We didn't turn to fiction for those much needed periods of escapism in 2020. Nor did we turn to fiction for answers, because of course, the best fiction doesn't provide "answers". We turned to these works of fiction for the questions they raise.
In the stormy year of 2020 PopMatters' staff have clung to anything seemingly solid with one hand while holding a good book in the other. Through it all, we are curious, engaged, and eager to share what we've read with you.
Despite a global pandemic, an economic crash, and the shut-down of international touring, 2020 bestowed an embarrassment of musical riches upon us.
Alabama Slim's "Rock Me Baby" is music that stays mostly still, allowing the world to move around it and reveal its fullest heart and soul only when the listener becomes one with the music's masterful simplicity and quiet elegance.
PopMatters surveys the year in music in this month-long Best Music of 2020 series.
These 20 best records of the 2000s feature some familiar faces, but also several that have grown more fond in memory.
In this excerpt of Claudrena N. Harold's new book, When Sunday Comes, gospel legend James Cleveland joins the amazing Aretha Franklin to raise the rafters in spirited song.
Ikette Claudia Lennear, rumored to be the inspiration for Mick Jagger's "Brown Sugar", often felt disconnect between her identity as an African American woman and her engagement with rock. Enjoy this excerpt of cultural anthropologist Maureen Mahon's Black Diamond Queens, courtesy of Duke University Press.
PopMatters' coverage of the 2000s' best recordings continues with selections spanning Swedish progressive metal to minimalist electrosoul.
PopMatters' best albums of the 2000s begin with a series of records that span epic metal, ornate indie folk, and a terrifying work of electronic music.
