So if I have this right, in the last two weeks, we’ve gotten new albums from Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, Boards Of Canada and Mouse On Mars. [frantically checking decade on calendar…]

With its recent rulings, the Roberts Court has now entirely perverted the purpose of the 15th Amendment, turning an outright ban on racial discrimination in voting into a right to discriminate against black voters. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Pathetic. Trump is privately demanding his advisers find a way to reach a deal with Iran that TV commentators will compare favorably to Obama's 2015 deal, per the Atlantic. On the pod, @emilyhorne.bsky.social is good on how this perfectly captures why we're stuck: newrepublic.com/article/2114...

Frankly, I want to divest SCOTUS of jurisdiction to enter *any* orders reversing a lower court without a complete elaboration of the reasons why. They are the least busy judges in America with a self-selected workload. If they can't bother to explain it, they should not do it.

Watching Kraftwerk on Friday was a masterclass in how you can keep doing the same thing, yet change it just enough to make a difference to those who know, while those who are new simply don’t spot the difference between then and now.

🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n

The thing that bothers me most about this is that you can’t tell it’s not an SNL skit. What are you doing, NBC? Come on. (That said, it’s very clearly not good enough for The Onion.)

Waiting on the fiery hexagons, but in the meantime, I’m never bored of these Canadians! #CDFriday

@jtkantor.bsky.social Any chance we might get “Perfect Day” by a certain Lewis Reed?

60 Minutes' Sharyn Alfonsi pens a goodbye note slamming Bari Weiss' actions against her "as a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting." Read the rest:

“That’s not easy, what I just did!”

Can’t figure out how I’m feeling this #CDFriday, so gonna try everything and see what sticks.

I just got a mysterious vhs tape in the mail and when I played it, text came on the screen saying, “This VHS tape IS the new album. Try turning THIS into MP3s, suckers! Be kind, rewind.”

The last Colbert was perfect. No notes.

Important: Dems will seek to force Republicans to vote on a bill blocking Trump's illegal $1.8 billion slush fund, Rep Jamie Raskin tells me. Dems will use discharge petition. Hakeem Jeffries is supportive of Raskin's efforts, I'm told. New piece from me: newrepublic.com/article/2106...

Name 10 bands/musicians you’ve obsessed over at some point 🎶 Prince Art Of Noise Prince Talking Heads Depeche Mode Prince Aphex Twin The Cure New Order Prince Hmmmmm….

This is insanity: Trump's DOJ is about to "settle" his lawsuit against the IRS by creating a $1.7 billion slush fund to pay off victims of Biden "weaponization." I talked to Jamie Raskin about this. It's even more corrupt than it first appears. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2105...

Happy 50th to one of the great records of my childhood. Look through the window…

Serious wonders await on #CDFriday…

A proper unbelievable evening with @emf-theband.com at the Haymarket Lounge at City Winery, Boston. Come back again soon!!

It will take decades to recover from the damage already done to science infrastructure in the United States. We will never know what opportunities & innovations we missed because of funding cuts. But we should take every action we can to stem the tide #standupforscience #defendresearch #academicSky

Back to the old Factory this #CDFriday.

Well, that’s not ideal. (Also, the linked story is over a year old, so “unearthed” isn’t quite accurate.) The point is still valid, though - this was bound to happen with fewer people on the job to oversee these things.

Two nights, two very different musical experiences. Last night, LCD Soundsystem (and opener Exek) playing danceable rock music at Roadrunner, and tonight, Tanya Donelly and Chris Brokaw playing gorgeous medieval songs at First Church in Cambridge. Had a great time at both!

This #CDFriday we have the original versions of CDs that were later reissued with songs removed (Eno/Byrne and FGTH), replaced (Body Count) or remixed (Bruce Hornsby). Sometimes you gotta get ‘em before they’re gone for good.

Hey @bandcamp.com any chance you can move tomorrow’s Bandcamp Friday to a different Friday?

Impossible to understand the Suprme Court's Voting Rights Act case without the context that John Roberts has spent his entire career working to gut the VRA. As a Reagan DOJ staffer, he made the *same arguments* the Court just embraced. He lost then; he won today. ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/john-...

We must understand that the Voting Rights Act was not merely about ensuring Black Americans rights, it was about democratizing America. This ruling is not just a decimation of Black rights and Black Americans’ ability to have representation, it is a fatal blow to multiracial democracy.

'Slates was a crucial turning point because it defies working class stereotypes, specifically in relation to art. The Fall’s lyrics aren’t restricted to the usual kitchen sink realism in the vein of ‘That’s Entertainment’ by The Jam.' #TheFall's Slates turns 45 today buff.ly/g9vInU5

An America destroyed by madness was on full display after the chaos of an assassination attempt at the WCHA dinner, in a nation so numb to gun violence and so drunk on corruption that Trump and journalists wanted to party on Gunfire of the Vanities: My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...

Last Friday, Trump fired the National Science Board. The NSB is made up of distinguished scientists whose job is to oversee the National Science Foundation, setting research priorities by thinking beyond election cycles. It was designed to be independent. We don't know what this means, but it's bad.

We’ve become way too inured to the constant violence because of all of the people in power who revel in it. What a joyless, artless, sexless, rudderless country we became so fast.

New @tmbg.bsky.social is always cause for celebration. Terrific new album from them, along for the #CDFriday ride with some more great music.

INFERNO. 29 MAY 2026. boardsofcanada.com

“Some people wanna die, so they can be free…” 10 years and it still hurts. Prince, I hope you’re free. #RIPPrince youtu.be/U391vYN1u_8?...

For anyone who's waking up to this Palantir statement, I wrote a guide to the company and the fatuous chauvinism of its "defend the West" cosplay ideology a few weeks ago

Palantir put out a 22-point summary of their CEO's book The Technological Republic. It's pitched as a defence of the West, but if you read it through the VDA framework, verification, deliberation, accountability, what it's actually doing looks rather different. twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...

Happy 45th birthday to Pocket Calculator by Kraftwerk, released as a single on this day in 1981. Watch more of this concert, filmed for Austrian TV in 1982, at youtu.be/B55znMACT8I

This is genuinely messed up. And this guy owns The Sphere, too? Makes me second-guess my desire to attend a concert there…

Some chill, and a bit of noise. #CDFriday

A poster designed by Michael Lachowski for Wax Jr Facts in Athens, GA. Black & white xerox w/ lunar blue paper inset in triangle window. These albums came out April 1983 — Whammy by The B-52's, Murmur by R.E.M. & Chomp by Pylon. Happy 43rd birthday! #AthensGAMusicScene #HappyBirthday #xeroxart

Absolutely vile: Trump just said on Fox that the threat to obliterate Iranian civilization was a good thing, because "it brought them to the table." We have to take this on frontally and directly. It's a lie, and the underlying idea it's premised on is even worse: newrepublic.com/article/2087...

Boston, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU 💚

Technically I’m at TD Garden, but tonight it’s the Fleet center! Go Fleet Go! @bostonfleet.com

The one that started it all. 40 years ago this month, my parents drove me to Lechmere in Dedham, MA, and I paid $11.99 + tax for this, the very first CD I bought for myself, using some birthday money. 4 decades and over 10,000 CDs later, I still find magic in those musical pits and lands. #CDFriday

It is not too late for soldiers and generals of conscience to refuse to commit war crimes against civilians on a mass scale.

Never has a President been so unpopular, so fast. The American people understand that Donald Trump poses a direct threat to our Constitution and to the rule of law. He must be impeached, convicted, and removed from public office.

Did not have one 1980 band (Soft Cell) covering another 1980 band (Was (Not Was)) in 2026. Sounds good, though. Features Nona Hendryx, too! youtu.be/bOazf2pZvFI?...

Jamal's right: The story here isn't Trump; this is entirely consistent with what everyone's known about him for many years. The story is the complete degradation of a major political party. That said, committing war crimes & violating the Establishment Clause all in a single tweet is impressive.

If I were in Trump's Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged. He's already killed thousands. He's going to kill thousands more.