12. “Surf City” from Surf City and Other Swingin’ Cities (1963) Written by Brian Wilson and Jan Berry The Beach Boys were the first band to give a major voice to surf music, helping spread the surf craze nationally with songs like… Read More
In his off-kilter adventure story/cultural history In the Land of Good Living, Kent Russell says he doesn’t want to pander to those who filter their ideas of the Sunshine State through the absurdist lens of Florida Man memes. Yet he… Read More
Bands like the Beach Boys and Rivieras have long symbolized Southern Californian culture. For many, their classic surf music has come to define the region. Now, Carlsbad trio We the Commas aim to resurrect the feel-good, beach-ready sound of their… Read More
Houston’s Khruangbin have gradually been building up a global audience over their young career. Their mixture of funk, R&B, psychedelia, and a grab bag of world-spanning musical influences has connected with a wide variety of listeners. Their largely instrumental approach… Read More
Daniel Avery’s greatest strength is, and has always been, his versatility. Since his 2013 full-length debut, Drone Logic, the Bournemouth producer’s had all the bases covered—house, electro, industrial, crushing IDM bangers, and even a hint of shoegaze. His last project… Read More
From 1976 to 1983, the US backed a brutal, anti-communist coup and dictatorship in Argentina that disappeared thousands of so-called subversives in the name of preserving social order. Perramus: The City and Oblivion was conceived in the regime’s penultimate year… Read More
What’s the opposite of rigor mortis, that stiffening of the joints that immediately follows death? Well, whatever it is, that’s the best way to summarize the sensation of taking in the new LP from the Bobby Lees, a Woodstock, New… Read More
Creeping in around the margins of hip-hop’s mainstream, though firmly situated on its flood banks, Fat Tony has made a curiosity of himself amongst the hip-hop culturati. Armed with a caché of influences that include electronica, post-punk and new wave… Read More
With the recent success of A Million Drops (2018), English readers are learning that Spanish author Víctor Del Árbol is one of the most captivating crime-thriller voices in current literature. Such is the case with Del Árbol’s third novel, Breathing… Read More
All art must be for the end of liberating the masses. A landscape is only good when it shows the oppressor hanging from a tree. — Ishmael Reed, Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down In the Hugo-nominated sixth episode of Damon Lindelof’s… Read More