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Music Featured: Top of Home Page Features Lists Music Features PopMatters Picks

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of October 2026

By

Spyros Stasis / 26 October 2026

In best metal, Great Falls deliver a post-hardcore beating, Spirit Possession return to original black/death, and Dissimulator expand their dissonant death/thrash.

FEATURES

The Troubles Haunt in Ciaran Carson’s Posthumous ‘X+Y=K’

The Troubles Haunt in Ciaran Carson’s Posthumous ‘X+Y=K’

By

Reggie Chamberlain-King / 26 October 2026

The 15 Best Tom Waits Songs

The 15 Best Tom Waits Songs

By

Alexander Heigl / 26 October 2026

A Jigsaw Falling into Place: How Fan Theories Help Market Radiohead’s Music

A Jigsaw Falling into Place: How Fan Theories Help Market Radiohead’s Music

By

Lars Munzer / 22 October 2026

Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ Presses the Limits of Knowledge

Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ Presses the Limits of Knowledge

By

Mike Cormack / 22 October 2026

Gen X and the Changing Meaning of the Velvet Underground’s “Stephanie Says”

Gen X and the Changing Meaning of the Velvet Underground’s “Stephanie Says”

By

Stephanie Wilson Gonzalez / 21 October 2026

It’s a Wonderful Life’s Bell Is Still Ringing

It’s a Wonderful Life’s Bell Is Still Ringing

By

Jo Ann Zimmerman / 21 October 2026

Dawn Moraga of Cor de Lux Faces the Future with a Beautiful Blind Smile

Dawn Moraga of Cor de Lux Faces the Future with a Beautiful Blind Smile

By

Brian Stout / 21 October 2026

Pop Past

The best of our archive [subscriber exclusive]

What Would Don Draper Do? Reading Dante in a Secular Age

Featured: Top of Home Page

What Would Don Draper Do? Reading Dante in a Secular Age

By

John L. Murphy / 25 March 2015

Religion and Biological Limits in Post-Humanity: ‘Her’ and ‘Transcendence’

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Religion and Biological Limits in Post-Humanity: ‘Her’ and ‘Transcendence’

By

Seth M. Walker / 18 June 2014

Cult Films Fans: Between the Omnivore and the Hermit

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Cult Films Fans: Between the Omnivore and the Hermit

By

Andrew Grossman / 21 July 2013

Music Reviews

Music Music Reviews Reviews

Fontaines D.C. Explore How Modern Life Keeps You Distracted

By

Paul Carr / 26 October 2026

Neil Young & the Chrome Hearts Take It Easy With ‘Second Song’

By

Justin Cober-Lake / 26 October 2026

Music Music Reviews Reviews

Empress Of Expresses Truth on ‘Dream House’ and Misses It

By

Eoghan Lyng / 26 October 2026

James Brandon Lewis Brilliantly Interprets Antonín Dvořák

Billy Strings Dials Up a Throwdown for a Two-Night Bonanza

Wishy Transcend the Sophomore Slump on ‘Nature’s Pill’

Sheryl Crow Has a Message For a Divided America on Newest LP

V.V. Lightbody Offers Up Another Lush Charmer

Clara Mann Delivers Exquisite Folk on ‘Wishbone’

Seffarine’s ‘Abaraz’ Is Roots Music at Its Richest

Ziemba’s ‘The Braid’ Is a Sophisti-Pop Masterpiece

Bacht’n de Vulle Moane’s Verdwazing der dwazen

Troye Sivan Craves Stability on ‘She’s the Best’

Matthew O’Neill Lets the Outside World ‘Through to Us’

Visions of Nar Deliver a Mesmerizing Ethno-Jazz Journey

Film

‘100 Days’ Rows Toward the Comfort of Solitude

‘100 Days’ Rows Toward the Comfort of Solitude

By

Guilherme Quireza / 26 October 2026

Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ Presses the Limits of Knowledge

Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ Presses the Limits of Knowledge

By

Mike Cormack / 22 October 2026

It’s a Wonderful Life’s Bell Is Still Ringing

It’s a Wonderful Life’s Bell Is Still Ringing

By

Jo Ann Zimmerman / 21 October 2026

Prejudice Is Masked as Protection in Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Fjord’

Prejudice Is Masked as Protection in Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Fjord’

By

Chris Barsanti / 21 October 2026

Inside H. R. Giger’s Alien: The Biomechanical Horror That Changed Film, Art and Design

Inside H. R. Giger’s Alien: The Biomechanical Horror That Changed Film, Art and Design

By

Lexx Che / 20 October 2026

The Unbearable Heaviness of Buildings: ‘The History of Concrete’

