The parallel plot — maybe the real plot — percolates just below the surface: the meta-textual challenge of figuring out how the HBO Perry Mason will morph into something resembling its CBS progenitor.
Television Review: “Fisherman’s Friends” — Corny, but Cornwall Shines
What makes this somewhat derivative movie soar is its music.
Book Review: “In the Land of Good Living” — Satisfying Your Gonzo Curiosity
Ah, Florida, “the grease trap under America’s George Foreman Grill”: not just “weird America,” also “impending America.”
Rock Album Review: Cloud Nothings — Still Facing Down Existential Dread
Cloud Nothings’ latest effort is less muscular than their previous work, but it still contains its fair share of hooky bliss.
Music Feature: Gimme Radio — Making Streaming Human
Gimme Radio brings the human element to streaming by relying on DJs to curate playlists and provide context to what listeners are experiencing.
Jazz Album Review: Pablo Ablanedo’s “Chistreza” — Rhythmic Bounty
Every piece here seems to play by its own rhythmic rules, and yet nowhere does the music sound academic or formal.
Album Review: “Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again” — Kacy Hill Goes Intimate
Freed from the pressures of recording for a major label, Kacy Hill has created an album that feels surprisingly personal.
Book Review: “The U.S. Antifascism Reader” — Recovering the Great American Tradition of Punching Nazis
Practical handbook, compendium of theory, or history of an American tradition? A little of each… but enough of any?
Concert Review: Billy Strings’s Streaming Strings Tour — Virtual but Unbridled
If the first set was all about reminding us the breadth and depth of the talent in Billy Strings’ combo, the second set was all about dynamics and power.
Television Review: “Bully. Coward. Victim: The Story of Roy Cohn” — A Soulless Man
Roy Cohn was much more pernicious than Joe McCarthy because he was far more adept at undercutting the relevance of so-called American values.