San Francisco's music scene has been declared dead too many times to count. @ptoon.bsky.social spoke to Portola Music Festival co-founder Danny Bell about building one of the West Coast's essential electronic weekends anyway. www.powmag.net/p/we-outside...

The Reports of San Francisco’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

As part of We Outside, his ongoing project to document the industry of live music, Pranav Trewn speaks to Portola Music Festival founder Danny Bell.

powmag.net

Over the last 15 years, the phrase "Come to Brasil" has become both a memetic bit and a desperately sincere plea from diehard fans. @ptoon.bsky.social spoke to Lina Abescal about her new film "Come to Brasil," the originations of the phrase, stan culture, and more. www.powmag.net/p/come-to-br...

We Outside: “Come to Brasil” and The Global Evolution of Fandom

As part of his ongoing project to document the industry of live music, Pranav Trewn speaks to the filmmaker Lina Abascal.

powmag.net

In honor of the one-year anniversary of the publication of "Waiting For Britney Spears" and its recent Polish translation, @ptoon.bsky.social interviewed me for the POW Book Club. I only had to threaten him with the loss of his column six times to do it. www.powmag.net/p/pow-book-c...

POW Book Club: Jeff Weiss’s Waiting for Britney Spears

Pranav Trewn speaks to POW founder Jeff Weiss about his debut book on the occasion of one of its European releases.

powmag.net

The Stern Grove Music Festival in San Francisco is the longest-running free music festival in America. @ptoon.bsky.social examines how it's managed to flourish in an era of consolidation and live music monopolies, while remaining accessible and uncompromised. www.powmag.net/p/we-outside...

We Outside: Stern Grove Festival 2026

As part of his ongoing project to document the industry of live music, Pranav Trewn reports from the Bay.

powmag.net

As independent venues around the coutry close or face severe economic headwinds, @ptoon.bsky.social examines SF's Noise Pop Festival as a model of DIY spirit, community, and resistance to the prevailing trends. A must-read for anyone who cares about live music. www.passionweiss.com/2026/02/26/w...

Lapgan and Baalti announce new psychedelic dance album 'Threads'; check out "Lime Tikka" and its accompanying short film

Lapgan & Baalti Announce New Album 'Threads': Hear "Lime Tikka"

It hasn’t been long since we’ve heard from Lapgan. The Chicago-based hip-hop producer dropped Lapgan Is Ecstatic, his album-length reimagining of Mos Def’s The Ecstatic, in December. This week, he’s b...

stereogum.com

The Best Rap Singles of 2025 www.passionweiss.com/2025/12/26/t...

The POW Best Rap Singles of 2025 | Passion of the Weiss

You're now rocking with the best

passionweiss.com

The Best Live Performances of 2025 For the year's final "We Outside" column, @ptoon.bsky.social breaks down transcendent performances from Floating Points, DARKSIDE, Mannequin Pussy, Charli XCX, billy woods, and more. www.passionweiss.com/2025/12/23/w...

We Outside: The Best Live Performances of 2025 | Passion of the Weiss

Trewn breaks down the best sets, shows, and crowds of 2025 in live music.

passionweiss.com

The second edition of the POW Book Club is on Such Great Heights by @chrisdeville.bsky.social, who I spoke with for a lovely interview about “indie”: the pros and cons of your favorite bands hitting it big, the fading trust between artists and critics, and where the genre goes from here

Jeff Weiss@passionweiss.bsky.social · 11mo ago

An interview with @chrisdeville.bsky.social about the last 2 decades of "indie:" how it transformed into an aesthetic, the difficulties of balancing mainstream success with underground fandom & his excellent book "Such Great Heights" By @ptoon.bsky.social www.passionweiss.com/2025/11/04/p...

