Music Reviews

Mogwai Find New in the Familiar with ‘The Bad Fire’

Despite moments of overfamiliarity and some flat vocal experiments, Mogwai’s 11th studio record captures a band still reinventing their signature sound.

The Orb’s New Compilation Is a Carefully Curated History

Antibalas’ Amayo Debuts With Eclectic Solo Effort

Ollee Owens Protects Us When There Is ‘Nowhere to Hide’

Haunted Horses’ ‘Dweller’ Is an Intriguing Heavy Album

Flora Hibberd’s ‘Swirl’ Is a Stunning Debut

Illiterate Light Lack Authenticity on ‘Arches’

Pillar of Light Search for Answers in the Darkness

Samantha Fish Fires Up the Fillmore on a Magical Night

Music Features

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2024

In December’s best metal, Blackdeath explore off-kilter black metal, Misanthropy open gateways in death metal, and An Axis of Perdition make a return.

Lambrini Girls’ “God’s Country” Rejects PJ Harvey’s Melancholic England

Poster Children Discuss 1995’s Brilliant LP ‘Junior Citizen’ at 30

Trumpism and Contemporary Christian Music’s Civil War

15 Awe-inspiring Rock Guitar Solos You Might Not Know

Hüsker Dü’s ‘New Day Rising’ Still Sparkles at 40

The 30 Best Polish Albums of 2024

Film

It Ain’t Easy Being Green in Wicked’s Hollywood

In Wicked: Part 1, “normal” citizens come in all skin colors – except green. It ain’t easy being green in Wicked’s (or America’s) Hollywood.

MoMA’s Film Restoration Fest To Serve and Project Eyes Bad Behavior

International Film Buffs Should Pounce on MoMA’s To Save and Project Festival

Alfred Hitchcock At the Peak of His Skill

The Best Film of 2024

The 30 Best DVDs of 2024

London Film Festival 2024 Brings Mindfulness Amidst a Bustling Metropolis

Television

What If Donald Trump’s Cabinet Picks Really Were Looney Tunes?

Many of Donald Trump’s 2025 cabinet picks came from Fox News. Would the nation be better served if he binged Looney Tunes instead?

‘Slow Horses: Season Four’ Subverts the Spy Genre

When the 1950s Met the 1960s via LSD TV

Rom-Communism: ‘Ted Lasso’ and the Future of the Romantic Comedy

The10 Best Episodes of ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’

Books

John Patrick Higgins’ ‘Fine’ Hangs on in Quiet Desperation

The lives of middle-aged men are to John Patrick Higgins as the statue of Ozymandias was to Shelley: epic, broken, and tragi-comic monuments to quiet desperation.

Goth Punks AFI Get Their Flowers in New Biography

Laila Lalami’s ‘The Dream Hotel’ Questions Our Concept of Freedom

Home and Away with Audio Author Adam Gnade

5 Great Books That Reinvent Music Criticism

Games

The 24 Best Video Games of 2024

PopMatters’ 24 Best Video Games of 2024 highlight achievements in game design and the risks creators take to lure gamers into the magic circle.

Phoenix Springs’ Journey to Nowhere Is Worth It

‘Silent Hill 2 Remake’ Is a Dark Gem in the Horror Game Renaissance

Neva’s Emotion-Engine Gameplay Is a Beautiful Crowd-Pleaser

Video Games Set in the 19th Century and Their Literary Allusions

Lists

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2024

In December’s best metal, Blackdeath explore off-kilter black metal, Misanthropy open gateways in death metal, and An Axis of Perdition make a return.

15 Awe-inspiring Rock Guitar Solos You Might Not Know

The 30 Best Polish Albums of 2024

What If Donald Trump’s Cabinet Picks Really Were Looney Tunes?

5 Great Books That Reinvent Music Criticism

Interviews

Poster Children Discuss 1995’s Brilliant LP ‘Junior Citizen’ at 30

Poster Children‘s Junior Citizen remains a refreshing, barely-polished masterpiece, like garish, late-night anime on steroids. The group discuss the album.

Home and Away with Audio Author Adam Gnade

Alice Ivy’s New Music Is Gorgeous with Organic Sounds

Heather Maloney Honors Her Late Father With Divine ‘Exploding Star’

Warhaus Is the Music of Maarten Devoldere’s Subconscious

PopMatters Picks

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2024

In December’s best metal, Blackdeath explore off-kilter black metal, Misanthropy open gateways in death metal, and An Axis of Perdition make a return.

The Orb’s New Compilation Is a Carefully Curated History

Haunted Horses’ ‘Dweller’ Is an Intriguing Heavy Album

Flora Hibberd’s ‘Swirl’ Is a Stunning Debut

Pillar of Light Search for Answers in the Darkness