The best folk albums of the year are an eclectic lot brought to us by long-time notables, indie greats, and artists taking folk music in new directions.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy suggests the strangeness of life comes in how people silently consent to mainstream conformism like marriage without revision or reinvention.
PopMatters is 20 this year -- until October when we are 21 -- and a 2009 special section celebrates the popular music that defined the year of our birth. Today we kick things off with albums from January through March, highlighted by Eminem's debut and stellar pop from XTC and Blur.
A rewarding, enriching and outstanding collaboration between Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Bryce Dessner, and Eighth Blackbird makes the old sound new, the new sound old and shines a light on a long lost minimalist composer.
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's "Blueberry Jam" is a drug-induced, fruit-fueled criticism of the world we live in today.
