Pop Culture

In the first part of our series spotlighting music videos in the 1980s, we looked at some of the more unsung clips from the era. The dawning of this artistic platform was an exciting time for all involved: musicians, video directors, and artists — diving headfirst into a new medium with little in the way

Speaking about the thriller genre to NPR, Oscar-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan said, “You’re not meant to understand every single aspect. You’re meant to go on a journey, pass through this maze…” This strategy epitomizes his 2014 science fiction blockbuster Interstellar, a story of humanity’s search for habitable planets. Aided by theoretical physicist Kip Thorn, Nolan

Over 50 years ago, Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset’s Some Lessons in Metaphysics introduced a novel set of perspectives on knowledge, being, life, and existence. In “Lesson II”, Ortega y Gasset asks us to ponder the ideas of orientation and knowing, arguing that “the idea of orientation is more basic, deeper, and earlier than

After the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, the world felt different. Therefore, when Bruce Springsteen and his loyal E Street Band returned to the stage at the start of 2023, after six years away, he was addressing a new world, a world borne out of darkness headed tentatively, but surely, towards the light. Fans needed that confirmation;

The new album from A Place For Owls, How We Dig in the Earth, is unassuming in many ways. The lower-case stylization of the title, the self-release distribution model, and especially the air of positivity and politeness among the band members contribute to a humble, warm glow surrounding the record’s release. But being down to

Sometimes the rock musician doesn’t give a shit. They’d rather be golfing, drinking, or betting on the Raiders. The star’s manager coerces the rock star to write a book. Sometimes, the rock star doesn’t remember all the parts of their story. The passage of time and the decades of debauchery take a toll, after all.

The Dragon Painter is a new Blu-ray from Milestone Films that showcases three silent features produced by its star, Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa. For reasons complex and absurd, he was not only Hollywood’s first Asian male star but its first foreign heart-throb, known for his handsome, smoldering sexuality. Hayakawa was no ordinary immigrant escaping poverty.

Contradictions characterize multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole’s output. His music alternates between sincere and silly, sublime and superficial, while jumping between disparate genres like pop, jazz fusion, and electronica. He embraces a lo-fi, DIY aesthetic and approach to production but practices obsessively and is meticulously detailed in his songwriting. As Cole proclaims on the track “I’m Tight”

Wake the Dead Chuck Prophet with ¿Qiensave? Yep Roc 25 October 2024 San Francisco musician Chuck Prophet has been at it since the 1990s. Never content with standing still, he continues to embark upon new adventures and collaborations that allow him to pour into those influences. Prophet’s new musical direction and collaboration with Cumbia Urbana

Under The Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush (Omnibus Remastered)) Graeme Thomson Omnibus Press June 2024 When Graeme Thomson’s biography Under The Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush was first released in 2010, it was justifiably hailed as the definitive chronicle of Bush’s career. “Definitive” is a subjective assessment, but among

It’s My Life (40th Anniversary Edition) Talk Talk Rhino 20 October 2024 There is a certain incorrect narrative about the British group Talk Talk: They had a few hits as a fairly anonymous but marginally interesting band in the New Romantic vein in the early and mid-1980s before bandleader and singer Mark Hollis turned them

The Dismemberment Plan perfectly captured the feelings of 20-something uncertainty and anxiety on Emergency & I. It remains a touchstone for those who experienced it in real time because its images of trudging off to temporary work, trying to save relationships not worth saving, and feeling isolated resonated deeply for those trying to find their

In 2021, Polish video game developer Bloober Team, based in Kraków, released The Medium, a horror game almost no one expected to be so convincing or cutting-edge. The game’s trailers already caught “strong Silent Hill vibes”, and shortly after The Medium‘s release, the gaming community exploded with discussions about how well this team was suited

Like a Tree It Grows Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band Soulspazm / SCHMTCS 25 October 2024 The true crux of the masterful Like a Tree It Grows by Igmar Thomas‘ Revive Big Band occurs about halfway through in three ways: 1. Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band take on the jazz standard “Thelonious”, which Thelonious Monk

“Human capital” is a curious term. How does one determine the “value” of an individual to their organization or country? Can an individual be valuable to a system when the system’s modus operandi ensures nobody is ever indispensable? No. So why all the pretense, then? At first glance, one would not expect Slow Horses, the

