Hearing Things
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Independent music journalism. No algorithms. We promise.
"People can write really emotional songs, but if the production doesn’t match that emotional arc or contribute to it in a major way, it will fall flat."
Claire Rousay Breaks Down 7 Perfectly Produced Songs
The ambient experimentalist dissects records by faves including Elliott Smith and Charli XCX, and details the process behind her twilit new album, ‘A Little Death.’
www.hearingthings.co
November 22, 2025 at 1:00 PM
"People can write really emotional songs, but if the production doesn’t match that emotional arc or contribute to it in a major way, it will fall flat."
"I don’t know why, but there is something about that instrument that makes you want to play slow, melancholic music on it."
The Guitar-Bass Hybrid That Gives Tortoise Its Lonesome Sound
Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Douglas McCombs has made the cult-favorite Bass VI a staple of the post-rock legends’ palette.
www.hearingthings.co
November 21, 2025 at 5:26 PM
"I don’t know why, but there is something about that instrument that makes you want to play slow, melancholic music on it."
Ambling freedom suits Westerman—𝘈 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘭’𝘴 𝘞𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 is easily his most engrossing album to date
Westerman Is Not Dead Yet
After three albums, two near-death experiences, and one global pandemic, the British singer-songwriter knows what he wants.
www.hearingthings.co
November 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Ambling freedom suits Westerman—𝘈 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘭’𝘴 𝘞𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 is easily his most engrossing album to date
Just when we thought we'd make it through the year without the one anthemic pop song that unites everyone in either love or disdain, Ice Spice has swept in.
Put on Your Big Guy Pants
Plus Skrillex remixing Caroline Polachek, an actually good viral TikTok indie-folk hit, and more.
www.hearingthings.co
November 20, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Just when we thought we'd make it through the year without the one anthemic pop song that unites everyone in either love or disdain, Ice Spice has swept in.
Art-pop innovator Sophie and country cult hero Blaze Foley both had suspiciously AI-sounding new material posted to their pages recently—odd choices of artists to target for a scam, considering that Sophie died in 2021 and Foley in 1989
Why Is It So Easy to Flood Streaming With AI Slop?
And what the hell is Operation Clown Dump?
www.hearingthings.co
November 20, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Art-pop innovator Sophie and country cult hero Blaze Foley both had suspiciously AI-sounding new material posted to their pages recently—odd choices of artists to target for a scam, considering that Sophie died in 2021 and Foley in 1989
"Charli XCX's 𝘗𝘰𝘱 𝟤 and the 𝘕𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝟣 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 mixtape are some of the best pop music ever—crazy shit, especially at that time"
Claire Rousay Breaks Down 7 Perfectly Produced Songs
The ambient experimentalist dissects records by faves including Elliott Smith and Charli XCX, and details the process behind her twilit new album, ‘A Little Death.’
www.hearingthings.co
November 19, 2025 at 1:01 PM
"Charli XCX's 𝘗𝘰𝘱 𝟤 and the 𝘕𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝟣 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 mixtape are some of the best pop music ever—crazy shit, especially at that time"
Ceebo's 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘴 includes some of the most tremendous world-building I’ve heard in years, on a gloomy, gleaming slate of beats by producers like Jim Legxacy and afrosurrealist
Raps About Tony Blair, Synths About Vikings
Plus two more intimate hip-hop albums and a high-energy new DJ-Kicks mix.
www.hearingthings.co
November 18, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Ceebo's 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘴 includes some of the most tremendous world-building I’ve heard in years, on a gloomy, gleaming slate of beats by producers like Jim Legxacy and afrosurrealist
“I could feel my windpipe starting to close, so I made my peace with the fact that I was probably going to die.”
Westerman Is Not Dead Yet
After three albums, two near-death experiences, and one global pandemic, the British singer-songwriter knows what he wants.
www.hearingthings.co
November 18, 2025 at 1:01 PM
“I could feel my windpipe starting to close, so I made my peace with the fact that I was probably going to die.”
Max B is free. We're all excited to see what's next for the New York icon, but after being in prison for 16 years, let's also consider giving him some room to breathe.
Max B and the Plight of the Post-Prison Rapper
The New York icon is free. Let’s let him figure out what’s next on his own time.
www.hearingthings.co
November 17, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Max B is free. We're all excited to see what's next for the New York icon, but after being in prison for 16 years, let's also consider giving him some room to breathe.
