Most Recent:

Feature Essays:

• “Reality Meets Rap: The Legacy of Hip-Hop and the L.A. Riots” for The Ringer
• “How Twitter Changed Music” for Pitchfork
• A remembrance of D.A. Pennebaker’s “Don’t Look Back” for the LA Times
• “Super Dave Osborne and ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund Were Reality TV’s Deadpan Pioneers” for Slate
• “How Smart Speakers Are Changing How We Listen To Music” for Pitchfork
• A story on a man collecting Gap in-store music playlists for The New Yorker
• “Networked Listening” for Real Life magazine
• “Station to Station: The Past, Present and Future of Streaming Music” for Pitchfork (Webby-nominated!)

Review Essays:

• Peter Gabriel So
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Damn the Torpedoes
• Stereolab Dots and Loops
• Singles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
• Ice Cube Death Certificate

Book Reviews:

• “Bliss Points: On John Seabrook’s The Song Machine.“
• “The Art of the Playlist.” (Ben Ratliff’s Every Song Ever)

 

The Rest:

“Why the Christmas Song Canon Has a Boomer Bias.“ (Dec. 21, 2011).

“R.E.M.: America’s Greatest Band.” (Sept. 22, 2011)

“Clarence Clemons and the History of the Rock Sideman.“ (June 21, 2011)

[All LP Reviews]

“Interview: Cass McCombs” (July 29, 2011)

“How Frank Ocean Transcended the Hype.” (December 12, 2012)

“How Michael McDonald Lost His Voice.” (June 25, 2014)

“Bliss Points: On John Seabrook’s ‘The Song Machine’” (November 22, 2015)

“The Real Reason Kendrick Lamar Dropped a Surprise Album” (March 8, 2016)

“Footnote Records“ (July 3, 2013)

“The Art of the Playlist” (Review of Ben Ratliff’s Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty) (March 7, 2016)

“Who Got the Camera: N.W.A.’s Embrace of ‘Reality,’ 1988-1992.” (Issue 5, Winter 2015)

“Sunday Review: Ice Cube – Death Certificate” (November 27, 2016)

“The 25 Best Music Videos of the 1970s“ (August 23, 2016)

“Record Store Day and the Ambivalent Branding of Independence” (April 14, 2015)

“Text Messages: Song Lyrics as Music’s New Digital Battleground” (March 3, 2015)

“Bob Dylan’s Great White Wonder: The Story of the World’s First Album Leak.” (September 12, 2012)

“The Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde reissue.” (May 17, 2012)

“Underscore: Quiet Storm.” (May 15, 2012)

“Collecting History: John Peel, J Dilla, and the Record as Artifact.” (May 2, 2012)

“Afterword: Steve Jobs.” (October 6, 2011)

“This is Not A Photograph.” (September 13, 2010)

“The Social History of the mp3.” (August 24, 2009)

“Silent Party 3: Classic Hits and the Materiality of Radio.” (June 27, 2008)

“New Festivals Struggle To Distinguish Themselves in a Crowded Market.” (July 15, 2011)

“Jamie Lidell: Jamie Lidell.” (Feb 21, 2013)

“Grimes: Visions.“ (Feb. 22, 2012)

“Where You Going With that Mask I Found? Celebrating Scott Weiland’s Quest for Frontman Reinvention.” (December 7, 2015)

“I Want My 18-34 Demographic: MTV’s Research-Heavy Approach to Melding Radio and TV.” (August 1, 2011)

“Tyler, the Creator’s Boy’s Club.” (May 10, 2011)

“TV on the Radio Turn Their Gaze Inward.” (April 12, 2011)

“James Blake vs. The Machine.” (Feb 9, 2011)

“Reveling in Social Anxiety with Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend.” (Jan. 19, 2011)

“Taylor Swift’s Spotify Decision Means Nothing for Smaller Artists.” (November 3, 2014)

“Dave Grohl’s ‘Sonic Highways’ is a Rock-Bro Vision Quest.” (September 30, 2014)

“U2 and Apple: Partners in Smarm“ (September 10, 2014)