lamar Kill Battle Rap?
Features

Did Drake and Kendrick Lamar Kill Battle Rap?

By
Alecia Hodges
/ 19 May 2026
Twenty 1990s Songs That Time Forgot
Featured: Top of Home Page

Twenty 1990s Songs That Time Forgot

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Andrew Doscas
/ 13 May 2026
Chicago’s Body Shop Will Make You Sweat and Think
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Chicago’s Body Shop Will Make You Sweat and Think

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Brian Stout
/ 12 May 2026
And Also the Trees Dig Into Their Deeply-Rooted Art
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And Also the Trees Dig Into Their Deeply-Rooted Art

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Imran Khan
/ 11 May 2026
School Is Back in Session for the Teaches of Peaches 
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School Is Back in Session for the Teaches of Peaches 

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Colin Scanlon
/ 7 May 2026
Scotland’s the Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s American Revolution
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Scotland’s the Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s American Revolution

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Keith Moore
/ 7 May 2026
PopMatters Film
‘House of Cards’ Is a Faux-Hitchcock Thriller
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‘House of Cards’ Is a Faux-Hitchcock Thriller

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Michael Barrett
/ 20 May 2026
Teo Hernández’s Queer Avant-Garde Films Rewire Your Brain
Film Feature

Teo Hernández’s Queer Avant-Garde Films Rewire Your Brain

By
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/ 19 May 2026
Vampires and the Ecstasy of Consumer Submission
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Vampires and the Ecstasy of Consumer Submission

By
Jason Ray Carney
/ 14 May 2026
The Terrible Force of Kim Nguyen’s ‘Saigon Story’
Film

The Terrible Force of Kim Nguyen’s ‘Saigon Story’

By
Guilherme Quireza
/ 13 May 2026
Kinuyo Tanaka’s Films About Women in Japan’s Evolving Postwar Society
Film

Kinuyo Tanaka’s Films About Women in Japan’s Evolving Postwar Society

By
Michael Barrett
/ 12 May 2026
‘The Delivery Line’ Gently Returns to You
Film

‘The Delivery Line’ Gently Returns to You

By
Guilherme Quireza
/ 11 May 2026
Caroline Strubbe’s Trilogy of Forgetting
Film

Caroline Strubbe’s Trilogy of Forgetting

By
Michael Barrett
/ 6 May 2026
Chile Under Pinochet: A Film Chronology of Dictatorship and Memory
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Guilherme Quireza
/ 5 May 2026

Pop Past

The best of our archive [subscriber exclusive]

Thrift Shop Paydirt: When Used Records Become Learning Opportunities
Featured: Top of Home Page

Thrift Shop Paydirt: When Used Records Become Learning Opportunities

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/ 1 November 2021
Black Vinyl: Confessions of a Music Collector
Featured: Top of Home Page

Black Vinyl: Confessions of a Music Collector

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/ 11 August 2021
The End of Record Stores
Features

The End of Record Stores

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Rob Horning
/ 14 May 2008
PopMatters Books
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Solace House’s Unsettling Tale of Coming-of-Age in Liminal Spaces

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Michael Anthony
/ 27 May 2026
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Features Books Feature Sub Head Featured: Top of Home Page Film Film Feature

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By
Jason Ray Carney
/ 14 May 2026
Staging Cultural Erasure in Ukraine’s Borderland 
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/ 14 May 2026
Ethel Barrymore’s Stifling Familial Obligation
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Gabrielle Stecher
/ 6 May 2026
PopMatters Television
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/ 20 May 2026
‘Cheers’, Cosiness and the Illusion of Companionship
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‘Cheers’, Cosiness and the Illusion of Companionship

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Mike Cormack
/ 23 April 2026
PopMatters Interviews
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Chicago’s Body Shop Will Make You Sweat and Think

By
Brian Stout
/ 12 May 2026
Music Feature Sub Head Featured: Top of Home Page Interviews Music Features

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By
Imran Khan
/ 11 May 2026
Music Feature Sub Head Featured: Top of Home Page Features Interviews Music Features

School Is Back in Session for the Teaches of Peaches 

By
Colin Scanlon
/ 7 May 2026
UltraBomb on Minnesota, Hard Rock, and Being Unapologetic
Music

UltraBomb on Minnesota, Hard Rock, and Being Unapologetic

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Brian Stout
/ 4 May 2026
Charley Discusses Being an Idealist at the End of Everything
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/ 30 April 2026
PopMatters Lists
MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of May 2026
Music

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of May 2026

By
Spyros Stasis
/ 26 May 2026
Twenty 1990s Songs That Time Forgot
Featured: Top of Home Page

Twenty 1990s Songs That Time Forgot

By
Andrew Doscas
/ 13 May 2026
15 Underrated Albums of the 1990s
Music

15 Underrated Albums of the 1990s

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/ 11 May 2026
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/ 27 April 2026
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/ 14 April 2026

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