Alfred Soto
@sotoalfred.bsky.social
I write things. Pitchfork. Stereogum. SPIN. Vice Chair of https://bsky.app/profile/floridafilmcritics.bsky.social
Space and light and dreams
That's what people need.
Space and light and dreams
That's what people need.
Reposted by Alfred Soto
I review De La Soul's wonderful CABIN IN THE SKY, as vibrant, buoyant, and thoughtful as any they've released. A lovely year-end surprise. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/04/p...
People go through pain and still don’t gain: De La Soul’s ‘Cabin in the Sky’
De La Soul have the undimmed ebullience of guys who send invitations to join a flourishing club. They assume we’ll know the in-jokes, lingo, hand signals; they assume the in-jokes, lingo, and…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I review De La Soul's wonderful CABIN IN THE SKY, as vibrant, buoyant, and thoughtful as any they've released. A lovely year-end surprise. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/04/p...
I review De La Soul's wonderful CABIN IN THE SKY, as vibrant, buoyant, and thoughtful as any they've released. A lovely year-end surprise. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/04/p...
People go through pain and still don’t gain: De La Soul’s ‘Cabin in the Sky’
De La Soul have the undimmed ebullience of guys who send invitations to join a flourishing club. They assume we’ll know the in-jokes, lingo, hand signals; they assume the in-jokes, lingo, and…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I review De La Soul's wonderful CABIN IN THE SKY, as vibrant, buoyant, and thoughtful as any they've released. A lovely year-end surprise. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/04/p...
Happy birthday to Sean Carter. The Kids don't mention him much: he's as much a statue in the park to them as his beloved Frank Sinatra was in my teens. Here are his best albums (hint: RD and The Blueprint do not top my list). humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/r...
Ranking Jay-Z’s best albums
He kept going after 2003, releasing a 2006 comeback that’s better than I remembered, a soundtrack called American Gangster that I overrated but sounds fine, and more product, some of which, l…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Happy birthday to Sean Carter. The Kids don't mention him much: he's as much a statue in the park to them as his beloved Frank Sinatra was in my teens. Here are his best albums (hint: RD and The Blueprint do not top my list). humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/r...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
With “Trans-Europe Express” Kraftwerk added propulsion to their instinct for knowing how the future flickered in the present. Its allusiveness — hi, David and Iggy! — is part of its deluxe design. wp.me/pzXeC-kJz
Ranking #67 singles, U.S. edition: 1976-1979
“Autobahn” was a fluke, but at least it introduced millions of Americans to a German quartet recording electronic soul music as beautiful as Teddy Pendergrass and as austere as Roberta …
wp.me
December 4, 2025 at 1:18 AM
With “Trans-Europe Express” Kraftwerk added propulsion to their instinct for knowing how the future flickered in the present. Its allusiveness — hi, David and Iggy! — is part of its deluxe design. wp.me/pzXeC-kJz
With “Trans-Europe Express” Kraftwerk added propulsion to their instinct for knowing how the future flickered in the present. Its allusiveness — hi, David and Iggy! — is part of its deluxe design. wp.me/pzXeC-kJz
Ranking #67 singles, U.S. edition: 1976-1979
“Autobahn” was a fluke, but at least it introduced millions of Americans to a German quartet recording electronic soul music as beautiful as Teddy Pendergrass and as austere as Roberta …
wp.me
December 4, 2025 at 1:18 AM
With “Trans-Europe Express” Kraftwerk added propulsion to their instinct for knowing how the future flickered in the present. Its allusiveness — hi, David and Iggy! — is part of its deluxe design. wp.me/pzXeC-kJz
I'm curious as hell to learn how viewers will respond to 'Sirât,’ which, at my most uncharitable, does unfold like calamity porn ("Let's see, who's next on the kill list..."). My review. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/b...
