Filmmaker and Critic Virginie Despentes Is Still, Unfortunately, Quite Necessary
Virginie Despentes’ feminist arguments in her recently rebooted collection of essays, King Kong Theory, remain fresh and frustratingly relevant.
PopMatters Picks
‘Mien’ Showcases Powerful Cascades of Canon Singing From Southeast Asia
Sublime Frequencies’ Mien Yao may be a work of preservation and posterity, education, or meditation. Its careful production allows for all of these things.
Tune-Yards ‘Sketch’ Out a Plan to Entertain and Instruct
Tune-Yards’ sketchy conceptually asks a lot of its listeners and does it right up front: should the purpose of music be to entertain or to instruct?
Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds’ Swingin’ Party
Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds’ Swing From the Sean DeLear is a much-needed breath of fresh air and a celebration of life here on earth and beyond.
The Vintage Caravan Return with Retro Rock Excellence on ‘Monuments’
The Vintage Caravan’s Monuments is a pristine example of how to do retro rock right. It’s an essential listen with an invigorating take on those older styles.
Natalie D-Napoleon Delivers an Album of Handmade Tales with Poetic Poise
The poetic songs in Natalie D-Napoleon’s You Wanted To Be the Shore But Instead You Were the Sea give women an honest voice.
It’s 1981. I’m Hip. I’m British. But What Am I Dancing To? ‘Shake the Foundations’ Will Tell You
Cherry Red’s Shake the Foundations: Militant Funk and the Post-Punk Dancefloor 1978-1984 is a beginner’s guide to pre-millennial, UK cool.
Samantha Crain Settles Down on ‘I Guess We Live Here Now’
On Samantha Crain’s I Guess We Live Here Now, the four tracks are possessed by soothing ghosts weaving in and out of the musical lines to comfort the listener.
L7’s Major Label Catalog Is Salvaged From Out-Of-Print Limbo With 3-CD Box
L7’s new box set Wargasm: ‘The Slash Years 1992-1997’ reminds us how essential the band’s classic material was—and still is.
Claire Rousay Leans Into a Gentler, More Ambient Sound on ‘A Softer Focus’
Combining field recordings with quiet, droning musical touches, A Softer Focus from experimentalist Claire Rousay may be her strongest work yet.
Demi Lovato Is Reborn with ‘Dancing With the Devil… The Art of Starting Over’
As she attempts to shed the weight of her past, Demi Lovato embraces every part of herself and creates some of her most unapologetic music to date on Dancing With the Devil.