Hearing Things
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Independent music journalism. No algorithms. We promise.
AI art is not cheap. The cost is just passed down to those who have been deemed expendable.
AI Album Covers Have No Place in Hip-Hop
A visual artist who built his career on creating covers for independent rap records laments how AI is bastardizing his life’s work.
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NYC, come celebrate two years of Hearing Things tonight @ Night Club 101 with a late show featuring Tasha, Hannah Frances, and our founders DJing!
Tickets for MUSIC! with Hearing Things
Find tickets for tba showing at the Night Club 101 - New York, US Wednesday Oct 7, 9:30PM Tickets starting at $17.95
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“Everyone should listen to this very imposing and long album at least once in life, or in this case, death” ...any guesses which record Sweeping Promises is referencing?
Sweeping Promises On the Songs They Want to Soundtrack Their Funerals
The husband-wife punk duo eyes German art song and hard-to-handle drone music for their final requests.
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A multi-faceted pop breakup album! An ambient banjo album! Heartfelt hip-hop tied to Greek mythology! All this and more in this week's edition of Five Albums
Self-Actualization for the Pop and Rock Girlies
Plus, an ambient banjo album
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If history is defined by the victors, then John Wilson's documentaries present a version grounded in the regular-degulars.
John Wilson’s Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of
The documentarian’s brilliant new film “The History of Concrete” is actually about life as a working artist in NYC.
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Slow Pulp's Emily Massey has proven herself to be one of the decade’s most affecting rock singers, like a less serrated Courtney Love or a more sober Paul Westerberg
One Night in a Haunted Mansion With Slow Pulp
The heart-on-sleeve rock band’s frontwoman Emily Massey speaks to the spirits—and us—about lore, her musical inheritance, and what it means to grow up.
hearingthings.co
Celebrated rappers and producers are selling out the culture in exchange for artwork usually reserved for the world’s shittiest hot chicken restaurants
AI Album Covers Have No Place in Hip-Hop
A visual artist who built his career on creating covers for independent rap records laments how AI is bastardizing his life’s work.
hearingthings.co
While their musical touchstones nod to simpler times, the despondency in Slow Pulp's songs speaks to our doomscrolling era, when it can feel like a considerable feat to make it through one more overloaded day
One Night in a Haunted Mansion With Slow Pulp
The heart-on-sleeve rock band’s frontwoman Emily Massey speaks to the spirits—and us—about lore, her musical inheritance, and what it means to grow up.
hearingthings.co
If the people behind an album can’t be bothered to invest more than a few seconds into their artwork, how dare they expect us to spend our time listening to it?
AI Album Covers Have No Place in Hip-Hop
A visual artist who built his career on creating covers for independent rap records laments how AI is bastardizing his life’s work.
hearingthings.co
You play it once and you have to play it again right away, because there’s no way you’ve caught up to everything that’s happening
The Most Consequential Southern Rap Verse Ever Recorded
How Bun B’s flawless performance on UGK’s 1996 classic “Murder” changed the parameters for all of rap music.
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A kaleidoscopic multi-genre extravaganza! Intergalactic dance music to throw ass to! Latine country-pop with heaping spoonfuls of rap and fiddle! All this and more in this week's Five Albums.
One of the Most Audacious Debuts of the Year
Plus intergalactic dance music to throw ass to.
hearingthings.co
Baltimore rapper Brian Ennals doesn't just Go There—he drags you several miles away from There from the back of a motorcycle with a license plate that reads “ACAB.” We spoke to him about some of his favorite songs for the latest edition of Words Matter.
Rap Bomb-Thrower Brian Ennals on the Lyrics That Changed His Life
The unfiltered Baltimore MC talks about the apocalyptic horniness of the Four Tops, the sociopolitical genius of Stevie Wonder, and why Biggie is the best storyteller in hip-hop history.
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The idea of the Renaissance critic isn’t entirely new. Black critics have always had to carve out space in an industry dominated by white men.
What Does It Even Mean to Be a Music Critic Now?
A veteran culture writer surveys the radically transforming journalistic ecosystem.
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Among other things, Okayplayer was a place to learn about music from people who knew more about it than you. My degree may be in communication, but I was trained in musicology by OKP. www.hearingthings.co/the-afterliv...
The Afterlives of Okayplayer
The story of a message board that changed hip-hop forever
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Where did hip-hop's obsession with lean come from, and why does it seem to have only grown stronger throughout the 2020s? From DJ Screw to Maxo Kream and Lil Uzi Vert, we charted the winding history of rap's drug of choice.
