Pop Culture

The Pinochet years keep returning to Chilean cinema because the dictatorship did not stay in the past. It was long and brutal, and its damage outlasted the regime that produced it. The 1973 military coup overthrew a government and remade the state. It destroyed the Popular Unity project led by Salvador Allende and inaugurated a

Dave Grohl is a multi-threat: singer, songwriter, drummer, guitarist and producer. His ability to multitask also has its disadvantages, given that his focus is spread all over the place. Foo Fighters’ second record following the death of co-frontman Taylor Hawkins, Your Favorite Toy, shows an artist struggling under the weight of overwork. Grohl started compiling

Paul McCartney witnessed John Lennon singing onstage in Liverpool, John Illsley found guitarist Mark Knopfler sleeping on the floor of an apartment, and Jimmy Page encountered John Paul Jones in a recording studio, pencilling him as a potential bassist for Led Zeppelin. Bandmates come across one another in the most inauspicious of circumstances, leading me

THE HORIZON SPIRALS / THE HORIZON VIRAL OOIOO and Lightning Bolt Thrill Jockey 24 April 2026 “We humans each possess a nature to repeat, yet with each repetition we grow more attuned,”says OOIOO founder and bandleader YoshimiO. “We don’t repeat in the same place; that repetition spirals upward, never landing in the same spot twice.

In the Mesoamerican tourism sphere, the concept of Mundo Maya ideally promotes a coalition born of a unified history and a diverse present. It indexes a vibrant and deeply rooted sense of Maya identity that has persevered through European colonialism and modern globalization. Within this framework, the need to maintain and enact cultural memory is

Thirty years ago, flanked by four peace-sign-throwing accomplices, Melanie C posed the question, “Who do you think you are?”, over a disco beat. Now, on her ninth solo album, Sweat, the former Spice Girl has found the answer, and she knows what she wants, what she really, really wants: to make you move. Sweat is

Kiki Cavazos’ songs are made of dust. Anyone with half an ear will hear an earthy voice that makes you feel as if Cavazos has kicked dirt into your face and shown you a country you never knew or wished existed, which is to say she is like a 1930s troubadour with her eyes fixed

In an influential and controversially sweeping formulation, cultural theorist Fredric Jameson argued 40 years ago that “the story of the private individual destiny is always an allegory of the embattled situation of the public third-world culture and society.” To tell stories from the decolonizing global South using forms and genres developed and disseminated within the

We have a desperate need for great punk records right now. It seems like we should have a larger contingent of bands weighing in on America’s love affair with fascism. Last year, Big Life‘s The Cost of Progress was the gold standard, and UltraBomb may replace it at the top of the heap this year.

Léve Léve Vol. 2: São Tomé and Príncipe Sounds 70s-80s Various Artists Bongo Joe 6 March 2026 Swiss label Bongo Joe continues to dig into the early years of an independent São Tomé and Príncipe on the second volume of Léve Léve, a compilation of popular music from the 1970s and 1980s. With a focus

Humanity speaks loud and clear in Johan Nayar’s intimate documentary, The Banjo Boys. Our humanity is deeply in question lately. Wars are breaking out all over the globe, headlines constantly speak of disasters, man-made and natural, human rights keep losing ground, and all the while, many prefer their phones to human interaction. Over five days

Taking their name from a Possessed song, it is expected that Evil Warriors are a homage to the proto-black and death scenes. But no. Even though they started their career closer to this thrash sound, the Leipzig act soon blossomed into something far more potent, sinister, and overarching. While their debut record,Expressions of Endless Dreams,

Whitehorse have returned to their folk-rock roots on their latest full-length record, All I Want Is All of It. The Canadian husband-and-wife team of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClellan recorded the album in a 19th-century farmhouse to capture the mood of past spirits in the ancient place. Of course, only a New World denizen would

When asked about how he feels about UltraBomb’s latest, punk rock legend Greg Norton simply says, “This is one of the best recordings I’ve been a part of.” When Norton, who was one-third of Hüsker Dü, one of the most influential punk bands of all time, says his new record is a career highlight, it’s

