Indie rock represents a spirit that's found where folk songsters and punk rockers come together to dialogue about what they're fed up with in mainstream culture.
Viewing Aretha Franklin's work through a focus on race, gender, and other categories of analysis can challenge us to do the same with all music, acknowledging how multiple points of oppression and privilege impact the production, consumption, and reception of a wide range of music.
Significant shoegaze storylines came around full circle last year, and in 2018 the plot thickened. Meanwhile, the chilling effects of dream pop continue to reverberate across other musical spheres.
Kierkegaard's existential rumination on our impossible relation to an incommensurable and unknowable God informs much of Bergman's work, and most certainly Scenes from a Marriage.
From forward-looking electronic and experimental to new approaches in the ever-evolving R&B scene, from hip-hop and punk to rock and pop, 2018 bestowed an embarrassment of musical riches upon us.
Electronic music is one of the broadest-reaching genres by design, and 2018 highlights that as well as any other year on record. These are the 25 best albums.
Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class refocuses the series onto its political and socially conscious origins, as well as the philosophical debate at the core of Magneto and Xavier's relationship.
The definition of "jazz" has never been broader, and the music has never been brighter. Two PopMatters critics pick their favorites in four modern jazz categories.
My Brightest Diamond: "Just writing something simple can be really powerful. I think it's taken me a long time to do something simple and feel it is enough."
In a year when we wanted the radio star to have an opinion on the political divide, leave it to these ten exemplary pop records to slip in -- largely unnoticed -- and leave a lasting legacy all their own.
Catch up on all of PopMatters' year-end best music features, including our deep and rich genre lists. Check back each weekday for new additions through to the holidays.
A delicate balance of the heady and the simple, Sex, Lies, and Videotape is both quintessential Steven Soderbergh and unlike anything he's directed since.
