Crystal Castles released their latest album, imaginatively titled Crystal Castles, earlier this week after an early leak forced the release date forward. The Canadian electronic band also promoted the new record this week on Jools Holland's fine show in the UK.
The 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2019
Electronic music is a huge tent with so many diverse approaches, and it's more international than ever with producers around the globe pushing music forward. The year's best albums featured returns from established talents, as well as ground-breaking newcomers, and a host of women changing the old boy's club of electronic music.
13 Dec 2019
Oh, That Tiger!: Fritz Lang's Indian Epics
Fritz Lang's The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb are hothouse flowers of cinema with gyrating dancers, man-eating tigers, pagan magic, groaning lepers, and mythic moments. Has Lang ever come up with more desperate, mad, or heroic symbols of futile struggle?
12 Dec 2019
Blanck Mass Brings Violent Visions to L​ife on Stage in Manchester
Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons fame takes his latest Blanck Mass record, Animated Violence Mild, to the stage, exposing the full blown brutality of his extravagant electronics.
12 Dec 2019
The 20 Best Folk Albums of 2019
Folk in 2019 is an image of inclusivity and unity in the face of international political upheaval. It's most captivating in its moments of sheer, heart-bearing authenticity and ensnares with new musical bearings introduced by some of its foremost innovators and newcomers to the scene.
12 Dec 2019
Dustbowl Revival Embrace Their Nomadic Character via "Runaway" (premiere)
Dustbowl Revival's "Runaway" is from their upcoming album, Is It You, Is It Me, releasing in January. "It feels like a movie song now, big and lush and searching, and I love that," says the band's Z Lupetin.
12 Dec 2019
House's Flashmob Remixes Juliet Sikora's Monster Hit "Beat Dancer" (premiere)
Flashmob Records boss finds the sweet spot between groove and melody on this quality, deep house mix of Juliet Sikora's "Beat Dancer".
12 Dec 2019
Jon Regen Displays Live Chops via "Hole in My Heart" (premiere + interview)
From his latest album Higher Ground, "Hole in My Heart" reveals how easily Jon Regen traverses between idioms of pop, rock, and jazz. Regen talks with PopMatters about the song and working with Jamiroquai's Matt Johnson as producer.
12 Dec 2019
The JAB Issue Their Mission Statement With "Riot" (premiere)
Led by Chicago veteran Jam Alker, the Jab finds the sweet spot between blues and punk with "a response to inequality, addiction, consumerism, violence" on "Riot".
12 Dec 2019
What's So Great About Dennis Hopper's 'Easy Rider'?
Steven Bingen's Easy Rider: 50 Years Looking for America makes clear that he thinks Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider is a great film and it's not for the critics to decide.
12 Dec 2019
How Thrash Metal Became Bonded by Blood, Denim, and the Bay Bridge
Documentary Murder in the Front Row examines the birth, wild life, and eventual plateau of thrash metal in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Silas Valentino
Film
12 Dec 2019
A Bookish Teenager Finds Herself in Laura Taylor Namey’s 'Library of Lost Things'
In Laura Taylor Namey's Library of Lost Things, teens find security and significance in themselves as works in progress.
11 Dec 2019
Surreal Visions of a Girls' Boarding School in Jacqueline Audry's 'Olivia'
The world always has a reason why sex is wrong, so perhaps the most subversive element in Jacqueline Audry's Olivia is its refusal to condemn.
11 Dec 2019
Randall Bramblett's "Vibrating Strings" Is About Staying Alive (premiere + interview)
Randall Bramblett reissues his acclaimed, quiet masterpiece, The Meantime in 2020. "This was not an easy record technically to make," he recalls. "We were vulnerable." Listen to "Vibrating Strings".
Jedd Beaudoin
Music
11 Dec 2019
The Curmudgeonly King of Noir Chronicled in 'Notes From the Velvet Underground: The Life of Lou Reed'
Howard Sounes' Notes From the Velvet Underground is a beautifully considered book, with enough detail about the life and career of Lou Reed for the geeks, enough context for the historians, and just enough juicy stuff for everyone else.
11 Dec 2019
On the Raydio: An Interview with Ray Parker, Jr.
With a documentary and new album slated for 2020, GRAMMY-winning legend Ray Parker, Jr. reflects on his career from Motown to "Ghostbusters" and beyond.
11 Dec 2019
The 15 Best Avant-Garde and Experimental Albums of 2019
In an age when the personal is political feels as necessary as ever, we identify most with experimenters who transcend the throwing-shit-at-a-wall, banging-on-pots-and-cans approach. These artists occupy the earthly just as much as they occupy the mechanical and the celestial.
11 Dec 2019
The Power of Looking Compels 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire'
Set in 18th century France, Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire applies ravishing historical details to the timeless poetry of forbidden love.
10 Dec 2019
Sharon Marcus Challenges Current Cultural Theories in 'The Drama of Celebrity'
Who decides who gets to be famous? What does it mean to be famous? Sharon Marcus offers insight.
10 Dec 2019
Music History, the Conspiracy Theory: On Ted Gioia's Music: A Subversive History
Although enjoyable in that sweeping big picture kind of way, there is nothing subversive to be found in Ted Gioia's Music: A Subversive History.
10 Dec 2019
The Best Jazz of 2019
Our jazz critics create four quartets of great creative music, demonstrating four trends that keep "jazz" relevant in a new century.
10 Dec 2019
MetalMatters: November 2019 - Winter Is Coming
Filled with everything from extreme doom/death and progressive death to experimental avant-garde jazz induced visions and screamo dreams, November does not disappoint.
10 Dec 2019
Venus as a Boy in Silent Film 'Little Old New York'
Sidney Olcott's silent film Little Old New York falls into a tradition of men who find themselves strangely attracted to boys that turn out to be girls in disguise.
09 Dec 2019
Jami Attenberg Explores Patriarchal Fallout in 'All This Could Be Yours'
Through a familial lens, Jami Attenberg offers a thoughtful and often darkly funny exploration of Trumpian patriarchy in All This Could Be Yours.
09 Dec 2019
Yeezus vs Jesus: Kanye West's Faith in 5 Songs
Kanye West's rap is rooted in gospel right from The College Dropout days. These five songs, which explore the relationship between Yeezus and Jesus, show that his recent album, Jesus Is King, isn't an aberration.
09 Dec 2019
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