Please donate to help save PopMatters. We are moving to WordPress in January out of necessity and need your help.

All Play and 'No Paperwork': An Interview with L.A.Z of Clear Soul Forces

"Natural born liberal consumer of music", Jarrel Lowman (aka L.A.Z), talks about his EP, No Paperwork, a mixture of hip-hop, smoking jazz, and calloused-fingered blues.

                                      
Music
    
        Is a Different Kind of Paradigm Driving Jazz These Days?
    
Will Layman

        28 Mar 2018
    
Music
    
        Common Deer - "Glass" (video) (premiere)
    
Jordan Blum

        16 Aug 2017
    
Interviews
    
        Dope Opera: Azeem Talks with PopMatters About His West Coast Hip-Hop Classic, 'Garage Opera'
    
Imran Khan

        11 Jul 2017

Recent

Interviews

Callback to the Future: Maestro Gamin on the Miracles and Medicines of His Latest EP

Maestro Gamin’s latest venture with producer Books One, Miracle Work Medicine, sees a return to Daisy Age hip-hop.

Music

Chavez: Cockfighters

Twenty years later, the New York foursome's new EP does little more than make long-time fans yearn for their older material.

Music

Western Education: Restless Dreams

Western Education draw on the sounds of their youth for their latest EP.

Music

See Gulls: Curtain Call

See Gulls offer up another impressively expansive EP with Curtain Call, one that stretches out both its sound and its emotional impact.

Music

Dierks Bentley: Riser

A stripped down version of this overwrought and over-weighted album could have provided a way out of Nashville's doldrums.

Music

Ash Borer: Bloodlands

For any black metal to be effective it needs to meet two simple artistic requirements: create a credible atmosphere and convey the ill-tempered emotion therein. Ash Borer doesn't simply communicate those elements; it enshrouds the listener in them.

Music

Erika Spring: EP

EP isn't too far removed from Au Revoir Simone, but Erika Spring as a solo entity is still a trip worth exploring.

Music

Avalanche City: Love Love Love

New Zealand's Avalanche City already have a No. 1 single with "Love Love Love". The EP of the same name proves that's not a fluke.

Music

Wazu: Wazu

Wazu's self-titled EP is an intriguing blend of dark electro-pop that owes as much to Hot Chip as it does to New Order.

Music

speakers: New Frequency

Speakers' debut EP is an overtly accessible set of songs that touches on some current trends but fails to be memorable.

Steven Spoerl

Music

The Raveonettes: Into the Night

The Danish duo return to form and deliver some of their most compelling material in recent memory.

Steven Spoerl

Music

oOoOO: Our Love Is Hurting Us

oOoOO release an EP falling in line with the best of the British dubstep movement.

Music

White Arrows: Fireworks of the Sea

On Fireworks of the Sea, White Arrows deliver an incredibly solid release that should help propel them to the ranks of the genre's best.

Music

Surgeons in Heat: Midnight at Bellevue

Hailing from Madison, WI, this buzzed-about band makes good on the promise of their debut EP and recent appearance on NPR's World Café.

Music

Sam Phillips: Cameras in the Sky / Long Play

Sam Phillips' year-long project of intricate multimedia comes to an end on a high note with the full-length release of Cameras in the Sky.

Music

The Most Serene Republic: Phages

Most people don't know the Most Serene Republic, but even those who do may have missed this 2006 EP -- quite possibly their most coherent and spellbinding statement.

Music

Deluka: Deluka

On this EP, Deluka sounds like a band without an identity

Music

Crystal Antlers: EP

Debut EP from this soulful psych-punk outfit is sure to please fans of the Murder City Devils, At the Drive-In, and the Mars Volta.

Music

Satanicpornocultshop: .aiff Skull

The .aiff Skull EP is little more than a vaguely interesting means to a massive headache.

Music

Little Barrie: EP

Four-song teaser from London-based trio is fun and rambunctious, but leaves many doubts as to what can be expected from the band.

Zeth Lundy

Music

The Fiery Furnaces: EP

Forget what you know, and crank this sucker up like it's June already. The Friedbergers have returned (although maybe they never left).

Dave Dierksen

Features

MetalMatters: The Best New Heavy Metal Albums of January 2021

Collapse Expand Features

BROWSE ALL ALBUM REVIEWS

Reviews

MetalMatters: The Best New Heavy Metal Albums of January 2021

Collapse Expand Reviews

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks

"Natural born liberal consumer of music", Jarrel Lowman (aka L.A.Z), talks about his EP, No Paperwork, a mixture of hip-hop, smoking jazz, and calloused-fingered blues.

Maestro Gamin’s latest venture with producer Books One, Miracle Work Medicine, sees a return to Daisy Age hip-hop.

Twenty years later, the New York foursome's new EP does little more than make long-time fans yearn for their older material.

Former Prince collaborator Andre Cymone delivers a deftly executed and sobering set of protest songs for the modern age with Black Man in America.

Western Education draw on the sounds of their youth for their latest EP.

See Gulls offer up another impressively expansive EP with Curtain Call, one that stretches out both its sound and its emotional impact.

A stripped down version of this overwrought and over-weighted album could have provided a way out of Nashville's doldrums.

For any black metal to be effective it needs to meet two simple artistic requirements: create a credible atmosphere and convey the ill-tempered emotion therein. Ash Borer doesn't simply communicate those elements; it enshrouds the listener in them.

EP isn't too far removed from Au Revoir Simone, but Erika Spring as a solo entity is still a trip worth exploring.

New Zealand's Avalanche City already have a No. 1 single with "Love Love Love". The EP of the same name proves that's not a fluke.

Wazu's self-titled EP is an intriguing blend of dark electro-pop that owes as much to Hot Chip as it does to New Order.

Speakers' debut EP is an overtly accessible set of songs that touches on some current trends but fails to be memorable.

The Danish duo return to form and deliver some of their most compelling material in recent memory.

oOoOO release an EP falling in line with the best of the British dubstep movement.

On Fireworks of the Sea, White Arrows deliver an incredibly solid release that should help propel them to the ranks of the genre's best.

Hailing from Madison, WI, this buzzed-about band makes good on the promise of their debut EP and recent appearance on NPR's World Café.

Sam Phillips' year-long project of intricate multimedia comes to an end on a high note with the full-length release of Cameras in the Sky.

Most people don't know the Most Serene Republic, but even those who do may have missed this 2006 EP -- quite possibly their most coherent and spellbinding statement.

On this EP, Deluka sounds like a band without an identity

Debut EP from this soulful psych-punk outfit is sure to please fans of the Murder City Devils, At the Drive-In, and the Mars Volta.

If you haven't heard of Bell, and there's any justice in the musical world, you will soon.

The .aiff Skull EP is little more than a vaguely interesting means to a massive headache.

Four-song teaser from London-based trio is fun and rambunctious, but leaves many doubts as to what can be expected from the band.

Forget what you know, and crank this sucker up like it's June already. The Friedbergers have returned (although maybe they never left).