[Tue, 13.May.08]

The Presets

Apocalypso

Dear Presets: a breakup letter from a former fan

Prodigy

H.N.I.C. Pt. 2

Prodigy has met the demands to make more mature music, but instead of growing up in a traditional sense, his gangster personality has matured into that of a paranoid, nihilistic outsider.

The Submarines

Honeysuckle Wars

The Submarines solidified their strengths and condensed them into an altogether more accomplished sophomore record.

Marcia Ball

Peace, Love and BBQ

The gift of the South is that it interrupts any heroic tale the United States tries to tell about itself, even when we have to trace the racism for ourselves from the underside of the electric guitar or the failed exorcism of bongos.

The Proclaimers

Life with You

You may already think of them as just an early ‘90s one-hit wonder, and with their new album, the Proclaimers will probably not prove you wrong.

Various Artists

Musicians for Minneapolis

Fifty-seven artists line-up semi-alphabetically to salute those affected by the Minneapolis bridge disaster last year.

MORE MUSIC
:. recent reviews
:. full archive

[Fri, 9.May.08]
Beach House
3.Apr.08: Philadelphia, PA
The show is sold-out, and only the tallest and closest have a decent vantage point. The thing is, though, you don’t really need to see Beach House to “see” them.

MOST RECENT

:. Vandaveer

:. Blitzen Trapper + Fleet Foxes

:. The Rocky Horror Show

:. Fuck Buttons

:. Xiu Xiu

:. DJ Rekha

MORE EVENTS

:. recent articles

:. full archive

[Tue, 13.May.08]
:. Video-game companies pulling the plug on industry association
:. Networks hyping fall programs less
:. INTERVIEW:Was (Not Was) refound each other — and their groove
:. INTERVIEW:Lea Thompson stars in Hallmark Channel film ‘Final Approach’
:. INTERVIEW:Q&A with country singer Trisha Yearwood
:. Historic ‘Big Trail’ makes widescreen DVD debut
:. 10 years later, what’s up with the ‘Seinfeld’ gang?

[Mon, 12.May.08]
:. Return to Everest: In PBS documentary, storm survivor reflects on his decision to turn back
:. INTERVIEW:10 years after Frank Sinatra’s death, daughter Nancy helps keep the legend alive
:. INTERVIEW:Lady Antebellum plays to a media-savvy generation
:. Will actors be the next to go on strike?
:. As band’s tour comes to an end, drummer says the reunion was done for all the right reasons

[Fri, 9.May.08]
:. Networks dogged by drop in ratings
:. Steven Spielberg moves to the next video game level
:. INTERVIEW:The always politically incorrect Bill Maher talks politics, cannibals
:. Classic 1950s sci-fi collection arrives on DVD
:. Grand Theft Auto car-jacks pop culture

Animals in Time: Neko Case and the Contemporary Country
By Michelle Banks
[12.May.08] :. The music of Neko Case shows us a world of danger, guilt, regret, displaced hearts, lost time and lost faith, several deaths, the matter-of-factness of animals, and reckoning. In other words, exactly what the contemporary moment shows us.

CULTURE AT LARGE: Networks hyping fall programs less 10 years later, what’s up with the ‘Seinfeld’ gang?

INTERVIEWS: Lea Thompson Trisha Yearwood Nancy Sinatra Lady Antebellum

— recent features —

Global Beat Fusion: Three Nights in France
By Derek Beres
[12.May.08] :. Beres hits Paris and Bourges to take in the eclectic sounds of Transglobal Underground, Les Primitifs du Futur, Watcha Clan, and Fat Freddy's Drop, and gets pulled into the "sacred space" that solders the connection between sound and human.

20 Questions: Tod A of Firewater
By PopMatters Staff
[12.May.08] :. PopMatters 20 Questions caught up with Tod A of Firewater in Bali, where he shares some thoughts about cultural and political matters, and speculates on what visiting extraterrestrials might look like.

The Consumer Consumed
By Claudia Grinnell
[9.May.08] :. In pursuing the convenience of a Web 2.0 world, we are consenting to being incorporated into a finely tuned marketing machine, with ever more subtly adapted gears, to our meet our needs -- manufactured and otherwise.

Out of Africa: Barack Obama in Pan-African Music
By Drew Hinshaw
[9.May.08] :. While Barack Obama's candidacy has sparked new political interest within the United States, perhaps the best indication of his foreign policy advantage may be found in the music praising Obama coming from other countries around the world.

“There’s Never Anything Planned”: An Interview With Mark Kozelek
By Evan Sawdey
[8.May.08] :. Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek explains his unlikely inspiration, reflects on aging, and chooses beauty over catharsis.

Reflections: Interview with Gaetano Capizzi, Director of Cinemabiente
By Ellise Fuchs
[8.May.08] :. "Cinemabiente means films that reflect the world, or act like a mirror of society. At the same time, they cause the viewer to reflect."

Play’s the Thing: The Art of Video Game Writing
By L.B. Jeffries
[7.May.08] :. Many of the people who make the video games you play don't like having a plot at all, much less a good one. It constrains their designs and forces them to sacrifice player freedom for something that the player should be doing themselves.

Life Savers: Guster’s “Jesus on the Radio”
By Kirthana Ramisetti
[7.May.08] :. Ramisetti realizes that a simple love and appreciation for a song is all that matters in the end -- how it finds you, and how it moves you -- even when it comes from a random YouTube video.