Of the many privileges modern life affords us, it has never been able to manufacture warmth. It’s made a valiant effort through apps that promise to bring everyone together and through a barrage of marketing campaigns aimed at forming communities around consumptive behaviors. These attempts often only estrange us further from our fellow participants in

“I’m getting better at bein’ alone,” sings Kacey Musgraves on her seventh studio album, Middle of Nowhere. It’s her first release on Lost Highway since the label was revived last year, and it marks a clear return to country music, on which Musgraves made her name, starting with Same Trailer Different Park in 2013. The

At this writing, media outlets have reported that President Donald J. Trump and the Department of Defense are preparing a $200 billion supplemental request for the conflict in Iran. Perhaps the ceasefire will alter that figure. It’s a convenient coincidence that $200 billion is essentially what Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and the Department of Governmental

Idealism is a tricky prospect in 2026. Just ask award-winning Australian songwriter Charley, whose debut album arrives at a juncture where, in her words, “the world’s gonna burn and burst into flames.” She has spent the past three years braced for impact, sifting through the wreckage of her relationships and redefining her identity. The result,

It often happens when a pop artist becomes so larger than life that they reach a point of no return: they either drown in darkness or hold on to light so tightly that the music has no other option but to channel it.That moment has arrived for Anitta, the superstar who redefined the limits of

M.C. Taylor, the artist behind Hiss Golden Messenger, composedI’mPeoplein New Mexico, California, and his home base of Durham, North Carolina. The tracks were recorded at Woodstock’s Dreamland Recording Studios with a team of like-minded musicians, including Josh Kaufman (who, along with Taylor, played stringed instruments and co-produced the album), JT Bates (drums and percussion), and

British electronic collective Seefeel reappeared after a 13-year hiatus with two mini-albums in 2024and now presentSol.hz, their first full-length release since the 2011 self-titled LP. The group’s claim to notoriety is as one of the first guitar-based groups signed to the fabled British electronic label Warp, with their 1995 sophomore album Succour. Rock listeners may

Electrical Field of Love Harriet Tubman and Georgia Anne Muldrow Pi 27 March 2026 The trio of Brandon Ross (electric guitar, banjo, soprano guitar), Melvin Gibbs (electric bass), and J.T. Lewis (drums) is named for the abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Their five albums across two decades (1998-2018) have always suggested freedom—they were largely improvised in the

Sitting down one afternoon to catch up on Glastonbury highlights way back in 2016, Tom Rowlands, one-half of bona fide electronic legends, the Chemical Brothers, caught a set that stopped him dead. Hijacking the screen was diminutive Norwegian singer Aurora, who delivered a masterclass in otherworldly art-pop. After leaving such a profound impression, Rowlands asked

Paul Newman had nearly every attribute a leading man can hope for—good looks, an appealing baritone, the kind of confidence that puts others at ease rather than setting them on edge. His greatest talent as an actor was his ability to make audiences believe that a person with all these winning traits could still be

Oregon has a rich history of excluding Black people. During westward expansion, while whites were incentivized to “settle” the inchoate Oregon through the “Donation Land Claim Act,” Black people were prohibited from entering the territory. In 1859, Oregon became the 33rd state in the Union, and the only one admitted with an “exclusion clause”. Oregonians

As raw as it is melodic and as smart as it is funny, The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest marked Young Fresh Fellows as early, unknowing architects of what we now call alternative rock. Loaded with wiry hooks, relentless energy, and sharp instincts, the 1984 debut set an electrifying standard for a sound still

The 40th SXSW Conference & Festivals is over. The fest is not the same as it used to be, but then again, neither is the rest of the world. We now live in a digital universe with search engines, streaming services, and smartphones. Those were unknown in the analogue era. Experiencing music has radically changed.

The debut album of New German Cinema, the solo moniker of Fear of Men‘s Jessica Weiss, is mainly preoccupied with one idea: the Self. In the opener “Sub Rosa”, Weiss makes a statement that acts as the axis upon which the record spins: “Looking to lose my sense of self to build something new.” Over

Upon finishing William J. Mann’s newest true crime book, Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood, Agnès Varda’s 1985 psychological drama, Vagabond, comes to mind. The film stars Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona Bergeron, a young woman who lives on the streets of France and ultimately freezes to death in a ditch on a