Ypsilanti, Michigan-based musician Fred Thomas is probably best known for the Motown-tinged pop of Saturday Looks Good to Me, but he has worked on countless projects spanning genres since the 1990s. His latest release, Window in the Rhythm, is one of his boldest and most ambitious projects to date, examining the past as a way

Flow Critical Lucidity Thurston Moore The Daydream Library Series 20 September 2024 The first song on Thurston Moore‘s new album, Flow Critical Lucidity, is called “New in Town”, which comes across as a mildly played joke. Moore is hardly a stranger. As a founder of Sonic Youth, he spent much of his young adulthood blazing new

When US television shows in the 1960s turned their attention to LSD, the most notorious drug of the turbulent era, they often did so from the viewpoint of the preceding decade: the culturally conservative 1950s. Such is the case for each of the episodes discussed here. One of these, the earliest to focus on LSD,

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Dirt on My Diamonds – Vol. 2 Mascot 20 September 2024 Pay no attention to the title: Kenny Wayne Shepherd‘s Dirt On My Diamonds -Vol.2 stands decidedly on its own two feet, welcoming old fans and first-time listeners in equal measure. Shepherd’s work is admirably brief, recalling the 30-minute runtime typically favored

Therefore, the term kosmische Musik more narrowly relates to the specific direction of musicians who, as a medium, realize life’s molecular processes directly through their instrument of electronic vibrations. The music of cells is a song of flashes organically superimposed over each other, whose moments are eternities and whose eternities are moments. – Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser,

Back in April 2024, with King Crimson on another hiatus and founder/visionary Robert Fripp focusing on other projects, fans of the progressive rock progenitors/innovators were ecstatic when it was announced that an all-star “tribute band” of sorts would be revisiting King Crimson’s three classic 1980s albums in concert halls across North America. With Fripp’s blessing

Greil Marcus, the esteemed cultural critic, laconically and simply pens, “Writers write. They can’t help it.” Marcus knows better than most: in 1968, at 23, he began sending reviews to Rolling Stone before becoming its editor and, thereafter, wrote for the Detroit-based no-holds-barred magazine Creem. Furthermore, he has written critically acclaimed books, such as Mystery

Back in 2010, I was fortunate to interview four of the six members of Iron Maiden. After all the requisite chatter about the new album was completed, my favorite question to ask everyone was, “What Iron Maiden song have you always wanted to play live but have yet to?” Over and over, “Alexander the Great”

Laura Marling never misses. Seven of her eight albums score above 80/100 from music critics on AOTY, and all hold above 75/100 in listener ratings. By this simple math, her latest record, Patterns in Repeat, ranks second or third best after 2020’s Song for Our Daughter and 2013’s Once I Was an Eagle, depending on

Surya Botofasina has been busy. In 2022, he released his critically acclaimed debut album, Everyone’s Children. The following year, he was one of the primary instrumentalists featured on André 3000’s debut solo album, New Blue Sun. At the top of 2024, he released the thrilling collaborative album Subtle Movements with Nate Mercereau and Carlos Niño.

Lady Gaga always puts on a show, even when she doesn’t appear to be. She referred to Harlequin as “LG 6.5” because it doubles as a Lady Gaga studio album and a companion to the film Joker: Folie a Deux, in which she stars as Harley Quinn. The record, a collection of jazz classics polished

Why Alanis Morissette Matters Megan Volpert University of Texas Press March 2025 Any girl who listens to “Right Through You” understands that it contains a series of checkboxes for all the awful grownup types that Alanis had already met. Alanis grew up to be the very successful Miss Thing, but she is still a thing—the

The long-promised, highly-anticipated album, Songs of a Lost World by legendary Gothic rockers the Cure, has finally arrived, their first studio album since 2008’s 4:13 Dream. It took 16 years for them to release new studio material, but what’s a decade-and-a-half between friends? A few weeks ago, the Cure unleashed a new single, “Alone”, and

An illustration of the history of blues music would look a little like a meteorological chart, with centers of stylistic innovation marked with concentric lines and the direction of influence with arrows. At its center would be the blues birthplace, the Mississippi Delta, a vast tract of fertile cotton-growing ground. There would be Highway 51,

Kishi Bashi‘s new album, Kantos, is a thought-provoking examination of philosophy, identity, and the human condition. Where his previous records offered specific historical and social commentary, Kantos is more meditative and philosophical. The opener, “Violin Akai“, is dynamic, emblematic of Kishi Bashi’s virtuosity. Yet the minimalist lyrics highlight the artist’s shift from external to internal