Premiere: Karate School Droupout Shares New Single “Keep It Up” feat. Marnie Sher

Feb 07, 2025 Caleb Campbell

Karate School Dropout is the latest project from Chicago-based musician, Arnold Madlangbayan. Arnold debuted under the moniker in 2023, releasing a pair of albums, Welcome to the Dojo and Hoku Psychosister, both of which evoked his upbeat DIY blend of power pop, shoegaze, and noise pop.

Twin Peaks: Building the Most Groundbreaking Show of the ’90s

Jan 24, 2025 Issue #72 - The ‘90s Issue with The Cardigans and Thurston Moore

This article originally appeared in Issue 72 of our print magazine, The ’90s Issue, which came out in 2024 and can be bought directly from us here. The article was exclusive to the print magazine but in honor of the recent passing of David Lynch, we are now posting it online. Lynch was not available to be interviewed for this article and all the other interviews were conducted long before his death.

Drew Hancock on the journey to direct his first feature film ‘Companion’

Feb 06, 2025 Web Exclusive

​Drew Hancock takes us into the journey of making his first feature film, Companion.

HotWax: From School Corridors to Festival Stages

Jan 29, 2025

HotWax reflect on their journey from grassroots venues to major festival stages, the raw intensity of touring, and the power of collaboration on their debut album Hot Shock.

Seven Music Documentary Films and Series From the Second Half of 2024 to Watch (and Three To Skip)

Jan 08, 2025

Halfway through 2024, we published a list of “Seven Music Documentary Films and Series From 2024 to Watch (and Three to Skip).” Another glut of music documentaries and series have been released since then including the superstar projects Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words (Prime Video), Luther: Never Too Much (CNN), Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken (Paramount+), Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (Hulu), Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour (Netflix), Elton John: Never Too Late (Disney+) and Yoshiki: Under the Sky (On Demand). If there is one takeaway from the overabundance of the biographical documentaries, it is that it’s best if the subject is not involved. The micromanaging of their story leaves viewers with a manicured and surface-level experience of the artist.

Although, the artist’s complete removal from the process can make a documentary spin into tabloid territory. There’s a lot of scandal on tap. Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter (Max) is the traumatic story of mental illness and sexual assault. While the latter is horrifying, the litigation is still underway. Why are the survivors on film talking about their experiences? Speaking of survivors, IMPACT x Nightline: Diddy’s Downfall (Hulu) is equally horrific and a far more disgusting explanation of the recent uncovering of Sean Combs’ abusive, and illegal actions during his entire time in the spotlight. Secret Life of Diddy: A Special Edition of 20/20 (Hulu) covers the exact same ground with many of the same talking heads journalists and individuals. On the positive side of hip hop, Tale of the Tape (Tubi) explores the world of mixtapes, the skill involved in making them, their impact on the culture and the legends of that scene. While the homemade quality of this short but deep unpacking is charming, it only speaks to people in that space and doesn’t go far in educating the uninitiated.

A brave director with a strong grasp on storytelling can create a compelling product that draws you in, whether or not you are interested in the artist or topic. But it feels like there is a positive correlation between the number of music documentaries released and how many of them aren’t worth pressing play on. Here are seven from the second half of 2024 that are worth watching and three not so much.—By Lily Moayeri

Nile, Six Feet Under @ Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, New Jersey, US, January 17, 2025

Jan 23, 2025 By Matthew Berlyant

Nile and Six Feet Under brought their co-headline tour to the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville last week

I Watched 416 Movies in 2024

Jan 31, 2025 By Mark Redfern

As I did in 2023, in 2024 I kept a detailed log of every film I watched, all as part of my quest to watch as many movies I’d never seen before as possible. The ideal was to watch at least one film a day and adding it all up, it looks like I more than accomplished that. I watched 416 films in 2024—17 short films and 399 feature length films.