Hearing Things

Emily A. Sprague's music is a beacon for outsiders of every stripe, a place where we can tune into the most vulnerable parts of ourselves, where we can feel less alone

Don't you hate it when a good band enters their Grammy phase?

"The physicality of the sound is a radical act against atomization, and the powers that be who want us to stay home and watch Netflix."

The chilling score to You Can See Everything! Music for Puerto Rican liberation! A mind-scrambling mix of footwork, jungle, techno, and prime M.I.A.! All this and more in this week's Five Albums

Grammy-winning producer and Doechii collaborator Stoic recently joined us for an edition of The Producers to talk about his favorite beats by MF Doom, No I.D., Madlib, Baby Keem, and his latest album Paella!

A soundtrack for demonic hoedowns, a lyric we're still not convinced we're actually mishearing, and more

Hearing Things officially turns 2 tomorrow! We're running a big sale and threw a small show to celebrate! Exclamation marks!!!

Tinashe's well-deserved uplifting! Imaginative DIY guitar music! Collages of hip-hop, Afrobeat, and drum n bass! All this and more in this week's Five Albums

At this point, Slow Pulp's Emily Massey and her dad aren’t just fellow musicians. They’re collaborators. For all three of the band's albums, Emily has recorded her vocals with her father, just the two of them. “It is not normal,” she admits with a laugh.

AI art is not cheap. The cost is just passed down to those who have been deemed expendable.

...and other pressing inquiries.

NYC, come celebrate two years of Hearing Things tonight @ Night Club 101 with a late show featuring Tasha, Hannah Frances, and our founders DJing!

“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?

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

If history is defined by the victors, then John Wilson's documentaries present a version grounded in the regular-degulars.

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

Celebrated rappers and producers are selling out the culture in exchange for artwork usually reserved for the world’s shittiest hot chicken restaurants

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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

"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:

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

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.

For Gen Z’s aspiring music critics, there’s no real standardized pipeline—and not much of an informal one, either

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

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 mind-boggling grooves ever laid down by a septuagenarian and more

"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."

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

The concept of “the music critic” has never felt more nebulous

And two songs that had us wondering: Was the whole thinga dream? www.hearingthings.co/gen-z-rock-p...

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

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.

A dancefloor heater about firing your therapist, a yacht-rap song about mom, and more www.hearingthings.co/a-fiddlin-fu...

Two Must Hear albums from Manchester rockers fostering real community and a prolific ambient-rap stalwart! A lovelorn tribute to UK funky house! Weezer's latest nostalgia grab! All this and more in this week's edition of Five Albums

New York hip-hop producer Blockhead has (very good!) thoughts about beats made by Prince Paul, RJD2, Fiona Apple, and more in the latest edition of The Producers

Troye does his version of Lou Reed talk-singing a la “Walk on the Wild Side” over a ’90s-ass beat that brings me back to the days of Primitive Radio Gods

Must Hear experimental pop/jazz/indie rock fusion! Emotive música Mexicana for the club! A follow up to a hardcore New Jersey hip-hop cult classic! A personal essay about the new Phoebe Bridgers! All this and more in this week's Five Albums

One of Hana Stretton's ambient-folk odes to aloneness has been used to soundtrack more than 40,000 TikToks. Stretton is aware of this, but not deeply—she’s never been on TikTok.

Scuzzed-out rock'n'roll poetry from New Orleans, a well-earned note of triumph from one of the most exciting rappers of the last few years, and more

The dream is dead but we didn’t kill it

Juicy J's spoken word jazz album! Bubbly nonchalant California rap! Empowering UK R&B made for the club! North Indian classical singing mixed with jazz and post-rock! All this and more In this week's Five Albums

What's on Rico Nasty's credit card statement? The Maryland rapper spoke to us about her love of cherry cola Celsius, products for her natural hair journey, and the one time she spend hundreds of dollars on tacos at Nobu

Plus a worthy heir to Aaliyah, a perfect power-pop song for mid-summer doldrums, and more