Hello. I’m a freelance writer and editor and I also work on various projects related to music, streaming media, record culture, and curation. My main gig is rock and pop music critic at the Wall Street Journal. From 2011 to 2018, I was the Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor of the online music magazine Pitchfork. I’ve written about music and culture for outlets including the New York Times, NPR Music, The Ringer, and Stereogum. Here’s some recent work:
Wall Street Journal
- I reviewed Rosalía’s album Motomami.
- I reviewed Big Thief’s album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You.
- I reviewed the recent box set for the John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band record, digging into both the set and what it means to remix and recontextualize classic records for a new era.
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s “G_d’s Pee at State’s End!”
- “Streaming for Audiophiles,” about Spotify Hi-Fi and Hi-Res audio WSJ Version / Text Version
Elsewhere
- I wrote about the new edition of Cat Steves’ Harold and Maude soundtrack for Pitchfork.
- I wrote about the 20th anniversary of the Microphones’ The Glow Pt. 2 for Stereogum.
- I write a column called Listener’s Arc for Varyer, which is about listening and memory. They are collected here. You can read recent editions about Keith Jarrett, the Caretaker, and a listening diary from 2020.
Going back further
- I reviewed David Berman’s last record, Purple Mountains, for the Wall Street Journal, and also wrote a remembrance of him for Pitchfork following his death.
- I reviewed four museum shows about pop music for the New York Times.
- I reviewed the first three nights of music programming at The Shed for the Wall Street Journal.
- I reviewed the new album by Fennesz, Agora, for Pitchfork.
- I wrote about Sons of Kemet for the New York Times Magazine‘s annual music issue.
- For The Ringer I wrote a piece about the indie rock band Duster, with some thoughts about reissue culture, how cults around obscure music develop online, and the difficulty of finding information about music that emerged in the early days of the internet.
- I wrote the liner notes to the Superior Viaduct vinyl reissues of Alice Coltrane‘s four mid/late-1970s LPs for Warner Bros.
- I reviewed a very interesting compilation of ambient music from Japan for Pitchfork.
- Also for Pitchfork I wrote a Sunday Review of Tortoise’s album TNT.
- For the Wall Street Journal I reviewed the brilliant new Jessica Pratt album, Quiet Signs.
- Also for the WSJ I reviewed Jeff Tweedy’s solo album WARM.
You can send me an email or find me on twitter or LinkedIn.