The 60 Best Albums of 2020
Despite a global pandemic, an economic crash, and the shut-down of international touring, 2020 bestowed an embarrassment of musical riches upon us.
PopMatters Staff
New Orleans Bluesman Alabama Slim Teases New Album with “Rock Me Baby” (premiere)
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.
The Best Music of 2020
PopMatters surveys the year in music in this month-long Best Music of 2020 series.
The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 20-1
These 20 best records of the 2000s feature some familiar faces, but also several that have grown more fond in memory.
When Sunday Comes: Gospel Music in the Soul and Hip-Hop Eras (excerpt)
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.
The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 40-21
From breathtaking reformulations of shoegaze to British soul revival, this batch of stellar recordings from the 2000s is an eclectic one.
Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll (excerpt)
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.
The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 60-41
PopMatters' coverage of the 2000s' best recordings continues with selections spanning Swedish progressive metal to minimalist electrosoul.
The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 80-61
In this next segment of PopMatters' look back on the music of the 2000s, we examine works by British electronic pioneers, Americana legends, and Armenian metal provocateurs.
The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 100-81
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.
The 20 Best Tom Petty Songs
With today's release of Tom Petty's Wildflowers & All the Rest (Deluxe Edition), we're revisiting Petty's 20 best songs.