Chris Richards

I will not lie I will not lie I will not lie Listening to — and looking at — a Fugazi album that didn’t exist

I owe so much of my sense of self to FUGAZI and I tried to explain why

thefutureisourstomake.substack.com/p/i-will-not...

NYT critics = no. 1 at sucking up to celebrities; no. 1 at hating the art forms they cover. Here’s a twofer

Thanks for reading THE FUTURE IS OURS TO MAKE this week

Get caught up and subscribe xoxo:

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Can we listen to ‘White Nile’ again? Three encounters with the life-broadening jazz of Kelan Phil Cohran

The jazz of KELAN PHIL COHRAN keeps passing my life like a comet

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Swomp-swomp [me sucking up fun]

🙏🏻🎵

Disco Stu vs. the apocalypse As Johnny Blue Skies, Sturgill Simpson wants to party like it's the end of the world

I’d like to be dancing when the world ends, just not to this new STURGILL SIMPSON record

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Man in the mirror The lingering image of Justin Bieber singing to himself at the Grammys

Haunted by JUSTIN BIEBER singing to himself

thefutureisourstomake.substack.com/p/man-in-the...

🙏🏻🎵

🙏🏻🎵

One question interview with Heavenly By the time the great British band Heavenly first rattled my ears in the late ’90s, their music seemed to have become synonymous with the word “twee.” I loved the sound, but the language felt too tigh...

Everyone calls HEAVENLY “twee” but I wondered if they like harsh music

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Permanent head flex Listening to free car, harDCore and the shape of D.C. music to come

New writing about new D.C. MUSIC

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🙏🏻🎵

🙏🏻🎵

I think I’m gonna die in this house Charli XCX’s post-Brat misadventures in Hollywood

At the movies with CHARLI XCX

substack.com/@thefutureis...

I had to launch my life raft and now I’m rowing, but I will answer you about this, (perhaps to no one’s satisfaction) as soon as I can. Meantime, I hope to reprint some/all of this work in a physical zine for readers with these valid objections. Thanks for hearing me. I am sorry to let you down.

An end zone dance in the shape of infinity Notes on Bad Bunny’s halftime show in the middle of a national crisis

The message I took from last night’s BAD BUNNY performance: we continue

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If it clarifies what was lost this week:

Philip Kennicott and Monica Hesse remain as arts critics at The Washington Post

Eliminated:
art critic
arts editor
arts/film editor
classical critic
pop critic
television critic
theater critic
all editors/reporters in Book World including two book critics

Massive thanks

🙏🏻

Worse because my wife still works there!

That’s an honest answer, and so is this: Regardless of management’s decisions, the journalists who actually make The Washington Post are fighting for the truth and will continue to do so

THE FUTURE IS OURS TO MAKE | Chris Richards | Substack Music reccos/rants/prayers/curses by critic and co-listener Chris Richards. Click to read THE FUTURE IS OURS TO MAKE, by Chris Richards, a Substack publication. Launched 3 hours ago.

I want to do the best writing I’ve ever done and I’d be honored to have you as my reader

First proper electronic missive goes out Monday, February 9

Subscribe here:

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THE FUTURE IS OURS TO MAKE

Graceless pivot to survival: I’m launching

THE FUTURE IS OURS TO MAKE

A music newsletter of reccos, rants, illumination, shade, endangered forms (concert/album reviews, human interviews), formless dangers (trash talk, love lore, bespoke illos) — an expansion of my work as your critic + co-listener

I’ve been laid off by The Washington Post

Serving as this newspaper’s pop music critic for the past 16-plus years has been my privilege, my joy

Endless solidarity to my righteous colleagues, endless gratitude to our faithful readers

Column | The most important sound at this year’s Grammys? Free speech. With trophies in hand, Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish and SZA spoke out against ICE during an awards show where the musical performances felt secondary.

When the world outside THE GRAMMYS is too loud to ignore:

wapo.st/4qcNw7q

Trump plans to close Kennedy Center for about two years, starting in July President Donald Trump said Sunday that the Kennedy Center could temporarily close for roughly two years to undergo construction.

BREAKING: Trump plans to close Kennedy Center for about two years, starting in July

Follow @janaykingsberry.bsky.social 's and my coverage here. The piece will be continually updated:

www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...

Review | Nice Breeze is taking its lo-fi sound to new heights On its terrific vinyl debut, “Everything Disappears, the D.C. indie trio sounds messy and mannered, hungry and wise.

A new record by NICE BREEZE is stuck on my turntable for the following reasons

wapo.st/3YL6VkF

“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...

I write for readers and will email you anything I write for the newspaper, just ask