A History of Hip-Hop’s Obsession With Lean
An in-depth look into the past and present of rap’s favorite drug.
hearingthings.co
Thought-proviking IDM! Post-punk and electropop fusion! A musical memorial to a home lost in the Altadena fires! Shoegaze-jazz-rap for the apocalypse! All this and more on this week's Five Albums
Rebuilding Your Home Through the Power of Music
Plus avant-garde shoegaze-jazz-rap-soul for the apocalypse.
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"I thought I was creating this hero's journey—but then ended up 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 the hero’s journey.” Get into Halima's delectable, Afropop-inspired, club R&B debut 𝘚𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘛𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩, released a year ago today—and what she learned from making it:
Halima’s Hero’s Journey to the Club and Back
The velvet-voiced club songwriter and producer on making her delectable debut album, 2025’s 'Sweet Tooth,' and what comes next.
hearingthings.co
The verse had to push against the understood flow of hip-hop’s trajectory, past the ideas of what Southern rap can and can’t be, and ultimately land on what it means to be a Black Southerner altogether
The Most Consequential Southern Rap Verse Ever Recorded
How Bun B’s flawless performance on UGK’s 1996 classic “Murder” changed the parameters for all of rap music.
hearingthings.co
Somehow, it's been two years since we started Hearing Things. Now we’re commemorating our continued existence with a very special show starring two of our favorite current singer-songwriters.
Come Celebrate Our 2nd Anniversary!
Join us for a concert featuring two of our favorite singer-songwriters on October 7 in New York City.
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For Gen Z’s aspiring music critics, there’s no real standardized pipeline—and not much of an informal one, either
What Does It Even Mean to Be a Music Critic Now?
A veteran culture writer surveys the radically transforming journalistic ecosystem.
hearingthings.co
Hip-hop for the revolution and for the streets! Down to earth country-rock! Conservatory-grade electronic prog! All this and more in this week's edition of Five Albums
An ICE Agent's Least Favorite Rap Duo
Plus down-to-earth country-rock
hearingthings.co
The verse became a measuring stick for all other rappers: Can you get on this level? If not, why are you even doing this?
The Most Consequential Southern Rap Verse Ever Recorded
How Bun B’s flawless performance on UGK’s 1996 classic “Murder” changed the parameters for all of rap music.
hearingthings.co
The most mind-boggling grooves ever laid down by a septuagenarian and more
Drake Musical Theater, But Somehow Good
Plus: Are those samples having sex?
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"I think some songwriters tend to write bad songs because they’re trying to be too literary. There’s a weird trend of that in indie music, where they write, like, tone poems, I guess, instead of songs with hooks and stuff."
The Tubs’ Owen Williams on the Lyrics That Changed His Life
The hilarious and big-hearted guitar-pop songwriter talks about balancing irony and sincerity, roasting your friends on record, and the genius of “Fast Car.”
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A new Erykah Badu album! Gauzy shoegaze mixed with outré Latin trap! Ambient tunes from a Norwegian-Mexican clarinetist and a Swedish electronic producer! Mod revival covers by an ambitious Gen Z guitarist! All this and more in Five Albums
A Love Letter for The End of the World
Plus gauzy shoegaze meets outré Latin trap and a Swedish ambient musician's hauntological field recordings
hearingthings.co
The concept of “the music critic” has never felt more nebulous
What Does It Even Mean to Be a Music Critic Now?
A veteran culture writer surveys the radically transforming journalistic ecosystem.
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And two songs that had us wondering: Was the whole thinga dream? www.hearingthings.co/gen-z-rock-p...
Gen-Z Rock Philosophy and Psychedelic Onomatopoeia
Plus bubbly Japanese synth-funk and more
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Supergroups making villainous hip-hop and astral ambient jazz! The 11-years-later return of the Alabama Shakes! Improvisational post-punk/pop/emo fusion! AM pop radio joints straight from Montreal! All this and more in this week's Five Albums
Did Someone Say "Supergroups"?
Plus the 11-years-later return of the Alabama Shakes.
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In 1978, when Dolly was promoting her 20th (!) album, Heartbreaker, she was booked for a blockbuster night by the Cheyenne Frontier Days committee—which used my dad's motorhome as the artists' green room.
That Time Dolly Came to My Little Wyoming Hometown
Honoring the late country icon with a story about her appearance at a rodeo in 1978.
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