Monday September 5 2022

September 5, 2022

You remember Civilistjävel!, who we interviewed a few months ago? He has a new mix up at Bleep. I would call it “field-step anthems played by a swamp monster...

Monday August 22 2022

August 22, 2022

Here is a report on documenta fifteen from correspondent Annabel Thompson: Though livwutang’s social feed, I found this set from zi! aka ziry. It moves...

Monday August 15 2022

August 15, 2022

Today, Numero Group begins the process of reissuing the Ui recordings: here is “Drive Until He Sleeps.” Our catalog will be doled out in small pieces over...

Monday August 8 2022

August 8, 2022

Livwutang’s Cav Empt Cassette came out on (duh) as a tape in January and now it’s up on SoundCloud. It is tricky, to create a mix that both works as a...

Monday August 1 2022

August 1, 2022

Start the day with Raphael Rogiński and his solo guitar set from the Festival of Endless Gratitude. I saw him at Unsound in 2015 and was converted. Kind of...

Monday July 18 2022

July 18, 2022

I loved Tariq Ali on Johnson and Thatcherism’s legacy and I love this one hour mix from Martyn. They pair well: disdain and syncopation. Martyn’s description...

Monday July 11 2022

July 11, 2022

Nothing but rabid enthusiasms! To start with, one of my favorite writers, Dan Fox, has launched “a newsletter about music, books, art, film, featuring new...

Monday July 4 2022

July 4, 2022

There is no better antidote to July 4 than Usher playing a thirty-minute Tiny Desk Concert: breath control, good humor, endless tone, fellowship. Or, if...

Monday June 27 2022

June 27, 2022

One of the few people I could plausibly call a hero, Mike Davis, is dying. If you want to re-up or get familiar, read an interview from 2018 or watch this...

Monday June 20 2022

June 20, 2022

New essays: on Elizabeth Hardwick, one on the documentary films of Michael Blackwood, and something for Bookforum on Gary Indiana. If you skipped the...

Civilistjävel!

June 17, 2022

The fastest way to learn about Civilistjävel!: try this recent DJ set on NTS and then buy Järnnätter, his fantastic new album. In a world of autopilot drone...

Monday May 30 2022

May 30, 2022

I’ve been a member of Ui since 1990. A nice person with the username @heldopen posted video of us playing at Toronto’s Rivoli in June of 1995. (I look...

Monday May 16 2022

May 16, 2022

Thank you for asking. Yes, all the photos here are mine. If you like them, visit the original blog, which began as a home for images. (I’m approaching 19...

Monday May 9 2022

May 9, 2022

We were listening to this mix of digital dub made in the UK between 1989 and 1999 and Heidi nailed it: “It’s two things at once. Definitely dub, but it’s got...

Monday May 2 2022

May 2, 2022

Let’s cut to the chase. According to my friend Catherine Lacey, the debut album from Wet Leg, which is called Wet Leg, is “NOTHING BUT BANGERS.” Do you need...

Monday April 25 2022

April 25, 2022

Having a rough one, so today’s choices are designed to make it better, hopefully for the both of us. That photo right there was taken at dawn on Route 80,...

Tuesday April 19 2022

April 19, 2022

We saw Wu Tsang’s Moby Dick over the weekend. Though it will probably reach you as a traditional film, it was conceived as a silent film with live orchestra...

Monday April 11 2022

April 11, 2022

I’m going to use a word I don’t even like: civilized. The containment of well-played jazz suggests a civilized interaction, one that can can be imagined as...

Monday April 4 2022

April 4, 2022

The ten JD Twitch mixtapes on Optimo Music’s Bandcamp page create a sublime fifteen hours of music if you scronch them all together. Tones of winter into...

Monday March 28 2022

March 28, 2022

S/FJ 2.0—what you are reading—is now three years old. Revisit our meager first post to see how far we’ve come and reward yourself for sticking with us....

Monday February 28 2022

February 28, 2022

Three pieces I’ve been working on for a while—years in one case—came out in the space of a few days: Surrealism, J Dilla, and Odetta. I’m finishing up...

Saturday February 5 2022

February 5, 2022

Real quick? I love this KIRBY album. R&B in its fullness. Check her last two album titles, in order. If you’re in the mood to keep going, here is a short R&B...

Wednesday January 26 2022

January 26, 2022

Time Is Away is back with their second John Berger episode for NTS, “Pig Earth.” From their description: “In 1974, John Berger moved to the remote peasant...