So grateful to @ptoon.bsky.social and @passionweiss.bsky.social for featuring me and my book

How Indie Transformed From A Sub-Culture Into An Aesthetic: A Conversation With Chris DeVille | Passion of the Weiss

For the second edition of Book Club, Pranav Trewn speaks to Chris Deville, the author of "Such Great Heights," e about how indie music transitioned from a real definition into a stylistic motif.

passionweiss.com

@chrisdeville.bsky.social’s excellent new book was as fun to write about as it was to read. Shared some reflections in the Spoonerism newsletter (with more reflections to come)

Chris DeVille@chrisdeville.bsky.social · 12mo ago

I tend to think of my book SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS as a history of overlapping, sometimes contradictory mainstream-facing conceptions of "indie," but I like this take summing up the peak p4k era as a moment of "underground monoculture"

Few groundbreaking cultural institutions survive 2 full decades intact. Philly's Making Time ∞ is a rare exception, remaining experimental at its core In advance of this year's festival, @ptoon.bsky.social spoke to founder Dave P about how he's made it work www.passionweiss.com/2025/09/18/w...

We Outside: 25 Years In, Making Time's Dave P Hasn't Lost His Edge | Passion of the Weiss

An Interview with Philly's beloved promoter on programming his festival the way he builds a DJ set.

passionweiss.com

In a festival world that has become homogenized and interchangeable, @ptoon.bsky.social attends Outside Lands and offers three lessons that its competition can take from the Bay's premier three-day music festival. www.passionweiss.com/2025/08/17/t...

Three Lessons Every Festival Should Learn From Outside Lands

For his latest “We Outside Column,” Pranav Trewn breaks down how Outside Lands makes the most of its lineup, infrastructure, and host city.

passionweiss.com

Writing for Passion of the Weiss has been one of the most magical experiences of my career, so it’s insane to see its lens rotated towards me. Had a brilliant chat about Words for My Comrades with @ptoon.bsky.social, who wrote it up with the fire you’d expect from the site

POW Book Club 001: Words For My Comrades by Dean Van Nguyen

In his new book, Dean Van Nguyen outlines how 2Pac’s revolutionary-minded on-mic ethos left a lasting footprint on the rap game in the decades since his death.

passionweiss.com

2Pac's legacy & the circumstances of his murder have been endlessly dissected, but his politics have rarely received the same attention @ptoon.bsky.social interviewed @deanvannguyen.bsky.social about his excellent new book that explores 'Pac radical philosophy. www.passionweiss.com/2025/08/13/p...

POW Book Club 001: Words For My Comrades by Dean Van Nguyen

In his new book, Dean Van Nguyen outlines how 2Pac’s revolutionary-minded on-mic ethos left a lasting footprint on the rap game in the decades since his death.

passionweiss.com

Do co-headlining tours give fans a chance to experience 2 distinct solo shows a& see double the music? Or does it dilute the experience and shatter the momentum of a traditional stadium show? @ptoon.bsky.social reports from the Kendrick/SZA tour for We Outside www.passionweiss.com/2025/06/25/w...

We Outside: Less Than Their Sum? The New Model of Co-Headline Tours

The Grand National Tour felt like a B-Tier concert interspersed throughout an A-Tier show.

passionweiss.com

The Top 20 Performances of Coachella The endless Brat summer beats on ceaselessly, The LA Phil concocts a desert orchestral fever dream, Kraftwerk illustrate the sustained power of German engineering. Green Day lives on. @ptoon.bsky.social was there. www.passionweiss.com/2025/04/23/w...

We Outside: Ranking Every Set I Attended at Coachella, Part II

Pranav Trewn returns swiftly to round out his top 20 sets from Coachella 2025, ranging from A.G. Cook to T-Pain, Green Day and others.

passionweiss.com

Part II of my Coachella roundup for @passionweiss.bsky.social is up! Read my thoughts on Arca, Kraftwerk, Kneecap, Hope Tala, Lady Gaga, and 15 others (was a good year)

We Outside: Ranking Every Set I Attended at Coachella, Part II

Pranav Trewn returns swiftly to round out his top 20 sets from Coachella 2025, ranging from A.G. Cook to T-Pain, Green Day and others.

passionweiss.com

Part One of my two part column this month ranking everything I saw at Coachella this year, for @passionweiss.bsky.social

We Outside: Ranking Every Set I Attended at Coachella, Part I

Pranav Trewn reports live from Coachella to begin counting down the best (and worst) performances he saw this year – from the shakiness of Travis Scott, to the impressive set from K-Pop group XG.

passionweiss.com

POW Radio is going live now on @dublab.bsky.social with a guest mix from the 404 master and found sound manipulator Kartik Mixing everything from Yacht Rock to Ras G, Quelle Chris to Boards of Canada, late 00s UK dubstep, Quasimoto and more. 12-2 PST. Lock in www.dublab.com

An ode to the concert film, an art form that has become popular again, despite the proliferation of short-form video & iPhone footage And how they offer a more immersive way to understand another subculture's followers, language & norms By @ptoon.bsky.social www.passionweiss.com/2025/03/31/w...