"The violin is an instrument that used to bring the party. Even the white people in 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴, they got their little jig they do. The violin is not a color. It’s just a vibe to bring people together.”
Sudan Archives Is Pushing the Tempo
An afternoon at the museum with the genre-smashing violinist.
www.hearingthings.co
November 17, 2025 at 1:01 PM
"The violin is an instrument that used to bring the party. Even the white people in 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴, they got their little jig they do. The violin is not a color. It’s just a vibe to bring people together.”
Anyone willing to shell out a few dollars per month for online music distributors like DistroKid or CD Baby is welcome to set up an account—and, if they so desire, to start flooding their favorite bands’ profiles with the shittiest music imaginable
Why Is It So Easy to Flood Streaming With AI Slop?
And what the hell is Operation Clown Dump?
www.hearingthings.co
November 15, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Anyone willing to shell out a few dollars per month for online music distributors like DistroKid or CD Baby is welcome to set up an account—and, if they so desire, to start flooding their favorite bands’ profiles with the shittiest music imaginable
Will Westerman is perched atop a grassy burial mound dotted with more than a dozen gravestones as he recounts the time a bowl of noodles nearly killed him...
Westerman Is Not Dead Yet
After three albums, two near-death experiences, and one global pandemic, the British singer-songwriter knows what he wants.
www.hearingthings.co
November 14, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Will Westerman is perched atop a grassy burial mound dotted with more than a dozen gravestones as he recounts the time a bowl of noodles nearly killed him...
Claire Rousay emphasizes that a piece of music is only as good as the person making it—regardless of what equipment they own. It’s an increasingly relevant point amid our era of AI slop, when anyone can pump out a constant stream of robot drivel.
Claire Rousay Breaks Down 7 Perfectly Produced Songs
The ambient experimentalist dissects records by faves including Elliott Smith and Charli XCX, and details the process behind her twilit new album, ‘A Little Death.’
www.hearingthings.co
November 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Claire Rousay emphasizes that a piece of music is only as good as the person making it—regardless of what equipment they own. It’s an increasingly relevant point amid our era of AI slop, when anyone can pump out a constant stream of robot drivel.
Instead of engaging in a stream-bait war following “Actually Romantic,” Charli XCX is releasing a chamber-goth jump scare of a song that features the voice of 83-year-old art-rock legend John Cale more than her own. www.hearingthings.co/brat-summer-...
Brat Summer to Wraith Winter
Plus psych-pop homage, delirious club music, slo-mo folk, and mystical Atlanta rap that would have the 'Game of Thrones' crew throwing bows.
www.hearingthings.co
November 13, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Instead of engaging in a stream-bait war following “Actually Romantic,” Charli XCX is releasing a chamber-goth jump scare of a song that features the voice of 83-year-old art-rock legend John Cale more than her own. www.hearingthings.co/brat-summer-...
"White people telling us what to do again, like actually: No. This is hip-hop, because it’s me.”
Sudan Archives Is Pushing the Tempo
An afternoon at the museum with the genre-smashing violinist.
www.hearingthings.co
November 13, 2025 at 1:01 PM
"White people telling us what to do again, like actually: No. This is hip-hop, because it’s me.”
“This feels like the only transaction that you can do on the internet that doesn’t involve a password or some kind of authentication, and it’s a really important one, and it’s across the entire music streaming ecosystem.”
Why Is It So Easy to Flood Streaming With AI Slop?
And what the hell is Operation Clown Dump?
www.hearingthings.co
November 12, 2025 at 1:02 PM
“This feels like the only transaction that you can do on the internet that doesn’t involve a password or some kind of authentication, and it’s a really important one, and it’s across the entire music streaming ecosystem.”
Rosalía is going for the rafters, as though she went to confession and her penance was to spend it in the dusty library of Gaudí’s Basílica de la Sagrada Família, paging through ancient texts as God peered at her soul through a portal on a stone spire
Rosalía's Orchestral Benediction
Plus: a must-hear album from a virtuosic avant-rock quartet, the fiery return of an essential Chicago rap collective, and more.
www.hearingthings.co
November 11, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Rosalía is going for the rafters, as though she went to confession and her penance was to spend it in the dusty library of Gaudí’s Basílica de la Sagrada Família, paging through ancient texts as God peered at her soul through a portal on a stone spire
I wonder how James Murphy will update the "New York, I Love You..." lyrics for Zohran. Your cool socialist mayor's now convinced he's... effecting real change?
