Music Reviews

Wild Pink Achieve a More Authentic Sound on ‘Dulling the Horns’

On Dulling the Horns, Wild Pink deliver reverberating guitars and new instruments that complement their thought-provoking sentiments and introspection.

Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Mirage Tour ’82’ Features the Hits

Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few Ignite in San Francisco

Bo Ramsey Revisits the Past in the ‘Sidetrack’ Lounge

Drug Church Critique Hypocrisy and Retain Their Edge on ‘PRUDE’

Photay’s ‘Windswept’ Is an Ecstatic Embrace of Power and Wonder

Xiu Xiu’s Latest Album Shows Off Their Irresistible Noise

Rediscovering the Joy of Discovery at Festival De Musique Émergente

Adeline Hotel’s ‘Whodunnit’ Beautifully Reflects on Breaking Up

Music Features

The New Freedom of Jawbox’s Zach Barocas

Drummer for post-hardcore legends Jawbox, Zach Barocas is living his best life creating jazz with friends in New Freedom Sound. He discusses his new music.

How Underground FM Radio Saved Rock

Kolumbo and the Quest to Tour Every Tiki Bar in America

Moses Sumney’s Self-Aware Icarus

Elvis Costello’s ‘Almost Blue’ Was Rescued by Its Bonus Tracks… for a While

Impermanent Candy: Xiu Xiu Aim for an Uncompromising Future

Ambient Composer Rafael Anton Irisarri’s Dispersion of Belief

Film

In Memory of Maggie Smith, the Stealth Comedy Queen

Maggie Smith had the most expressive face. She could say and do more with a roll of an eye or purse of her lips than most of her peers with pages of dialogue.

Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ Is a Trivial Goof Pretending at Ambition

Masculine Movie Icon Alan Ladd As the Wounded Outlaw Hero

Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’

Murder and Apocalypse in Pop Art 1960s Mash-up ‘Fata Morgana’

Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’

‘The Beach Boys’ Documentary Brings the Sun and Surf to the New Kids

Books

Whatever Happened to the Buzzcocks?

Steve Diggle’s Buzzcocks autobiography Autonomy is a refreshing take in an era when punk’s political and social consequences tend to be over-analyzed.

Antonia Hylton’s ‘Madness’ Illuminates the Shadows of Racial Injustice

Neal Stephenson’s Thriller ‘Polostan’ Is a Wild Ride Through 1930s America

Video Games Set in the 19th Century and Their Literary Allusions

Work Is a Funny Thing in Adelle Waldman’s ‘Help Wanted’

Games

Video Games Set in the 19th Century and Their Literary Allusions

It’s fitting that these video games set in 19th century England transform reading into a form of socializing, as reading in the 19th century was communal.

‘Five Years Old Memories’ and Naïve Art in Video Games

The 5 Best Video Game Hip-Hop Soundtracks

Horror Puzzle Video Game ‘The Exit 8’ Is an Inescapable Meme

No Such Thing as Failure: Nintendo’s Failed Virtual Boy

Interviews

The New Freedom of Jawbox’s Zach Barocas

Drummer for post-hardcore legends Jawbox, Zach Barocas is living his best life creating jazz with friends in New Freedom Sound. He discusses his new music.

Kolumbo and the Quest to Tour Every Tiki Bar in America

Impermanent Candy: Xiu Xiu Aim for an Uncompromising Future

Ambient Composer Rafael Anton Irisarri’s Dispersion of Belief

Americana’s Shelby Lynne Writes Through the Pain

Lists

The 15 Best Electronic Albums of 2014

The best electronic music of 2014 could be found in thoughtful experimentation and dancefloor-ready fun. But the ones who led the way were the pioneers.

The 10 Best Indie Rock Albums of 2014

The 20 Best New Musical Artists of 2014

Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’

Jukebox Gallery: A Michael Goldberg Rock Photo Essay

Television

Deadwood’s Moral Optimism

Individualism was not the dominant force on the American frontier, as most Westerns would have you believe. Deadwood explores the era’s cooperation and moral optimism.

‘The Underground Railroad’ and Cinema’s Origins in White Supremacy

‘The Boys’ Season 4 Is a Bloody Descent into Hell

Crime Sells in TV: ‘The Responder’, ‘Shardlake’, and ‘Eric’

‘World of Giants’ Is Cold War Sci-Fi Espionage with a Small Difference

PopMatters Picks

Wild Pink Achieve a More Authentic Sound on ‘Dulling the Horns’

On Dulling the Horns, Wild Pink deliver reverberating guitars and new instruments that complement their thought-provoking sentiments and introspection.

Whatever Happened to the Buzzcocks?

Drug Church Critique Hypocrisy and Retain Their Edge on ‘PRUDE’

Adeline Hotel’s ‘Whodunnit’ Beautifully Reflects on Breaking Up

Foxing’s New LP Is a Wild and Unpredictable Triumph