Today In Pop Culture: I’m Not Saying It Was A Yeti, But…

By Jeffery X Martin

Today in Pop Culture, a hike in the snowy mountains turned deadly for nine hikers in the Soviet Union. The cause of their death has never been determined. If it has, the Russian government has never released it. All they will say is that something killed those mountaineers. You’ll hear all kinds of conspiracy theories about what murdered those people, cockamamie theories from one side of the Internet to the other.

Come on.
We all know the Yeti got them.

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TV Review: F is for Family, Season 1

By Tyler Hodg

Netflix’s latest original adult-oriented cartoon, F is for Family, is racist, homophobic, and misogynistic–all in the name of satire.

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Today In Pop Culture: Polanski Runs For The Border

By Jeffery X Martin

TRIGGER WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

You don’t often think about people fleeing the country unless its wartime, and there’s a flood of refugees hitting the shores. But sometimes, people get the hell out of Dodge because they’ve done something horribly wrong and want to avoid going to the hoosegow.

It’s even weirder when the person fleeing is an internationally known film director.

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Music Review: Ty Segall, Emotional Mugger

By Less Lee Moore

American nightmare, guilty generation / fingers on the pulse of their parents’ alienation / from the history, histories of Western civilization
–Ty Segall, “California Hills”

There was a 1987 SPIN magazine cover story on David Bowie called “What Next, Put Together Man?” and while I can’t recall the article’s content exactly, that question has lingered in my brain ever since. At the time I was only just beginning to grasp the depth and breadth of Bowie’s shape-shifting abilities, and it took me years to fully understand the significance of that particular query.

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Music Review: Tortoise, The Catastrophist

By Jeffery X Martin

There’s a sense of playfulness on the new album from Tortoise, The Catastrophist. It feels like listening to a card trick. Let’s call it “sleight of ear.”

Mostly an instrumental band, Tortoise comes on as Nintendo-core. The keyboards have that glorious 8-bit sound, but then the drums start and the guitar comes floating in like the backwash of a canyon echo. Almost imperceptibly, the music has moved from Bowser’s Castle to some place far more ethereal.

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The Official Popshifter Podcast, Episode #08–We Don’t Understand People

Welcome to Episode #08 of The Official Popshifter Podcast.

Less Lee Moore and Jeffery X Martin have a hard time dealing with the state of the Hivemind, and discuss the Popshifter Manifesto, which is the driving force behind the pop culture coverage at the site. Also: The Oscars, the Royal Rumble, The X-Files and other stuff requiring the article, “The.” Please enjoy this podcast responsibly.

Ivelisse Shines in the Lucha Underground Season 2 Premiere!

By Sachin Hingoo

We’re back, folks! The second season of Lucha Underground is underway and it’s going to be darker than ever.

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Today in Pop Culture: Sing Along with History, Volume Two

By Jeffery X Martin

One thing I’ve learned from writing this column is that history, even something as seemingly fluffy as pop culture history, consists mostly of death. It’s depressing. Factual, but depressing as hell. Sometimes, you’ve got to get silly, especially on a Friday.

Can I get a witness?

I think it’s time for another singalong.

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Music Review: Your Friend, Gumption

By Melissa Bratcher

Your Friend’s follow up to 2014’s self-recorded EP, Jekyll/Hyde, is richly textural and gorgeously produced. Gumption is enigmatic, with much to unpack. You can listen to the layers and loops, you can listen for Taryn Miller’s fascinating vocals, you can close your eyes and let the waves of sound wash over you. It’s an immersive, intriguing album.

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Today In Pop Culture: The Challenge Of Charles Starkweather

By Jeffery X Martin

While it is proper to acknowledge that this is the 30th anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle, Challenger, it is also safe to say that the nation will be inundated with those painful memories today. There are other things to remember on this date, though, and they aren’t as glorified and politicized. The paths of glory are many, and we are all on our own road through history.

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