Busy dying: ‘Sirât’
According to the intensity of disagreement and the steady deluge of jokes, no 2025 film has divided my critic cohort than Sirât. Writer-director Oliver Laxe (Mimosas). follows Luis (Sergi López), a…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I'm curious as hell to learn how viewers will respond to 'Sirât,’ which, at my most uncharitable, does unfold like calamity porn ("Let's see, who's next on the kill list..."). My review. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/b...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Jean-Luc Godard would've celebrated a birthday. I wonder what he would've thought of NOUVELLE VAGUE. wp.me/pzXeC-g89
Jean-Luc Godard — RIP
Michael Gebert’s line “He made sense when you or the whole world was twenty-one” is one way of looking at this dervish, who until he expired directed movies that replaced narrativ…
wp.me
December 3, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Jean-Luc Godard would've celebrated a birthday. I wonder what he would've thought of NOUVELLE VAGUE. wp.me/pzXeC-g89
Jean-Luc Godard would've celebrated a birthday. I wonder what he would've thought of NOUVELLE VAGUE. wp.me/pzXeC-g89
Jean-Luc Godard — RIP
Michael Gebert’s line “He made sense when you or the whole world was twenty-one” is one way of looking at this dervish, who until he expired directed movies that replaced narrativ…
wp.me
December 3, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Jean-Luc Godard would've celebrated a birthday. I wonder what he would've thought of NOUVELLE VAGUE. wp.me/pzXeC-g89
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Roger McGuinn's guitar and whinnying notes merged w/ David Crosby's harmonies to create a sound that everyone from slow Big Star to fast Tom Petty would emulate. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Ranking #40 singles, U.S. edition: 1965-1969
Devastated by what Sonny & Cher had done to His Precious, Dylan may have regarded the Byrds as the purest vehicle to cover his uncharacteristically sweet little ditty. He was right: Roger McGui…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Roger McGuinn's guitar and whinnying notes merged w/ David Crosby's harmonies to create a sound that everyone from slow Big Star to fast Tom Petty would emulate. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Roger McGuinn's guitar and whinnying notes merged w/ David Crosby's harmonies to create a sound that everyone from slow Big Star to fast Tom Petty would emulate. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Ranking #40 singles, U.S. edition: 1965-1969
Devastated by what Sonny & Cher had done to His Precious, Dylan may have regarded the Byrds as the purest vehicle to cover his uncharacteristically sweet little ditty. He was right: Roger McGui…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Roger McGuinn's guitar and whinnying notes merged w/ David Crosby's harmonies to create a sound that everyone from slow Big Star to fast Tom Petty would emulate. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/r...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
I read a number of good books in November, including Robert Glück's JACK THE MODERNIST and -- get this -- Frantz Fanon and Aimé Césaire for the first time. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ5
My November 2025 reading
“I wanted the pleasures and politics of the fragment and the pleasures and politics of story, gossip, fable and case history; the randomness of chance and a sense of inevitability; sincerity …
wp.me
December 2, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I read a number of good books in November, including Robert Glück's JACK THE MODERNIST and -- get this -- Frantz Fanon and Aimé Césaire for the first time. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ5
I read a number of good books in November, including Robert Glück's JACK THE MODERNIST and -- get this -- Frantz Fanon and Aimé Césaire for the first time. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ5
My November 2025 reading
“I wanted the pleasures and politics of the fragment and the pleasures and politics of story, gossip, fable and case history; the randomness of chance and a sense of inevitability; sincerity …
wp.me
December 2, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I read a number of good books in November, including Robert Glück's JACK THE MODERNIST and -- get this -- Frantz Fanon and Aimé Césaire for the first time. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ5
I've been rooting for Byrne.
BEST ACTRESS: Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
December 2, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I've been rooting for Byrne.
Good.
December 2, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Good.
In my estimation "Hit Me Baby..." and "Oops..." aren't even Britney's best singles, such was her strength for a while. Happy birthday. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2017/02/25/m...
Miss bad media karma: The best of Britney Spears
Here’s to one of the most consistent record makers of the last fifteen years. As I wrote in 2011, “Britney Spears is the polymorphic essence of every disco dolly who’s so post-feminist/…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:12 AM
In my estimation "Hit Me Baby..." and "Oops..." aren't even Britney's best singles, such was her strength for a while. Happy birthday. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2017/02/25/m...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Country makes Hot 100 inroads while R.E.M. tumble hard after several years of success, despite one of their best latter-day singles. wp.me/pzXeC-kJe
Ranking #46 singles, U.S. edition: 1996-2000
As country crept on cat feet into the Billboard Hot 100, I noticed the quality. Montgomery Gentry and Faith Hill offer midtempo yearners as tough as the guitars, the Chicks already showed the attit…
wp.me
December 2, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Country makes Hot 100 inroads while R.E.M. tumble hard after several years of success, despite one of their best latter-day singles. wp.me/pzXeC-kJe
Country makes Hot 100 inroads while R.E.M. tumble hard after several years of success, despite one of their best latter-day singles. wp.me/pzXeC-kJe
Ranking #46 singles, U.S. edition: 1996-2000
As country crept on cat feet into the Billboard Hot 100, I noticed the quality. Montgomery Gentry and Faith Hill offer midtempo yearners as tough as the guitars, the Chicks already showed the attit…
wp.me
December 2, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Country makes Hot 100 inroads while R.E.M. tumble hard after several years of success, despite one of their best latter-day singles. wp.me/pzXeC-kJe
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Satan only appears at the end of "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton," but it's a memorable appearance.
