Pop Culture

Part of a group of wunderkind indie filmmakers that emerged in the haze of the 1990s Sundance movement, which counted Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater, Bryan Singer, and Todd Haynes amongst them, writer/director/actor Edward Burns had arguably one of the biggest debuts. His first feature, 1995’s The Brothers McMullen, premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival

In their self-titled debut album, synthpop supergroup Doublespeak unite legends of the genre Vince Clarke (founding member of Erasure, Depeche Mode, and Yazoo), Neil Arthur (of Blancmange fame), and Benge (experimental superproducer) for an at-a-glance eclectic album of covers. Featuring tracks spanning from the late 1960s to the 2010s, the album serves less as a

The first time I saw Scare the Children was at a free Halloween concert at Temple Bar in Beijing around 2015. Temple was one of the city’s essential underground venues, hosting free rock and metal shows throughout the week, and this particular advertisement immediately caught my attention: a horror-themed, masked and costumed band. Halloween or

Every summer I complain about the scorching hot weather, and this July will be no different. Though my anger is very well manifested in the same manner of execution that the stunning Fake Dust record unfolds, I am very pleased that new works from Emptiness and Inferno arrived in a timely fashion to drench me

Landing in the small slipstream of punk-inspired cinema that took the first half of the 1980s, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) would emerge decades later as that subgenre’s most recognizable signpost. Like Allan Moyle’s Times Square and Brian Gibson’s Breaking Glass (both from 1980), Lou Adler’s film, about a trio of young women

Music ebbs and flows, as MISSIO are only too aware. As a duo, Matthew Brue and David Butler have completed six records together, with Love & Heartbreak being the richest in form and purpose. This project, as an entity, is rich with references to mortality, degradation, and inner turmoil. In terms of it being a

Around 2021-2023, RKT was having its golden era in Argentina. At a time when Latin music was increasingly converging around reggaeton’s formulas, RKT felt refreshingly local, creative, and with lots of potential to add something new to the Latin music boom’s menu. The homegrown urban genre born from the fusion of cumbia villera, reggaeton, hip-hop

Miles Okazaki is not the jazz guitarist who captures the wide open spaces of the United States with his sweeping vision, amazing technique, and knack for melody, right? That’s another guy… what’s his name again? Except that Miles Okazaki most certainly is that jazz guitarist, but with a slant. I will always be a Pat

Before the rest of the world had a vocabulary for what Afrobeats was, Tekno was already inside it. “Pana”, the song he released in 2016, was not a calculated hit. It was a shift in mood, a rolling groove with room to breathe in the spaces where other artists packed in more drums, more energy,

Perhaps we’re always on the eve of destruction. Perhaps it just feels that way. Perhaps in the 20th century, weapons of mass destruction concretized an existential dread humanity is doomed to. In 1965, the singer and songwriter P. F. Sloan was feeling that dread when he wrote his apocalyptically topical song “Eve of Destruction”. Sociopolitical

In 2024, Ozzy Osbourne lashed out at rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, for sampling the rocker’s music. Ye, Ozzy posted to Instagram, “WAS REFUSED PERMISSION BECAUSE HE IS AN ANTISEMITE AND HAS CAUSED UNTOLD HEARTACHE TO MANY.” It isn’t often, in these times, at least, that a white male Baby Boomer’s all-caps social media post

Back when much of the filmic debate centered around what “Hollywood” was doing (bad) and the work being produced on the margins (good), it was hard to even conceive of a director like Christopher Nolan. The big-name filmmakers of yore—your Scorseses, Spielbergs, Coppolas—seemed consigned to a “one for them, one for me” dichotomy where popular

In October 2025, the New York Times published a short piece with a long headline: “Are You Dreaming of a ‘Mall World’? You’re Not Alone.”  The article recounts the story of artist and sudden influencer Jessica Tilton, who gained fame on TikTok by breaking down her drawing depicting the endless mall she routinely visits during

Jack White has been on a roll over the past couple of years since the release of 2024’s rip-rocking No Name album. Extensive touring followed to bring the incendiary music to the people, with the new songs blending so well alongside older classics. Frozen Charlotte ups the ante with another scintillating collection of charged bluesy

It’s the 250th birthday of the United States of America here on the 4th of July, and music fans are gathering to celebrate the occasion with the Claypool Gold tour finale in the Blue Note Summer Sessions concert series at the Meritage Resort in Napa, California. There are some mixed emotions in the air about

After experiencing horrific abuse as a child, Allison Russell began to heal herself through music. With her new album, In the Hour of Chaos, the singer-songwriter aims to heal others from the sharp teeth of the present moment. “I don’t know that anyone’s ever healed,” Russell said. “I think we’re all healing, and that’s good.

