Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Gina Gory, Greg Mendez, Sunami live, and more

Reviews of Pittsburgh slow-gaze, Japanese ambient, and more. And a recap of Sunami's Pittsburgh takeover.

Show Review

Ken Carson live: going gonzo in the great chaos

Photographer Caden Clinton and I ventured into the zoomer pits and Nettspend stampedes of Ken Carson's rage-rap kingdom.

Blog

Warped Tour's 2025 reboot won't serve those who need it most

The punk festival's tepid return is formatted for millennial nostalgists, not the teens of today.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Greet Death, Blue Smiley, Schema, and more

Reviews of two new shoegaze stunners, a hardcore wallop, and an old record that came to me in the YouTube trenches.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Her New Knife, Scowl, Haywire, more

I recap a long and eventful night of hardcore, ruminate on a couple singles, and re-up my annual dose of rangey psych-rock.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Julie, Being Dead, The Hives, and more

A couple shoegaze reviews, some thoughts on another great album, and how it felt to see my first favorite band.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Greg Mendez, Big Nick, Fallen God, and more

I review a handful of singles, a couple EP's, and one album — and have nice things to say about almost all of them.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Dummy, Draped In Black, ELO live, and more

I review a new shoegaze-ish album, a hardcore-ish EP, and then recap two memorable live shows.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Duster, Destroy Lonely, Built to Spill live, and more

Three new album reviews — slowcore, rage rap, and grunge-metal — and two live show recaps, one indie-rock and one hardcore.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Ex-Pilots, Nails, Dimension Six, and more

Album reviews that run the gamut from shoegaze to grindcore, a little bit of hardcore commentary, and then a serious confession.

Playlist

100-song playlist: shoegaze, sexy drill, krushclub, and more

Listen to my latest "Shit I Like" playlist and read about 15 highlights ranging from The Jesus and Mary Chain to Nettspend.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Geordie Greep, Starflyer 59, Tanukichan, and more

A review of a shoegaze "comeback" album and takes on three new singles —one great, one fine, one atrocious.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Belong, Trauma Ray, Holy Blade, and more

A review of my favorite 2024 shoegaze album thus far, and some thoughts on another young 'gaze act. Plus, hardcore forecasting and Pitchfork 'Best New Music' reacting.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Better Lovers, Trace Mountains, Myspace deathcore, and more

Reviews of good indie-rock, great power-pop, and bad metalcore. Then, a mini scene report on a fascinating a new trend in heavy music.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Queensway, Missing Link, Sn​õ​õ​per, more

A hardcore-exclusive issue of my weekly column. Few music reviews, couple gig write-ups, lots of thoughts on aggressive music.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Julie, Militarie Gun, Webbed Wing, more

Reviews of major and minor-label shoegaze, hardcore-adjacent pop, and power-pop that doesn't give you wings.

Shoegaze

I'm writing a book about shoegaze!

Coming 2026 via St. Martin's Publishing Group

Blog

Music Twitter has its own version of the Zynternet — and it sucks

On Nusic Twitter, Pop Crave is their Barstool Randos tweet like record execs. And gambling is the engine of this new bastard subculture.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: MJ Lenderman, Friko, Horse Vision, and more

Thoughts on a critically underrated cult album, a weird band from Stockholm, the new single from ~the next Kurt Vile~, and other opinions on music.

Shoegaze

Amira Elfeky is the major label barometer for nu-gaze

Atlantic Records signed a Deftonesy TikTok breakout. What does her trajectory say about the commercialization of nu-gaze?

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Luster, Peel Dream Magazine, Sex Week, and more

Three varieties of shoegaze, some unexpectedly great Alex G-core, and a wickedly heavy hardcore EP filled out my week.

Shoegaze

How shoegaze and nu-metal became entwined: A brief explainer

I investigate why Deftones are more influential on today's shoegaze than My Bloody Valentine, and why Korn and Glare are in the same playlists.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: TAGABOW, Cold Gawd, Charli XCX's 'Brat' songs ranked, and more

I review some good and bad shoegaze, recommend some post-rock and electroclash, and then rank every song on Charli XCX's new album.

Show Review

Rage rap's half-life, Pittsburgh's racism, Gen-X fogies: Kim Gordon's show spurred these 10 thoughts

The Sonic Youth co-founder brought her rage rap-influenced music to Pittsburgh, a city where young rap fans are rarely allowed to rage.

Chasing Fridays

Chasing Fridays: Candy, Spirit of the Beehive, Midwife, and more

I review a hardcore album that caught me off guard, and then dig into new singles from two of my faves. Plus, a couple deeper recs.