@ofnotenewsletter
Music writing worth reading, delivered at the beginning of each month. Subscribe at https://buttondown.com/of_note Edited by Justin Anderson-Weber (@jlweber.bsky.social) Based in Chicago, Illinois.
Of Note 023 is out!
Music writing worth reading from:
@usefulnoise.bsky.social on Eric Church during ICE
@jawnita.bsky.social on Bad Bunny's HT show
Hanif Abdurraqib's ALDIA
@annkpowers.bsky.social on protest songs
@craigsj.bsky.social on the Grammy's
@nikostratis.com on crushes + Goo Goo Dolls
TFW you're finally getting around to prepping the @ofnotenewsletter.bsky.social that should have come out last week and seeing this interaction between @see-saw.fun and @jawnita.bsky.social in some comments.
Big fuckin' heart.
FYI: February is a short month and I’m still on vacation so the newsletter will come later this week!
not that anyone needs more evidence of keith being one of the best around but he keeps offering it bsky.app/profile/usef...
You're gonna want to read this one.
Cover of Hanif Abdurraqib’s A Little Devil in America. White text on black. A photo of Leon James and Willa Mae Ricker doing the Lindy Hop in the center.
Was struggling to decide on a book to read this month and then I looked up and I saw the perfect one, just resting where it has for a few years, waiting for the right time.
Book of the month will be Hanif Abdurraqib’s A Little Devil in America.
Cover of the first month issue of the Chicago Reader. A big egg hatching with the Reader backwards R logo stamped on it. Yellow background.
“Angel Tapes helps emerging musicians take wing” is the title of an article on the inside.
Congrats, @chicagoreader.com, on the relaunch. Plenty of copies at the Reckless Records on Belmont.
Hunkering down to read it cover to cover, including @imleor.bsky.social’s piece on Angel Tapes, this afternoon.
The cover of the newest Chicago Reader, which features a huge photo of an egg that’s cracking open
My feature on Fire Talk Records’ Chicago-based imprint, Angel Tapes
After a month and a half break from print, the Reader makes its debut as a monthly. Thank you to everyone who supported the paper last year when we were scraping by week to week, and all the ups and downs before then. Thank you to everyone who picks up a new issue, it means the world.
for Alt-Rock Department, my column at @pastemagazine.bsky.social about working in a grocery store in the 90s the peak era of alt rock radio, I wrote about the weight of early crushes at work, and the Goo Goo Dolls
www.pastemagazine.com/music/alt-ro...
In my feature debut for @nashvillescene.com, I chatted with Lilly Hiatt about chaos, grounding herself in guitar and exercise, and how scary it can be to play solo tours! www.nashvillescene.com/music/featur...
On the plane yesterday I made a note of my favorite sax solos. Then it happens to be Andy Mackay's birthday. I like a list where Lora Logic and Steve Douglas trade licks. Here y'are. wp.me/pzXeC-iVz
Here's a version of my essay on recent protest music, which began life in the NPR Music newsletter -- I've expanded it to include thoughts on Benito at the Grammys www.npr.org/2026/02/05/n...
Please do.
(I do wish all these new newsletters wouldn’t use substack. If you’re starting new, you should know by now the alternatives)
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:
thefutureisourstomake.substack.com
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
Chris is one of the best. This sucks.
If you missed it this weekend, a jam packed issue hit your inboxes. Subscribe and share!
Of Note 022 is out!
Highlighting work from:
@natechinen.bsky.social on Blackstar
@elienis.bsky.social with M. Dubice
@jonbern.bsky.social's JTE bio
@stevenhyden.bsky.social on Pitchfork
@ericdharvey.com on Bob Marley
@tombreihan.bsky.social on The Greatest
@marissarmoss.bsky.social asks a question
Of Note 022 is out!
Highlighting work from:
@natechinen.bsky.social on Blackstar
@elienis.bsky.social with M. Dubice
@jonbern.bsky.social's JTE bio
@stevenhyden.bsky.social on Pitchfork
@ericdharvey.com on Bob Marley
@tombreihan.bsky.social on The Greatest
@marissarmoss.bsky.social asks a question
I see that there is discourse on this app that I no longer have on my phone but have not yet read, so my 5 cents is this: it's simply always just a good idea to subscribe to Don't Rock the Inbox. Pay two women writing about country music to keep doing it. Can't go wrong. www.dontrocktheinbox.com
Evan Minsker at see/saw’s punk rock pizza party at Leona’s in Eau Claire, 2025
hello, if you want to support an independent worker-owned music publication, subscribe to see/saw: punk rock criticism, features, blogs, playlists, podcasts, radio, and more.
started by pitchfork’s former news director two months after being laid off by conde nast 💋 see-saw.fun
if u want to subscribe to an independent, worker-owned music and culture pub w/great criticism (and features, interviews, blogs etc) from five ppl you know and love, hearing things launched in october 2024 in the wake of conde nast's pitchfork layoffs :)
www.hearingthings.co
Trick Bag, Aquarium Drunkard, Stereogum, Hearing Things, a billion independent newsletters…just saying! if you cherish the spot where you read about music, especially if it’s eternally dangling on the precipice of financial oblivion because there’s not a corporation behind it, throw them some money.
Wrote about the 20th anniversary of Cat Power's The Greatest, a lovely album that may have accidentally invented Lana Del Rey.
I've been looking for a reason to write about the Disintegration Loops for a while but then I realized "you can just blog stuff." defector.com/the-disinteg...
Very excited to dig in! Thanks for your hard work and bringing this to life
Definitely go check out @jawnita.bsky.social's write up of Rawayana's "¿Dónde Es El After?"
A timely recommendation from Venezuela and made me feel more connected to that country.
www.hearingthings.co/bbymutha-is-...
For 2+ years, Joel Styzens has been teaching me piano and even songwriter. Great guy, super talented.
He's got a kickstarter for a new album and it'd be awesome if anybody here pledged to it.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/joe...
I’d reach out to @see-saw.fun directly! Evan is a good dude who will definitely work with ya to find a way.
New personal rule for me: if I’m just picking up my phone to waste time, I’m gonna do it as @ofnotenewsletter.bsky.social and post about music writing. At least then, I’ll be posting about something good.