I listened to Joy Division a lot in my early '20s. The Eternal is a 16-disc audio-video monument to — and revision of — the band’s legacy. It’s an amazing set and I wrote long on it. I also wrote lon...

Scrawl, Wussy, Dumptruck, Come, Barbara Manning, Nice Strong Arm, etcetera mark 30 (or 40) years at a Catskill, NY, micro-festival. Plus: some albums I’m loving.

Thoughts on new music by Brennan Wedl, @ [pronounced “at”] and Getdown Services. Plus: a gem-stuffed, lovingly-sequenced mixtape of my journalist-notebook playlist.

Deep cuts, rarities, covers, podcasts. A celebration of (and short syllabus on) the late great country music singer/songwriter, international pop icon, and beautiful human being.

Kieran Hebden, aka: Four Tet, aka: the glitch-triggering [Wingdings], remains the most exquisitely musical superstar DJ on the planet. A brief history.

Excellent writing about music and America, music and Britain, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, William Blake, Pentangle, Alice Coltrane, Sandy Denny, Druids, Dr. John, John Coltrane, John F. Kennedy, and more.

Kieran Hebden, aka: Four Tet, aka: the glitch-triggering [Wingdings], remains the most exquisitely musical superstar DJ on the planet. A brief history.

Weekend notes, links + jollies. New music, old music, an ace salsa history podcast, and some good reads.

A road song about loss and speed and memory by a young singer/songwriter you should know about. Plus links to kindred songs from the past half-century.

Benedict Lombe's "Shifters" — a UK import at the tiny Cherry Lane Theater in the West Village — made me weep. And the music was sweet.

YouTube video by Wolfgang's Grateful Dead

I spoke w/ the poet, activist + reggae legend about retirement, resistance, the West African renaissance, the newly-restored 1979 doc "DREAD BEAT AN BLOOD" + the wordless solo album he just finished.

I spoke w/ the poet, activist + reggae legend about retirement, resistance, the West African renaissance, the newly-restored 1979 doc "DREAD BEAT AN BLOOD" + the wordless solo album he just finished.

Music history can tether us to the present. Thoughts on the (English) Beat's "Whine and Grine/Stand Down Margaret" and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire"

Wilco's Solid Sound. Montreal Jazz Fest. Le Festival International Nuits d’Afrique. The holy communion of concert-going.

Wilco's Solid Sound. Montreal Jazz Fest. Le Festival International Nuits d’Afrique. The holy communion of concert-going.

A firecracker for a fearsomely hot Fourth of July weekend.

A young Iraqi sculptor and "melody freak" finds musical community in Brooklyn and builds a remarkable electronic folk-rock. Also: new music from Lebanon

His eighth LP, "Little Wide Open," is one of 2026's best. We spoke about songwriting, his LA "indie rock retirement community," and a maybe-someday duo LP with his partner Katie (aka Waxahatchee)

Favorites from 2026 so far — hypnotic grooves, tasty covers, pan-national songcraft. Music for slacking, patio pizza dinners and long-ass drives.

Bonus post: a summer concert guide + love letter to, quite possibly, the most vital live music region in America. (Co-published w/ The Kingstonian)

This week, hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot talk with biographer Will Hermes about his book on Lou Reed, as well as Lou’s music, persona, legacy and more.

Laura Marling, Jeff Tweedy, Waxahatchee + MJ Lenderman play covers: Adrianne Lenker, Neutral Milk Hotel, Portishead, Townes Van Zandt, T-Rex, Gillian Welch. They're not on streaming services.

A Belfast singer-songwriter offers cold comfort that's strangely comforting on the title track of a striking new album.

A tender Joy Division cover. An elegant Sonny Sharrock cover. Abstract beats. Watercolor jazz. New Death Cab For Cutie. Nia Archives. Tom Misch. A 112-track LP of emo-folk-rock mashups.

It’s not when-Dylan-went-electric, it’s not when Dylan ditched protest songs: it's when Dylan laid the foundations for everything we love

A semi-regular survey of new(-ish) volumes. First up: a deep-dive primer on '70s Bolivian tropical jams — psychedelic chicha, cumbia, etcetera.

Gillian Welch's Grateful Dead jukebox. Rosalía's Brit Awards rave. Avant-garde Congolese street jams. '70s Sao Tomé puxa grooves. Velvet Underground ephemera. Etcetera.

YouTube video by Lund Peterson

Notes on the pan-American salsa innovator + New York City legend (e.g. Bad Bunny's shout-out in "NUEVAYol"), and a streaming playlist primer for folks who think they don't like salsa.

Big Thief's wingman on California wildfires, making music with older folks, his new solo album, and what's next (a new Big Thief LP).

Thoughts on music journalism, social media "content creation," Substack, failing newspapers, Pitchfork's paywall, and graded art.

Sault. Springsteen. Billy Bragg. Peter Gabriel. Cleo Sol. Imarhan. Mitski. María Zardoya. Ratboys. Arlo Parks. Joshua Idehen. Lucinda Williams.

A streaming playlist primer on the innovative Jamaican drummer, producer, beat architect. Peter Tosh, Grace Jones, Black Uhuru, Bob Dylan, Sinéad O'Connor, Serge Gainsbourg, Gregory Isaacs, and more.

Your Roots Are Showing – Ireland's international folk + roots music conference – breaks North. Dani Larkin. Corás Trio. Eve Goodman & SERA. Rissi Palmer. Amy Grant.

A latter-day David Bowie box, vampiric streaming platforms, and neighborhood DJ-ing renewed my love of LPs and CDs.

No artist has inspired me more.

YouTube video by Bonnie's Pride and Joy

Random odds and ends. Instagram = the new YouTube. 1977 Los Angeles on film (Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne).

A handmade 10-hour mixtape playlist w/ notes. Happy holidays.

Starting Dec 12 at 11:00 AM EST