PopMatters

Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000 Viking Pop music can be divided between songs that affirm the status quo and those that, in longtime Village Voice critic Barry Walters’ words, “epitomize an alienation not specific to LGBTQ people but familiar to those of us who feel an anguish that exceeds what pop typically articulates.” Mighty Real, Walter’s mammoth history of LGBTQ music from 1969 to 2000, takes a dual approach, covering both music made by LGBTQ musicians with more or less...

Live percussion in electronic music so often feels decorative; in the hands of Ravish Momin, however, the percussion is the whole point, the axis on which everything else turns. As a drummer and producer, Momin—the main brain behind Sunken Cages—has spent the past 20 years building a uniquely idiosyncratic soundworld that fuses traditional Indian percussion instruments with spangly, pristine electronic production.

Mike Kinsella still knows how to twist the knife, and that knife is most often lodged in his gut. It can be a lot if you are a lyrics person, but there is so much pretty melancholy in each of the four American Football records that you could also just get lost in the feelings that way. He is always good for several new indelible lines that are equal parts clever and gut-wrenching in their matter-of-factness. LP4 is no exception.

2ŁØT are one of those brilliant bands blending R&B and electronic music into soulful blends that share music DNA with brilliant UK groups like Rudimental and Jungle. I call it “electrosoul”, and it fills dancefloors with delicious funkiness. On top of that, 2ŁØT have the honourable goal of social advocacy, including criminal justice reform and supporting youth in helpful ways. So, music that makes your feet move and your brain think.

Almost Grown: A New York Memoir Akashic In the past few years, punk rocker Jesse Malin’s health issues have been a focus of press coverage, but they are not the focus of his memoir, Almost Grown. His story opens with him going out to dinner to commemorate the anniversary of his friend and bandmate Howie Pyro’s death. Malin collapsed at the restaurant and later learned he suffered a spinal stroke and was now paralyzed from the waist.

The Indecipherables Bantam Before discussing Anne Hellman’s new novel, The Indecipherables, an understanding of Alfred Hitchcock’s concept of “pure cinema” is in order. In a 1964 interview for the CBC television series Telescope, Hitchcock conflates “pure cinema” with the editing technique called montage, which is when “complementary pieces of film [are] put together, like notes of music, [to] make a melody.” Hitchcock continues: “There are two primary forms of cutting—or montage—in film.

Livin in the USA Contender Adam Weiner released a public statement regarding the release of the latest Low Cut Connie album, Livin in the USA. His declaration is too long to quote here, but I recommend that observers interested in the role of artists during war and hard times check it out. Weiner is angry, energetic and eloquent. So is his music. Weiner declares the new record to be a protest against prevailing authoritarian social conditions and a party album that reclaims our right to rock.

Memorial Day weekend has become a particularly festive holiday occasion in the San Francisco Bay Area, thanks to the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival. The annual event at the Napa County Fairgrounds always heralds “the first taste of summer”, a signature tag line that’s grown undeniable. BottleRock has become a regional tradition for celebrating the good life with arguably the most diverse artist lineup of any major festival in America.

The Boys of Dungeon Lane Capitol Paul McCartney thinks of life in sounds. Not just notes and chords, as one might expect of the lifelong musician. He sees the world as an aural library of memories. “I still remember that sound,” he sings in his latest album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Now exactly two decades older than his once far-away milestone, “When I’m Sixty Four”, McCartney has much more to archive.

Cumbión Planetario Soundway The term tropicanibalismo has been circulating within experimental music scenes in Colombia since at least the early 2000s, broadly encompassing new and innovative approaches to coastal popular and folkloric music forms. Cumbión Planetario is Bogotá-based duo Rizomagic’s newest contribution to this tropicanibalismo landscape.