What Independent Music Journalism Means to Us
We’re resurfacing some of our most self-sustaining stories this Independence Day.
Happy Independence Day! Our country may be royally fucked, but we can still celebrate the idea of independence more broadly. Here at Hearing Things HQ, we happen to be intimately familiar with the subject: Perhaps you’ve heard that we are a 100% worker-owned publication, committed to cutting through corporate algorithms and presenting you real, human recommendations of the best music in the world today alongside the stories of the people who make it.
If that sounds good to you, why not treat yourself to a paid subscription? It doesn’t cost much, and it grants you access to subscribers-only newsletters, a Discord full of fellow music fans with impeccable taste, weekly online listening sessions, discounted tickets to our live events, and more. Hearing Things is truly a community, and we depend on readers like you to help support it. We’d love to have you on board.
We usually send out an essay in a newsletter every Friday, but given the holiday, we figured we’d instead give you a chance to catch up on some great pieces from our archive that you might have missed, loosely organized around a theme of musical independence.
Earlier this week, Dylan published a candid interview with indie-rap paragon Billy Woods about some of the lyricists who have inspired him most over the years. Woods can present as a somewhat mysterious figure—his raps filled with arcane references and his face always obscured—so it’s great to hear his easy rapport with Dylan here. Not many people could get this interview!
Dylan Green
One of our earliest features was a long conversation between Ryan and Los Campesinos! frontman Gareth David. They covered a lot of ground, much of it focused on the way that LC! have only strengthened their commitment to DIY principles as they’ve grown into indie-rock elder statesmen. It was an inspiring piece for all of us as we were getting Hearing Things off the ground, demonstrating that there might really be something to this whole self-ownership experiment that we were undertaking.
Ryan Dombal
Back in April, Andy wrote a deeply reported story about musicians who are pulling their work entirely off of streaming platforms for a variety of reasons, whether in protest of royalty rates or Spotify’s increasing entanglement with the military-industrial complex, or in hopes of finding a deeper connection with their listeners. It’s worth revisiting, especially given Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s recent doubling down on his investments in military artificial intelligence, and experimental-rock icons Deerhoof’s public departure from the platform in response.
Andy Cush
Speaking of—gestures broadly at the state of the world—Julianne recently published a great interview with Lincka, the young Oklahoma City artist whose song “Chinga La Migra” (loose translation: fuck the immigration cops) has become an unofficial anthem of anti-ICE protests on social media. Don’t let anyone tell you that musicians aren’t writing protest songs anymore.
Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
Finally, Jill wrote a delightful profile of one of our collective favorite new bands at Hearing Things: Kassie Krut, a thrilling electro-noise-pop trio formed in the wake of another great band, the more overtly rock-oriented Palm. It’s a piece about trusting your instincts, setting out on your own even when it might be scary, and writing some fucking killer songs along the way.
Jill Mapes