Portfolio
Editorial
A collection of editorial work spanning journalism, music writing, and cultural commentary.
Interviews

Jia Tolentino on writing through the looking glass
Reading her essays makes you feel like you could learn anything, because hey, Jia did. Knowing yourself is a more crucial asset than anything else these days.

Phoebe Bridgers opens up about process, poetry and performance
When Bridgers's first EP Killer was released on the label, I fell head-over-heels in love with her songs, her voice and the emotional investment her music creates in a listener.

Darlingside's Auyon Mukharji on performance and the magic of folk
The band has found a niche in the folk music scene, although their work covers a broad array of musical references and motifs.
Live Coverage

Riot Fest 2019 starts off with a bang (and a bubble)
Contrary to popular belief, punks are some of the nicest people one could ever meet. This was at least true of those I found at this year's iteration of Riot Fest in Chicago.

2019 Ann Arbor Folk Festival, Night Two
The Festival is arguably one of the biggest music events in the metro-Detroit area each year, a collection of folk and blues's best and brightest.

Iceage put on a mythic show at El Club in Detroit
Illuminated by the red glow of the stage, Rønnenfelt and his bandmates were magnetic, a sickly-sexy collection of thin, stylish Danes with serious presence.

Kamasi Washington & Herbie Hancock take Detroit to space
Their joint performance at the newly-renamed Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre proved as much, as their respective shows took the idea of jazz to new heights.

boygenius was always meant to be
There is a certain kind of magic that happens when women's voices fuse together — it's always spiritual even if the listener isn't.

Chick Corea & friends show jazz gets better with age
It's not often that a man just shy of 80 has the energy of a twenty-something. It's especially rare for that man to have continued touring through his later years.
Features

Ann Arbor, all dressed up
There's nothing quite like Halloween on a college campus. In most people's minds, Halloween is one day, but in a college town, the spirit goes on for weeks.

Love inside the dopamine machine
I looked at my participation in the online dating scene more as another source of digital entertainment and a self-esteem boost.

Stop! What's that sound: How the Vietnam War changed American music
In the face of death, confusion and the stagnant trudge of war, American counterculture paved a path through the muck by creating music that would last the test of time.
Short-Form

10 Albums About Aliens and Outer Space Every Music Fan Should Own
A sci-fi journey from David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust to Janelle Monáe's ArchAndroid.

Joan Jett on Fronting Nirvana and Covering The Replacements
Kyle Meredith sits down with Joan Jett and Kenny Laguna for this Monday's episode of Kyle Meredith With….

Song of the Week: Jeff Tweedy Waxes Nostalgic on "I Know What It's Like"
The beloved Wilco frontman introduces his new solo record with a melancholy single.
Reviews

Lianne La Havas's self-titled record defines her artistic genius
The collection of 12 songs firmly defines her ingenuity as a singer-songwriter, encapsulating her chameleonic musical aptitude.

Miley Cyrus enters a second golden age with 'Plastic Hearts'
We all know the old Miley Cyrus. The Miley that we watched for years on 'Hannah Montana,' the girl that tweens of a certain age all wanted to be.

'Father of the Bride' proves a brilliant comeback for Vampire Weekend
For many of us too young to be millennials and too old to be Gen Z, Vampire Weekend was the soundtrack of our adolescence.

Angel Olsen's 'All Mirrors' finds splendor in sadness
The music is pleasantly evasive — cinematic, even. Each song seems like you've heard it before somewhere.

'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' captures the pain and beauty of becoming
Vuong has created a world of his own within the confines of a novel, pushing his readers so deeply into the experience of his characters.

Debbie Harry's 'Face It' isn't just a rock-star memoir
As the frontwoman of Blondie, Harry's wide-set eyes and shock of bleach-blonde hair are unmistakable, a necessary and irreplaceable part of music history.
Opinion

On 'PEN15' and surviving an all-female puberty
New Hulu series 'PEN15' has taken on the cis female experience with flying (and hilarious) colors, ringing truer than many depictions of puberty before.

Carol Kaye, the rhythm of a nation
Anyone who has listened to the radio since 1958 has heard her play at one time or another, and I hope that one day they know her name.

Bait in the online ocean
The first time I downloaded Tinder as a freshly-minted student at the University of Michigan, I was shocked to find a peculiar species of male Ann Arborite.