New York, I Love You
On LCD Soundsystem, borrowed nostalgia, and the election of Zohran Mamdani
www.hearingthings.co
November 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I wonder how James Murphy will update the "New York, I Love You..." lyrics for Zohran. Your cool socialist mayor's now convinced he's... effecting real change?
"The type of motherfuckers who were into the type of shit I was on didn’t exist 10 years ago. Now, all these kids are genre-blending."
Danny Brown, Back for the First Time
The audacious rap veteran on sobriety, platforming trans artists, and working with the next generation of hyperpop stars on his latest album, ‘Stardust.’
www.hearingthings.co
November 11, 2025 at 1:02 PM
"The type of motherfuckers who were into the type of shit I was on didn’t exist 10 years ago. Now, all these kids are genre-blending."
Mike Shabb is the only rap figure I can think of who’s both produced for Westside Gunn and played the Montreal Jazz Festival, and his latest project finds more intense ways to obliterate the divide between the artful and the ratchet
Four Must Hears From Our Ears to Yours
A Swedish singer and pipe organist, a Portuguese experimentalist, a Canadian rapper, and more.
www.hearingthings.co
November 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Mike Shabb is the only rap figure I can think of who’s both produced for Westside Gunn and played the Montreal Jazz Festival, and his latest project finds more intense ways to obliterate the divide between the artful and the ratchet
"I love listening to music in the car. It’s one of the things I will never do enough. When I’m dying, I’ll be like, 𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯."
Claire Rousay Breaks Down 7 Perfectly Produced Songs
The ambient experimentalist dissects records by faves including Elliott Smith and Charli XCX, and details the process behind her twilit new album, ‘A Little Death.’
www.hearingthings.co
November 10, 2025 at 1:01 PM
"I love listening to music in the car. It’s one of the things I will never do enough. When I’m dying, I’ll be like, 𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯."
Must Hear: Rafael Toral’s 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 is an album of swing-era jazz standards, many of them associated with Billie Holiday, rendered as exquisitely melancholy and nocturnal ambient music
Four Must Hears From Our Ears to Yours
A Swedish singer and pipe organist, a Portuguese experimentalist, a Canadian rapper, and more.
www.hearingthings.co
November 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Must Hear: Rafael Toral’s 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 is an album of swing-era jazz standards, many of them associated with Billie Holiday, rendered as exquisitely melancholy and nocturnal ambient music
"Doing [a love song] is way harder than writing the 'getting your dick sucked' song! Oh my God! When you’re being misogynistic, you’re just like, 𝘖𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥! But when you try to make shit like this, you get scared."
Danny Brown, Back for the First Time
The audacious rap veteran on sobriety, platforming trans artists, and working with the next generation of hyperpop stars on his latest album, ‘Stardust.’
www.hearingthings.co
November 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM
"Doing [a love song] is way harder than writing the 'getting your dick sucked' song! Oh my God! When you’re being misogynistic, you’re just like, 𝘖𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥! But when you try to make shit like this, you get scared."
“Daniel Ek was a man, he was a big man,” sings an AI voice on a demonically shredding jazz-pop song called “Daniel Ek’s Bathroom Mirror.” “And he steals from musicians ’cause he knows that he’s shit at guitar.”
Why Is It So Easy to Flood Streaming With AI Slop?
And what the hell is Operation Clown Dump?
www.hearingthings.co
November 9, 2025 at 1:01 PM
“Daniel Ek was a man, he was a big man,” sings an AI voice on a demonically shredding jazz-pop song called “Daniel Ek’s Bathroom Mirror.” “And he steals from musicians ’cause he knows that he’s shit at guitar.”
A chat with Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme about the music of their annual holiday spectacular, which this year takes a sci-fi/horror turn. "I can’t tell you what the Top 40 songs are, but I can hum you the opening theme song for 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴."
Let Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme Usher You Into Hell (the Holiday Season)
The drag performers’ holiday show gets weirder and more spectacular every year. They shared the secrets of their upcoming sci-fi Christmas extravaganza, which takes inspiration from 'Tales From the Crypt' and 'Freaky Friday.'
www.hearingthings.co
November 8, 2025 at 4:14 PM
A chat with Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme about the music of their annual holiday spectacular, which this year takes a sci-fi/horror turn. "I can’t tell you what the Top 40 songs are, but I can hum you the opening theme song for 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴."