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Chris Richards
@chrisrichards.bsky.social
18K followers 360 following 250 posts
Pop music critic at The Washington Post
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Chris Richards @chrisrichards.bsky.social · 8h
I write for readers and will email you anything I write for the newspaper, just ask
chrisrichards.bsky.social
“Keep Your Ear to the Ground,” the amazing new history of D.C. punk zines by our comrade John Davis, is now available direct through Dischord

dischord.com/band/john-da...
January 3, 2026 at 10:38 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
I write for readers and will email you anything I write for the newspaper, just ask
January 3, 2026 at 6:27 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
I don’t listen AI-GENERATED POP MUSIC because I have control over what I listen to

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Column | My year of not listening to AI-generated pop music
Because it isn’t music. And resistance is easy.
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December 31, 2025 at 1:44 PM
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New NIONTAY reminds us that December is when the best rappers don’t care about making the year’s best rap album

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Column | December brings great rap albums. Accept the gifts.
The holidays are the perfect time listen to new hip-hop. On his latest, Niontay shows why.
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December 26, 2025 at 3:42 PM
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In THE D.C. SCENE, yesterday’s music still sounds like tomorrow

Here are five amazing records that got remastered, resurfaced and/or reissued in 2025

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5 recordings from D.C. artists that make yesterday sound like tomorrow
Remastered and resurfaced music from Bad Brains, Bratmobile, Danny Gatton, Glo-Worm and Music Inc. are among the year’s best reissues.
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December 17, 2025 at 9:06 PM
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Here are my TOP TEN ALBUMS of 2025

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Column | The top 10 albums of 2025
The year’s best albums include ambitious pop from Rosalía and Addison Rae, inventive rap from Playboi Carti and Bruiser Wolf, and more.
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December 8, 2025 at 1:03 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
1:02:57 “We gotta feed Ross a snack”
December 2, 2025 at 4:37 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
It feels better to wonder if GEESE are important than to know it

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Column | Geese is the best new band you’re sick of hearing good things about
For the acclaimed young New York quartet, rock and hype feel tightly intertwined.
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November 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM
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In his recently anthologized DESCENES and DISCORDS fanzines, Howard Wuelfing captured the harDCore scene in its predawn light

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Howard Wuelfing chronicled the dawn of D.C. punk. The stories still echo.
A hefty new double anthology of the rock writer’s Descenes and Discords fanzines captures the start of a scene — locally and nationally.
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November 21, 2025 at 1:47 PM
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Last night, PLAYBOI CARTI gave one of the greatest arena performances I’ve ever seen — even if I could barely see it

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Review | Playboi Carti might be the greatest vanishing act rap has ever seen
On his current arena tour, the Atlanta rap visionary practically disappears into a swirl of thick fog, big noise and deep meaning.
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November 12, 2025 at 10:29 PM
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Spoke with the terrific ABE MAMET about making quiet jazz in world that keeps getting louder and louder

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Abe Mamet is making quiet music for a noisy world
In his dynamic Septet, the rising composer and improviser is exploring the idea of doing less with more.
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November 12, 2025 at 9:13 PM
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If you’ve already figured out that the promise of AI is nothing more than a corporate attack on human curiosity, contemplation, critical thinking and free will, ROSALÍA’s “Lux” will sound like a new kind of feel-good music.

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Review | Rosalía’s ‘Lux’ is taking prestige pop to new levels
Rosalía’s new album, “Lux,” wants to blow your mind. Give it your undivided attention instead.
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November 10, 2025 at 8:26 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
Is this strange, unfamiliar sensation upon learning that half of the GRAMMY NOMINEES for album of the year make rap music… optimism?

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Column | Music’s biggest night is finally changing its tune on rap
Kendrick Lamar leads the list of new Grammy Award nominees. Will rap music finally rule on music’s biggest night?
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November 7, 2025 at 7:44 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
If you want to improve your life, spend some time with this absolutely terrific piece by @davesheinin.bsky.social who gets behind the damn piano to show us how iconic sports theme music works

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The 10 best sports theme songs of all time — and what makes them great
Our list of the greatest sports theme music includes John Tesh’s iconic “Roundball Rock,” several dark riffs on football and a whole lot of nostalgia.
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November 6, 2025 at 4:47 PM
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The rock-and-roll biopic remains a cursed proposition but I felt like “SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE” made a few nudges in the direction of progress

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Review | This Springsteen movie doesn’t live up to the album that inspired it
The rock-and-roll biopic is a cursed form. “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is an attempt to make a few fixes.
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October 22, 2025 at 6:51 PM
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“What a teen girl goes through is what a teen girl wants to hear” — BRI3 on rap music as truth-telling/truth-receiving

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Bri3 is turning teenage intuition into rainbow-bright rap music
The rising Waldorf phenom wants her listeners to feel good. It’s working.
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October 16, 2025 at 4:16 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
D’ANGELO

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Column | D’Angelo showed us what the 21st century should sound like
His visionary R&B music — from “Brown Sugar” to “Voodoo” to “Black Messiah” — rearranged our ideas about timelessness.
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October 14, 2025 at 9:26 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
Talking about the weather with the great RAFIQ BHATIA

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Rafiq Bhatia’s idea of jazz has grown into a force of nature
The guitarist’s immersive new album, “Environments,” channels the unknowability of the outside world.
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October 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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I love how these excellent newish books by/about SWIZ, HUGGY BEAR and BILLY CHILDISH tell bigger, broader punk rock truths

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Review | Punk’s next frontier: Revolutionizing the rock-and-roll memoir?
Exciting new books from punk heroes Huggy Bear, Swiz and Billy Childish might be reinventing the form.
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October 3, 2025 at 3:37 PM
chrisrichards.bsky.social
Mixed feelings about TAYLOR SWIFT’s mixed feelings

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Review | Taylor Swift returns with an album of mixed emotions — and mixed results
“The Life of a Showgirl” wants to feel good, but other feelings keep getting in the way.
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October 3, 2025 at 2:25 PM
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DOGO DU TOGO AND THE ALAGAA BEAT BAND can take you there (even when it’s hard to come here)

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Dogo du Togo and the Alagaa Beat Band want to transport you
Though a travel ban has made things difficult for the Togolese group and its D.C. bandleader, the music remains.
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October 2, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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I have seen ADDISON RAE in concert and the dream is real is the dream

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Review | Addison Rae stepped into reality and became the perfect pop star
In concert, the former TikTok sensation wants to show us what dreams are made of.
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October 1, 2025 at 8:09 PM
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THE D.C. CANON!

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The 101 greatest movies, songs, books, artworks (and more!) about Washington, D.C.
Introducing the D.C. Canon, starring Chuck Brown, Olivia Pope, George Washington, Leonardo da Vinci, Duke Ellington, Rites of Spring and — who could forget? — Gort.
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September 28, 2025 at 9:52 PM
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It’s been a legit joy to watch EL COUSTEAU grow up/level up

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Review | El Cousteau grew up to become your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper
Earl Sweatshirt and A$AP Rocky want to rap with him. On his sharp new album, “Dirty Harry 2,” the stylish D.C. native shows why.
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September 10, 2025 at 9:35 PM
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This OASIS reunion packs the life-affirming power of 10,000 karaoke nights but if you’re reticent to sing along, I invite you to join me in pondering the meaning of Liam Gallagher’s slouch

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Review | Oasis is back. And this time, the whole world is singing along.
Oasis, the reunited Brit-pop act, finally sounds like the classic rock band it always wanted to be.
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September 1, 2025 at 7:46 PM