Features

Face: A Visual Odyssey (By the Book)

By turns alarming and awe-inspiring, Jessica Helfand's Face: A Visual Odyssey offers an elaborately illustrated A to Z—from the didactic anthropometry of the late 19th century to the selfie-obsessed zeitgeist of the 21st. Enjoy this excerpt of Face, courtesy of MIT Press.

Jessica Helfand

Books

'Morning Glory on the Vine' and Joni Mitchell's Amalgam of Craft

Joni Mitchell's latest book denotes the next step in the Joni evolution, and indicates that perhaps those different languages for her—of visual art, poetry, and music—will finally be held in equal regard.

Books

"It's OK to Not Be OK": An Unflinching Interview with Colin Dieden Formerly of the Mowgli's

Once of the Mowgli's, Colin Dieden's new Little Hurt project is unflinching in its rawness. "I used to think that meeting sadness head-on with happy songs was how I was going to move through it, but one day that stopped feeling honest to me."

Evan Sawdey

Music

Hip-Hop Legend Kurtis Blow: The Interview

A timeless artist and hip-hop legend, Kurtis Blow blazed the trail for early hip-hop artists and continues to carry the torch for hip-hop music in new arenas.

Music

'Horizontal Collaboration' Tackles Sexist Judgements on Women's Lives in War-Time

Horizontal Collaboration, the superb French comic by Navie and Carole Maurel, reassesses the sexist biases of history.

Books

'The Night Stalker' Crept Through the 1970s Constraints of Made for TV Film

In the '70s there was something sinister sneaking into suburban homes between the sitcom and the 11 o'clock news where the real horrors played out. The made for TV horror film The Night Stalker would be among the best.

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"You Can Have It All": Ariel Pink on His Odds & Sods

Los Angeles pop weirdo Ariel Pink looks back at two early records freshly reissued by Mexican Summer and discusses his new Odditties Sodomies Vol. 2 rarities collection.

Daniel Bromfield

Music

Many Circles: An Interview with Trigger Hippy's Steve Gorman

On their sophomore album, Trigger Hippy cement their reputation as a hard-working American rock band with a bright future. Co-founder Steve Gorman says, "This feels special and that's worth protecting."

Jedd Beaudoin

Music

OMD at 40: Making Sense of a Synthpop Legacy

OMD's first three albums were crucial in the development of ambitious, intellectual, art-pop. They also led to the emergence of a whole generation of electronic pop groups that have continually influenced artists up to this day.

Music

Revelations of Stillness in Yasujirô Ozu's 'Tokyo Twilight'

The Film Forum in New York City is showing Yasujirô Ozu's Tokyo Twilight for a limited time from Friday, 8 November to Thursday, 14 November. This is a film that one needs to savor and contemplate, a film that captures the tribulations of this world and the evanescent truth that lies beneath them.

Film

'When a Stranger Calls Back' Betters Its Spooky Predecessor

Although not as well known as John Carpenter or Brian DePalma, Fred Walton brilliantly complicates that old mystery -- is the killer in the house? -- with 1993's When a Stranger Calls Back.

Film

Tsuge's 'The Man Without Talent' Is a Perfect Manga Parable on Capitalism's Failed Dreams

In The Man Without Talent, Tadao Tsuge captures the element of fantasy reflected in the childish utopianism of free market capitalism and the committed entrepreneurs who are its happy-go-lucky evangelists.

Books

Billy Vera Documents a Legendary Label With 'Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story'

Grammy-winner Billy Vera spent years working in the Speciality Records vaults and remains close to label founder Art Rupe. "Specialty is right up there with Atlantic, Chess, and Sun in terms of being important." Enjoy an interview with the author and an exclusive book excerpt.

Jedd Beaudoin

Music

In Nickelodeon's 'Rocko's Modern Life', Corporations Steal Our Souls to Enchant Their Commodities

In a society of things, social responsibility requires a recognition of the influence of commodities upon our most foundational spiritual experiences. Nickelodeon's animated series, Rocko's Modern Life, puts it simply.

Television

East India Youth's William Doyle Discusses His New Solo Album and Music

William Doyle speaks to PopMatters about the end of East India Youth, his experience of living in the suburbs, and how his new album, Your Wilderness Revisited, came into being.

Music

In HBO's 'Watchmen', the Devil Doesn’t Disappear

Damon Lindelof's over-plotted, over-anxious, daring, genre-hopping offshoot of Alan Moore's alternate-history graphic novel, Watchmen, is less a show about hunting down the bad guys than it is about the twisted turns and stubborn legacies of racist trauma in America -- and the resistance to atoning for it.

Television

Austin Film Festival 2019: (Trans)national Justice

New films by Terrence Malick, Miranda Nation, and Trey Edward Shults stand out amongst a diverse crop of films at Austin's annual "screenwriter's festival".

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First As Warning, Then As Threnody: On Cuarón's 'Children of Men'

With his prescient film, Children of Men, director Alfonso Cuarón hasn't flipped Hegel onto his head, as Marx and Engels were accused of doing -- he's knocked him off his feet.

Film

Irving Berlin: New York Genius (By the Book)

Exploring the interplay of Irving Berlin's life with the life of New York City, noted biographer James Kaplan offers a visceral narrative of Berlin as self-made man and witty, wily, tough Jewish immigrant. Enjoy this excerpt of Kaplan's book, Irving Berlin: New York Genius.

James Kaplan

Books

SUSS Marries High Lonesome and High Art on 'High Line'

Ambient country band SUSS' co-founder, Bob Holmes discusses the seemingly unlikely but ultimately necessary marriage of music that marries the imagined America of the past and present.

Jedd Beaudoin

Music

Godard's Sci-fi/Noir Alphaville' Is Witty and Subversive

Alphaville's pulpy sci-fi plot acts as a warm coat of familiarity as Godard slyly subverts one genre trope after another.

Film

Pop Ten

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '90s - Part 1 (100 - 81)

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Mixed Media

Collapse Expand Mixed Media

PM Picks

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Could it be that the internet and social media is innately in sync with conservative, right-wing ideology? On Jen Schradie's The Revolution That Wasn't.

By turns alarming and awe-inspiring, Jessica Helfand's Face: A Visual Odyssey offers an elaborately illustrated A to Z—from the didactic anthropometry of the late 19th century to the selfie-obsessed zeitgeist of the 21st. Enjoy this excerpt of Face, courtesy of MIT Press.

Joni Mitchell's latest book denotes the next step in the Joni evolution, and indicates that perhaps those different languages for her—of visual art, poetry, and music—will finally be held in equal regard.

In Climate Machines, Fascist Drives, and Truth, political theorist William E. Connolly explores how our assumption that the world is made for us has led us into a dangerous complacency.

Once of the Mowgli's, Colin Dieden's new Little Hurt project is unflinching in its rawness. "I used to think that meeting sadness head-on with happy songs was how I was going to move through it, but one day that stopped feeling honest to me."

A timeless artist and hip-hop legend, Kurtis Blow blazed the trail for early hip-hop artists and continues to carry the torch for hip-hop music in new arenas.

Horizontal Collaboration, the superb French comic by Navie and Carole Maurel, reassesses the sexist biases of history.

In the '70s there was something sinister sneaking into suburban homes between the sitcom and the 11 o'clock news where the real horrors played out. The made for TV horror film The Night Stalker would be among the best.

Los Angeles pop weirdo Ariel Pink looks back at two early records freshly reissued by Mexican Summer and discusses his new Odditties Sodomies Vol. 2 rarities collection.

On their sophomore album, Trigger Hippy cement their reputation as a hard-working American rock band with a bright future. Co-founder Steve Gorman says, "This feels special and that's worth protecting."

OMD's first three albums were crucial in the development of ambitious, intellectual, art-pop. They also led to the emergence of a whole generation of electronic pop groups that have continually influenced artists up to this day.

The Film Forum in New York City is showing Yasujirô Ozu's Tokyo Twilight for a limited time from Friday, 8 November to Thursday, 14 November. This is a film that one needs to savor and contemplate, a film that captures the tribulations of this world and the evanescent truth that lies beneath them.

Although not as well known as John Carpenter or Brian DePalma, Fred Walton brilliantly complicates that old mystery -- is the killer in the house? -- with 1993's When a Stranger Calls Back.

In The Man Without Talent, Tadao Tsuge captures the element of fantasy reflected in the childish utopianism of free market capitalism and the committed entrepreneurs who are its happy-go-lucky evangelists.

Grammy-winner Billy Vera spent years working in the Speciality Records vaults and remains close to label founder Art Rupe. "Specialty is right up there with Atlantic, Chess, and Sun in terms of being important." Enjoy an interview with the author and an exclusive book excerpt.

In a society of things, social responsibility requires a recognition of the influence of commodities upon our most foundational spiritual experiences. Nickelodeon's animated series, Rocko's Modern Life, puts it simply.

William Doyle speaks to PopMatters about the end of East India Youth, his experience of living in the suburbs, and how his new album, Your Wilderness Revisited, came into being.

New films by Terrence Malick, Miranda Nation, and Trey Edward Shults stand out amongst a diverse crop of films at Austin's annual "screenwriter's festival".

With his prescient film, Children of Men, director Alfonso Cuarón hasn't flipped Hegel onto his head, as Marx and Engels were accused of doing -- he's knocked him off his feet.

Exploring the interplay of Irving Berlin's life with the life of New York City, noted biographer James Kaplan offers a visceral narrative of Berlin as self-made man and witty, wily, tough Jewish immigrant. Enjoy this excerpt of Kaplan's book, Irving Berlin: New York Genius.

Ambient country band SUSS' co-founder, Bob Holmes discusses the seemingly unlikely but ultimately necessary marriage of music that marries the imagined America of the past and present.

Alphaville's pulpy sci-fi plot acts as a warm coat of familiarity as Godard slyly subverts one genre trope after another.