Columns Archives - Stereogum

The Alternative Number Ones: 311’s “Down”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 12:44:20 +0000

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Angel Du$t Are One Of The Best Rock Bands In The World

Tom Breihan — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:45:31 +0000

Ten years ago, Justice Tripp made the fateful decision not to sing a great hardcore song. Tripp was up onstage with has band Angel Du$t at Washington, DC's St. Stephen's Church, a local institution that's been hosting punk shows for decades. (Fugazi's second show was at St. Stephen's in 1987.) That night, Angel Du$t were playing the record-release show for Turnstile's Move Thru Me EP. Some members of Turnstile were in Angel Du$t at the time; others were moshing and stagediving for them. It was beautiful even before the grand finale, and the grand finale is something that I never get tired of watching.

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Read An Exclusive Excerpt From Ani DiFranco’s New Book The Spirit Of Ani

Danielle Chelosky — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 15:19:40 +0000

Tomorrow, Ani DiFranco's new book The Spirit Of Ani hits the shelves. Following her 2019 memoir No Walls And The Recurring Dream, The Spirit Of Ani finds the legendary musician and activist in conversation with cultural anthropologist Lauren Coyle Rosen.

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The Number Ones: Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 13:55:09 +0000

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Welcome To Worm’s Necropalace

Brad Sanders — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:28:25 +0000

In late 2022, not long after the release of Worm’s Bluenothing EP, project mastermind Phantom Slaughter thought he was being phished. Someone claiming to be Marty Friedman, the former Megadeth and Cacophony guitarist and trailblazing solo artist, had apparently just heard the record, and they slid into Worm’s Instagram DMs with an all-caps reaction: “I LOVE BLUENOTHING!”

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Ella Langley’s Walled-Off Superstardom

Katherine St. Asaph — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:55:13 +0000

Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" is not only a #1 hit but a historic #1 hit. The song, a gentle country weepie about losing your cowboy paramour to his exes down in you-know-where, made Langley the first woman to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Country Airplay charts simultaneously. Based on the numbers, she's just collected a full set of tickets to the monoculture.

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Into The Vestibule With Galcher Lustwerk

Ted Davis — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 16:48:49 +0000

Galcher Lustwerk’s deep house is smooth as marble. The Cleveland native — born Chris Sherron — began saxophone lessons in elementary school, then came to DAW techniques as a teenager. As a student at Rhode Island School of Design, he became ingrained in the city’s noisy DIY scene. He paid his dues in the White Material collective with DJ Richard and Young Male. The 2012 originals mix for Blowing Up the Workshop, 100% Galcher, thrust him out of obscurity, yielding a deal with Ghostly International and an Azealia Banks co-sign.

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The Closest Miles Davis Ever Came To Playing Free Jazz

Phil Freeman — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 15:24:24 +0000

Miles Davis was born in Alton, Illinois on May 26, 1926, and the Miles Davis estate and Sony Music — and probably to a lesser degree Warner Bros., which owns his last few releases — are celebrating the legendary trumpeter's centennial this year. I fully expect to see a ton of reissues, and possibly some new vault material, all year long. (It's John Coltrane’s centennial, too – he was born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina – and there’s a whole lot going on with his estate and archives as well.)

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The Alternative Number Ones: Pearl Jam’s “Who You Are”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:12:37 +0000

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Division Of Mind & Eliminators Bring The Storm Before The Storm

Tom Breihan — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 15:54:51 +0000

"Everyone's a target!" That was something that Division Of Mind bassist David Jaycox bellowed during the first song of his band's set at the Richmond venue the Camel last month. Those three words were an incitement, not an exaggeration. There's video of DOM's set on the internet, and it's fun to watch, but it doesn't come close to capturing how it felt in that room. I was by the door of the club, which is somewhat inconveniently right next to the stage, and it felt like the place was exploding. Bodies and limbs flew in every direction. The people in that room needed a violent, cathartic outlet, and that's what a DOM show is.

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The Number Ones: Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” (Feat. Daniel Caesar & Givēon)

Tom Breihan — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 13:56:13 +0000

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The Fall-Off And How J. Cole Became Rap’s Bradley Cooper

Peter A. Berry — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 14:05:05 +0000

In the cruel eternity of the internet, no one gets a consolation prize for taking an L on national TV. Not even bright-eyed Bradley Cooper. After spending six years practicing one particular conductor symphony scene and donning an abominable prosthetic mask for the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, Cooper found himself on the losing end of the Oscar race for Best Actor and a series of jokes labeling an awards season clout-chaser. We can't know for sure, but there's a chance J. Cole felt a similar sting 15 years ago.

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The Alternative Number Ones: Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:52:37 +0000

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A Good Grammys For Bad Bunny

Chris DeVille — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 13:52:10 +0000

Does any of this matter? For most of this year’s Grammys telecast, I could not shake the feeling that no, it really doesn’t make a difference who wins these trophies — maybe in terms of opening doors for certain artists or shifting the music industry’s tectonic plates, but not in the grand scheme of human life. When you zoom out that far, I’m still skeptical that glitzy awards shows helmed by bougie gatekeepers carry any cosmic relevance. But when the time came to bestow Album Of The Year upon Bad Bunny, it felt significant.