The tragedies at Wounded Knee extend over the course of almost a century. Located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the small village is the site of two violent clashes between Native Americans and the United States government. Numerous books, movies, and television programs have examined the location’s painful history, including Dee

If you browse YouTube for interview footage from Soundgarden’s heyday in the 1990s, it doesn’t take long to discern how uncomfortable the band looked answering questions back then. A 1991 clip, for example, shows the era-defining Seattle icons practically squirming in their seats as they’re questioned in the Chaplin screening room of what was then

The bright major chords of joyous household gatherings, the somber soundtrack of difficult family times—these are what led Julieta Venegas to pursue music as a means of self-expression. The singer-songwriter did so first within her loving family, and eventually to adoring audiences around the world. With a new album and memoir—both titled Norteña—the Tijuana-raised Venegas

Legendary guitarist Bill Orcutt has given a home to several experimental solo guitarists via his label, Palilalia Records. Exciting, unique releases from artists such as Shane Parish, Cyrus Pireh, and Orcutt himself have made the label a fitting destination for innovative guitar players who enjoy occupying a space of endless experimentalism with no boundaries. The

Adam Gnade is best known for his 2022 book, After Tonight Everything Will Be Different, a lovely rumination on friendships and food. He’s made a career of loosely chronicling his life as an artist, writer, and musician, along with the communities he has either created or engaged. His ability to weave casual, startling observations about

A ? of When Panda Bear and Sonic Boom Domino 10 July 2026 Reviewing a collaboration between Panda Bear of the Beach Boys-inspired indie rock collective Animal Collective and British producer and musician Sonic Boom, it is difficult not to approach A ? of When expecting echoes of 1960s psychedelia. Sonic Boom has spent decades

All that glitters is not the Golden State, New York-based singer Lily Lane discovered after nearly five years immersed in Los Angeles’ sparkling ambiance. Like a gem dropped into a flute of champagne, the Massachusetts-born performer and former Wilhelmina Curve model never truly dissolved into her effervescent surroundings. “I romanticize places and build relationships with

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (1886-1939) somehow managed to be known during her lifetime as both “the Assassinator of the Blues” and “the Mother of the Blues”. Her greatness lies in that paradox. Raised in Columbus, Georgia, in vaudeville at the age of 14, Ma Rainey commanded the stage with a swagger, glamor, and at times menace

The Waterboys formed in London in 1983, and over the decades, this outfit has changed styles and lineups, making an impressive smorgasbord of sounds. Fronted by Scottish singer-songwriter Mike Scott, their pedigree ranges from symphonic blues to folk, traditional Irish to indie rock. Singers who have covered their tunes include Prince, Tom Jones, and Lewis

When the news broke in December 2024 that Christopher Nolan was taking on a new project after the sweeping detonation that was Oppenheimer, nobody expected it to be an adaptation of the most famous poem/epic/novel ever written, Homer’s The Odyssey. Despite Nolan’s Olympian reputation as the “blockbuster auteur” of the century, his proclivities generally steered

While you would never label him a prog rocker, has there ever been a guitarist more dedicated to expanding his skills, stylistic range, and circle of collaborators than Jeff Beck? Now, with Blow by Blow: The Jeff Beck Story, we have an impeccably detailed journey through seven decades of evolution by the most forward-thinking guitarist

Before Return to Cookie Mountain‘s release, TV on the Radio shared “Dry Drunk Emperor”, a scathing critique of then-President George W. Bush’s lack of response to Hurricane Katrina as an MP3 on their website. Unlike these days, where few artists directly criticize our sitting/sleeping President, TV on the Radio, Ted Leo, and many others aired

Outbreak Festival is a hardcore institution. Throughout the 2010s, it built a name for itself as the genre’s centre in the UK. It hosted the country’s first set by Turnstile and established every band that would go on to be a major native act. As the decade drew to a close, the festival seemed on

Here’s the thing: if anyone is crazy enough to dream up a gagging, bent-over-and-cackling workplace series about the cringiest bunch of godforsaken, small-town despondents that is at the same time a deadpan, bone-chilling horror story, let them. Chances are, something so bonkers is a rare work of genius. This fusion of ideas might sound ludicrous,