Kyle Koeppe (George Mason): The Ugly as Political: Black Metal and Adorno. From PopMatters, anatomy of a viral smash: Dave Whitaker on Bauuer's “Harlem Shake”; Geoff Nelson on the rise and fall of the Strokes; and Colin McGuire writes in defense of opening acts. The ladies sing the blues: Isha Singh Sawhney on the new sounds of female playback singers. Jamilah King on the trouble with Justin Timberlake’s appropriation of black music. The Beatles thawed the Cold War more efficiently than missiles or diplomacy: James McNair reviews How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin by Leslie Woodhead. Rock and roll is (mostly) noise pollution — and now book publishing is choking on it, as rock enters its “memoir” phase. Matthew Breen interviews Tegan and Sara on leaving a political record. Randy Rieland on eight new things we've learned about music. Jason Iannone on the 6 least hip Internet references in song lyric history.
