20 Years On, Sum 41’s ‘All Killer No Filler’ Is a Classic Pop-Punk Party
Despite an initially lukewarm critical reception, Sum 41’s All Killer No Filler enjoys a place in the pop-punk pantheon as it hits its 20th birthday.
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Power, Loss, and Madness in Kurosawa’s Ran and Shakespeare’s King Lear
By identifying King Lear with the ancient Japanese warlord Hidetora, whose violations emerge from a breach of publicly identified self-hood, Akira Kurosawa plays with the quintessentially Shakespearean focus on individual personality.
The 10 Best R.E.M. Albums
R.E.M.’s career falls into three periods: the underground I.R.S. Records years, the Warner Bros. “wonder years”, and the post-Bill Berry output.
That Rare Occasion of Freedom: Filmmaker Boaz Yakin on Making ‘Aviva’
Filmmaker Boaz Yakin talks with PopMatters about the liberating experience of forsaking tone and not caring if he makes a cent on his gender-swapping, story-told-through-dance, not-from-Hollywood film, Aviva.
The 18 Ways of Beginning and Ending an Album
Whether by chance or by careful planning, there is an observable pattern to intros and outros in albums. PopMatters breaks down 18 of them.
Akira Kurosawa Films 101: 1975 – 1985
These films represented Akira Kurosawa’s ascendance to greater international acclaim, while he struggled to find financing in Japan, where the movie industry was shriveling.
Scholar Peter Stanfield Brings ‘Hate’ to the Who’s Pop Art Period
Peter Stanfield’s ‘A Band With Built-In Hate’ highlights redundancy, aggression, obsolescence, and ambiguity in Townshend’s lyrical stance and the Who’s performing methods.
Jazzie Young’s Blood Ties Help Connect Past to Present With Her Moving Debut EP (interview + premiere)
Indie pop’s Jazzie Young appreciates her fabled father’s musical legacy and his sage career advice, but wants to make a name for herself, and the upcoming release of Grown Up & Grown Apart serves as a proper introduction to a brave new world.
Comparing Akira Kurosawa’s Early and Late Films
There are striking differences between Kurosawa’s earlier and later films, including in the different ways people have responded to these two groups of films.
“A Fundamental Feeling of Unease”: The Complex, Eloquent Folk Music of Will Stratton
Folkie Will Stratton is releasing a new LP, The Changing Wilderness, this week. We speak with him about his music, love of alternate tunings, and economic justice for musicians.
Akira Kurosawa Films 101: 1963 – 1970
These three Kurosawa films represent the end of one phase of his career and the beginning of another. High and Low is a police procedural that is regarded as one of his greatest films, while Red Beard represented the end of his so-called “Creative Period”.