Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Tom Andes reviews Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates today in Rumpus Books.
...more
Posts by: Tom Andes
The Dream of My Return by Horacio Castellanos Moya
Tom Andes reviews The Dream of My Return by Horacio Castellanos Moya today in Rumpus Books.
...more
The Ice Garden by Moira Crone
Tom Andes reviews The Ice Garden by Moira Crone today in Rumpus Books.
...more
Falling Sideways by Thomas E. Kennedy
Tom Andes reviews Thomas E. Kennedy’s FALLING SIDEWAYS today in The Rumpus Book Reviews.
...moreRumpus Sound Takes: Creeping Familiarity
Essentially a one-man band—the project of Oregon native and current Oxford, Mississippi resident Deepak Mantena—Junk Culture here explores traditional pop song forms in lieu of the heavily sampled dance music Mantena created on two previous EPs.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Boots Riley of The Coup
Since returning from a brief hiatus in the mid-1990s, Oakland’s The Coup has flirted with perfection on three albums: 1998’s Steal This Album, 2001’s Party Music, and 2006’s Pick a Bigger Weapon.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Mary Chapin Carpenter
Atypically outspoken for a politically liberal contemporary country singer, Carpenter has succeeded critically and commercially while honoring her own artistic inclinations.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Nikki Lane
Rarely do musicians arrive on the scene as fully formed as Nikki Lane. Her full-length debut, Walk of Shame, on Los Angeles-based IM Sounds, reveals a performer with the confidence to move fearlessly between genres while retaining her own singular identity.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Todd Snider
While the electric guitar marks a departure from Todd Snider’s last few records, Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables falls squarely into the groove he hit after 2004’s East Nashville Skyline. A laid back traditionalist whose wry lyrics belie his stoner persona, Snider trades in smart, sharply observed songs delineating the travails of American have-nots.
...moreRumpus Sound Takes: California Bubble Pop
Ty Segall Goodbye Bread (Drag City) Orange County native Ty Segall weaves garage, surf, glam, and psychedelic rock into a collage that plays as self-consciously with its sources as any post-1960s folk music.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with James McMurtry
I call James McMurtry late one morning when I’m visiting Austin, Texas. By now, I’ve seen him play three times, in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and California, and I’m always struck by the way audiences in different parts of the country identify with his songs.
...moreRumpus Sound Takes: Inside Outside
Iceage New Brigade (What’s Your Rupture?) Perhaps because the band consists of four clean-cut Danish teenagers, Iceage’s brash, discordant punk has made it the darlings of both the Pitchfork and the Maximumrocknroll sets.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Jolie Holland
In July I speak to Jolie Holland on the phone the morning after she plays Norman, Oklahoma, two weeks into her tour to support her new record, Pint of Blood.
...moreRumpus Sound Takes: Appalachian Punk and Authenticity’s Chimera
O’Death Outside (Ernest Jenning Record Co.) Don’t let the banjo fool you. For all their eclecticism, Brooklyn-based O’Death’s frame of reference remains firmly indie—strained male tenor singing abstruse lyrics over pop arrangements.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Martin Atkins
The first time I call Martin Atkins in Chicago, I get his voicemail. The second time, Martin answers, but he’s just arriving home from his office,
...moreRumpus Sound Takes: Fuzzy Auteur
Banjo or Freakout Banjo or Freakout (Rare Book Room Records) Considering how well produced Banjo or Freakout’s self-titled debut is, one assumes auteur Alessio Natalizia must’ve buried the vocals in the mix because sound trumps sensibility.
...more
WUSA Reconsidered: Newman’s Epic Flop Forty Years Later
I’ve always had a soft spot for literary and cinematic evocations of New Orleans.
...more