Hearing Things

02/18/2025

In this week's edition of Five Albums, we've got a 100-year-old jazz artist's debut album, a scorching live project from one of R&B's finest, & more. Subscribe to Hearing Things to read the full piece!

Plus two seriously good rock albums from artists barely into their 20s, scorching live-band R&B, and more

02/17/2025

'It's Cold In Baltimore,' the second collaboration by Valentina Magaletti and Zongamin under the name V/Z, is a batch blown-out post-punk and dub fit for a post-apocalyptic city battling a nuclear winter

Valentina Magaletti and Zongamin’s latest collaboration as V/Z reaches cold new heights

02/17/2025

Every record by London-based producer-drummer Valentina Magaletti, which jumps from unapologetic punk to gossamer ambient music, is as unexpected as It is essential. 'It's Cold In Baltimore', a team-up with Japanese musician Susumu Mukai, is no exception.

Valentina Magaletti and Zongamin’s latest collaboration as V/Z reaches cold new heights

02/17/2025

"Billy Joel has a flair for the dramatic, but he packages it in this angry young man character. It’s very uncool music, which I tend to gravitate towards."

The synth-pop seekers get existential while talking about communing with the music of Billy Joel, John Coltrane, ELO, and more.

02/16/2025

"I’ve always existed in a counterculture, but because there was this moment where the counterculture became culture, we forgot it was always a counterculture. We’re not supposed to be mainstream."

“Right now, it feels like we’re at this peak of disposability in all art.”

02/16/2025

The album as a whole has the feeling of a heroic journey through strange and faraway lands, like a soundtrack to an epic adventure game

The first dispatch includes replicant raves, RPG-soundtrack ambient jazz, communist trap music, and more.

02/15/2025

In the far-flung Japanese town of Hamasaka, people from around the world are encouraged to bring their own LPs for a two-and-a-half-hour private session on one of the finest hi-fi systems in the country

JICO is a 150-year-old company that's keeping vintage record players alive, one handcrafted stylus at a time.

02/15/2025

With the onetime DIY hero Alex G now on a major label, fans desperate for the scrappy charm of his early work can take solace in this album by a couple of best friends from Northern England

The first dispatch includes replicant raves, RPG-soundtrack ambient jazz, communist trap music, and more.

02/15/2025

"I want to be cremated, and then used in the resin of a larger-than-life statue of a mythological version of me with sick wings that would stay in the home garden and look really epic."

The synth-pop seekers get existential while talking about communing with the music of Billy Joel, John Coltrane, ELO, and more.

02/14/2025

If Christopher Nolan ever makes a movie set in a post-apocalyptic S*M nethersphere, this needs to be on the soundtrack

Electronic producer Slikback’s new release for influential dubstep label Tempa is a bass-bombing riot.

02/14/2025

There are many economic issues that impact musicians specifically. But on the question of healthcare, we are in the same boat as the more than 50 million other Americans who do gig work of any kind

Chappell Roan’s Grammy acceptance speech applies to me and you, too.

02/13/2025

"The best way to approach music is to never spend more than you have, be very frugal, and always do things DIY."

“Right now, it feels like we’re at this peak of disposability in all art.”

02/13/2025

We've all thought about it: What songs do you want played at your funeral?

The synth-pop seekers get existential while talking about communing with the music of Billy Joel, John Coltrane, ELO, and more.

02/12/2025

If you’re wondering what might play at a replicant rave once they take over Earth, do I have the album for you...

The first dispatch includes replicant raves, RPG-soundtrack ambient jazz, communist trap music, and more.

02/12/2025

Read Julianne's essay on FKA Twigs' 𝘌𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘶𝘢, and how it relates to trauma, kink, Martha Graham, axolotls, and "the quickening"

The multihyphenate’s new album can’t be untangled from her physicality and her healing.

02/12/2025

"'The Cruel Mother' is a really fu**ed up English folk song. What kind of woman sings that to her kid? My mother! By the end I would be screaming at her to stop." — Matt Sweeney

The indie heroes and Hard Quartet bandmates talk about songs that made them think: What the f**k is going on in here?

02/11/2025

On Nino Paid's 'Love Me as I Am', death always seems to be a breath away. But, somehow, some way, he’s still here, presenting his story as one of unlikely perseverance. Read this and other recommendations in our Five Albums newsletter here: https://www.hearingthings.co/five-albums-ren-faire-eurodance-exquisite-pain-rap-mortal-kombat-samples-2/

02/11/2025

For this week's Five Albums newsletter, we've got exquisite DMV pain rap, a triumphant comeback by a Chicago dancefloor legend, art pop that hits like a trance rave at a Renaissance Faire, and more. Subscribe to Hearing Things to see (and hear) the rest!

Plus shroomy Detroit hip-hop and a wonderfully handmade-feeling ambient album