David Berman and the Re-Enchantment of Life
On his life, work, and existential longing in late capitalism.
38 Articles by: Alexander Billet
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Alexander Billet is a writer and critic based in Los Angeles. He is the author of Shake the City: Experiments In Space and Time, Music and Crisis and has contributed to Los Angeles Review of Books, Salvage, Protean, Chicago Review, and other outlets. Read more of his work at alexanderbillet.com.
Why the Clash Matter
Underneath all the kitsch and marketing pomp, the Clash still have something to teach us about art as a site of struggle.
Bono Kills the Planet
Rock concerts can’t stop the ice sheets from melting.
Laughing at Rich Kids
Ja Rule’s Fyre Festival gave us a chance to laugh at rich kids. It also told us something about modern culture.
Freedom’s Call
Inappropriate campaign music is the only good campaign music.
Alton Sterling’s Right to the City
The murder of Alton Sterling attacked the idea that public space and culture should belong to those who produce them.
Hollywood’s End Times
Independence Day: Resurgence reflects how little vision Hollywood — and neoliberalism — have left.
Super Official Marx
The Chinese Communist Party put out a hip-hop track praising Karl Marx. It’s as bad as you would expect.
All Power to the Imagination
Socialism will be the first absolute unleashing of creativity in human history.
The Prince Position
It may be trite to say that Prince broke down boundaries, but that’s what made his music such a revelation.
Metal’s Bleeding Edge
Heavy metal should not be ceded to its racist elements.
The Man Who Fell to Earth
David Bowie showed that even if artists can dream, they can never fully remove themselves from the world.
Fellow Traveler Frank
Though he became a Reaganite, Frank Sinatra’s early career was shaped by the Popular Front’s experiments in left-wing culture.
The Metamorphosis at 100
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis speaks to the banality of terror in a world dominated by capital.
Songs of Emptiness
Bono’s mission isn’t simply to provide capitalism with a human face. It’s to ruin music in the process.
Change the People
A recent book on musician Fred Ho reveals some starting points for a modern radical avant-garde.
Fred Ho’s Far-Out, Radical Journey
Fred Ho’s dedication to challenging capitalism$’s logic through art only grew stronger in his final days.
The Sound of the Small C
Pete Seeger represented a musical tradition that can’t be divorced from American radicalism.