ringtone magazine

a mockup of ringtone's first print issue sitting in a rack with a bunch of other magazines. danny brown is on the cover!

RINGTONE'S FIRST EVER COVER STAR IS DANNY BROWN!!! issue 1 also features galen tipton and cortisa star, and preorders are live NOW ⭐

learn more + grab a copy here: www.ringtonemag.com/print

Lightning Doesn’t Strike Twice on ‘Wagenmuzik 2’ — Ringtone Mag gum.mp3 is somewhat of a renaissance man. From scoring a comedy show to teaching his own university course , the musician is a one man army with his finger firmly on the pulse of dance music. g...

gum.mp3’s wagenmuzik 2 is a “thoroughly enjoyable EP with questionable longevity,” samuel alexander writes 💥

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/lig...

Caller ID: Track Roundup — December 2025 & January 2026 — Ringtone Mag Hey! Happy 2026 :-) Quick note before we get back into the music review zone: we normally send out our newsletter alongside Caller ID, but it’s headed out a bit later this month. Keep an eye on your...

our combined december + january edition of caller ID features reviews of new music by pinponpanpon , lightris + sero, robyn, jane remover, and dorian electra 📞

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/cal...

Fraxiom Brings Standup Comedy to the Club on ‘The Adventures of Jester Jackalope’ — Ringtone Mag It takes barely a minute into the opening song for Fraxiom to assert herself as “the motherfucking best,” and honestly, who can blame her? The past twelve months have been a victory lap for Fraxiom an...

“it takes barely a minute into the opening song for @fraxiom.minecraft.lgbt to assert herself as ‘the motherfucking best,’ and honestly, who can blame her?” samuel writes about the adventures of jester jackalope 💚

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/fra...

Ringtone Wrapped: Our Favorite Music of 2025 — Ringtone Mag 025 is almost over! We say this every single year, but it was a big year for music, and it was also a big year for us. We announced our first print issue , started a newsletter , debuted our mascot...

our 2025 edition of ringtone wrapped features our favorite music of the year by lucy bedroque, food house, oklou, faltyDL, FKA twigs, skaiwater, olswel, kuru, vylet pony, underscores, ninajirachi, and fakemink 🎆

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/rin...

Frost Children Are Bigger Than Ever, but Their Shows Remain Charmingly Grounded — Ringtone Mag In October, hyperpop duo Frost Children opened their show at The Regent in Los Angeles with the opener from their latest album, “Position Famous.” One feature of the track's lyrical composition is tha...

"even as they soar to heights that seemed impossible to fans just a few years ago, they're still the vibrant, enigmatic rulebreakers whose relentless playfulness served as the foundation of their earliest appeal," lavender writes about frost children's tour 🎆

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/fro...

Caller ID: Track Roundup — November 2025 — Ringtone Mag WOW! It’s December already. We’re entering year-end roundup season, and we’ll have our 2025 edition of Ringtone Wrapped ready later this month. For now, bundle up and stay warm with our favorite new...

our latest edition of caller ID features new music by charli xcx (and john cale), haruumi, amulet, FKA twigs, and underscores 📞

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/cal...

Catch up While You Can! JinxZhou’s ‘Madness’ Is a Thrilling Ride — Ringtone Mag The Chinese rap scene has been gaining a steady prominence in America for close to twenty years. Jin’s 2004 cut “ Learn Chinese ” might be the first mainstream example to bring a Chinese perspective...

"the doors are wide open, and jinxzhou's waiting for us to catch up," samuel writes about jinxzhou's debut album 🌀

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/cat...

I Went to the Oklou Show and All I Got Was Bliss — Ringtone Mag Tickets for Oklou’s debut headlining show in Chicago were $25 when I bought them in February. The night before the concert in mid-October, they had been sold out for months and were on resale for upwa...

"some music is best when it doesn’t leave the internet, but i don’t feel that way about oklou — i actually think that her oddly intimate proto-pop musings are most interesting when they escape their digital containment," ivy writes about oklou's chicago show 🦋

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/i-w...

Ashnikko’s Guide To Healing Your Heartbreak Through Hole — Ringtone Mag In an age where we seem to drown in fun horny pop albums (and I love it — give me more), Ashnikko’s latest album Smoochies still sticks out with its vulnerability and narrative about healing. The id...

"it’s cathartic to hear, no matter your relationship status, and makes you feel like everything is going to be alright," anne-claire writes about ashnikko's latest album 💛

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/ash...

Stardust Is a Glitchy Celebration of Danny Brown’s One-Of-A-Kind Versatility — Ringtone Mag Danny Brown has been to hell and back, something anybody familiar with his discography would know. His breakthrough 2011 mixtape XXX is soaked in a rockstar-style excess of substance abuse, and it’s...

danny brown's long-awaited album stardust is finally here (alongside our own lavender alexandria's review)! 🌟

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/sta...

