“Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey Is Restored to Full Glory
Ma Rainey’s Mother of the Blues: The Complete Paramount Recordings 1923-1928 is a treasure trove that fully lives up to both of Rainey’s famous sobriquets.
David Pike
David Pike writes regularly on music, film, neo-Victorianism, subterranea, urban fantasy, modernism, global urban culture, and Paris and London, and is the author of half a dozen books, most recently After the End: Cold War Culture and Apocalyptic Imaginations in the 21st Century. He teaches in the Department of Literature at American University.For more on his writing, please visit his author page at Bright Lights Film Journal and his faculty profile page at American University.
Who and What Pop Music Is for Is ‘Mighty Real’
Barry Walters’ Mighty Real is 30 glorious years of music that can be “read as a metaphor of LGBTQ existence”, regardless of who created it.
‘Esta Isla’ (‘This Island’) Contains Multitudes
From its opening title, Esta Isla (This Island) embraces the complexity and contradictions of Fredric Jameson’s formulation of “third-world” society and Puerto Rico’s unique situation.
Modern Nature’s ‘The Heat Warps’ Is Superb and Compelling
Modern Nature’s new LP, The Heat Warps, is fabulously compelling and questioning, and the questions it asks are not the ones you expect to hear on a pop album.
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Louisville Punk’s Defiance of Violent Conformity
Punk’s rooted, regional, and defiantly local identities made scenes like Louisville punk essential and life-affirming during the violently conformist Reagan years.
S.G. Goodman Is as Authentic as They Come
Like all of the best folk music, S.G. Goodman’s songs plumb emotional depths. They also have teeth and they’re not afraid to stick a beating on the world.
Turnstile Balance on the Edge with ‘Never Enough’
Turnstile’s Never Enough lies somewhere between the working man’s folk-rock earnestness of the bygone SoCal era and the synth-washed ambience of the cover.
Neil Young at World’s End: ‘On the Beach’ at 50
Neil Young’s On the Beach lodges not in the heart or brain but in the spleen. Perfect for depressed, alienated teenagers in the soft-rock days before punk.
Blaxploitation Movies and Music Are the Story of the 1970s
Blaxploitation signaled the moment ghetto culture and the Black vernacular hit the American mainstream, paving the way for rap, hip-hop, disco, and modern sports.
2 Tone: Race, Music, and Pop Culture in Thatcher’s UK
2 Tone found a sweet spot between punk anger and pop sensibility that mirrored the myriad poles they were trying to bridge in their band members and audiences.
Rosali’s ‘Bite Down’ Sounds Classic
Rosali’s Bite Down is a deceptively smooth ride that threatens to pull you under at any moment. Its classic sound draws from Fleetwood Mac and 1970s music.
Yard Act’s ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ Suits Our Post-Pandemic Moment
Yard Act’s Where’s My Utopia? is a mother lode of cool sounds, critiques of late capitalism, meditation on fame’s futility, and a forecast of apocalyptic change.