RECOMMENDS
OUR TOP POPCULTURE PICKS OF THE MONTH
TV MINISERIES 1. WandaVision
In this trippy-looking Avengers spinoff, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their MCU roles — only now, the superheroes are shacked up in suburbia.
ALBUM 2. Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Good News’
Megan’s long-awaited debut album is every bit as audacious as we had hoped, whether she’s demanding justice for Breonna Taylor or celebrating her own magisterial ass.
PODCAST 3. ‘The Lydian Spin’
Punk provocateur Lydia Lunch teams up with her Retrovirus bassist Tim Dahl to interview friends and pop-culture luminaries from Margaret Cho to David Amram, offering dark humor — and an uncanny ability to get people to open up.
DOCUMENTARY 4. ‘The Dissident’
Jamal Khashoggi’s gruesome 2018 murder shocked the world, but the circumstances of the Saudi journalist’s death are far more complicated than headlines indicated. Director Bryan Fogel offers a chilling look at how far autocracies will go to quash dissent.
DOCUMENTARY 5. ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart’
Frank Marshall’s new
Bee Gees doc chronicles the rise of the tragic hitmaking trio, featuring rare archival footage and new interviews with surviving brother Barry Gibb, as well as members of other family acts, like Noel Gallagher and Nick Jonas.
BOOK 6. ‘Let the Lord Sort Them’
Marshall Project journalist Maurice Chammah transforms capital punishment from an abstract idea to a gut-wrenching reality in this expertly reported examination of Texas’ notorious death penalty.
EP 7. Martin Gore’s ‘The Third Chimpanzee’
Depeche Mode’s chief creative force delivers a five-song EP with instrumentals so atmospheric he’s said the sound “wasn’t human.”
COOKING SHOW 8. ‘Stump Sohla’
Former Bon Appétit chef Sohla El-Waylly is back on YouTube for this new series, where she tackles challenges like crafting a seven-course tasting menu using items bought only from the corner deli.
ORAL HISTORY 9. ‘Alright, Alright, Alright’
Former Rolling Stone editor Melissa Maerz talked to nearly everyone involved with Dazed and Confused for the definitive story of a cult classic that took a slow ride into the Seventies — and helped define the Nineties.
SINGLE 10. Steve Earle’s “Last Words”
The singer mourns the loss of son Justin Townes Earle in this portrait of a parent’s raw grief. “I don’t know what I’ll do/Until the day I follow you,” he whispers over acoustic guitar.