The Demise of a Newsletter
Another Substack writer jettisons the platform.
No Carbon Copies
Damon Krukowski from Galaxie 500 writes about the vitality of live music — not just music experienced in person, but also live albums. I started collecting live albums— bootlegs in particular — because they helped me hear how musicians actually play their instruments. Growing up in the heyday of 1960s and ’70s
Let Me Take You Out
Listening to “Let Me Take You Out” by Class Actress in 2025 feels like hearing the sound of promise unfulfilled. When the single from their first EP, Journal of Ardency came out in 2010, it seemed like the start of a band destined to make a mark. The song was
Negative Witness
In the TV series, Shogun,, the fish out of water character, John Blackthorne, a Protestant English sailor on a Dutch ship, finds himself stranded in Japan. Almost immediately, viewers are introduced to his intense hatred of Catholics, particularly the Portuguese priests he quickly encounters in the country. He spews vehement
Long After Midnight
Few musicians are as prolific as Jenn Wasner, the creative force behind Flock of Dimes. She has made much critically acclaimed music as both as Wye Oak and Flock of Dimes as well as collaborating with a host of others on their tunes My favorite project of hers is the
Walden on an iPad
I was reading some thoughts on Walden the other day, and I realized I hadn’t engaged with one of my favorite philosophical works in some time. I first encountered Thoreau and the transcendentalists as a teenager. Their emphasis on nonconformity seemed really punk at the time. Wasn’t Jello
A Frog And Toad Kind of Life
Sometimes a slower pace is what we need.
Format Wars
It's difficult to decide whether buying physical media is worthwhile.
Cleaning Out My Closet
I was inspired by this post from Adam Wood to go through my Roon library and remove albums that didn’t necessarily belong as part of my collection. These were albums that were taken in as a result of curiosity and didn’t sustain my interest past an initial listen