Caller ID: Track Roundup — October 2025 — Ringtone Mag IT’S NEW MUSIC TIME ONCE AGAIN! This month’s edition of Caller ID highlights our favorite (and least favorite) new releases by Danny Brown, underscores, lily, Intentions, Lil Mariko, ChiChi, Cecilia G...

catch up on last month's new releases with our latest edition of caller ID, featuring music by danny brown, underscores, lily/skaiwater, intentions, lil mariko, chichi, cecilia gault, hallow, soonerthanlater, and dazegxd 📞

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/cal...

galen tipton Did Not Kill Music — In Fact, She May Have Brought It Back to Life!!! — Ringtone Mag Music died? Well shit, who killed it? Certainly not indie veteran galen tipton. Was she trying to? The jury (consisting of Anne-Claire Kröger and Theresa Sweetheart) was unable to reach a verdict. Sur...

"it feels deeply musical (“alive,” even) despite being wrapped up in a sonic package that sometimes sounds like a bag of marbles being thrown down a flight of aluminum stairs," anne-claire and theresa write about galen tipton's latest album 💥

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/gal...

PinkPantheress Shows There’s No Beating Her on Home Turf With Fancy Some More? — Ringtone Mag Scrolling through the singles and EP releases of the pop divas of the 2000s, such as Mariah Carey and Brandy, you’ll find their releases in bundles, coupled with a handful of remixes. Some feature...

"its biggest achievement is cementing pink's talents, but it’s a proclamation we already knew, and we didn’t need a twenty song project to reiterate it," samuel alexander writes about pinkpantheress' new remix album

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/pin...

Caller ID: Track Roundup — September 2025 — Ringtone Mag September was weirdly packed with historic collabs. Here are our favorite tracks from September, featuring new collabs by Yaeji, underscores, Aliyah’s Interlude, Holliday Howe, 8485, Mysie, SOXX, Nera...

september's caller ID is live now! featuring songs by yaeji, underscores, aliyah's interlude, holliday howe, 8485, mysie, soxx, neraev, woman's touch, kub0, slayyyter, GRRL, made of oak, umru, chase icon, and JEL: the digital dream girl 📞

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/cal...

Iglooghost Is Predictably Unpredictable on Bronze Claw Iso — Ringtone Mag Describing an artist's breakthrough as “exploding onto the scene” is music critic cliche 101, but for Iglooghost, it's hard to describe it in any other terms. His first era, consisting of three EPs th...

ICYMI: lavender reviewed @iglooghost.bsky.social's latest EP! "in his combination of the clanging rigidity of metal machinery with the blurry viscera of disgusting flesh, iglooghost gives listeners an entirely new way to appreciate his greatest strengths" 🚧

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/igl...

Frost Children’s Sister Is Sincere 2010s Pop Perfection — Ringtone Mag Do you remember the feeling you got when you heard Black Eyed Peas’ “I Got A Feeling” for the first time on the radio? I was 13 years old, just old enough to have experienced the incredible power this...

"remember where you are when you listen to sister for the first time because, when that first synth melody hits two minutes and eight seconds into 'position famous,' it’s 2010 again," anne-claire writes about frost children's new album 🌷

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/fro...

Caller ID: Track Roundup — August 2025 — Ringtone Mag Summer’s almost over… Luckily, August was a massive month for last-minute song of the summer contenders. It was also a massive month for Ringtone — our little website is 5 years old now, and we’re of...

august's edition of caller ID is out now, featuring reviews of new music by @iglooghost.bsky.social, @ramonpang.bsky.social, graphy-T, fakemink, lil mariko, oli XL,
, slayyyter, osquinn, feardorian, and frost children 📞

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/cal...

Swami Sound and gum.mp3 Fight Against the Internet’s Indifference on State of Emergency — Ringtone Mag The impact of dance music culture, especially Black dance music culture, on the mainstream is hard to overstate, yet music writing usually tends to do the opposite, understating and neglecting the history as if genres like techno, house, and jungle just appeared at sold out raves for thousands. As

"state of emergency sees the two artists paying homage to the past while embracing the future, which results in an album that sounds distinctively present and confident in its identity," samuel alexander writes about swami sound + gum.mp3's new album 💿

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/swa...

