i wrote a lil thing about Rosalía's Lux and Catholicism, finally putting the 17 years i spent in CCD to good use. my mom is still mad i don't go to Mass anymore tho

"I want something new to believe in. I want to stop thinking I missed an idealized past, only to realize in hindsight that I lived through a genuine moment." Great essay about making sense of NYC's past and future in the time of Zohran.

I blogged

For our 30th birthday we're going to undermine the basic idea of our website

y’all I’m going to be real, the workers at the biggest music venues in DC are trying to unionize we need IMP the parent company to recognize voluntarily that won’t happen without noise please, bluesky, do what u do best @930club.bsky.social @theatlantisdc.bsky.social @theanthemdc.bsky.social

interviewed CLB about some perfect records !

We're also thrilled to announce that thanks to support from our readers, we are partnering with Bitch Media to republish selected classic posts from their archives that will never be behind a paywall, because we believe in preserving feminist media for future generations to enjoy.

big congrats to the @hearingthingsco.bsky.social crew (@jillmapes.bsky.social, @jawnita.bsky.social, @cinemasai.bsky.social, among others) for celebrating their first birthday in the worker-owned-media game. here's to many more to come! www.hearingthings.co/one-year-of-...

If you'd like to delight in a side-by-side comparison, here's Bari Weiss' reported note to CBS staffers (left) and the one I cooked up on ChatGPT with a quickly dashed-off prompt (right). Looking forward to hearing from you in the days and weeks ahead!

It was the “Barracuda” cover that broke me

wrote about chappell, sapphic gestures and the little kid space

delightful read on the musical tastemakers that were lorelei and rory gilmore (and of course by extension amy sherman-palladino and daniel palladino) [thanks be to @jillmapes.bsky.social]

All the people being fired for telling the truth about Charlie Kirk—many of them women—in the aftermath of his death demonstrates that his legacy was never one about universal free speech. It was only ever about about straight, white, conservative Christian men spouting bigotry without consequence.

The best music of 2025 so far, according to HT

by me!

yes and Condé Nast also did *nothing* to stop the doxxing against me by swifties, claiming it was against their policy… publishers need to help protect critics if the expectation is brutal honesty

by me!

When My Chemical Romance were presented with the key to their NJ hometown this weekend, they showed their gratitude by giving the mayor... a large fish. “This fish is excellent,” frontman Gerard Way said in an Eastern European accent

have sensed some confusion re: the origins of stomp clap that i'm all too happy to clear up maxread.substack.com/i/170106944/...

Also: People don't seem to realize that "thumbs up, thumbs down" (esp. numerical rating systems) are not the way good critics, like the ones NYT reassigned, prefer to approach most reviews. Context, analysis and synthesis are more rewarding for the writer, too. They also take more time and knowledge

This is excellent work from @jillmapes.bsky.social, continuing my distant mindmeld with Hearing Things (Jill you wrote about Carter Faith the same week I did, and we both love the KFC Santeria remix, and I'm on WATC discussing Buckingham Nicks tomorrow!)

You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loved you...

THIS IS TONIGHT!! Looks like we'll be moving to the indoor private space (we'll provide masks) so space is a little more limited—get your ticket soon! givebutter.com/co-opfest

"...summertime indie rock at its best: fuzzy, nostalgic, and begging to be blasted as you simmer uncomfortably in the sun." A really great "Must Hear" review of Forth Wanderers The Longer This Goes On out now on @subpop.bsky.social. @hearingthingsco.bsky.social www.hearingthings.co/four-out-of-...

friends! we at @coyotemedia.org HQ are so very grateful for your support thus far! We have a few more days to hit our goal of $150k. Help us spread the word, won’t ya? givebutter.com/coyotemedia

I had the best time talking with Megan Stalter—a master at channeling unhinged and delusional women but also, it turns out, a classic rom-com leading lady with all the effervescence of Julia Roberts and Bridget Jones. (Also, how great is this Elizabeth Renstrom photo shoot?) time.com/7300591/mega...

SCOOP: Sources Suggest Zohran Mamdani May Have Exaggerated Results On Sit-And-Reach Test, Calling Into Question 7th Grade Presidential Physical Fitness Test Honors

“You want a Bugle?” (📯 @jillmapes.bsky.social)

In a move of strategic genius, I am dropping my Take on the Sex Wars in the middle of a much bigger story so that no-one will pay attention to it. No paywall, though! jude-doyle.ghost.io/this-is-how-...

Our favorite new albums come from a riddim-loving DJ in Toronto's queer underground, a semi-anonymous UK duo reinterpreting gruesome Irish folklore, and the Michigan shredder behind something called 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘠𝘰𝘶, 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳. Get into it.

NYC i can promise if u come to our party it will be extremely fun and not sceney and also knives and ennals are AMAZING and also good if u would like to party w/a rapper/producer duo that will not stand for all this bullshit (COME LET IT ALL OUT)

Oh so they're terrified of Mamdani

For a long time I felt that my musical bond with my dad made me special; I knew it was an extension of his love. Later, I came to view it as a passed-down survival skill.

Brian Wilson was a king and a mensch, even during my awkward 2012 interview with him. Let's revisit.

Andrew Cuomo is afraid he'll lose, so his donors want you to fear me. His SuperPAC just sent out a mailer that artificially lengthened and darkened my beard. This is blatant Islamophobia—the kind of racism that explains why MAGA billionaires support his campaign.

If you love garage punk, Godzilla-sized guitar riffs, dubby bass passages, diet-hardcore drums, and plenty of noise and static, Lifeguard's latest project Ripped and Torn might be for you. Read Jill's thoughts In this week's Five Albums newsletter www.hearingthings.co/experimental...

We’ve got to give it up for the public school teacher rapping in his scant free time

Pride, New York, June of 1990

we write. we edit. we report. we listen. we decide. we own our work. plz support us if you're able. thx!

diy or die

In these matters of art vs. artist, it comes down to this: Can you listen to the music without hearing ghosts in it?

wrote about the AF problem

A great essay by @jillmapes.bsky.social for @hearingthingsco.bsky.social about “Arcade Fire carrying on an album campaign like the ‘this is fine’ dog.” www.hearingthings.co/email/2e16bd...

one of the most insane normalized aspects of our political climate is politicians going after their own constituents in the name of anti-wokeness. what are we doing here

Some of y’all noticed I’ve been uncharacteristically offline. This is why, and I remain on leave for a few weeks to handle a PTSD relapse. CJR was dogged in its pursuit of my story. Because of what I do and who I am, I felt that I had to answer their questions honestly. www.cjr.org/feature-2/we...

We've got 5 new reviews up today, ranging from a cloud-rap travelogue to dank post-rock to a onetime indie lightning-rod mellowing out with a new groove