I have an essay up at Generation Bubble about the French anarchist manifesto, The Coming Insurrection. It's mostly about how the dream of revolution has been replaced by the dream of self-actualization -- an old, familiar story.
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PM Picks Playlist 1: Rett Madison, Folk Devils + More
The first PopMatters Picks Playlist column features searing Americana from Rett Madison, synthpop from Everything and Everybody, the stunning electropop of Jodie Nicholson, the return of post-punk's Folk Devils, and the glammy pop of Baby FuzZ.
22 Sep 2020
Books
David Lazar's 'Celeste Holm Syndrome' Appreciates Hollywood's Unsung Character Actors
David Lazar's Celeste Holm Syndrome documents how character actor work is about scene-defining, not scene-stealing.
22 Sep 2020
Music
David Lord Salutes Collaborators With "Cloud Ear" (premiere)
David Lord teams with Jeff Parker (Tortoise) and Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground) for a new collection of sweeping, frequently meditative compositions. The results are jazz for a still-distant future that's still rooted in tradition.
22 Sep 2020
Music
Laraaji Takes a "Quiet Journey" (premiere +interview)
Afro Transcendentalist Laraaji prepares his second album of 2020, the meditative Moon Piano, recorded inside a Brooklyn church. The record is an example of what the artist refers to as "pulling music from the sky".
22 Sep 2020
Music
Blues' Johnny Ray Daniels Sings About "Somewhere to Lay My Head" (premiere)
Johnny Ray Daniels' "Somewhere to Lay My Head" is from new compilation that's a companion to a book detailing the work of artist/musician/folklorist Freeman Vines. Vines chronicles racism and injustice via his work.
22 Sep 2020
Music
The Band of Heathens Find That Life Keeps Getting 'Stranger'
The tracks on the Band of Heathens' Stranger are mostly fun, even when on serious topics, because what other choice is there? We all may have different ideas on how to deal with problems, but we are all in this together.
22 Sep 2020
Music
Landowner's 'Consultant' Is OCD-Post-Punk With Obsessive Precision
Landowner's Consultant has all the energy of a punk-rock record but none of the distorted power chords.
22 Sep 2020
Film
NYFF: 'American Utopia' Sets a Glorious Tone for Our Difficult Times
Spike Lee's crisp concert film of David Byrne's Broadway show, American Utopia, embraces the hopes and anxieties of the present moment.
22 Sep 2020
Music
South Africa's Phelimuncasi Thrill with Their Gqom Beats on '2013-2019'
A new Phelimuncasi anthology from Nyege Nyege Tapes introduces listeners to gqom and the dancefloors of Durban, South Africa.
22 Sep 2020
Music
Wolf Parade's 'Apologies to the Queen Mary' Turns 15
Wolf Parade's debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, is an indie rock classic. It's a testament to how creative, vital, and exciting the indie rock scene felt in the 2000s.
22 Sep 2020
Film
What 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Gets Right (and Wrong) About America
Telling the tale of the cyclops through the lens of high and low culture, in O'Brother, Where Art Thou? the Coens hammer home a fatalistic criticism about the ways that commerce, violence, and cosmetic Christianity prevail in American society .
15 Sep 2020
Books
Literary Scholar Andrew H. Miller On Solitude As a Common Bond
Andrew H. Miller's On Not Being Someone Else considers how contemplating other possibilities for one's life is a way of creating meaning in the life one leads.
21 Sep 2020
Music
Fransancisco's "This Woman's Work" Cover Is Inspired By Heartache (premiere)
Indie-folk brothers Fransancisco dedicate their take on Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" to all mothers who have lost a child.
21 Sep 2020
Film
Rodd Rathjen Discusses 'Buoyancy', His Film About Modern Slavery
Rodd Rathjen's directorial feature debut, Buoyancy, seeks to give a voice to the voiceless men and boys who are victims of slavery in Southeast Asia.
21 Sep 2020
Music
Hear the New, Classic Pop of the Parson Red Heads' "Turn Around" (premiere)
The Parson Red Heads' "Turn Around" is a pop tune, but pop as heard through ears more attuned to AM radio's glory days rather than streaming playlists and studio trickery.
21 Sep 2020
Music
Blitzen Trapper on the Afterlife, Schizophrenia, Civil Unrest and Our Place in the Cosmos
Influenced by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Blitzen Trapper's new album Holy Smokes, Future Jokes plumbs the comedic horror of the human condition.
21 Sep 2020
Music
Chris Smither's "What I Do" Is an Honest Response to Old Questions (premiere + interview)
How does Chris Smither play guitar that way? What impact does New Orleans have on his music? He might not be able to answer those questions directly but he can sure write a song about it.
21 Sep 2020
Love in the Time of Coronavirus
Fire in the Time of Coronavirus
If we venture out our front door we might inhale both a deadly virus and pinpoint flakes of ash. If we turn back in fear we may no longer have a door behind us.
21 Sep 2020
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