Music Reviews

Horsegirl Discover Their Identity on Superb New Album

With Phonetics On and On, Horsegirl move beyond their influences, carving out a distinct identity shaped through time and life experience.

Richard Dawson Discovers His Way Home on Captivating New LP

Television Personalities Unleash Their Radio Sessions 1980-1993

Sparks Fly on Jupiter and Okwess’ Thrilling ‘Ekoya’

Sam Moss Creates Memorable Deeply Affecting Indie Folk

Death By Unga Bunga Boldly Fuse Power Pop and Garage Rock

Vampisoul Reissues Violeta Parra’s Brilliant Final LP

Sharon Van Etten Finds New Freedom with Her Band

Savoir Faire Creates a Stunning Blend of Existentialism and Retro Noir

Music Features

40 Years of the Cure’s First True Surrealist Pop Album 

Forty-year-old The Head on the Door propelled the Cure toward arena stature with its musical cohesion and a collection of hallucinatory yet accessible songs.

Gypsy & the Cat and the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’

Live Forever: Oasis’ Enduring Appeal

Remembering For Against’s Brilliant Post-Punk Classic

Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood Goes Through the Looking Glass

Peter Forrest’s Multiple Voices Were Astonishing

Celia Hollander on the Perfect Conditions For Life on Earth

Film

Moses Sumney’s ‘Blackalachia’ and the Forest

In Moses Sumney’s beautiful 2021 performance film Blackalachia, the forest is a friend, a threat, a looming watcher, and an extension of the narrator’s person.

Bob Dylan Film ‘A Complete Unknown’ Is a Folk anti-Western

Horror Movie ‘The Beast Within’ Channels Mississippi Murder

Sundance Film Festival 2025 Is at a Crossroads

Silent Film ‘The Bat’ Begat Comics Dark Superhero Batman

Dark Comedy ‘Patriot’ Illuminates Neoliberalism’s Dark Reality

B-Movie ‘Invasion of the Bee Girls’ Pollinates a Sexual Epidemic

Television

The Penguin’s Means, Ends, and Morality

‘The Penguin’ compels us to interrogate our morality: do we treat others in our lives only as means to an end?

Workplace Drama ‘Severance’ Enhances Performance and Hits High Targets

The Empty Excitement of the 2025 Grammy Awards

Dark Comedy ‘Patriot’ Illuminates Neoliberalism’s Dark Reality

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

Books

The Slavic Fairytale’s Baba Yaga Upends Japanese Yakuza Culture

Slavic Fairytale’s Baba Yaga refuses to conform to a woman role in patriarchial Japanese yakuza culture.

‘We Stand On Guard’ Goes to War Against Canada

You’ve Gotta Get Satire to Get Dion DiMucci

10 Brilliant Music Books on the Art & Industry

The Future Isn’t What It Was

Games

Scarity Is Stressed in Video Game ‘Citizen Sleeper II: Starward Vector’

I’ve never played a video game so punishing as Citizen Sleeper II: Starward Vector, which stresses scarcity by playing for scraps.

‘Stimulation Clicker’ Is Nauseating by Design

Take Video Games and Our Perilous Era Seriously

The 24 Best Video Games of 2024

Phoenix Springs’ Journey to Nowhere Is Worth It

Lists

10 Brilliant Music Books on the Art & Industry

From rock to hip-hop to country to punk to emo, here’s a list of superb music books to deepen the education for you or the music lover in your life.

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of January 2025

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2024

15 Awe-inspiring Rock Guitar Solos You Might Not Know

The 30 Best Polish Albums of 2024

Interviews

Gypsy & the Cat and the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’

Australian dream pop duo Gypsy & the Cat reflect on how the ancient Homeric poem ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’ informed their music career.

Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood Goes Through the Looking Glass

Celia Hollander on the Perfect Conditions For Life on Earth

Legendary Musician Dion DiMucci Gives a Braggin’ Interview

The Listening Garden’s Cultivation of Audiophile Culture

PopMatters Picks

Horsegirl Discover Their Identity on Superb New Album

With Phonetics On and On, Horsegirl move beyond their influences, carving out a distinct identity shaped through time and life experience.

Richard Dawson Discovers His Way Home on Captivating New LP

Sparks Fly on Jupiter and Okwess’ Thrilling ‘Ekoya’

Sam Moss Creates Memorable Deeply Affecting Indie Folk

Death By Unga Bunga Boldly Fuse Power Pop and Garage Rock