In case you missed the moment. Art is powerful

For this Black History Month, I would like to formally invite all white people to stop complaining about not using the n-word, as if we didn't already let you all have the race-and-gender-neutral term "motherfucker."

Media coverage of Gaza has plummeted. So today on @thenation.com, we're doing something pretty special: we're only running pieces by people in and from Gaza. We're calling it "A Day for Gaza." You can find links to all of the incredible pieces here. Please read! www.thenation.com/article/worl...

Ever heard of the Middle Passage?

This week's paid subscriber exclusive is about the dearly departed UK punk band Shopping, their near-perfect first two albums, and why actually quitting for real is a radical act in the 2020s. open.substack.com/pub/trickbag...

First paid subscriber-exclusive post on Trick Bag is up today! I wrote about Horsegirl's first two albums—as well as the nature of expectation and "hype" when it comes to precocious young bands. trickbag.substack.com/p/how-horseg...

You might think it's a coincidence that the new Roc Marciano album leads off with a song called "Trick Bag." I call it cosmic intervention. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O4Z...

The Best Rock Records of 2025 Featuring Added Dimensions, Sharp Pins, Artificial Go, Eraser, Fugitive Bubble, Galore, good flying birds, Orcutt Shelley Miller, MARAUDER, Josie, and more. Douglas Martin's Dirty Shoes returns. www.passionweiss.com/2026/01/14/d... @douglasmartini.bsky.social

These 2016 memes are real wild. It is unsettling to know that at least a third of the professional/music scene peers and pals I have were teenagers 10 years ago haha.

DMDS Best of '25 is up. Had an awesome time making this (last?) year's list. The best guitar records to come out of the underground (unless they were written about elsewhere lol). www.passionweiss.com/2026/01/14/d...

New year, new column, same me. "Songs the Lord Taught Us" is a way for me to scratch my itch to do more personal writing. trickbag.substack.com/p/songs-the-...

Seattle Times Critics Poll 2025 just dropped. Here's my ballot.

A context-free quote from one of the works listed in this Best of '25 Mail Bag: "I'm in the coffin but I'm still coughin'." open.substack.com/pub/trickbag...

Here's a goodie that didn't make the Mail Bag: For my final KEXP interview, I had the unreal pleasure of getting to speak to Gina Birch—artist and founding member of the Raincoats(!!!). www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwkk...

Hahaha I really enjoyed talking to @janehu.bsky.social and @samjleeds.bsky.social about local music and weed culture from the perspective of the most maligned generation.

This episode was such a blast to record. Shout out to @douglasmartini.bsky.social for sharing a wealth of great music. We created a companion playlist of all our favorite tracks from local bands. Give it a listen! www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Had a ball making this list for my friends at @mergerecords.bsky.social! mergerecords.com/about/2025eoty

Contributed to @see-saw.fun's Best of 2025 physical newsletter! Find out what a group of heavy hitters in the punk and rock 'n roll scene thought were the year's greatest albums! see-sawdotfun.bandcamp.com/merch/see-sa...

FEAR & LOATHING IN CHARM CITY :: BEST OF 2025 Wrote about my five top albums of the year--the most necessary, the dimension of the present: Infinity Knives x Brian Ennals DJ Haram Sunmundi x Sasco billy woods Gabe 'Nandez x Preservation open.substack.com/pub/elmattic...

Play It Strange, a Substack newsletter about the heyday of the SF weirdo rock/punk/DIY scene (one of my current favorites), quoted me from an old article about seeing one of my favorite live bands in the world—Thee Oh Sees. sanfranciscopsycherock.substack.com/p/16-thee-oh...

Published my final piece for KEXP yesterday. Onward and upward. www.kexp.org/read/2025/12...

"If you need circumstances to be ideal to try, maybe you just suck." —Jon Moxley

The only groups who could touch the MGs were Funkadelic, The Meters, and The JBs. That’s the entire list. A transformative guitarist in a revolutionary group.

For my friends at @bandcamp.com, I wrote about the best John Dwyer album of 2025. daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025...

Birthday Happiness to Jimi Hendrix, born November 27, 1942. Here he is onstage backing The Ronettes:

The best, most nuanced opinions I've read about this movie (that I really enjoyed). By far.

Wrote about Etran de L'Air and whatever the opposite of ancestral weight is. (Ancestral levity? Ancestral lightness?) trickbag.substack.com/p/from-the-a...

Turns out sunshine and Prozac really helps with depression! Who knew?

I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte. ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018. We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:

If Aaron Judge winning American League MVP over Cal Raleigh isn't a clear indicator of sweeping market bias (not just in sports but everywhere), I don't know what is.

BREAKING NEWS: Working in music media means dealing with a constant state of anxiety about your field crumbling under the weight of late stage capitalism (I wrote this op-ed in 2022 lol). trickbag.substack.com/p/from-the-a...

BREAKING NEWS: Working in music media means dealing with a constant state of anxiety about your field crumbling under the weight of late stage capitalism (I wrote this op-ed in 2022 lol). trickbag.substack.com/p/from-the-a...

Very sun-times to hold off on writing about Adamn Killa till he got arrested for doing arrest me daddy lol chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/11...

I was notified last week that I am getting laid off from KEXP in December. I don't really want to talk about it. But are you an editor for a reputable music publication with decent pay? Get at me: [email protected]

A beautiful requiem for the miracle that was D'Angelo. The pen, the voice, the face, the talent. The three classics. The genius that he could summon by force of will. The impossibility of categorizing him. The void that his death leaves. By Abe Beame www.passionweiss.com/2025/10/14/d...

When I write or talk about things like soul and the blues, I'm not referencing musical genres, but a spiritual disposition. That said, D'Angelo was on a very short list of the very best soul artists in the history of music.

Happy Indigenous People's Day. Make sure you pay homage to the creator of garage punk. youtu.be/MUBck5KbUvE?...

Years ago, I sort of a name for myself writing incredibly vulnerably. Then I wanted to just be known as a good writer. I almost didn't pull this one out of the archives. open.substack.com/pub/trickbag...

Tony Milek is the frontman of Bermuda Squares, guitarist in Neo Neos, one of the best punk songwriters and screamers in Minneapolis. This is a person who I’m proud to call a friend—who has helped me out in immeasurable ways. He’s going through a medical emergency right now and needs some help.

Now that Musk has called for a Netflix boycott over a trans cartoon character, I'm all in for supporting Netflix at all costs lmao.

My friend accidentally recreated the Double Nickels on the Dime cover while I was driving my El Camino (circa 2018, I think).

Memphis just hits different. I'm having lunch at Hattie B's—essentially fast food for those not familiar—and they're banging a seven-minute Issac Hayes jam.

Tapping in to let you know Gonerfest is still undefeated.

The weird thing about having an Instagram for my newsletter is that I almost got offended that I left myself on "seen."

Early Rapture is the best thing that has ever come out of DFA. By, like, a lot. Don't @ me.

New Mail Bag dropped today! open.substack.com/pub/trickbag...

Really tempted to write a Trick Bag feature titled "The Top 100 James Baldwin Quotes That are Different from the Same Dozen James Baldwin Quotes Always Posted on Instagram."

It's so exhausting to be a Black person in a country that hates Black people. Even if you're "smart," even if you're "talented," even if you're "insightful," you still live in a country that hates you.

I want you to put the word out there that we back up. ("We" as in "real writers.") trickbag.substack.com/p/a-trick-ba...