No Slump Here: 10 Excellent Sophomore Albums
Every now and then, a promising act pulls it all together on their second outing. When careers are done, it’s these special second efforts we remember most.
Lists
JazzMatters: The Best New Jazz of Summer 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz albums of the summer of 2024, and our columnist examines the recent recordings of Washington, DC, jazz phenom Anthony Pirog.
The 5 Best Video Game Hip-Hop Soundtracks
Fresh off hip-hop’s 50th birthday PopMatters looks at some of the best hip-hop video game soundtracks. These games boast soundtracks fit for classic status.
Featured: Top of Home Page/Features/Lists/MetalMatters/Music/Music Features/Music Reviews/PopMatters Picks
MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of July 2024
In July’s best metal, Wormed’s futuristic brutal tech-death is sovereign, Void Witch offer death-doom wickedness, and Malconfort’s off-kilter black metal shines.
Featured: Top of Home Page/Features/Lists/Music/Music Features/Pop Past/SAVE/ IGNORE: popular/Sound Affects
The 20 Best Tom Petty Songs
Throughout his prolific career, Tom Petty challenged himself to keep things interesting and reinvent things. These are his 20 best songs.
Summer 2024 European Music Festivals Light Up Major Cities
Sure, Glastonbury and Rock Werchter dazzle with pastoral grandeur, but if you’re more of a city-dweller, check out the best European music festivals this summer.
MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of June 2024
In June’s best metal, Crypt Sermon offer hooks in doom form, Insect Ark stay on the experimental path, and Ulcerate offer despair with technical death metal.
Featured: Top of Home Page/Features/Lists/Music/Music Features/PopMatters Picks/The Best Music of 2024
The 50 Best Albums of 2024 So Far
The 50 best albums of 2024 offer sublime music as major artists return with new work and brilliant new sounds bubble up from the underground and worldwide.
25 of the Best Country Songs of the 1990s
The sound of 1990s country was bigger and louder than ever before, and it reached far larger audiences than the genre had ever attained.
MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of May 2024
In May’s best metal, the Hope Conspiracy return to pure hardcore form, Unleash the Archers claim power metal fame and Primitive Warfare declare war against all.
Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024: The Good, the Unremarkable, and the Dead on Arrival
Axe murder, motor scooter theft, projectile breast milk and more from a week at the Music Box Theatre for the Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024.
JazzMatters: The Best Jazz of March-May 2024
PopMatters presents the best new jazz recordings from March to May 2024 in the realm of piano jazz. We also reflect on the legacy of the late David Sanborn.