The Best Songs of 2023 (that You Probably Missed)
This is a tad late, I know. We’re a few weeks into the new year, enough time to make it feel like 2023 was a different time during which you were a different person. You went to the gym less and spent more time on social media back then. You meditate now, and take ice […]
George David’s “Chequers” is a Deliberate Story
There’s a fine line between being deliberate and being slow. You shouldn’t have to reach too far into your experience to know what I mean by “slow.” The DMV is slow; Monday mornings are slow; your 10th grade math class was slow. Slow things take more time than is their due: one might say they’re […]
KASIA’s “Great (or Happy)” is Full of (Real) Life
I’ve lived in Nashville for six years now. I’ve never known a place like it. Music is built into the architecture, growing in the landscape, vibrating in the air. It’s a magical place where your favorite artists are your friends and birthday parties are jam sessions. I’m writing this from a coffee shop two blocks […]
How to Play House Shows: A Quick Guide
The other week, I asked you what you wanted me to write about. Pretty much everybody who replied said something about house shows. So consider this the house show post. Good news: I spent all morning reading, cleaning my apartment, doing laundry, and eating a breakfast of mostly fruit. The stars have aligned, and to […]
The Hard-won Joy of Gabrielle Grace’s “Lost Somebody Else”
Sad songs sell well. The modern cultural algorithm (and don’t get me started on the TikTok one) have latched onto a critical aspect of human nature: in a sickening way, it can feel good to be sad. Our art reflects what we love, and humans love to wallow. I’m hypothesizing here, but I think the […]
Why Does Music Exist? And Why Do We Love It So Much?
I’m writing this from a coffee shop in Nashville. The playlist that the baristas have been playing has taken me on an emotional rollercoaster. In the last 20 minutes, we’ve gone from Zac Brown’s “Chicken Fried” to Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over.” I think they’re playing Counting Crows now, but I can’t be sure […]
Nashville, Ed Sheeran, And Taylor Swift: How (and How Not) to Build Your Brand
I’ve lived in Nashville for about six years now. I have a fair amount of friends who grew up here, and I’ve heard them talk a good bit about how the city has changed. Now, if you don’t live here, you probably know Nashville for three things: pop-country music, Broadway honky-tonks, and hot chicken. And […]
Why The 1975 is Still So Good: The Value of Making Music with Context
The 1975 is the only alternative-pop band that isn’t trying too hard to sound like The 1975. And of course that’s intentionally an overstatement, but I really do think it’s kind of true. And I think it can help us make better art. Here’s what I mean. I remember when their first full-length record came […]
How to Release Music in 2022: The 7 Best Tips and Strategies
Pretty much nobody knows what they’re doing when they release music for the first time. I remember when I first decided to make a short 3-song record in 2015. Here’s a rough sketch of the sequence of events: I recorded the songs. I Googled “How to put music on Spotify.” I chose CD Baby as […]
Omari MC Review: Is Paid Spotify Promotion Worth It?
It’s the most common question every indie artist asks themselves at some point in their career: What is the meaning of life? Unfortunately that’s not the question I’ll be answering today. But I will be trying to answer the second-most-common question: Is paying for promotion worth it? When I started releasing music six years ago, […]
