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Andy Cush

@cushac.bsky.social
1.2K followers 260 following 118 posts

musician, writer, editor

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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
I wrote about playing in Glenn Branca's 100-guitar Symphony No. 13, one of the most profoundly moving experiences of music I've ever had www.hearingthings.co/a-symphony-f...
hearingthings.co
A Symphony for 100 Electric Guitars
Playing Glenn Branca’s excruciatingly beautiful 'Hallucination City' at Lincoln Center was one of the deepest musical experiences of my life.
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Internet Jarryd (some say “best Jarryd”; ignore the spelling) @jbirdguy.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
For non musician music obsessives like me, these In Theory pieces by @cushac.bsky.social are so damn fun; personally, when the vocals come flooding in “Another Day”, I’m reminded of some of DJ Koze’s best work - another guy who fucks around in 7/8
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
thank you!
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
I went on tour with Frank Hurricane, a legend of DIY music and great American storyteller, who built a devoted fanbase show-by-show, without a manager or publicist. And the funniest dude I know. My profile, w guest spots from Ryan Davis and Guerilla Toss: www.hearingthings.co/the-last-fol...
hearingthings.co
The Last Folk Singer
On the road with Frank Hurricane, DIY hero and mystical troubadour of the American underbelly
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Dan @lewontin.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
I could not believe the name I read when I opened this email from Hearing Things. I completely forgot about this album. It consumed me for years. Please read this interview from Andy.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
i was hoping this would reach at least a few fellow members of the Dysnomia-changed-my-life club. thanks for reading!
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
on occasion of their quiet return to live performance, I interviewed Dawn of Midi about making Dysnomia, one of my favorite records of all time, and how it feels to come back to such a monumental work now that it's no longer at the center of their lives
hearingthings.co
Dawn of Midi's Eternal Return
The legendary experimental band on the making of their opus, 'Dysnomia,' and coming back to its obsessive rhythms 13 years later.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
I wrote a little tribute to Bob Weir, through the lens of "Playing in the Band" www.gq.com/story/bob-we...
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
given how fast everything is moving, i'm treating that stuff as passing / bass motion toward the chords where it eventually settles. taking a kind of macro view of what's happening harmonically. but of course all this stuff is open to multiple descriptions etc. you're def not crazy. maybe i am!
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
something I've wanted to do for a while: technical writing about songs (naming chords, etc) that is legible to non-technical readers, put together with more broadly interpretive criticism in hopes of getting to a deeper understanding of what the music is doing www.hearingthings.co/the-psycholo...
hearingthings.co
The Psychological Horror of Diana Ross' "Upside Down"
A close look at the mysterious underpinnings of a disco classic.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
glad to hear!
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
it's January so I finally published my longstanding crank theory about an all-time disco classic
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
my year end list is here :) www.hearingthings.co/andys-favori...
hearingthings.co
Andy's Favorite Music of 2025
From drizzly digital grunge to jackhammering club music, lo-fi guitar explorations to glacial jazz standards, this is the music that moved me most this year.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
🫡
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B. D. Hoben @bdhoben.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Chilly, rainy Sunday read: a sharp reflection on the legacy of the inimitable Fellers -- a wave like no other briefly crests before quickly breaking and rolling back.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
here's me on Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, a band too weird for this world pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
pitchfork.com
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: Strangers From the Universe
Read Andy Cush’s review of the album.
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Recliner Notes @reclinernotes.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
A fantastic piece by @cushac.bsky.social -long live Doug and the Bass VI www.hearingthings.co/the-guitar-b...
hearingthings.co
The Guitar-Bass Hybrid That Gives Tortoise Its Lonesome Sound
Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Douglas McCombs has made the cult-favorite Bass VI a staple of the post-rock legends’ palette.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
i'm trying to remember a line from an essay where the writer describes being a kid and lamenting that his friends who started bands took guitar-bass-drums as a given, that they didn't star glockenspiel-trumpet-cowbell bands, etc. thought it might be Lethem or Klosterman but can't find it. any ideas?
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Future of Music Coalition @futureofmusic.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Very helpful piece by @cushac.bsky.social unpacking the problem of AI Slop
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
wrote about slop www.hearingthings.co/why-is-it-so...
hearingthings.co
Why Is It So Easy to Flood Streaming With AI Slop?
And what the hell is Operation Clown Dump?
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Tom Avis @hivemindtom.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Asher White is so good at interviews! www.hearingthings.co/asher-whites...
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
I had such a great time talking to the young GOAT Asher White about her brilliant new album and her days as a tweenage noise musician www.hearingthings.co/asher-whites...
hearingthings.co
Asher White's Short, Strange Trip
The young experimental pop auteur talks about her life in music so far, from her days as a tweenage noise musician, to the bad acid experience that pulled her toward songwriting, to her thrilling new ...
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
🚨I interviewed Joshua Chuquimia Crampton of Los Thuthanaka about Boris, Milton Nascimento, Weather Report, and the Smashing Pumpkins🚨 www.hearingthings.co/joshua-chuqu...
hearingthings.co
Joshua Chuquimia Crampton of Los Thuthanaka Breaks Down 6 Perfectly Produced Records
From Bolivian charangueada to Japanese heavy metal, these are the productions that inspire the visionary guitarist.
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James Hell Brooks @kleinman.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Zohran Mamdani can lower housing costs by getting everyone who jets between New York and the South of France to leave the city for good