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The Number Ones: Cardi B’s “Up”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 13:40:25 +0000

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Rust In Peace, Megadeth

Brad Sanders — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 14:22:23 +0000

I remember the first time I saw Megadeth like it was yesterday. It was Sept. 23, 2006, at the Columbus stop of that year's Gigantour, an ultimately doomed Ozzfest competitor that booked some killer lineups in its short life. My friends and I got to Nationwide Arena hours before doors, because in those days, time was cheap and lining up at the barricade was priceless. After watching Sanctity (terrible), Into Eternity (solid), Overkill (a bit creaky), Arch Enemy (mindless fun), Opeth (mind-blowing), and Lamb Of God (not really for me, but inarguably at their energetic peak), we stood in awe as the mid-2000s iteration of Megadeth hit the stage. Dave Mustaine was front and center, of course, his leonine red hair cascading over a black dress shirt as he mean-mugged and shredded his way through the band's hit-loaded set. Mustaine was flanked by James LoMenzo on bass and brothers Shawn and Glen Drover on drums and second guitar, respectively. This being Megadeth, they wouldn't be long for this world.

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For Madison Beer, It’s Been A Long Road To The Brink Of A Breakthrough

Katherine St. Asaph — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 19:26:00 +0000

I remember when I first heard about Madison Beer. It was 2012, and I was deep in the pop blogging mines, scrolling Google Reader under the eye of a life-size Justin Bieber cutout. The Western world had just been rocked by the smash K-pop hit "Gangnam Style." Blue Ivy was still a baby. Taylor Swift had no defined eras. And celebrities were still on Twitter, which was still Twitter. (Ah, better days.)

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The Alternative Number Ones: Butthole Surfers’ “Pepper”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:06:08 +0000

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Nature, Nurture, & DJ-Kicks: For Eris Drew, This Is 50

Ted Davis — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 17:06:31 +0000

Eris Drew has become so intrinsic to the electronic circuit, one could be forgiven for thinking she had been a full-time artist for decades. She enjoyed futuristic television scores in the 1970s, so her grandmother gifted her a synthesizer. In the third grade, she moved to the Windy City. "I grew up in that world of industrial and house and rave that was swirling around Chicago in the late '80s and early '90s," Drew remembers over Zoom. A PBS poster and crate of 12-inches are perched behind her. After attending her first club at the age of 14, she began to collect LPs and learn mixing.

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Anna Butterss, From Adelaide To Enfield

Phil Freeman — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:33:47 +0000

Anna Butterss is an Australian-born bassist who's been living in the US for a decade and a half, and in that time has become a key supporting player on two seemingly unrelated scenes. As a member of guitarist Jeff Parker's Enfield Tennis Academy (ETA for short) quartet and the collective SML (pictured above), a collaborator with Makaya McCraven and a solo artist, they are a vital member of the LA jazz underground; as a member of Jason Isbell's touring band and a session player for Neko Case, Aimee Mann, boygenius, Kathleen Edwards, Ben Lee, and others, they help shape the sound of contemporary indie singer-songwriterism (I guess; I don't listen to that stuff).

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How Bushy B Went Viral Eight Years Late

Peter A. Berry — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 17:55:13 +0000

As a journalist in a nihilistic 2026 hellscape, trust me when I say this: Abrupt career wakeup calls are usually pretty shitty. So then, I am charmed when Bushy B tells me about the moment his job as a case manager for at-risk youth came to an end. Taking a lunch break as his eight-year-old single "Scared" was going viral, he ran into a transformative First World Problem for emerging musicians.

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The Number Ones: Drake’s “What’s Next”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:11:26 +0000

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Chewing On Gumm

Tom Breihan — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 15:50:05 +0000

Fuck it, we're doing this again. The monthly hardcore column is back.

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The Alternative Number Ones: Dishwalla’s “Counting Blue Cars”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 14:02:54 +0000

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The Number Ones: Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:53:31 +0000

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The Alternative Number Ones: Tracy Bonham’s “Mother Mother”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 14:11:56 +0000

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The Number Ones: Taylor Swift’s “Willow”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 14:23:18 +0000

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The Top 40 Pop Songs Of 2025

Katherine St. Asaph — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:20:16 +0000

Every year, the bounty of pop music grows more and more (my apologies to the 2,637 songs in my inbox as of time of writing that I haven't gotten to yet, out of you don't want to know how many). Singling out the top 40 pop thrills of the year only gets harder; maybe that's why the actual Top 40 doesn't even bother to be comprehensive.

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The Alternative Number Ones: The Cranberries’ “Salvation”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:04:23 +0000

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The 10 Best Electronic Albums Of 2025

Ted Davis — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 14:12:53 +0000

In 2025, the rave was not defined by a cohesive trend. Over my first complete year writing a column for Stereogum, the mood was noticeably scattered. Dubstep shifted in smart directions; soundscapes found new ways to mutate; club behemoths unveiled celestial epics. The memorable albums were those that forged their own path.

