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,
Pop Culture
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
Sit down and pour yourself a glass, stein, or cup of whatever you like to drink from. Before you sip, chug, or quaff, raise the vessel to Dubravka Ugrešić and thank her for being among our time’s best independent, iconoclastic, and undersung authors. Ugrešić is no longer with us, but she left many valuable guideposts
The end of the year is approaching, and October is stacked with heavyweight works. The return of Kevin Martin under the Bug moniker is a highlight, and listening to The Machine next to Master Boot Record’s Hardwarez reveals the influence of the legendary artist on the scene today. On the fringes with noise rock, the Eugene Robinsion-fronted
Masahiro Shinoda’s Demon Pond (Yashagaike) is a lavish 1979 production that made a splash for the Shochiku Studio but has gone largely unseen since its theatrical release. Criterion now offers a 2021 restoration produced by Shochiku for its centenary, and it marks the film’s digital debut in the West. Still alive at 93, Shinoda is among the
NPR’s anthology How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History is both a celebration and a reckoning—a rich, meticulously curated collection of writings addressing women’s underrepresentation across all facets of the music industry. Compiled from NPR’s Turning the Tables series (2017-2023), the book doesn’t offer any new material but instead distills some of the most powerful
With Tension II, pop diva Kylie Minogue extends her startingly long run of great-to-brilliant studio albums that started with 2018’s country-flecked Golden. Last year’s Tension is arguably one of the singer’s best efforts, and even if its sequel doesn’t match up, it’s still a fabulous collection of high-energy electropop tunes. It fails to reach the emotional highs of
Sophie Allison, who records under the moniker Soccer Mommy, rose to prominence during a fortuitous time; however, depending upon how one looks at things, the timing of that ascent might have stymied her individuality. Her visibility immediately followed that of—or coincided with—Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Hand Habits, Snail Mail, Phoebe Bridgers, and Tomberlin, amongst others.
At the same time that a handful of friends Tweeted and updated their Facebook statuses to celebrate the premiere of TeenNick’s The 90s Are All That lineup, I was stabbed with my millionth pang of regret that I still can’t afford cable television. As a 23-year-old with an entry-level job, a loan repayment schedule, some
Teri Garr was arguably one of the most beloved comediennes of American cinema. She seemed born in the wrong era, her style of witty, effervescent comedy better suited for the screwball genre of the 1930s, and yet, she flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, bringing an innate likability and charm to her roles. Though some
Winston Cook-Wilson, Office Culture‘s vocalist, keyboard player, and primary songwriter, had a dream about an album with a pelican on the cover. Yet it was not a single vinyl LP. In the dream, it was definitely a compact disc, which allowed him to envision the latest Office Culture album as one lengthy collection of songs
“I believe in communism,” says Ted Lasso, coach of the London-based soccer team AFC Richmond and hero of the eponymous hit show on Apple TV+, in the 2021 episode “Rainbow”. His team sits in rows in front of a television, slumped and dejected, reviewing their mistakes from a recent match. Some seem confused that their
10. “Andy’s Chest” (Transformer, 1972) Lou Reed helped define a subgenre with this seminal glam rock record, which yielded some of the most memorable hits of his career, such as “Perfect Day” and “Walk on the Wild Side.” Yet early in the tracklisting, he managed to weave a bizarre and often ludicrous narrative of transmogrification that falls
“What, no elevator?” You will never forget the first words that Lou Reed said to you, and Reed’s future archivist, Don Fleming, heard them through an intercom in a recording studio on a three-floor walkup. “The first time I met Lou was when I was recording with Moe Tucker, and he came to add a
Kris Kristofferson, who died September 28, might be my favorite country songwriter. He understood the beauty of language like perhaps no other lyricist in popular music, including Bob Dylan. His classic songs were filled with verbosely flowing lines that nonetheless made sense to millions of listeners, including awestruck fellow musicians. His storied life included stints
Giant Robot: Thirty Years of Defining Asian American Pop Culture Eric Nakamura, ed. Drawn & Quarterly October 2024 Identity in the United States (and some will argue, elsewhere, too) is a fraught labyrinth. These days, seemingly at every turn in America, you must negotiate who you are and where you fit in the “melting pot”.
“Volcano girls, we really can’t be beat/ Warm us up and watch us blow.” – Veruca Salt “Readers are often poorly served when an author writes as an act of catharsis,” wrote Jon Krakauer in Into Thin Air, his firsthand account of the 1996 Mount Everest climbing disaster. This quote kept popping into my head
The Night the Zombies Came Pixies BMG 25 October 2024 It’s hard to believe that with The Night the Zombies Came, Pixies have now released more albums without Kim Deal than with her legendary contributions. That is assuming we are not counting the debut mini-album Come on Pilgrim (1987), in which case, the math is
In pagan times, Halloween or “Samhain”, meaning “summer’s end” in Gaelic, marked the time of year when people believed the boundaries between the physical and supernatural worlds were at their thinnest. They built bonfires and wore masks to communicate with spirits and prepare for the coming winter. These days, while Halloween often means getting a
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