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
there's been a scandal brewing on nerdy guitar-centric corners of YouTube for the last couple of months about a guy who got caught copying other people's guitar solos and presenting them as his own. i wrote about that bizarre saga here www.hearingthings.co/the-great-in...
hearingthings.co
The Great Instagram Jazz Guitar Plagiarism Scandal
What Giacomo Turra shows us about the strange intersection of jazz and social media
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jesse jarnow @bourgwick.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
including my favorite smartphone/internet-free (really!) nyc dead freak on drums. saw him DJ 2 cassette tapes of "the other one" simultaneously for a true "anthem of the sun" effect at ye olde williamsburg dead night.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
thanks!
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Defector @defector.com · 03/06/2025
Ham trucks in France: Are they real? defector.com/dave-mckenna...
defector.com
Dave McKenna Insists They Have Ham Trucks In France | Defector
The topic in Defector’s internal chat on Friday was a ban, in the nation of France, on smoking in most outdoor spaces. How can the French—the French!—ban smoking? David Roth observed that “this feels…
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
I wrote an essay about life on the road in Prison (the band) and would be delighted if you read it www.hearingthings.co/prison-tour-...
hearingthings.co
Three Days in Prison
On the road with one of America’s freakiest rock’n’roll bands.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Hearing Things is now 100% worker owned. it's a big, exciting step, and it means we need the support of our readers more than ever. www.hearingthings.co/hearing-thin...
hearingthings.co
Hearing Things Is Now 100% Worker-Owned
A word from your fearless founders
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
I was gonna say 'Boarding Gate' but I see you beat me to it
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Paul just told me he bought the 45 of the 60s novelty song “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Ha” as one of his first ever records as a kid in Louisville, sold it not long after, then as an adult saw his old copy in a shop in NYC, with his name written still on the sleeve, and bought it back
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
very grateful to be on the road playing rock n roll with my friends Paul Major, Doug Shaw, and Matt Lily, blasting the Stooges and Black Sabbath on late nite drives, passing the spliff around, getting stories from Paul about seeing Television in 77 and buying Led Zeppelin I at Kmart when it came out
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
to be clear I don’t think any independent music fan with a streaming account is a bad person or something, I had one for many years and I still host my own music on streaming, but I do want to push back against the prevailing notion that we as listeners don’t have a choice in our own participation
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
I really don’t know, honestly, and I tried to make my uncertainty about what artists and labels *should* do pretty clear in the piece I published earlier this week. but for me the choice as a listener feels a little more straightforward
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
lately i've been thinking about how people who already self-identify as belonging to "independent music" can put our money where are mouths are, rather than trying to convince the broader culture. i admit that's a limited perspective but it feels like a place where change might actually happen
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
sure, i mean your point about my focus on indie/DIY is true, that's the world i live in, when i say i go to ~3 shows a week in that NY Groove interview i'm talking about like 95% shows my friends are playing that i pay $10-15 at the door for, not PR guest list spots at webster hall
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
but i don't really buy that quitting streaming is for those who can afford it. i have 250 bucks in my bank account!
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
the line about listening to promo may have been ill-considered (i wrote this quickly as an intentionally sort of glib companion piece to a much larger feature), but was intended more to explain how i continue to do my job rather than a suggestion for non-journalists to follow
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
the point i'm trying to makeis not "how to get all 18-21 year olds to quit spotify and kill it once and for all," it's that, you, the reader, can easily choose not to give money to this evil corporation that is actively killing the thing you love. imo that choice matters whether or not teens follow
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The Tonearm @thetonearm.com · 30/04/2025
"… perhaps it’s because new [artists] are thrust immediately into the homogenizing machines of the streaming platforms, taught to think of themselves not as oppositional outsiders but as aspirants on the same playing field as global celebrities." Tune In, Drop Out →
hearingthings.co
Tune In, Drop Out
The independent musicians and labels who are saying no to streaming.
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Folk Police Recordings @folkpolice.com · 30/04/2025
Really good piece here by @cushac.bsky.social on musicians and labels who are turning their backs on the streaming behemoths www.hearingthings.co/musicians-no...
hearingthings.co
Tune In, Drop Out
The independent musicians and labels who are saying no to streaming.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
thanks!
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Ann Powers @annkpowers.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
This is maybe the sweetest thing I ever read
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J Escobedo Shepherd @jawnita.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
you must read @cushac.bsky.social's opus on how some independent musicians and labels are quitting streaming and making their own path for a variety of reasons, not least of which are economic. feels like this is just the start of a way bigger movement www.hearingthings.co/musicians-no...
hearingthings.co
Tune In, Drop Out
The independent musicians and labels who are saying no to streaming.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Especially since the publication of 'Mood Machine,' there's a growing sense among underground musicians that we don't have to simply accept our own exploitation by streaming. I wrote about the artists who are dropping out and imagining a future beyond it www.hearingthings.co/musicians-no...
hearingthings.co
Tune In, Drop Out
The independent musicians and labels who are saying no to streaming.
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Andy Cush @cushac.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
filling in on bass with the mighty PRISON for a few shows on the road next month, catch me in Indianapolis, Chicago, and Pittsburgh 🤘
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