Two Years of TV

January 21, 2022

Before we get to the TV, a brief moment for a legend. When André Leon Talley died on Tuesday, I thought of something Rachel Seville Tashjian wrote last...

Friday January 14 2022

January 14, 2022

I finally cleaned up my Spotify profile. I’ve got ten years of playlists but have never arranged them in any helpful order. Historically, people have chosen...

Wednesday, January 5 2022

January 5, 2022

This newsletter has been a source of strength and happiness for the past three years and if we get twenty-one more paid subscribers, we’ll be good for a few...

the year of 2021 (not music + music)

December 31, 2021

No homework here—we are trying to catch some fizz and get light. I suggest you put on my playlist of good songs from 2021 and scroll. Not everything here is...

Monday, December 27 2021

December 27, 2021

Seventy-one reflections on 2021

Thursday, November 18 2021

November 18, 2021

A few months ago, I filmed 75 Dollar Bill playing in Columbus Park, which is in Chinatown right next to The Tombs. The clip is below: their big band opulence...

straight up

September 17, 2021

On September 5, 2021 several federal unemployment benefit programs expired across the country, per federal law. They were keeping me afloat. What does that...

Taja Cheek a.k.a. L'Rain

September 10, 2021

A photo taken the day Fatigue came out, in June of 2021. I no longer find it appealing to say things like “here is the albumest album of my year” or “this is...

Lee Perry, "Scratching The Surface"

September 1, 2021

from the August 19, 1997 issue of "The Village Voice"

Tuesday, August 24 2021

August 24, 2021

Reader Sarah Gale told me about the playlist Kieran Hebden has been assembling since 2016. He—Kieran, the Four Tet guy—adds five or six songs every couple of...

Monday, August 16 2021

August 16, 2021

Deborah would have turned 58 on July 31st, which came on a Saturday this year. That morning, before we held a celebratory Zoom, I made a playlist of the...

Monday, July 12 2021

July 12, 2021

Good morning, opulents. Drop something in the hat if you can—we need to meet our prudent reserve. If you’re new here, check out the hits. With social spaces...

Friday, June 18 2021

June 18, 2021

A small thank you to everyone reading and everyone subscribing—a mix for the weekend, more things I love from this year. Subscribe now

Wednesday, June 9 2021

June 9, 2021

Last week was good for Body Meπa. The fantastic people of Hausu Mountain issued our debut, The Work Is Slow, on CD, cassette, and digital download, while...

Tuesday, May 18 2021

May 18, 2021

I made the first mix of 2021 (dirty aqua, awkward, active), and then the second one (flat, composed, freaky), and then the third one (preposterous,...

Monday, April 19 2021

April 19, 2021

As if readers of this blogazine, Vice dropped a short film about Vanessa Carlton and “A Thousand Miles” two days after our last issue. I especially enjoy...

Friday April 9 2021

April 9, 2021

Giancarlo DiTrapano, the founder of Tyrant Books, seemed to care only about doing the thing right, no matter how many times the thing had previously been...

Wednesday, March 17 2021

March 17, 2021

Until April 6, The Kitchen will be hosting Carlota Schoolman’s 1976 video of Talking Heads playing as a trio. Scroll down a bit on that page, and enjoy...

Monday, March 8 2021

March 8, 2021

let's try that again

Thursday, February 25 2021

February 25, 2021

good golly we are back

Deborah K. Holmes (July 31 1963—January 4 2021)

January 25, 2021

I don’t know how to write about Deborah’s death, and it turns out I don’t need to. Chris Black and Jason Stewart invited me to be on their How Long Gone...

five mixes, for you, the subscriber

$ · December 31, 2020

and it's a very short email

Music of 2020

December 30, 2020

words and links and mixes

Friday, December 25 2020

December 25, 2020

Forty-one reflections on 2020

Friday, December 18 2020

December 18, 2020

This 1978 Swedish TV documentary about Don Cherry is pure flow. Don and his wife Moki lark about with their kids (Neneh and Eagle Eye) in Tågarp, Sweden,...

Friday, December 4 2020

December 4, 2020

One true blessing this year was starting a band with three diamonds: Greg Fox, Melvin Gibbs, and Grey McMurray. Their integrity and kindness are matched only...

Monday, November 30 2020

November 30, 2020

I spent November in the past, finishing a memoir. I’ve been having a little trouble coming back. My stop-over island between Now and Then is a documentary...