“The idea was to create electronic music with the ethos and trappings of what Gram Parsons called ‘Cosmic American music.’” That’s how experimental musician Jordan Reyes describes the inspiration behind his latest album, Sand Like Stardust, released 20 November on… Read More
The first time we meet the character of William Shakespeare in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman series, he is striking a deal with Morpheus, the eponymous sandman, master of dreams and prince of stories. Morpheus agrees to give the young Shakespeare… Read More
20. The Sweater Set – Fly on the Wall [Independent] Recorded with a live audience of 50 lucky fans—something that would be nearly unthinkable at the time of this piece’s publication—Fly on the Wall is cleverly named as such after its attendees.… Read More
“…we’re fighting slogans with slogans. We’re trying to unify and you can’t do that by being convoluted and murky. This isn’t an essay in the Quietus, this is CBeebies for humanists.” – Joe Talbot An Indie Showdown In her 14… Read More
Frank Zappa was many things: a counter-cultural icon of the 1960s, a shredding guitar virtuoso, a creator of bracingly cynical and satirical rock music, a composer of orchestral music, and a political pundit and activist. Alex Winter’s new documentary, titled… Read More
Although it’s only this year released in the US through Kino Lorber, Jia Zhangke’s I Wish I Knew (Hai shang chuan qi) was commissioned in 2010 by Shanghai’s World Expo. Were they expecting some kind of promotional film extolling the… Read More
There is a common notion that incoming President Joe Biden has a responsibility to “heal America”. “It’s time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric designed to demonize one another,” Biden tweeted on 24 November. “We have to come… Read More
Excerpted from Right/Wrong: How Technology Transforms Our Ethics, by Juan Enriquez (footnotes omitted). Copyright © 2020 MIT Press. Excerpted by permission of MIT Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in… Read More
60. Thin Lear – Wooden Cave [EggHunt Records] Queens-based singer-songwriter Matt Longo, who records under the moniker Thin Lear, may only be in his mid-30s, but he’s an old soul – musically, at least. His latest album is chock full… Read More
Singer-songwriter Coco Reilly’s self-titled debut album sounds like it was recorded behind a layer of gauze. It’s as if one were listening to the record from the room next door. Her vocals are muffled. She purposely blends the arrangements in… Read More