Now Listening: Music for covens, dub technique, strange guitars
Records by OKO DJ, Jerod Rivera + Cat Lauigan, Moin, Mana Dealer, Maude Vôs.
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Bay Area duo Phipps Pt. on iteration, collaboration, and psychedelic folk
Lovage Sharrock and Jon Leidecker discuss Bay Area experimental music history, '70s French experimental folk music, and the challenge (and the joy) of developing a genuine collaborative process.
This Is Not a Year-End List
Instead, it's an open-format catalogue of the things that mattered in 2025, plus a lot of excellent records.
HTRK's "Psychic 9-5 Club," eleven years later
Reminiscing on the Australian duo's third album, which influenced a generation of records to come.
The music business is utterly enshittified. What's next?
Ruminations from the epicenter of Slopworld.
Intergenerational electronics: Spacetime Continuum & Cahl Sel
A longform interview on Cahl Sel's new album, Reflective Records, live performance, West Coast rave history, and more.
Now Listening: London post-everything, electroacoustic beauty, outsider pop
Records by Tracey, rest symbol, Khaled Kurbeh, Sunju Hargun, and Paul Arámbula.
Orphx: Three decades of rhythm 'n noise
Canadian artists Rich Oddie & Christina Sealey have collided industrial music with techno's rhythmic frontiers for 32 years running.
Now Listening: Ambient dub, mood pop, alt rock, joyous club
Music by Davis Galvin, ex_libris, sachi's mirror, Roomer, schuttle + Jorg Kuning.
Dripping 2025 reconfigured my festival calculus
Discomfort, acceptance, surprise, and exaltation in the woods of New Jersey.
Words With Orchestroll: Montreal, Milan, Ghosts in the Machine
Jesse Osborne-Lanthier and Asaël Robitaille discuss collaboration, hybridization, soundsystem ambient, and "Corrosiv," their new album on 29 Speedway.
Now Listening: Introspective Dance Music, Crab-Walk Rhythms, Diasporic Drum'n'Bass
Records by Mineral Stunting, Plumes of Enceladus, Lara Sarkissian, Yetsuby, and Cahl Sel.
longformSilicon Valley Hates You
The Silicon Valley death drive is the resoundingly anti-human, anti-creative conceit at the root of generative AI development.
wordswithWords With Jefre Cantu-Ledesma: Root Strata, the San Francisco Scene, and Music as Gift
The roots of Root Strata and its S.F. scene; the genesis of "Gift Songs"; ambient music as phenomenon; the creative process.
nowlisteningNow Listening: Deep Drone, New Industrial, Downtempo Freak Rippers
New records from Grand River, Civilistjävel!, Rivet, Torn Hawk, and Enxin/Onyx.
Words With: TRjj, TRii, TRii Group
Conversations with a mysterious German artist on authorship, the intimacy of music, sharing art as a means of sharing oneself, graphic design, and more.
nowlisteningNow Listening: Cosmic Ambience with a Side of Jazz Drumming
New records from Reed Michaels, Freivogel / Sinclaire, DOVS, ASC, and Raven.
longformTechno and the Chinese Century: 'The Last Year of Darkness' in review
This 2023 film about club culture and queer nightlife in Chengdu, China, is a compelling watch—and an eye-opening one.
wordswithWords With: James Whipple (Hesaitix, M.E.S.H.)
Musical hiatuses, production flow, artistic growth, connecting with listeners, doing your own thing.
nowlisteningNine Records I Loved in 2024
Hesaitix; Thomas Bush; Daria Lourd; V/Z; Shackleton & Six Organs of Admittance; Young Echo; TRii Group; Danny Daze; Dregs.
lookbackLook Back: Icee Hot, a Bay Area Club Culture Moment
An interview with San Francisco club organizers Icee Hot, originally published in 2015.
wordswithWords With: Kiernan Laveaux
Growing up queer and trans in Ohio; DJing as an artform; music as a communal force and conduit for love and joy.
nowlisteningNow Listening: Charles A.D., False Aralia, 29 Speedway, Daisy Moon, Fergus Jones
Home-listening techno-house; micro-dub minimalism & phantom acoustics; body music as tesseract; techno-pop obsessions; bass music as galaxy.
lookbackLook Back: Superpitcher — "Hollywood"
Mentioned: The Postal Service, 12-LP albums, Pachanga Boys, Burning Man, $1500 records, Brian de Palma's "Body Double," Philip Glass, Sufjan Stevens, philosophical inquiry, Ship of Theseus.