‘Sun Ra: Do the Impossible’ Achieves the Seemingly Impossible
In its gorgeous embroidery of color, sound, and thoughtful reflection, Sun Ra documentary Do the Impossible achieves the seemingly impossible.
afrofuturism
The 25 Best Space Disco Songs of 1976-1986
These 25 songs feature outer space on the dance floor, from the avant-garde to Star Wars commercialism and beyond.
Guedra Guedra’s ‘Mutant’ Is Breathtaking and Scintillating
Guedra Guedra’s new LP is filled with thoughtful assemblages of field recordings, digital and analog beats, and some of the year’s most luscious dancefloor melodies.
Sci-Fi Goes Hi-Fi: 10 Artists Explore Hip-Hop Futurism
What follows are ten hip-hop artists whose works have been shaped in some form or another by the works of sci-fi in the Afrofuturist mold.
![Mourning [A] BLKstar Deliver a Rich and Nuanced Album](https://www.popmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Mourning-A-BLKstar-by-Emanuel-Wallace-720x380.webp)
Mourning [A] BLKstar Deliver a Rich and Nuanced Album
Cleveland’s Mourning [A] BLKstar give their community their flowers with an album of sprawling, intuitive free jazz and soul on Flowers for the Living.
Creole Afro-Futurists Dowdelin Get Vulnerable on ‘Tchenbe!’
Dowdelin’s Tchenbe! packs an emotionally nuanced punch, allowing the Creole Afro-Futurists’ style to develop in promising ways.
Sun Ra Arkestra Triumph with ‘Lights on a Satellite’
Sun Ra Arkestra’s sonic vision transcends time for these keepers of the cosmic flame, and that vitality comes through on Lights on a Satellite.
Lollise Makes a Splash With Brilliant Debut ‘I Hit the Water’
Lollise’s I Hit the Water is brilliant, swirling, and compelling with its blend of Afrobeat, soul, and electronics. It’s a debut deserving all your attention.
Nicole Mitchell and Ballaké Sissoko Explore Their Connections
Bamako is the truest kind of jazz, all about movement and communication, and Nicole Mitchell and Ballaké Sissoko make for an expert team at the helm.
Ugandan Master Storyteller Ekuka Morris Sirikiti Is Spellbinding
Ekuka Morris Sirikiti’s work reminds us that he and his traditions are very much still here, not artifacts of old media but flesh and blood, spirit and sound.
Shabazz Palaces Resist Profiling on Elusive ‘Exotic Birds of Prey’
Following Robed in Rareness from last fall, Shabazz Palaces continues a provisional series with the cryptic and digressive Exotic Birds of Prey.
‘Robed in Rareness’ Elaborates Shabazz Palaces’ Afrofuturism
On Robed in Rareness, Ishmael Butler aka Shabazz Palaces takes yet another step in his forward-thinking, far-sighted project of Afrofuturistic hip-hop.