Susan Alcorn – Pedernal (Relative Pitch) By now, creative music folks know Susan Alcorn for her feat in bringing the pedal steel guitar to the downtown music scene, with guitarist Mary Halvorson’s Octet, and with other knotty improvising collectives. But… Read More
We Will Always Love You begins with what sounds like a teen girl in the throes of a breakup. “I will always love you,” she calls out through tears, and the Avalanches pick up her signal and broadcast it through… Read More
Pianist Bill Evans stands today as one of the two most influential jazz musicians on his instrument after Bud Powell. McCoy Tyner is the other towering figure from the 1960s and 1970s, and it is easy to think of them… Read More
In a different era, Darren Jessee’s career would seem perfectly normal. As things stand, it’s something of an anomaly. He’s best known as the drummer for Ben Folds Five, the North Carolina band with whom he achieved breakout success in… Read More
The Tate-LaBianca murders, commonly called the Charles Manson murders, have inspired countless films, some direct and some indirectly based on those events of August 1969. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (2019) proved the continuing cinematic viability of those… Read More
15. Love Fame Tragedy – Wherever I Go, I Want To Leave [Good Soldier] Matthew “Murph” Murphy of the Wombats somehow finds time to eat and sleep, which is honestly amazing given that it appears he spends 24 hours a day writing… Read More
Anyone familiar with PopMatters knows that, but for our playful moments (well, even within our playful moments) we put great emphasis on the matters of Culture. The political and economic forces of our times have shaped PopMatters since we first… Read More
December 6, 2015: Fonzi Thornton is standing onstage at the Kennedy Center. The Queen of Soul holds court at the piano. It’s the ultimate manifestation of a lifelong dream. As a teenager, Thornton sang Aretha Franklin songs while strolling through… Read More
20. Black Curse – Endless Wound (Sepulchral Voice) In 2015 members of acclaimed acts Primitive Man, Khemmis, and Blood Incantation discussed their love for the early days of extreme metal. That was the time when the lines between black and… Read More
We tend to think of beauty and harshness, sensitivity and anger as opposites. While it’s understandable that language hews towards a dichotomous model for sorting our day-to-day experiences, music allows us to touch on sensations that aren’t so easily pinned… Read More