Editorials
We Need to Talk About the Cat in the Loki Trailer
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Captain Marvel. By now, we’re all familiar with the new trailer for Disney+’s next Marvel spinoff series Loki. But what we haven’t talked about enough is its surprise introduction of … a cat. Or, “cat.” As we see in the trailer, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is immediately confronted by a noticeably chill tabby cat upon being released into an office after meeting with Owen Wilson’s Mobius. The cat even begins purring when Loki drops into the adjacent chair. Now, anyone who’s had the good fortune to interact with a cat would find this suspicious: What pet on Earth would be that content when next to an empty bowl, or that calm when a fugitive God of Mischief interrupts their afternoon? But that’s exactly it: They’re not on Earth. Loki is a prisoner of the Time Variance Au...
Queen Latifah’s Anthem “U.N.I.T.Y.” Still Spells Out a Critical Message About Women’s Rights
Editor’s Note: As Women’s History Month draws to a close, arts critic Okla Jones looks back at the indelible legacy of Queen Latifah and the long-lasting influence her anthem “U.N.I.T.Y.” had on women’s rights, especially in the hip-hop world. The contributions of women to the arts have often been overlooked throughout history. In music (specifically hip-hop), the female artist has been held to an unfair critical standard. The industry requires women to be both talented and desirable, only to allow them to be negated by public opinion if they come across as overtly “sexy” or if their content doesn’t fit some status quo. For quite some time, the music business has served as a microcosm for society’s treatment of women overall: including the verbal and physical abuse, lack of appreciat...
Stone Temple Pilots’ Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop Remains a Prized Relic of the Grunge Era
In the 1992 comedy Wayne’s World, titular protagonist and lay philosopher Wayne Campbell tells his best friend and hockey partner, Garth Algar, “Led Zeppelin didn’t write tunes that everyone liked. They left that to the Bee Gees.” Apply that sage wisdom to the hard rock landscape of the mid-1990s, and you can make a convincing case for Stone Temple Pilots being their generation’s Led Zeppelin while the Bee Gees in this case were, well, any of the myriad contemporary grunge titans that critics accused STP of mimicking. Just as critics learned to worship Jimmy Page’s monolithic riffing and Robert Plant’s banshee wail, they slowly came around to Stone Temple Pilots’ effortless pop savvy and staggering musicality on their third album, Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, which turns 2...
10 Years Ago, The Strokes Triumphed Through Adversity to Create Angles
Throughout the 2000s, New York quintet The Strokes were considered the kings of post-punk revival. Drawing from artists like The Doors, Jane’s Addiction, Pearl Jam, Bob Marley, and most notably, The Velvet Underground, their charming indie/garage rock raucousness was virtually everywhere for several years. Of course, it all started when they inspired their own set of peers and protégées — including LCD Soundsystem, The Killers, and Kings of Leon — while skyrocketing into critical and commercial favor with 2001’s debut LP, Is This It, which topped our list of “The Top 100 Albums of the Decade” in November 2009. Although 2003’s Room on Fire and 2005’s First Impressions of Earth weren’t as widely celebrated by the press — due mainly to a perceived lack of newness and a penchant for safe...
Grammys 2021: Music’s Biggest Night Finally Makes Music the Focus
The 2021 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles and the pop culture landscape both look vastly different from years past. The show, which has often overlooked contributions from women and people of color, is working on course correction, and this year’s program certainly reflected these efforts. While band-aids on gaping wounds aren’t always enough, the choice to focus on the reason for gathering — the music — was a wise one and paid off due in part to the “in the round” stage setups that recalled Jools Holland’s BBC format. Executive producer Ben Winston pulled off one of the cleanest, smoothest awards shows of this era, working to create some of the moments that make shows like this memorable. As always, though, the Grammys are a frustrating paradox. They correctly spotlighted some of the best art...
The Pioneering Women of Philly Soul
Fifty years ago, the sound of Philly Soul was born out of the legendary Philadelphia International Records. With the talents of The O’Jays, Patti LaBelle, Teddy Pendergrass, The Three Degrees, McFadden & Whitehead, and others, the label rewrote the standards of soul music by blending in R&B, funk, and doo-wop with massive orchestral arrangements. To celebrate all P.I.R. contributed to the world of music, we’re giving away a Best of Philadelphia International Records prize pack, which includes vinyl, turntables, and headphones. Click here for more information on these prizes and how to enter this exclusive giveaway. The face of soul music as we know it might have been completely different if not for the ambition and drive of a Columbia imprint, once housed in the vacant offices of C...