Winter Music Conference 2008
By David Tatasciore
[6.May.08] :. In his account of the nation's premier techno festival, David Tatasciore captures the good, the bad, and the ugly that made the Winter Music Conference such an unforgettable experience.

Saudade: A Conversation with Carly Simon
By Christian John Wikane
[5.May.08] :. Tall and tan and still very lovely, Carly Simon takes a cue from Antonio Carlos Jobim on her new album. So why does All About Eve make a cameo?

20 Questions: Pico Iyer
By PopMatters Staff
[5.May.08] :. The compassionate, prolific writer and traveler, Pico Iyer, talks with PopMatters 20 Questions, about the Dalai Lama, Benji, Keith Richards, and Paddington Bear.

The PopMatters Summer 2008 Movie Preview
By PopMatters Staff
[2.May.08] :. PopMatters looks at each month that makes up this yearly caravan of summer moviegoing, picking out the winners and wastes of time. Today: Remembrances of Summers Past: 40 Years of Movie Memories: Highlights from Gibron's popcorn moviegoing history.

Life Savers: Snap!: “I’ve Got the Power”
By Emily Popek
[2.May.08] :. In the unlikely form of a Snap! album, Popek reveals how an ephemeral dance track helped her discover both hip-hop and the understanding that all music is for everyone.

Fun & Games: Killing Joke in the mid-’80s
By Adrien Begrand
[1.May.08] :. Though lumped in with post-punk acts, Killing Joke were considerably less edgy than their peers, their blunt, pulverizing music echoing the rage and cynicism expressed in the songs making them somewhat of an anomaly.

Agent Provocateur: Madonna’s Super Hard Candy Pop
By Matt Mazur
[29.Apr.08] :. On her newest CD, Hard Candy, the legend sounds stronger and more confident -- pushed into the new directions by her posse of guest producers and musicians.

20 Questions: Ike Reilly
By PopMatters Staff
[28.Apr.08] :. Songwriter Ike Reilly tells PopMatters 20 Questions about firm abs and buttocks and the best sitcom, ever.

Always Trying to Waste Me: The Rolling Stones’ “Cocksucker Blues”
By Colin Fleming
[25.Apr.08] :. Onan rejoices. Dionysus despairs. Robert Frank, the Rolling Stones, and Cocksucker Blues -- a polarizing document for upwards of 35-years, now -- unreleased, and perhaps unreleasable.

Pop Past: Godzilla: The Biggest Blockbuster
By Mike Ward
[9.May.08] :. This summer's blockbusters got nothin' over the biggest, beastiest blockbuster of all...

Rabble Without a Cause: Vote for the Prettiest
By Bill Reagan
[8.May.08] :. US presidential elections are suspiciously like high school popularity contests, er, elections -- it's not who you know, it's who knows you.

Pop Goes Philosophy: Cultural Meanings in America Make Benefit Glorious Bank Accounts of Creationists
By George Reisch
[7.May.08] :. Is Ben Stein taking a page from Michael Moore? No, from Borat is more like it.

Sub Rosa: E-mails from the Dead
By Mikita Brottman
[6.May.08] :. Like a cyber séance, of sorts, these Internet services have become a means for the dead to speak to the living.

Mixtape Confessions: When They’re 65…
By Ben Rubenstein
[5.May.08] :. What will some of today's most well-known hip-hop artists be doing in 2035? Maybe they won't be running the music world, but they'll probably be doing something beyond applying Fixodent to their grills.

Variations on a Theme: The Practicality of the Impossible: John Cage and the Freeman Etudes
By Chadwick Jenkins
[2.May.08] :. John Cage replaces the comforting order of the cosmos with the recalcitrant, indecipherable organization of a part of the universe. Each sound, radically set off from the others, demands that we hear it in isolation.

Moving Pixels: The Game World / Real World Interface
By Mike Schiller
[1.May.08] :. "Interfacing" is Moving Pixels' way of taking a look at the tenuous relationship between the gaming world and the real world, and the awkwardness and enlightenment that the intersections between the two can achieve.

The Tackle Box: The Real Creel
By Chris Justice
[30.Apr.08] :. Creels contain volumes of wonderfully imaginative “catches” that, unlike the box’s contents in the myth, unleash a swarm of positive stories and memories that continue life’s flow.

Vox Pop: Broads Don’t Blog, Especially in Haiku
By Meta Wagner
[29.Apr.08] :. Broads can only thrive under certain social conditions, and those conditions, alas, no longer exist. But a new species has emerged...

From the Cheap Seats: Baptized by Fire: The Persistent Politics of the Olympic Games
By Tobias Peterson
[28.Apr.08] :. The Olympic torch should remain a beacon to those who can appreciate the true power that sports have in forcing us to consider the political reality of the world we all, athletes included, share.

The Lost Signal: Rod Serling and His Evil Art
By Bill Gibron
[25.Apr.08] :. Serling began his career as one of the most celebrated writers of his generation. But it only took one trip to a particularly troubled 'gallery' to undermine his importance and influence within the entertainment industry.

Pop Osmosis: No Reply Needed
By Jennifer Byrne
[24.Apr.08] :. Have 'REPLY ALL' emails become the latest outlet for the modern obsession with self-expression and fame?

Sticky Wickets: A Formula One Fairy Tale
By Robert Collins
[23.Apr.08] :. Gather round children, and I’ll tell a tale tragic yet true of the demise of the sport old timers once called Formula One.

Lowbrow Literati: We Dream We’re the People in Songs
By Monte Williams
[22.Apr.08] :. Is he strumming your face with his fingers? And singing your life with his words?