The paradox of all great ambient music is that it sounds easy to create, but it isn’t. All the different parts are simple, but the Continue Reading
Music Dose
On Finnish Film 'Open Up to Me' and Trans Portrayal in Film
Open Up To Me (Kerron sinulle kaiken) is Finnish director Simo Halinen’s award-winning 2013 drama portraying the tribulations of Maarit Majantie, a middle-aged trans woman. Continue Reading
BTS Master the Art of Timeless, Universal Songwriting with 'BE'
In an interview for Rolling Stone India (2020), BTS member SUGA said: “I want to be like the ’90s folk musicians whom I’ve been listening Continue Reading
Filmmaker Diane Paragas on 'Yellow Rose' and the Heartbreak Behind Anti-Immigration Policies
Yellow Rose (2019) centres on Filipina teenager Rose (Eva Noblezada), who dreams of becoming a country music performer. When her mother is picked up by Continue Reading
OAKUM Returns With Vibrant “Golden Sky” Single & Video
Vancouver-based Kieran Jenkins is one half of the electronic duo with post-rock influences Sampson Mews. As OAKUM, he experiments with more energetic and atmospheric sounds Continue Reading
Maxwell Stern Gives Us a Warm Car in Frigid Winter with 'Impossible Sum'
I first noticed Maxwell Stern from a pleasant, unassuming tweet that somehow snuck into my usually gloomy feed. Stern’s tweet said something about not really Continue Reading
Shanghai Restoration Project Offer Innovative Alternate Reality on 'Brave New World Symphony'
The worlds that the Shanghai Restoration Project create are unfailingly sublime. Soothing, the group intrigue with their intricacies rather than overwhelm. Over the last 15 Continue Reading
Susan Alcorn's 'Pedernal' Is a Chamber Jazz/Americana Blend
By now, creative music fans know Susan Alcorn for her feat in bringing the pedal steel guitar to New York’s downtown music scene, with guitarist Continue Reading
The Mandalorian's Political Allegory: Diversity Is the Way
For a television show that centers on a masked, male individual, the final episode of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian Season 2 (which premiered on Disney+ Continue Reading
COVID-19 and Our Purgatory of Consumerism
Take heed that thou wash said the Angel to Dante before opening the gates to the Purgatory with two keys, a silver key for remorse Continue Reading
'Queer Legacies: Stories from Chicago's LGBTQ Archives'
One of the exciting aspects of the explosion in queer studies in recent decades has been the growing body of work on place-based queer histories. Continue Reading
Elvis Costello Gets Dark and Brooding on 'Hey Clockface'
When Elvis Costello crashed into the consciousness of rock fans in 1977 with his debut album, My Aim Is True, he seemed like the bastard Continue Reading
J Mascis Welcomes You to Three Nights of Exquisite Songcraft and Pure Fun
After the implosion of the Lou Barlow/J Mascis partnership in the late 1980s, Mascis signed Dinosaur Jr to a major label subsidiary and executed a Continue Reading
How Leeds Led the Goth Scene
Although the emergence of the goth subculture is often cited as developing around the Batcave’s 1982 founding in London, cities in the north of England Continue Reading
Dave Scanlon's 'Pink in each, bright blue, bright green' Is a Stark, Deeply Elegant Solo Work
“This is sacred music written for my own personal practice. If it is at all utilitarian, I hope that it encourages you to create something Continue Reading
London Neo-Soulster Kianja Impresses with "In a Different Light" (Live) (premiere)
In December, we featured upcoming London neo-soul artist Kianja’s single “I Get By” on the PopMatters Picks playlist. It’s an upbeat piano-driven number born of Continue Reading
Is Christian Petzold's 'Undine' Myth or Therapeutic Dialogue?
Christian Petzold’s lengthy collaboration with actress Nina Hoss, from Wolfsburg (2003) to Phoenix (2014), saw the pair become inseparable. With the back-to-back films of Transit Continue Reading
Barry Gibb Re-Visits Bee Gees Classics with Superproducer Dave Cobb
While the Bee Gees are most famous as the emissaries of disco thanks to the monstrous success of the soundtrack to the movie Saturday Night Continue Reading
MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2020
Akhlys – Melinoë (Debemur Morti) Despite their unforgiving black metal outlook, Akhlys actually started off as a dark ambient exploration. Their debut record, Supplication stood away from Continue Reading
Pretend It's a City Proves Once Again, You Can't Argue with Fran Lebowitz
Fran Lebowitz is an exceptionally gifted user of words who admits she is only motivated to leave her bookish isolation and open her big mouth Continue Reading