The Artist-Superfan’s Brave New Superstore
Primary Wave, run by long-time music executive Larry Mestel, may steal the headlines. His company uses billions to buy the music publishing and masters of mega-artists like Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks, Bob Marley, Prince, and Whitney Houston. But Twitter shaman Jack Dorsey’s recent acquisition of Jay-Z’s streaming service, Tidal, by his company, Square, is equally tantalizing. And it points to something that is bubbling up in the business right now that is still early, but ultimately will build into a huge, new movement of massively monetizing direct artist-fan connection and engagement. Dorsey’s rationale for buying Tidal is to give artists a direct path to easily transact with their fans (think merchandise, for example), much like retailers use Square to cut out the credit card middlema...
Understanding Trauma, Grief, and Resilience In WandaVision
It’s a tale as old as time: young woman is traumatized, radicalized, and experimented upon; A.I. takes physical form as a robot before evolving into something more traditionally, distinctly human. Woman and humanoid robot fall in love before humanoid robot is killed and woman, in her grief, semi-accidentally takes an entire town of people hostage. Explaining the concept of WandaVision to anyone not familiar with the expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe presents a bit of a challenge. Perhaps the even bigger challenge is then trying to communicate the way that the show so effectively becomes a truly emotional story. Over the course of nine episodes, WandaVision shares more about the two titular characters than the five movies that featured Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff or the seven in whi...
David Gilmour Transformed Pink Floyd into the Most Beloved Progressive Rock Band of All Time
There’s little left that needs to be said about Pink Floyd’s astronomical run in the 1970s. Undeniably, the creative, commercial, and critical prosperity achieved by their final four LPs of the decade — The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979) — have rarely, if ever, been matched by any other rock band. Likewise, their musical and cultural influence were just as expansive and enduring, so it’s no wonder they remain almost as prevalent and adored today. (Of course, their output in the 1980s and beyond is also worthwhile, but those ’70s LPs are easily their most significant.) However, the process of getting to that point was far from quick or easy, as their earliest years were filled with crises of artistic identity and potential. Due m...
Is the Media Still Cashing in on Britney Spears’ Trauma?
In the past month, the steadily growing #FreeBritney movement became a mainstream phenomenon following the release of The New York Times Presents documentary Framing Britney Spears. The documentary dissects the pop star’s controversial conservatorship, which placed her under the strict supervision, financially and personally, of conservators like her father, James “Jamie” Spears, among others since 2008. Acting as a thorough introduction for newcomers, Framing Britney Spears provides a heartbreaking portrait of both the rise of the wide-eyed teen singer from Louisiana and her fall from grace, including that infamous head-shaving, umbrella-wielding night anyone who lived through 2007 saw footage of at least a million times over. Framing Britney Spears casts a much kinder, more sympathetic l...
WandaVision Dusts Off the Comics to Tease Vision’s Future
The following editorial is heavy on spoilers… “Previously On”, this week’s eighth episode of Disney+’s WandaVision, is enlightening in many ways. It explores the details of Wanda’s (Elizabeth Olsen) tormented past, re-writes the origin of her powers, and yet also tells the backstory of the villainous Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). By far the most interesting reveal, however, is the resurrected, colorless version of Vision (Paul Bettany), which is unveiled during the post-credits scene. Not only does this suggest an emotional series finale, it also has some interesting links to the comics that could hint at Vision’s future within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Vision being drained of all color is an unsettling sight, not just because of his cold appearance, but because it speaks to t...
The King of Limbs Remains a Crucial Piece of the Radiohead Puzzle
Editor’s Note: Radiohead’s The King of Limbs came out on February 18th, 2011, to strong sales but mixed criticism. A decade later, our own Jordan Blum revisits the band’s eighth studio album and its gradual journey toward the heart of many fans. For more articles like these, check out our Are These Classics Yet? series. People have often said that Radiohead are the last great rock band. While that may be an unfair and hyperbolic assessment — especially since they frequently defy categorization — it’s certainly an understandable one. After all, no other group in the last 30 years have managed to fully sustain their integrity amidst achieving endlessly admirable evolutions and perpetually outstanding commercial and critical reception. In that sense, they’re like a modern-day Bea...
