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1 week ago | 
africasacountry.com | Christopher J. Lee |Nathan Yardy |Vanessa Burger |Sean Jacobs
South Africa’s swerve from liberation to bungling kleptocracy is not unique—the United States is in the throes of an analogous meltdown—but the speed and extent of that unraveling continue to both perplex and prefigure thinking about the prospects for recovery. The latest book by Vishwas Satgar, one of South Africa’s leading figures on the left, is a trove for anyone seeking a clearer understanding of the country’s hobbled efforts to step free of its past and a beacon for seeing past the gloom.
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2 weeks ago | 
spectrumculture.com | Christopher J. Lee
De La Soul remain among the most beloved hip-hop acts to emerge during the genre’s so called golden era during the late ’80s and early ’90s. There are numerous reasons for this affection. On their debut, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), the trio of Kelvin (Posdnuos) Mercer, Vincent (Maseo) Mason and David (Trugoy) Jolicoeur appeared fully formed in sound and purpose, bringing a new warmth and positive energy to the rap scene.
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1 month ago | 
spectrumculture.com | Christopher J. Lee
It may be every artist, writer and musician’s dream to go back and revise their early work. Such juvenilia can have awkward compositional edges, dwell on immature subjects, lack emotional restraint and generally display a limited ability with form and craft. In this sense, Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs is a form of wish fulfillment with the Chills going back to long ago material in order to tinker and revise it.
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1 month ago | 
spectrumculture.com | Christopher J. Lee
In retrospect, it makes perfect sense that the live material of Sonic Youth captures the spirit of the band more than their recorded material. Sonic Youth were never ones for endless studio tricks and hothouse recording sessions. The most effective production they had in their extensive catalog is arguably Butch Vig’s work on Dirty (1992), an album that added a dose of sheen to the aural volume that already existed.
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1 month ago | 
spectrumculture.com | Christopher J. Lee
By the time David Graeber passed away suddenly in 2020 at the age of 59, he had already become a folk hero to many. Trained as an anthropologist at the University of Chicago, Graeber became best known as a key figure in the Occupy Movement, which expressed the discontent of many in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, the subsequent government bailout of banks and the concurrent disregard for ordinary people who were deprived of any form of government assistance.
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2 months ago | 
spectrumculture.com | Christopher J. Lee
For better or worse, the Lemonheads are probably best known today for their cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson.” It first showed up as an independent single and was later included on 1992’s It’s a Shame About Ray, a pinnacle of the band’s career during their ‘90s heyday. Martin Scorsese re-popularized the song by using it as a backdrop toward the end of The Wolf of Wall Street when the feds raid the offices of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio).
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2 months ago | 
africasacountry.com | Benjamin Talton |Michael Bueckert |Christopher J. Lee
Amidst the slew of executive orders issued by US President Donald Trump—ranging from reinstating plastic straws, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and proclaiming that only two genders exist—one, in particular, reverberated around braais, brandies-and-cokes, and bakkies from Brackenfell to Benoni: the executive order “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” which included the policy that the “United States shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa” and that the...
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2 months ago | 
africasacountry.com | Steven Friedman |William Shoki |Christopher J. Lee
When Elon Musk marked Donald Trump’s inauguration with what seemed very much like a Nazi salute and was defended by a lobby that claimed to fight anti-Jewish racism, he and his defenders confirmed the death of two illusions. The first illusion is the belief that Zionism, the ideology that prompted the Israeli state’s genocide in Gaza, is about protecting Jews from racists.
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2 months ago | 
spectrumculture.com | Christopher J. Lee
When Hamish Kilgour of the Clean died in 2022, the outpouring of grief was global. Cofounder of the legendary New Zealand band along with his brother, David, Kilgour had an affable presence and a vagabond spirit that informed the Clean’s recordings as well as his own artistic peregrinations that reportedly led him to play with over 100 bands, in addition to pursuing a parallel career as a painter.
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Jan 24, 2025 | 
spectrumculture.com | Christopher J. Lee
Enarak’s self-titled debut, newly reissued, is promoted as an album, though it barely falls into this category. Consisting of six songs lasting just over 21 minutes, three of the tracks are recent reinterpretations by other, present-day musicians. In short, this release amounts to being a glorified EP. That said, it also functions as a rare time capsule – a forgotten message placed into a bottle and thrown out to sea.
