Will Hermes

It’s real, by all indications. No one has been able to find the video footage of the appearance. But the broadcast received advance mention in a local paper, fwiw. And that song did turn up. In at least one bootlegged early live show, at the Gymnasium on the upper east side.

Unless it’s next level AI, sounds genuine to me.

Lou Reed Guess I'm Falling in love live YouTube video by Lund Peterson

velvet underground researchers have apparently confirmed that this audio from a random youtube user is genuinely the long-lost july '67 performance from upbeat, a cleveland teen tv show, doing the unreleased "guess i'm falling in love" complete with screaming girls. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU2U...

🙏🏼 thanks for the shout out!

Great post and playlist. If you haven't read "Love Goes to Buildings on Fire" by @willhermes.bsky.social, go do it now. It's an amazing primer on music, history and culture and is SO much fun to read. I think I finished it in a weekend while also rabidly tracking down the music mentioned in it.

The other Willie Playlist - The other Willie - 34 items

In the meantime: tidal.com/playlist/d03...

It is — I'll reload the link.

RIP Willie Colón: a 30+ song primer Notes on the pan-American salsa innovator + New York City legend (e.g. Bad Bunny's shout-out in "NUEVAYol"), and a streaming playlist primer for folks who think they don't like salsa.

Gift post, no paywall.

The playlist was SO fun to make, brought me back to my NYC days in the '70s / '80s. Willie was a mixed bag for sure, like a lot of family. But goddamn his jams are hot.

it's really fucking cool for artists to stop being obsessed w/an antiquated idea of publications and also talk to writers at the newsletters they are building, so we can all create something cool and sustainable!

Preach, sister 🌞 Your work is a continual inspiration.

Breakfast w/ Buck Meek Big Thief's wingman on California wildfires, making music with older folks, his new solo album, and what's next (a new Big Thief LP).

I had a hearty diner breakfast w/ Big Thief wingman Buck Meek recently.

We talked about his new solo album, the California wildfires, making music w/ older folks, un-cryptic songwriting, and what's next (yup: a new Big Thief record). We did a little crate digging afterwards, too.

Record reviews, who cares? Thoughts on music journalism, social media "content creation," Substack, failing newspapers, Pitchfork's paywall, and graded art.

I do, for the record(s).

New songs: a 2026 playlist Sault. Springsteen. Billy Bragg. Peter Gabriel. Cleo Sol. Imarhan. Mitski. María Zardoya. Ratboys. Arlo Parks. Joshua Idehen. Lucinda Williams.

New songs from the UK speaking to the moment and beyond. Sault. Cleo Sol. The brilliant and spirited Joshua Idehen. Billy Bragg. Arlo Parks. A potent new single from Peter Gabriel.

From the US: María Zardoya (of the Marias). Mitski. Ratboys. Lucinda Williams. Bruce Springsteen.

🫡 🔊 🔊

RIP Sly Dunbar. 60 songs. A streaming playlist primer on the innovative Jamaican drummer, producer, beat architect. Peter Tosh, Grace Jones, Black Uhuru, Bob Dylan, Sinéad O'Connor, Serge Gainsbourg, Gregory Isaacs, and more.

60 songs @willhermes.bsky.social

Thanks John 🫡 souls are in need of tonic

this is a wonderful writeup with playlists in several diff formats linked at the end. Pictured is Eve Goodman and SERA whose harmonies are a tonic for the spirit

Belfast rising Your Roots Are Showing – Ireland's international folk + roots music conference – breaks North. Dani Larkin. Corás Trio. Eve Goodman & SERA. Rissi Palmer. Amy Grant.

I spent last week in Belfast. It was beautiful and powerful — the people, the music, the living history. I posted at length about it on my Substack today (music included). Enjoy.

Vinyl rewind (+ best reissues 2025) A latter-day David Bowie box, vampiric streaming platforms, and neighborhood DJ-ing renewed my love of LPs and CDs.

David Bowie's Blackstar came out 10 years ago. He died two days later. Tomorrow's the anniversary of his death, so I’m reposting this — a look at the final box set in his reissue series, plus the essay I wrote about Blackstar (and ars moriendi) for the NYT Magazine. open.substack.com/pub/newmusic...

Patti Smith: Horses at 50 + a new memoir. No artist has inspired me more.

HBD Patti Smith!!!
Picking up Bob's Nobel: youtu.be/941PHEJHCwU
More
@janetmaslin.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/b...
@jaygabler.com: www.thecurrent.org/feature/2021...
w/David Remnick: www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-...
@willhermes.bsky.social: newmusicoldmusic.substack.com/p/patti-smit...

Wonderland - Dutch documentary on Los Angeles Music Scene 1977 YouTube video by Bonnie's Pride and Joy

Via @willhermes.bsky.social, this 1977 Dutch doc about L.A. rock features, @ 4:30, Linda Rondstadt, in plain language, nicely and not at all unkindly, demolishing every macho rock shibboleth in sight in about two minutes. I cannot stop laughing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXTH...

Goodbye, 2025 Random odds and ends. Instagram = the new YouTube. 1977 Los Angeles on film (Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne).

Parting shots and shout-outs, the Yo La Tengo Chanukah shows (Jeff Tweedy, Bonnie “Prince” Billy), young Geese footage 2021 + more. Happy New Year, y’all. We made it.

Thanks Scott 🙏🏽

That Molly et al track must be sick in the club, I love the floaty groove and the Afrobeats - dancehall crosstalk.

2025's best songs (150+ of 'em) A handmade 10-hour mixtape playlist w/ notes. Happy holidays.

A 150+ song cherry-picked best-of-year playlist (in all streaming formats) w/ footnotes and an ode to the beauty of handmade mixes.

Happy holidays, and here's to a hopeful 2026 ❤️

It’s very good — a grower for sure.

LIVE SOON: The Year in Music 2025 Starting Dec 12 at 11:00 AM EST

I’ll be talking about The Year in Music 2025 with the brilliant Mark Richardson (Pitchfork/WSJ) on Substack in an hour — that's 11AM ET / 4PM GMT / 8AM PT

There will be talk of Geese, Rosalía, and much more. Let us know if there’s anything you’d like us to riff on!

The 50 best covers of 2025 Lucinda Williams, Geese, Cat Power, Samara Joy, The XX, Robert Glasper, Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, Jeff Tweedy, Rogê, Sharon Van Etten, Margaret Glaspy, Madi Diaz, Brad Mehldau... did I miss any?

Cover versions = my comfort food.

Here's a playlist stream w/ 11+ months worth:

The Pretenders by Sharon Van Etten
Brewer & Shipley by Pavement
Clairo by Olivia Dean
Blink 182 by Madi Diaz
Gillian Welch by Mavis Staples
Clifton Chenier by Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams by Margaret Glaspy
etc.

Thanks!

Bread of Angels: A Memoir, by Patti Smith review – a wild ride with the poet of punk Smith’s incantatory voice shines through in this surprisingly revelatory follow up to Just Kids and M Train

I wrote about Patti Smith's incandescent new memoir for
@theguardian.com — and yes, as a fan of Just Kids and M Train, I too said "what, another one?" It's totally gorgeous.