Music
Is Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew' a Tradition-Carrier or a Sellout?
Miles Davis' Bitches Brew does not sound like any mainstream popular music in the US from its time. What made this album different?
Music
Please Donate to Help Save PopMatters
PopMatters have been informed by our current technology provider that we have until December to move off their service. We are moving to WordPress and a new host, but we really need your help to fund the move and further development.
Recent
Music
20 Jazz Albums You Might Have Missed in 2020
During the new-year season of best-of-the-year lists, I find myself looking backward—even at a year as difficult as 2020. Time was dilated—I thought I had too much of it but, as usual, there was too little for all the great music.
Reviews
Folkie Peter Stampfel Surveys the 20th Century in His Unique Style
Peter Stampfel's 100-song collection features well-known tunes and obscure ditties. The songs range from the serious to the goofy, all performed in his inimitable absurd style.
Music
Ashnikko's Debut 'Demidevil' Attempts to Birth a Pop Star From the Endless Feed
Demidevil is poised to keep Ashnikko relentlessly populating the feed in 2021 with some impressively strong new bangers. But it'll be crucial for her to remember the difference between Nicki Minaj and the iLOVEFRiDAYs of the world.
Music
The Best Music of 2020
PopMatters surveys the year in music in this month-long Best Music of 2020 series.
Music
Popular Culture Is Eating Its History and OMD Are Not Complaining
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are the most important and influential group of the late 1970s/early 1980s birth of electropop. OMD's classic, clever, arty synthpop single "Enola Gay" is 40 years old, and Andy McCluskey takes us through their history.
Music
BTS Master the Art of Timeless, Universal Songwriting with 'BE'
BE is the album in which BTS's sound crosses over to cement the type of legacy they're building – one that started in youth and is very proudly Korean, but that makes sense for any age or place.
Music
Nicki and Patrick Adams Offer an Engaging Classical/Jazz Hybrid on 'Lynx'
Eclectic siblings Nicki and Patrick Adams draw from a wealth of musical genres and training to produce an album of depth and beauty.
Music
LOG ET3RNAL Is a Dubbed-out Beauty of Soft, Skeletal Ambience
Ulla and Perila, two experimental producers on the vanguard of modern ambient, take their talent to new heights on LOG ET3RNAL, their first collaborative LP under the LOG moniker.
Music
How Leeds Led the Goth Scene
Leeds' the F Club, Ace of Clubs, and the Warehouse are just a few of the clubs that ushered in goth. Ethan Stewart talks with musicians and fans who were there.
Music
Elvis Costello Gets Dark and Brooding on 'Hey Clockface'
Elvis Costello is a complex man of dark humor and flashes of anger as he keeps fighting the good fight armed with a razor wit.
Music
Shanghai Restoration Project Offer Innovative Alternate Reality on 'Brave New World Symphony'
Imagination has always been the Shanghai Restoration Project's beating heart, and it has perhaps never been more timely than on Brave New World Symphony.
Music Reviews
Maxwell Stern Gives Us a Warm Car in Frigid Winter with 'Impossible Sum'
Maxwell Stern's debut record, The Impossible Sum, is a relaxed, honest, deeply felt exploration of what it means to be a feeling, caring human in our time of incessant gaslighting and doom scrolling.
Music
Susan Alcorn's 'Pedernal' Is a Chamber Jazz/Americana Blend
Baltimore's wizard of the pedal steel guitar, Susan Alcorn, offers a creative blend of Americana, jazz, and ethereal improvisation on Pedernal.
Music
MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2020
Post-rock legends Jesu return after seven years, chameleonic rockers Boris collaborate once more with noise fiend Merzbow, and Dan Barrett unleashes Black Wing's sophomore record.
Music
J Mascis Welcomes You to Three Nights of Exquisite Songcraft and Pure Fun
Fed Up and Feeling Strange: Live and in Person (1993-1998) shows the Dinosaur Jr maestro doesn't need a wall of amplifiers to make an impact.
Music
Barry Gibb Re-Visits Bee Gees Classics with Superproducer Dave Cobb
Barry Gibb went to Nashville to make a country record of Bee Gees classics with Americana producer Dave Cobb. The result is Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1.
Music
Dave Scanlon's 'Pink in each, bright blue, bright green' Is a Stark, Deeply Elegant Solo Work
Dave Scanlon, the singer and guitarist of Brooklyn's JOBS, offers a stripped-down collection of songs that retains the unique intensity of his more complex work.
Music
Psychobilly: Qu'est-ce Que C'est?
Many punk hybrids have come and gone since their heydays, but the punk-rockabilly one, psychobilly, has endured and is still thriving around the world today.
Music
The Insular Jazz of Lockdown Rediscovers a Pioneering Sounds of the Past
New COVID-era recordings from saxophonists Chris Potter and Ben Wendel recall pioneering work by the brilliant composer Wayne Shorter.
Music
London Neo-Soulster Kianja Impresses with "In a Different Light" (Live) (premiere)
London neo-soul artist Kianja follows an upbeat single with more introspection on the deeply affecting "In a Different Light".
Features
Reviews
PM Picks
© 1999-2020 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated.