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Erin Lyndal Martin

Erin Lyndal Martin is a poet, fiction writer, nonfiction writer, critical prose writer, music journalist, and music promotional writer. She is an associate interviews editor for PopMatters.com and assistant music editor for the Rumpus. She runs the new music journalism site Euterpe's Notebook (http://www.euterpesnotebook.com) and also writes for the Quietus. She is the associate fiction editor for H_ngm_n, and her creative work has appeared widely. She can be reached on twitter @erinlyndal.

Recent

Music

"I Could See Where the River Was Flowing": An Interview with Josh Ritter

After a devastating divorce, Josh Ritter wasn't sure how to proceed: write angry songs? Turn to drink? It was a dark period, but the striking Beast in Its Tracks is a powerful, rather hopeful document that has gained much notice, and Ritter speaks to PopMatters all about it.

Erin Lyndal Martin

Music

Alabaster Queen: An Interview with Marissa Nadler

She's been called "dream folk", and at one point even "Narco-folk", but Marissa Nadler simply continues doing what she's doing best: crafting the arc-based, personality-driven songs that have become her trademark, and also talks to PopMatters about that eternal debate of Joni Mitchell vs. Riot Grrrl, of course.

Erin Lyndal Martin

Music

"I Really Wanted to Break People's Expectations": An Interview with Olafur Arnalds

He started out as a teenage drummer in punk bands, and is now using his lush sense of symphonic melodies to score films, TV shows, and create haunting music of his own. With his new album drawing raves, the one and only Ólafur Arnalds speaks to PopMatters ...

Reviews

Leonard Cohen: 14 March 2013 - Milwaukee

After a long hiatus from Milwaukee, Leonard Cohen returned with a three-hour show that left little room for complaint.

Reviews

Erin McKeown: 7 February 2013 - Madison, WI

Despite jet lag, Erin McKeown rocked an intimate show at Madison, Wisconsin's High Noon Saloon with her new, explicitly political songs.

Music

"I Want It to Be More Purple!": An Interview with EELS' Mark Oliver Everett

Following an exhaustive trilogy of albums, Mark Oliver Everett opens up to his band on his new record, and details the highs and lows of his songwriting process in this in-depth interview ...

Music

How Do You Ruin Me?: An Interview with Black Prairie

Despite being comprised of members of the Decemberists, Dolorean, and Bearfoot, Black Prairie is not just a supergroup. Rather, they are five pedigreed musicians who fuse indie rock, folk, bluegrass, and gypsy music to create a sound all their own.

Books

Welcome to the Gagapocalypse: 'Gaga Feminism'

In J. Jack Halberstam's latest work, Mama Monster videos appear alongside discussions of the healthy queerness of Finding Nemo, and the many problems inherent in gay marriage and Bridesmaids alike.

Reviews

Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra: 11 November 2012 - Milwaukee, WI

The crowd at Milwaukee's Turner Hall witnessed the kind of unique concert experience that only Amanda Palmer could provide.

Books

Vanessa Veselka on Giving a Voice, at Least a Little Bit, to a World that Has No Voice

The world around us is the world of the book, says Vanessa Veselka. In Zazen, there's a highly fetishized identity politics world that someone is getting lost in.

Books

Claire Vaye Watkins Walks the Tightrope Between Chaos and Control

Claire Vaye Watkins' first short story collection, Battleborn is winning well-deserved rave reviews. Here, she discusses monkeys in chinaberry trees, Yo La Tengo, and what it's like to be a putter-inner.

Books

You've Got Mail: Joshua Cohen's 'Four New Messages'

A lot of metafiction, a hefty dose of wit, and even some surprisingly tender language in unexpected places.

Music

Building a Fire: The Benjamin Gibbard Interview

He's the songwriting mastermind behind Death Cab for Cutie, the Postal Service, and All-Time Quarterback. Now, decades into his career, Benjamin Gibbard sits down with PopMatters to discuss his first-ever solo album, and why an iPhone a capella field recording is the disc's first track ...

Music

The Carnival's Begun: An Interview with Dead Can Dance

"That's something in the mind, isn't it?" Lisa Gerrard asks PopMatters, saying "the complexity of how an artist views themselves and the work that they do is very much a story of the mind also. That can become quite complicated."

Reviews

A Crash Course in 20 Stories: The Paris Review's 'Object Lessons'

In 20 stories (and poignant introductions to each), The Paris Review has created a treasure for readers and writers alike that thrives, despite a few editorial thorns.

Reviews

Corin Tucker Band: 14 September 2012 - Milwaukee, WI

At Milwaukee's Cactus Club, the Corin Tucker Band's second stop on their tour, the band put on a tight, energetic show despite some sound problems and unfamiliar songs.

Music

"I Don't Just Write Songs to Have Them Sound Good": An Interview with Sean Rowe

Finding a unique juxtaposition between his love of music and his love of nature, Sean Rowe is finding that he can stand out just by being himself, and tells PopMatters all about his journey to his latest album, The Salesman and the Shark ...

Music

In Came the Flood: An Interview with Wintersleep

Opening for Paul McCartney? Bagging some huge Canadian awards? All in a day's work for Wintersleep, who tell us all about the recording of their latest, dynamic record ...

Music

Seeing the Future: An Interview with Eleni Mandell

She's done jazz, rock, country, and even a bit of funk. But now, taking her kids on the road instead of her band, Eleni Mandell speaks to PopMatters about her new album and how it shows her in a new light: completely at ease with who she is ...

Books

Les Trois Femmes: Alice Kaplan's 'Dreaming in French'

In a book about Jacqueline Bouvier, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis's reciprocal relationship with France, the stories tell themselves.

Music

Flash Points: An Unquiet Riot

What is it about Pussy Riot that gets under the skin of the Putin regime?

Features

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2020

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