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Books
The Kinks and Their Bad-Mannered English Decency
Mark Doyles biography of the Kinks might complement a seminar in British culture. Its tone and research prove its intent to articulate social critique through music for the masses.
26 May 2020
Music
ONO Confronts American Racial Oppression with the Incendiary 'Red Summer'
Decades after their initial formation, legendary experimentalists ONO have made an album that's topical, vital, uncomfortable, and cathartic. Red Summer is an essential documentation of the ugliness and oppression of the United States.
26 May 2020
Film
Silent Women Filmmakers No Longer So Silent: Alice Guy Blaché and Julia Crawford Ivers
The works of silent filmmakers Alice Guy Blaché and Julia Crawford Ivers were at risk of being forever lost. Kino Lorber offers their works on Blu-Ray. Three cheers for film historians and film restoration.
26 May 2020
Music
Rush's 'Permanent Waves' Endures with Faultless Commercial Complexity
Forty years later, Rush's ability to strike a nearly perfect balance between mainstream invitingness and exclusory complexity is even more evident and remarkable. The progressive rock classic, Permanent Waves, is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
26 May 2020
Music
Drum Machines? Samples? Brendan Benson Gets Contemporary with 'Dear Life'
Powerpop overlord and part-time Raconteur, Brendan Benson, grafts hip-hop beats to guitar pop on his seventh solo album, Dear Life.
26 May 2020
Music
'Sell You Everything' Brings to Light Buzzcocks '1991 Demo LP' That Passed Under-the-Radar
Cherry Red Records' new box-set issued in memory of Pete Shelley gathers together the entire post-reunion output of the legendary Buzzcocks. Across the next week, PopMatters explores the set album-by-album. First up is The 1991 Demo LP.
26 May 2020
Music
10 Key Tracks From the British Synthpop Boom of 1980
It's 40 years since the first explosion of electronic songs revitalized the UK charts with futuristic subject matter, DIY aesthetics, and occasionally pompous lyrics. To celebrate, here's a chronological list of those Moog-infused tracks of 1980 that had the biggest impact.
26 May 2020
Reading Pandemics
Poe, Pandemic, and Underlying Conditions
To read Edgar Allan Poe in the time of pandemic, we need to appreciate a very different aspect of his perspective—not that of a mimetic artist but of the political economist.
26 May 2020
Books
'Yours, Jean' Is a Perfect Mixture of Tragedy, Repressed Desire, and Poor Impulse Control
Lee Martin's Yours, Jean is a perfectly balanced and heartbreaking mix of true crime narrative and literary fiction.
26 May 2020
Music
The 60 Best Albums of 2007
From tech house to Radiohead and Americana to indie and everything in between, the 60 best albums of 2007 included many of the 2000s' best albums.
22 May 2020
Love in the Time of Coronavirus
Solitude Stands in the Window: Thoreau's 'Walden'
Henry David Thoreau's Walden as a 19th century model for 21st century COVID-19 quarantine.
22 May 2020
Love in the Time of Coronavirus
Will COVID-19 Kill Movie Theaters?
Streaming services and large TV screens have really hurt movie theaters and now the coronavirus pandemic has shuttered multiplexes and arthouses. The author of The Perils of Moviegoing in America, however, is optimistic.
Gary D. Rhodes, Ph.D
22 May 2020
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