We Outside: Concert Films Offer Windows of Empathy for a Jaded World

Concert films have the power to not only provide fans with a snapshot of an artist’s performance prowess at a moment in time, but a broader window into their cultural moment, Pranav Trewn writes.

passionweiss.com

Almost ten years ago I landed my first @stereogum.bsky.social byline, and now I’m being mentioned in the text as a manager. Full circle moment!

Stereogum@stereogum.com · 2y ago

Hear the Chicago musician Sparklmami's soulfully slinky new song "Touch"

The second edition of the Spoonerism newsletter is live! Featuring words on Liz Pelly’s “Mood Machine”, the false promise of AI-generated music, and Baalti’s incredible EP Mela + the new MIKE and Venturing albums

the value is in the inputs

+ Spotify’s regressive influence, connecting the Bronx to West Bengal, and really committing to an alias

spoonerismllc.substack.com

Wrote for this month’s We Outside about Noise Pop, San Francisco’s homegrown music festival keeping the spirit of independent music alive (for @passionweiss.bsky.social)

We Outside: San Francisco’s Noise Pop Organizers Talk Running Their Homegrown Music Festival

Pranav Trewn delivers the latest edition of his We Outside column, speaking to the organizers of a unique San Fransisco festival about the process of putting it together, ticket prices and more.

passionweiss.com

Launched the newsletter, in which I take stock of the death of platforms, the joy of physical media, and the lesson Arooj Aftab can teach us about stretching beyond a monolingual mindset

letting the work speak for itself

+ the politics of platforms, physical media over everything, and Arooj Aftab's crucial lesson on language

spoonerismllc.substack.com

Examined the state of the 2025 festival economy, and ultimately found hope in spite of the many red flags littered across these lineups.

Jeff Weiss@passionweiss.bsky.social · 2y ago

www.passionweiss.com/2025/01/28/w... As 2025 starts in earnest, the latest "We Outside" column examines the state of the modern music festival: the contracting market, the nascent stars prematurely elevated to headliners, the rampant nostalgia, the country takeover and more. By @ptoon.bsky.social

I’m helming the Spoonerism newsletter, which launches this week. I think it’s some of my best writing yet, if you’d like to tap in: spoonerismllc.substack.com?r=a3sy&utm_c...

Spoonerism | Pranav Trewn | Substack

Remixing culture in our image. Click to read Spoonerism, a Substack publication. Launched 5 days ago.

spoonerismllc.substack.com

So in addition to music writing, I manage a few artists (Lapgan, Sparklmami, Kartik), and just launched an entity to cover that work: Spoonerism. We focus on music informed by mixed cultural upbringings. Keep up with us! www.instagram.com/spoonerismll...

Baalti dropped one of my favorite dance floor fillers of the last year, and Molly wrote one of my favorite sentences of music writing about it: “I started getting phantom lower back pains from dropping it too low in my mind”

molly mary o'brien@missmollymary.bsky.social · 2y ago

ur fave songs of the year - wrapped!! picks from @patreeeek.bsky.social, @wdgasteyer.bsky.social, @pitchdiscontent.bsky.social, @turbidity-filer.bsky.social, @nonblnary.bsky.social, @leadergrev.bsky.social, @ptoon.bsky.social, @melvinpena.bsky.social + more... www.ienjoymusic.net/your-favorit...

Wrote about Jessica Pratt’s Here In The Pitch, my favorite album of 2024, for the year’s best blog. It’s the age of what’s to come, happy new year. www.passionweiss.com/2024/12/31/t...