RINGTONE IS FIVE! + Putting The Mag Back In Ringtone — Ringtone Mag Ringtone is FIVE YEARS OLD TODAY!!!!! 🎂 There are some exciting announcements below, but first I’m going to get a little sappy with it.  Zoe and I started this blog in the summer of 2020 , which...

tonie needed a job, so we put them in charge of our new album rating system. learn more here:

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/rin...

drawing of a sentient slime creature wearing big chunky DC sneakers with the ringtone logo. next to them, text says: "TONIE PRONOUNS any SPECIES slime/goo :] Tonie was born when the Slime Factory next to the Ringtone Mag HQ had an accident. Some of the slime got into our office, and a little chunk of it became sentient and discovered hyperpop journalism on one of our computers that was left open overnight. Tonie is 1 day old but has already amassed a proficient vocabulary LIKES 165 bpm speed garage, gelatinous substances, DC sneakers, iPod Nanos, “Clarity” by Zedd and Foxes DISLIKES r/hyperpop, quiet 808s, Zedd"

one more 5th anniversary surprise... introducing TONIE, ringtone's new mascot! (art by the wonderful emile fortune)

RINGTONE IS FIVE! + Putting The Mag Back In Ringtone — Ringtone Mag Ringtone is FIVE YEARS OLD TODAY!!!!! 🎂 There are some exciting announcements below, but first I’m going to get a little sappy with it.  Zoe and I started this blog in the summer of 2020 , which...

learn more here:
www.ringtonemag.com/articles/rin...

graphic with a bunch of small photos and text that says "we're making a print issue!!!!!!" with little blobs that say "ninajirachi" "cortisa star" "'world rave domination. i want the gays to run the rave scene.' - mowiah" and "brostep + slutpop retrospectives"

happy 5th birthday to us… our first print issue is on its way!!! featuring interviews with ninajirachi, cortisa star, and more along with playlists, games, and features on everything from brostep and slutpop to milwaukee’s unexpected queer rave scene 🎂

Ninajirachi’s I Love My Computer Makes Me Want To Live Online Forever — Ringtone Mag Have you ever wondered what it sounds like to be cosplaying a fairy, running barefoot across a meadow, and wearing a gossamer dress on your way to a daytime rave in the woods with all your internet fr...

"this is computer music, this is internet music, this is music by a generation that loves and finds much inspiration in being stuck behind a screen," anne-claire kröger writes about ninajirachi's debut album 🖥️

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/nin...

Caller ID: Track Roundup — July 2025 — Ringtone Mag Happy August! We hope everybody’s soaking up the summer sun. Here are our favorite releases from July, including new music by Frost Children, athing, Kim Petras, glaive, FKA Twigs, fakemink, LustSickP...

july's edition of caller ID is out now! featuring new music by frost children, athing, kim petras, glaive, FKA twigs, fakemink, lustsickpuppy, and kill alters 📞

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/cal...

Live From The Vegetableverse: Concert Review of vgtbl.pl at Pohoda Festival — Ringtone Mag What do vegetables and hyperpop have in common? This is the question at the heart of the project vgtbl.pl, a quickly-rising Polish duo made up of Franek Warzywa and Młody Budda (Franek Vegetables and ...

in our latest show review, samuel alexander introduces the world to the polish hyperpop duo vgtbl.pl (and their vegetable-themed antics) 🍅🥕🥬

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/liv...

Vylet Pony Lands a Really Sick Trickshot on Love & Ponystep — Ringtone Mag Vylet Pony is an enigma to me. She’s¹ very online, of course, and you can learn almost everything about her music through a 600+ row spreadsheet that keeps track of her releases (and a Wiki that k...

on love & ponystep, @vyletpony.com blends call of duty samples, 2010s internet references, and a heartfelt narrative into "a beautiful love letter to being yourself, weird interests and all." (album review by @manateemailbox.bsky.social on our site now!) 🎚️

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/vyl...

Caller ID: Track Roundup — June 2025 — Ringtone Mag A lot of music released this month invites questions such as: Is Ice Spice good again? Is leroy back against all odds? And, most importantly, “It sounds like iPod Touch, little crack in thе screen” ...

our june edition of caller ID features new music by SOPHIE, ninajirachi, BABYNYMPH, mor elian, frost children, leroy, underscores, and KATSEYE + ice spice 📞

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/cal...

What?!!!??!!?? Newsletter Time????!!? — Ringtone Mag HEY! We’re breaking character to let you know that Ringtone has given birth to its very own unnamed baby newsletter, and you can sign up NOW! (Long overdue — this website is almost five years old .)

we're sending out our third newsletter this week (pspsps... it features a playlist curated by @saoirsedream.com)! sign up here if you haven't already:

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/wha...

FaltyDL’s Neurotica: Manic Beats To Experience the End of the World To — Ringtone Mag Here I am, once again, listening to the latest record of an artist I have never heard of before . My knowledge of FaltyDL consists entirely of the copy I read from the press release I received befo...

Thanks to @ringtonemag.bsky.social for reviewing Neurotica, the new album by @faltydl.bsky.social

www.ringtonemag.com/articles/fal...