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Album of the Day: Ted Hearne, “The Source”
When distraught Army Private Chelsea Manning sent nearly three-quarters of a million classified government documents to WikiLeaks, then confessed as much to hacker Adrian Lamo, surely she had no...
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Mic Write on Police Brutality, Gentrification, and Misconceptions of Detroit
In December 2014, following the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and countless other unarmed black men at the hands of police, Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson called for a new wave of protest music....
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Back to the Future: the Top Ten Vaporwave Albums of 2016
There’s something odd about writing a retrospective piece on the year’s happenings in the virtual world of vaporwave. Not because 2016 didn’t bring a healthy raft of standout albums and novel...
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Album of the Day: Earth Tongues, “Ohio”
A look at the lineup of New York’s Earth Tongues—tuba player Dan Peck, percussionist Carlo Costa, and trumpeter Joe Moffett—might give some listeners pause. How, exactly, do those components work...
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Tommy ’86 Takes Us Behind the Scenes of His Sci-Fi Epic
Tommy ’86. Photo by Sylvain Clapot. As Blood Music continues to break new ground in a synthwave scene, it’s easy to forget the Finnish label’s roots in left-field metal like Strapping Young Lad, Sigh,...
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A Painter On The Drums: Jamire Williams Details His Artful Solo Project
If you like jazz, there’s a good chance you’ve heard drummer Jamire Williams, even if you didn’t know he was there. The Houston-born percussionist—known for his controlled, yet disjointed style—has...
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Rebeca Lane: Hip-Hop From the Four Colors of the Corn
Rebeca Lane. Photo by Cynthia Vance. “I don’t think the music itself has the power to change the world, but I do believe that it has the power to create a consciousness about what you are or what you...
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How D.C. Label 1432 R Became A Go-To Place For Ethiopian Dance
“D.C.’s not as basic as people make it out to be,” says Joyce Lim, one-third of the group behind indie dance label 1432 R. The label takes its name from the address—1432 R St. NW—where Lim and her...
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Album of the Day: Tony Molina, “Confront the Truth”
Bay Area punk stalwart Tony Molina’s 2014 album Dissed and Dismissed was a rush of power and melody—12 breakneck songs that blew by in about 10 minutes, reducing pop songs to their basic elements and...
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A Brief Guide to the Music of Kool A.D.
Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, famously posited the idea that one needs 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become the master of a craft. Kool A.D. probably reached that number years ago. It...
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30 Tracks to Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Acid House
Some sounds seem to short-circuit our notions of new and old, future and retro. The gurgles, burps, whoops and warbles of acid are some of the most easily recognizable and timeless—the Roland SH-101,...
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The Intimidating and Rewarding Harsh Noise Wall of Goth Girl
By intentional definition and style, harsh noise wall is enigmatic. It’s hard to describe it if you’ve never heard it — not that this stops its connoisseurs (and detractors) from trying. Andrew...
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Album of the Day: Elaquent, “Worst Case Scenario”
Having already established himself as a prolific beatmaker with a growing catalog, Elaquent could’ve simply released another collection of sample-heavy, head-nodding instrumentals—that’s how he built...
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The Best New Jazz on Bandcamp
You might expect that, as the year winds to a close, the deluge of excellent new jazz recordings might subside. Not so: there were more worthy releases than could fit into one column. The releases...
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Optimism, Tragedy, and IDM: Josh Eustis Returns to Telefon Tel Aviv
Josh Eustis. Photo by Corinne Schiavone. Electronic musician/producer Josh Eustis is known as a lot of things. He’s marked time as a touring member of both Nine Inch Nails and Puscifer. He’s made...
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Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater On Why Music Shouldn’t be Grape Nuts or...
Shearwater. Photo by Sarah Cass. Though he’s arguably best known for his work fronting the art-rock outfit Shearwater, Jonathan Meiburg’s interests and pursuits go well beyond music. He’s a world...
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Album of the Day: Medline, “Old Souls Carnival”
French-Chilean artist Orlando Diaz Corvalan is a man of many talents. He’s a multi-instrumentalist, producer and label executive, and since 2009, he’s released a slew of music on different formats and...
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Rodrigo Amado on Collaboration and Why “Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword”
Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio. Photo by by João de Sá. Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado records and performs in a wide variety of contexts, but his longest-running group is Motion Trio, with cellist...
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“Batsumi” Is A South African Gem Made In The Face of Oppression
Batsumi. Photo by Times Media Limited. During the brutal era in South African history known as Apartheid, the minority-white ruling party forcibly moved millions of black South Africans from their...
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Introducing: Jenny Besetzt
Jenny Besetzt. Photo by Cole Giordano. In North Carolina’s research triangle of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, where Piedmont blues and psych-leaning indie rock are popular (Merge is headquartered...
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