December 1, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Satan only appears at the end of "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton," but it's a memorable appearance.
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Every year on World AIDS Day I commemorate my uncle, a man I barely knew who died in 1995. He haunts my memory because I can't say he was a great, good, or OK man -- he barely existed. In those days we tended to x-out AIDS victims. But his life shadows -- shades -- mine. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ3
Chronicle of a life foreclosed
(NB: Every year I add an autobiographical crinkle. Thanks for reading) The boy spent hours bouncing a rubber ball against a wall. The boy had problems. At the time, my mom said, she minded her moth…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Every year on World AIDS Day I commemorate my uncle, a man I barely knew who died in 1995. He haunts my memory because I can't say he was a great, good, or OK man -- he barely existed. In those days we tended to x-out AIDS victims. But his life shadows -- shades -- mine. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ3
Thanks. My hope is that, especially while living in South Florida, I never have to share it again.
As he notes, Alfred shares this story every year. It is one of his finest pieces of writing, and the sorrow is always that, in a better world, he would have never needed to write it. We should all be grateful, at least, for this piece in the world we are in.
Every year on World AIDS Day I commemorate my uncle, a man I barely knew who died in 1995. He haunts my memory because I can't say he was a great, good, or OK man -- he barely existed. In those days we tended to x-out AIDS victims. But his life shadows -- shades -- mine. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ3
December 1, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Thanks. My hope is that, especially while living in South Florida, I never have to share it again.
Every year on World AIDS Day I commemorate my uncle, a man I barely knew who died in 1995. He haunts my memory because I can't say he was a great, good, or OK man -- he barely existed. In those days we tended to x-out AIDS victims. But his life shadows -- shades -- mine. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ3
Chronicle of a life foreclosed
(NB: Every year I add an autobiographical crinkle. Thanks for reading) The boy spent hours bouncing a rubber ball against a wall. The boy had problems. At the time, my mom said, she minded her moth…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Every year on World AIDS Day I commemorate my uncle, a man I barely knew who died in 1995. He haunts my memory because I can't say he was a great, good, or OK man -- he barely existed. In those days we tended to x-out AIDS victims. But his life shadows -- shades -- mine. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ3
“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” Milton didn't know about air conditioning. Anyway, I like these tunes about Satan. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2021/12/01/s...
I’ve got the devil’s haircut: Songs about Satan and hell
I’ve read my Milton. I know the bit about Satan’s preference: “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” These songs acknowledge the pride of resistance and the shame o…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:19 PM
“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” Milton didn't know about air conditioning. Anyway, I like these tunes about Satan. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2021/12/01/s...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
I love this photo. Imagine the horror knowing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough" wasn't #1 for months. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ1
Ranking #19 singles, U.S. edition: 1964-1966
(Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns)[/caption] Aware that “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” didn’t top the chart, I was shocked on learning Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s …
wp.me
December 1, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I love this photo. Imagine the horror knowing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough" wasn't #1 for months. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ1
I love this photo. Imagine the horror knowing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough" wasn't #1 for months. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ1
Ranking #19 singles, U.S. edition: 1964-1966
(Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns)[/caption] Aware that “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” didn’t top the chart, I was shocked on learning Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s …
wp.me
December 1, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I love this photo. Imagine the horror knowing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough" wasn't #1 for months. wp.me/pzXeC-kJ1
Reposted by Alfred Soto
I admired Hamnet, a more lived-in experience than the novel. Chloé Zhao and cameraman Łukasz Żal summon the spirits of air and earth — I could smell the mud and rosemary. Yet the copiousness of the tear-letting starts to look like tear-jerking. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/30/t...
The play’s the thing: ‘Hamnet’
Hamnet in in part about the Healing Power of Art, but those unfamiliar with Maggie O’Farrell’s novel will realize — to their consternation, as I learned at my screening — th…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I admired Hamnet, a more lived-in experience than the novel. Chloé Zhao and cameraman Łukasz Żal summon the spirits of air and earth — I could smell the mud and rosemary. Yet the copiousness of the tear-letting starts to look like tear-jerking. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/30/t...