July's Pop Culture Hot List
Image: Amanda Hakan
The Album New York–based Peter Murray and Portlander Jennie Wayne, a.k.a. John Heart Jackie, reconceive the album for the Spotify/iTunes age with Episodes, releasing 11 tracks one by one over a series of months. Each song comes with its own visual world of video, images, and artwork. On the first, “Nevada City,” Wayne’s soaring, crystalline vocals bring something anthemic to their folk pop sound. johnheartjackie.com
Image: Harper
The Book War, sex, art, and love all get literary treatment in The Small Backs of Children, the latest from Portland author Lidia Yuknavitch. From a book that moves between continents and narrative styles, expect the experimental. (Harper/Harper Collins, July)
Image: Oni Press
The Comic Portland’s Oni Press brings back the tiny, power-hungry alien Invader Zim, last seen almost a decade ago on Nicktoons. Now the diminutive menace is back, in comic form, with a new series out this month promising to pick up where the beloved show left off.