The Unbearable Heaviness of Buildings: ‘The History of Concrete’

By

Richard Stimac / 15 October 2026

Thin Screens of Violence: ‘American Doctor’ and the Authority of Images

Thin Screens of Violence: ‘American Doctor’ and the Authority of Images

By

Richard Stimac / 14 October 2026

Aaron Sorkin and the Politics of Being Right

Aaron Sorkin and the Politics of Being Right

By

R.A. Davis / 13 October 2026

Venice Film Festival Comes with a Hammer to Crack Open Political Discourse

Venice Film Festival Comes with a Hammer to Crack Open Political Discourse

By

Ana Yorke / 12 October 2026

Books

Books Culture Feature Sub Head Features

The Troubles Haunt in Ciaran Carson’s Posthumous ‘X+Y=K’

By

Reggie Chamberlain-King / 26 October 2026

Haruki Murakami Traces His Father’s History through the Wiles of a Cat

By

Maria Lockard / 26 October 2026

Books Feature Sub Head Features Film Film Feature

It’s a Wonderful Life’s Bell Is Still Ringing

By

Jo Ann Zimmerman / 21 October 2026

Proust’s ‘In Search of Lost Time’ Is the Epic of Social Climbing

Calum Marsh Looks Behind the Scenes of Reality TV

Conversations with Drew Lerman About ‘Conversations with Don DeLillo’

Not Every “Monstrous Bitch” Is a Feminist Victim

Music Features

Music Featured: Top of Home Page Features Lists Music Features PopMatters Picks

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of October 2026

By

Spyros Stasis / 26 October 2026

Music Feature Sub Head Features Lists Music Features

The 15 Best Tom Waits Songs

By

Alexander Heigl / 26 October 2026

Features Culture Feature Sub Head Featured: Top of Home Page Music Music Features

A Jigsaw Falling into Place: How Fan Theories Help Market Radiohead’s Music

By

Lars Munzer / 22 October 2026

Billy Strings Dials Up a Throwdown for a Two-Night Bonanza

Gen X and the Changing Meaning of the Velvet Underground’s “Stephanie Says”

Dawn Moraga of Cor de Lux Faces the Future with a Beautiful Blind Smile

Iggy Pop’s Noise Became My Chemical Romance’s Language in Detroit

Television

Can Comedy Be an Antidote to Authoritarianism’s Poison?

Can Comedy Be an Antidote to Authoritarianism’s Poison?

By

Iain Ellis / 15 October 2026

Why Can’t I Stop Watching ‘Love Island’?

Why Can’t I Stop Watching ‘Love Island’?

By

Racheal Fest / 1 October 2026

Lists

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of October 2026

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of October 2026

By

Spyros Stasis / 26 October 2026

The 15 Best Tom Waits Songs

The 15 Best Tom Waits Songs

By

Alexander Heigl / 26 October 2026

ElectroMatters: Best Electronic Music of September 2026

ElectroMatters: Best Electronic Music of September 2026

By

J. Simpson / 6 October 2026

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of September 2026

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of September 2026

By

Spyros Stasis / 28 September 2026

Interviews

Music Feature Sub Head Features Interviews Music Features

Dawn Moraga of Cor de Lux Faces the Future with a Beautiful Blind Smile

By

Brian Stout / 21 October 2026

Music Feature Sub Head Featured: Top of Home Page Features Interviews Music Features

Jazz Saxophonist David S. Ware Never Played It Twice

By

Tony Aramini / 15 October 2026

Music Feature Sub Head Featured: Top of Home Page Features Interviews Music Features

Gilbert O’Sullivan Is ‘On the Record’ and Being Irish

By

Eoghan Lyng / 14 October 2026

ME. Invite Us to Do the Hard Thing on ‘All Good Things’

Nine Albums In, Russian Circles Are “Opening the Marriage”

Conversations with Drew Lerman About ‘Conversations with Don DeLillo’

Keb’ Mo’: The Breakdown and the Long Way Home

Publish with PM

PopMatters Seeks Book Critics and Essayists

PopMatters Seeks Book Critics and Essayists

By

Karen Zarker / 24 January 2024

Submit an Essay, Review, Interview, or List to PopMatters

Submit an Essay, Review, Interview, or List to PopMatters

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PopMatters Staff / 26 July 2023

PopMatters Seeks Music Writers

PopMatters Seeks Music Writers

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PopMatters Staff / 28 September 2022

PopMatters Seeks Film Critics and Essayists

PopMatters Seeks Film Critics and Essayists

By

Karen Zarker / 28 September 2022

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