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The 10 Best Hardcore Albums Of 2025

Tom Breihan — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 13:52:01 +0000

One band absolutely dominated the hardcore conversation this year, and they did it by working way, way harder than anyone else. Affable Boston bruisers Haywire spent 2025 playing sweaty, cathartic, extremely fun live shows in every VFW Hall and skate park from sea to shining sea. Within 12 months, they rocked venues in all 50 states, no exaggeration. Their sets, captured and broadcast by whoever was brave enough to hold up cellphones in high stagedive-density areas, only grew bigger and wilder. Along the way, Haywire got really, really good at performing their exceedingly simple basher anthems,. They are a grassroots sensation, a legend in the making. But Haywire's debut full-length Conditioned For Demolition came out last year. Their only 2025 record was Shirts Vs. Skins, a split EP with No Guard. So this is a Chappell Roan 2024 situation. I can't salute Haywire's golden moment on this list, and this list is missing something without them.

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The 10 Best Rap Albums Of 2025

Peter A. Berry — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 14:10:22 +0000

This past fall, for the first time since 1990, there wasn’t a single rap song in the Billboard Hot 100's top 40. Megan Thee Stallion briefly shifted the disappointing mark with a new single shortly afterwards, but that’s besides the point. There was plenty of good rap this year — you just needed the taste and imagination to discover it.

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The 10 Best Metal Albums Of 2025

Brad Sanders — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 14:15:00 +0000

I didn't think too hard about dedicating the second-ever edition of this column to Ragne Wahlquist. The late Heavy Load frontman left an indelible mark on heavy metal, in his native Sweden and beyond, so writing about him after learning he'd died unexpectedly at the age of 69 just made sense. I stand behind that column. It contains the only major interview that Ragne's brother and bandmate, Styrbjörn Wahlquist, has done since Ragne's death. I got a few luminaries of today's Swedish metal underground to talk about what Heavy Load meant to them. A few readers even told me that my column had convinced them to check out Death And Glory and Stronger Than Evil, which was all I could have asked for. By late summer, when I had weighed and decided against a half-dozen other memorial columns, it became clear that the Ragne Wahlquist tribute would be a one-off. Metal legends were dying with such frequency that, if anything, Breaking The Oath needed an obituaries desk.

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The 10 Best Jazz Albums Of 2025

Phil Freeman — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 14:30:00 +0000

So... what kind of a year was 2025 for jazz? Well, it marked the centennial of saxophonist Gene Ammons, drummer Roy Haynes, critic Nat Hentoff, pianist Jutta Hipp, saxophonist Art Pepper, pianist Oscar Peterson, drummer Dom Um Romão, and all-around performer Sammy Davis, Jr. Haynes almost lived to see it; he died last year at 99. The others died years ago. But if you've never listened to Haynes' Out Of The Afternoon, or Ammons' Boss Tenor, or Pepper's Meets The Rhythm Section, it's never too late to catch up.

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The Number Ones: BTS’ “Life Goes On”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:22:16 +0000

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The Alternative Number Ones: Oasis’ “Champagne Supernova”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 13:46:10 +0000

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Antinoë, Black Metal Pianist

Brad Sanders — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 13:50:43 +0000

Teresa Marraco started taking piano lessons when she was five years old. The artist who now records as Antinoë couldn't reach the pedals yet, but she quickly discovered that she loved to play. Her teacher, Clara, taught her not just how to read sheet music but how to be creative, to envision and ultimately realize ideas beyond what was written in the score. "She would ask, 'What does this song tell you? Can you sing something about it? Can you draw something about it?' It triggered my imagination," Marraco says. She continued to study with Clara until she was 17.

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For 10 Years Now, Batu’s Timedance Has Been Turning Up The Bass

Ted Davis — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 14:05:23 +0000

As Batu, Omar McCutcheon twists darkness into odd structures. He grew up near Oxford, UK, where he was mesmerized by his father's vinyl collection. Settling into his current alias as a teenager, he enrolled at Bath Spa University to study production. "My love of electronic music really started with dubstep," he remembers. "It morphed into this hybrid sound, where people started using bits of techno and mixing that with influences from the UK. I followed that, the same way as Hessle Audio and Hyperdub." Now based in Bristol, McCutcheon has strengthened it as the West Country's haven for ravers.

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The Number Ones: Ariana Grande’s “Positions”

Tom Breihan — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 13:52:37 +0000

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The Struggle For Independence In The Modern Age: Our Shared Fight Against Market Concentration And For Art, Culture, And Access

Darius Van Arman — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 14:00:07 +0000

Editor’s note: The following is an op-ed by Darius Van Arman, founder of the independent record label Jagjaguwar, which has released music by Bon Iver, Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen, Dinosaur Jr., and dozens of others. Van Arman also co-leads Secretly Group, Secretly Distribution, Numero Group, and Ghostly International. He is based in Brooklyn. I…

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