Pompeii (Mexican Summer) No one wields isolation more beautifully than Cate Le Bon, whose acclaimed 2019 album, Reward, was created during a solitary year of furniture building. Following the more recent, compulsory period of isolation, Le Bon returns with a follow up as intricately surreal and elegantly introspective as its predecessor. Opener “Dirt on the Bed” is oddly compelling, with atonal strumming an drooping horns, but second track “Moderation” sets Pompeii’s tone with a dexterous bass groove under a hazy, striking melody. There’s an aching pop forwardness throughout...

Adventures in Success, a mockumentary-gone-right, depicts a small modern day sex cult in the Catskills that prioritizes the female orgasm, which they believe will heal Mother Earth. It's members spend a lot of their time “jilling off”— if you know what I mean. Classified as a “dark comedy,” the movie doesn’t feature a star-studded bunch, but each member of the small cast really makes the movie what it is. This film takes the concept of a “sex cult” down a peg, normalizing its members—as if...

HAPPENING Co-written and directed by Audrey Diwan Out May 6 Happening is set in France in 1963, but without the period-appropriate costumes, it would be hard to distinguish it from present-day America—or plenty of other anti-choice countries around the world. Based on Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel of the same name, this award-winning drama follows a young student named Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei) as she attempts to end the unexpected pregnancy that threatens to derail her promising academic future. This was no easy feat at the time, as abortion was illegal in France until...

Nilüfer Yanya describes Painless as “a record about emotion.” The London-based singer/song-writer’s zany, jazz-pop debut, Miss Universe, certainly wasn’t emotionless, but her sophomore album is more direct, as well as more instinctive. Unafraid of unpretty truths, Yanya shows us exactly where it hurts, and we feel it. The tracks remain dancey, but with heavier thuds and piping-hot tears dropping straight to the chest. Guitars bend, bellow, and quiver; her breathy alt-rock vocals paint everything in midnight blue. Electronically sharp and approachably nihilistic, there’s an “evergreen grimness” reminiscent of...

Patricia Williams, better known as Ms. Pat, is a hilarious stand-up comedian, actor, author, and podcast host who has been making audiences flip with her totally original storytelling style for over 20 years.  Her one-hour standup special Y'All Wanna Hear Something Crazy?—directed by Robert Townsend and Produced by Wanda Sykes—premiered on Netflix in February to critical acclaim, her 2017 memoir Rabbit was named one of Amazon’s best biographies of the year, and now she’s gearing up for season two of her BET+ sitcom The Ms....

Believe it or not, the American Library Association has recorded over 155 attempts at book censorship in the U.S. since June 2021. And this number is vastly underreported, since it doesn’t account for the types of censorship that happen quietly—like when a book is pulled from a library or never included in a library collection because it might become a target to censors. Intellectual freedom—or the right to access any information you desire—is baked into our First Amendment. But to ensure that freedom, it’s vital...

  At first glance, it might seem like a stretch to compare Jewel to Patti Smith. Jewel Kilcher, after all, is a blonde-haired Alaskan in her 40s, best known by many people for ballads like “Who Will Save Your Soul,” “You Were Meant for Me” and “Hands.” Smith, by contrast, is a septuagenarian who grew up mainly in New Jersey and who is a rocker at heart. Where Jewel’s work can sometimes verge on Hallmark-style sentiments, Smith is not averse to using “fuck” or even the...

Sammy Ko (Miya Cech) is at a major turning point in her life. The 13-year-old has been acting out since the death of her mother, and after a particularly impressive display of vandalism, her dad, Angus (Leonardo Nam), gives her an ultimatum: Sammy must complete a class at the local community college, or it’s off to Camp Sparrow Cliff for the rest of the summer. A third option presents itself to Sammy when she crosses paths with Margot (Rhea Perlman), a children’s magician who sees...

SHILPA RAY “PORTRAIT OF A LADY” (Northern Spy Records) Dynamic Brooklyn based singer-songwriter and musician, Shilpa Ray, returns with her fifth full length release Portrait Of A Lady. Written in the wake of the #metoo movement and the weathering years of the Trump administration - Ms. Ray is candidly revealing her views about these situtations and then some. Ray has such a wide musical and vocal range from which she draws which always keeps the listener fully engaged. Ray’s singing can be in your face with an...

BODY WORK: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative By Melissa Febos (Catapult) For her latest book, acclaimed memoirist Melissa Febos offers a master class for would-be writers looking to find their voice. The text is divided into four parts, each of which tackles one specific area of memoir writing, focusing in particular on the sort of raw and intensely personal writing that Febos is known for. The first part of the book starts off with powerful words of encouragement as Febos discusses the importance of sharing one’s story,...