music writing matters

self-explanatory. plus a new playlist

found this photo of my teenage bedroom a few months ago. see the Spin and Rolling Stone issues on the floor?

I started writing elements of this post two years ago. Then, as now, I was I’m working on several long-term projects that are completely consuming my brainpower, so I figured now made sense to send this because my music essay capacity is on empty.

Sadly, this post is also completely relevant, because this week I have been crushingly sad over the Washington Post layoffs. (Among those let go was the insightful, excellent music critic Chris Richards, who subsequently launched a newsletter.) All layoffs are horrible, but the sheer scope of the WaPo cuts took my breath away. Getting rid of the books and sports section? Laying off a writer in Ukraine while on assignment? Shrinking the metro section? Just yesterday I read this breathtaking story about how DNA testing reunited two siblings—written by someone who, sadly, had been laid off.

When I originally wrote the below thoughts, I was sad to see what had happened at Pitchfork, namely the site being absorbed into GQ. In other words, layoffs have been decimating journalism, and music journalism especially, for a very long time. People I have worked with and/or known for years keep losing their jobs—talented and kind people, the kind of people that make journalism better and smarter.

Still, when music writing is devalued, music writers are devalued. And it’s beyond demoralizing: People do this because they love music and hear a band and want to share that with the world. Maybe a song saved their life, and they want others to feel that solace. Or maybe they simply enjoy sharing amazing music with other people. Finding a community of people who love something like you do is an indescribable feeling. You don’t feel so alone in the world; you feel connected to other people.

It feels terrible to be told, over and over again, that the writing you care about doesn’t matter or isn’t respected. It feels terrible to be told that you don’t matter or aren’t respected. And it’s especially demoralizing to get that message from people who clearly don’t understand music writing and criticism in the first place.

Ann Powers’ excellent 2024 NPR Music newsletter piece summarized why music writing matters:

In the end, what matters about music writing is exactly the same as what matters about music: It isn't leading anywhere productive. Instead, it's offering a break from the grind, a free zone for thought and a few glorious, rejuvenating moments of fun. This is a different kind of pleasure than the quick nervous kind TikTok brings, always moving on to another source of stimulus, always ratcheting up the competition for attention. Music writing says: Slow down. Pay attention. It witnesses the unfolding of meaning within measured time, and calls back to it.

That might seem like a luxury, but pleasure matters. Books and music and arts and film writing and criticism is important and makes the world a more beautiful place. I firmly believe that! The impact of criticism isn’t easy to measure by metrics or other quantitative means. That doesn’t mean it’s expendable. (This goes for a lot of things, for the record; life can’t be reduced to zeroes and ones.)

What’s also concerning to me is the dwindling opportunities to document music history. Decades ago, we had print magazines and newspapers committing some version of music history in physical form. Today, fragile internet sites mean there’s a big chunk of music history that’s vaporizing. People are already writing about the disappearing hip-hop blogs or the music lost when MySpace went under. Physical media might be scarce, but a digital file can disappear into the digital ether.

And as a freelancer, good luck trying to pitch something unfamiliar now. I lost multiple long-term freelancing gigs due to the pandemic. (They never came back.) Many other opportunities have vaporized in the last year or so. Many other sites aren’t open to smaller bands. And if different voices and sites aren’t documenting music history beyond major stories, who is?

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Playlist of the Week

Week 5: 2026 (listen at your favorite streaming service)

A few great new songs this week, led by Kiki Kyte, a modern artist who sounds lifted directly from a top 40 playlist in 1987. Railcard features members of Dolly Mixture and Heavenly; their self-titled effort is exactly the kind of indie you’d expect from these veterans. (A compliment!) Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, meanwhile, is 1980s synth-pop at its finest. Beyond that, I’ve also been listening to Helium’s 1997 classic Magic City all week, though the track below is from their debut, 1995’s The Dirt of Luck. I’m so excited about the live album that ’80s post-punk icons Romeo Void are releasing on Record Store Day. Split Enz, meanwhile, released killer rehearsal footage of “I See Red” as they gear up for some tour dates this year.

Chaka Khan, “I Feel For You”
Kiki Kyte, “Nightfall”
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, “God For Hire”
Romeo Void, “Chinatown”
Nation of Language, “Another Life”
The Magnetic Fields, “When My Boy Walks Down the Street”
Railcard, “Disco Loadout”
Split Enz, “History Never Repeats”
Fuzzy, “Flash Light”
Madder Rose, “Panic On”
Material Issue, “Kim the Waitress”
Helium, “Pat’s Trick”
Hannah Jadagu, “My Love”
Blondshell, “Thumbtack”