Albert Camus’ Struggles with Earthly Existence in ‘Travels in the Americas’
The Albert Camus of Travels in the Americas diaries is a passionate, despairing reckoner with the struggles of earthly existence, both personal and societal.
Adam Sobsey
Adam Sobsey is coauthor of Bull City Summer: A Season at the Ballpark, a book about minor league baseball, and has written about music and culture for the Paris Review and other publications. His biography of the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde is available from University of Texas Press.
Bully Make Music Out of Melancholy on ‘Lucky for You’
Bully’s Lucky for You is tight, compact indie guitar rock that will get into your head even when you aren’t sure what Alicia Bognanno is singing about.
Jeff Buckley’s ‘Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk’ at 25
Anyone who wants to hear the truest Jeff Buckley—the artist he was on the way to becoming when he died young—should make sure to find ‘My Sweetheart the Drunk’.
Lana Del Rey Lets the Light in on Her New Album
With Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Lana Del Rey implores us not to forget her and has ensured that we can’t possibly.
W.E.B. Du Bois’ Prescient Masterpiece ‘The Souls of Black Folk: A Graphic Interpretation’
Rutgers University Press’ engaging, accomplished interpretation of ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ confirms it as W.E.B. DuBois’ most prescient and indelible work.
Aimee Mann’s Solo Debut ‘Whatever’ at 30
Whatever introduced with authority and assurance the Aimee Mann who, by the end of the 1990s, had taken complete control of the rest of her career.
Robocop Kraus ‘Smile’ and Tap Into 1983 on First LP in 15 Years
On Smile, Robocop Kraus still sound like their mandate is to take the cheap disposable postpunk of the early 1980s and make better versions of it.
The Lemon Twigs’ ‘Everything Harmony’ Wades Deep Into the Mid-1970s
On Everything Harmony the Lemon Twigs echo and even improve on their 1970s influences with such skill and spirit that they demand we take them seriously.
Rick Rubin’s Minimalist/Maximalist ‘The Creative Act’
Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act is, as his rap often was, minimalist and maximalist – musically austere but lyrically extravagant and self-aggrandizing.
The Black Watch Mate Britpop Melancholy with California Brightness on ‘Future Strangers’
The Black Watch’s Future Strangers is a collection of Britpop-influenced love-and-loss songs that abound in buoyant musical assurance and well-honed craft.
Revisiting Jellyfish’s Pop Masterpiece ‘Spilt Milk’ 30 Years On
Spilt Milk is one of the great accomplishments of pop history: a colossus that bestrides pop music and crushed Jellyfish, the band that made it.
Eyelids Channel Vintage Indie Rock on ‘A Colossal Waste of Light’
Eyelids channel Big Star, 1980s art-jangle like Let’s Active, vintage R.E.M., 1990s-toned indie guitar pop, and even a little grunge on A Colossal Waste of Light.