Catboi Kropotkin apologizes for tearing into this zine moments before it was photographed. I promise I kept it positioned safely between the legs of an elegant bird statue until it was time to read it. As much as possible in my own writing about music, I try to avoid comparisons to other artists and describing… Continue reading Zine Review: Is a Dream a Lie If It Don’t Come True?: Becoming Bruce Springsteen by ak
Angel Bat Dawid, one of the most interesting musicians in the country right now, brings us a special bundle including the book about running a DIY venue in London which inspired the music and a broadsheet screed connecting that text to these songs and Chicago's own history of DIY spaces on the south side where… Continue reading Music Review: Angel Bat Dawid – Transition East
"We see you. We love you. Stay beautiful." Remember when Donald Trump became president of the United States? Do you recall the immediate sense of impending doom and panic? I remember going to therapy and talking about how I was so shocked and so uncertain of what to do in response, saying all I had… Continue reading Music Review: Damon Locks – Black Monument Ensemble // “Stay Beautiful”
Little Simz set out to conquer quarantine inertia with music and made some of most candid and expressive songs I have heard in a long time. I spent a lot of my undergraduate career trying to get English professors to let me write about music. Once I even dropped out when my very thoughtful proposal… Continue reading Music Review: Little Simz – Drop 6 (AGE: 101, May 2020)
Debby Friday here to remind you to stay up. Debby Friday describes her music as "thunder." I really like this description; it really beats out "So hard and so Woman and black" as a way of describing her music, as some Bandcamp reviewer did. I mean...it definitely comes across in her music that Debby Friday… Continue reading Music Review: Debby Friday – Bitchpunk (Self-released, March 2018) & Death Drive (Deathbomb Arc, August 2019)
Initially, Lucy Parsons II was not being compliant in the music & pets photo shoot. I thought this record could also be captured well with Glisten the Slutty Reign Deer (they/them), but then Yung Luce decided she wanted to be in it after all. Shopping only came to my attention last year, but this year's… Continue reading Music Review: Shopping – All or Nothing (Fatcat, February 2020)
There is a lot to love about this record, but my current favorite thing about it is that it asks me to pay attention to women twice: Jeff Parker's mother, Max(ine) Brown, who the album is dedicated to and who graces its cover, as well as his daughter, Ruby Parker, who sings on the opening… Continue reading Music Review: Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem/Nonesuch, January 2020)
This tape is the first tape I have wound by hand after it got gnarled up in the tape deck in DECADES. I also bought a dual cassette deck and pure tube amplifier just to listen to this! As a result, I now collect tapes again and I am also going to be making my… Continue reading Music Review: Blacks’ Myths – I (Atlantic Rhythms, Reissue, 2020) & II (Atlantic Rhythms, 2019)
My life and house are a mess right now, but I am committed to writing about as much music before Juneteenth Bandcamp Revenue Share Day as possible, so here it rips... Clear Channel actually welcome you to their first record themselves. This is what they say: https://youtu.be/ydcV6tosVo4 So, yes, then. Hello Disko! As I mentioned… Continue reading Music Review: Clear Channel – Hell (Self-released, April 2020)
Please support Black liberation by directly supporting Black artists, many of whom are giving the support immediately to the movement. Please see pinned tweet on my Twitter page for my recommendations. Full reviews of all records discussed coming soon (before Juneteenth!). Please also check out other folks' recommendations and use this opportunity to put money… Continue reading B A N D C A M P D A Y ! ! ! ! ! !
