Hearing Things

Can Straight People Physically Hear This Music? It’s time to Waste or Taste new tracks by UK grime firecracker Nadia Rose, trash-adjacent dance-pop tart Slayyyter, and super wavy New York rap misfit Xaviersobased.

This week on our podcast Waste or Taste, we're asking: Do you remember Lady Sov? Are straight people allowed to listen to Slayyyter? Is Xaviersobased the future of rap?

An R&B Futurist's Glossy, Lightly Horny Debut Plus: a beloved folk artist gets the covers treatment, a minimalist piano god soundtracks a tremendous film, and more.

Despite the familiar harmonies, this isn’t New Jack Swing redux; Jaymin sounds totally contemporary with his church-honed, copper-penny tenor, which sounds piped in from a hyperbaric chamber (or a breezy seaside bedroom)

Benito Bowl Wasn’t About Them—It Was About Us How Bad Bunny triumphed on the Super Bowl stage.

On the biggest U.S. stage, Bad Bunny showed why he is so massive, and why his Grammy-winning love letter to his homeland, 𝘋𝘦𝘣𝘪́ 𝘛𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘴 𝘍𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘴, resonates across the world—from Latin America to Palestine to China to Switzerland

Big-Jeans Anthems and Anime Fjords Get strapped into your JNCOs, folks.

Brain-breaking club artist Zora Jones is your favorite producer’s favorite producer for a reason.

A Thrilling Slice of Brazilian Funk Plus: music that sounds like the last breath of a whoopee cushion and a pop album from a band of 10-inch-tall dolls.

Barely a few seconds ever pass in 𝘚𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘴 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝟤.𝟢 without a blast of low-end that seems to tear through not just the mix but the fabric of existence as you know it

Why I Can’t Quit the Grammys Confessions of a conflicted trophy watcher

I couldn’t help but also notice how 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 Bad Bunny looked in the Grammys audience, seemingly the only person sitting at his table right up front. It’s a lot of cultural weight for one person to bear. He carried it with grace.

Monocultural Rap Stardom is Dead—and That’s OK What does it mean to be a rap star in 2026? Some thoughts on rap’s current standing in the mainstream and the genre’s health in the post-social media era.

Street rap continues to pop off in cities like Philadelphia and Detroit. Local sounds like plugg, juke, and minimalist swag rap still exist. Lyricists are bending traditions into weird shapes. You don’t have to dig that deep to find the good shit.

Why I Can’t Quit the Grammys Confessions of a conflicted trophy watcher

Try as I might, I can’t stop watching this silly pageant

Tyler, the Creator Brought This Reckoning on Himself The California rapper-producer spent his early years cultivating a fanbase of trolls. How much reckoning will it take to shake them?

Tyler, The Creator addressed recent pushback for years of shock jock antics at the Grammys last night. As Dylan writes, when you build a brand around that kind of trolling, you run the risk of reckoning with it every time new fans revisit the classics.

Bad Bunny ❤️ PR The superstar finds freedom amid his homeland’s glories and struggles on ‘Debí Tirar Más Fotos.’

"By turning his attention back to his home—the beating heart of Puerto Rico—Bad Bunny has rediscovered what truly matters to him. That love, and the fight to protect it, will set a person free." Read Julianne's review of the Grammys' Album of the Year

Monocultural Rap Stardom is Dead—And That's OK What does it mean to be a rap star in 2026? Some thoughts on rap’s current standing in the mainstream and the genre’s health in the post-social media era.

What does it mean to be a rap star in 2026? A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar aren't the only rappers doing things worth your attention. Dylan says fuck a Big Three--go find your own generational rap hero.

Liz Pelly on the Impact of Her Anti-Spotify Book ‘Mood Machine’ and Where We Go From Here “The point is to encourage people to reject the idea that it’s a one-click solution.”

"It would be way healthier to have a digital independent music landscape where there’s lots of different communities using the tools that work best for them."

Harry Styles Just Found Out About LCD Soundsystem Our intrepid podcast crew dares to ask the question: Should we, as a society, feel bad for Harry Styles?

The latest episode of our podcast Waste or Taste is here, and we're going deep on Harry Styles's new song. Also discussed: What it means to go “full Boone,” bucking broncos, and whether AI-generated music is a depressing fad or something far more sinister

Straight Outta Saskatoon Must Hear road-weary R&B and omnivorous rap experimentalism, a psych-punk supergroup featuring Sonic Youth's secret weapon, and more.

This week, we've got two Must Hear albums: husky, road-weary R&B from the Paris of the Prairies, and a mind-melting dispatch from a young duo proving that rap music is still the future.

The Sneaky Genius of Industry's Synthy Soundtrack For four seasons, the HBO show has given us impeccable needle drops that subtly undermine its shady world of crypto-capitalism.

The soundtrack from Industry, HBO's horniest show about finance, is clever and impeccably selected, reveling in icy synths that encapsulate the way money, sex, and drugs can intertwine into one nihilistic rush

Liz Pelly on the Impact of Her Anti-Spotify Book ‘Mood Machine’ and Where We Go From Here “The point is to encourage people to reject the idea that it’s a one-click solution.”

"So much of the power of major labels is rooted in their ability to protect this idea that musical genius is this rare and scarce thing that only they have ownership over."

Dawn of Midi's Eternal Return The legendary experimental band on the making of their opus, “Dysnomia,” and coming back to its obsessive rhythms 13 years later.

The legendary experimental trio on the making of their opus, 'Dysnomia,' and coming back to its obsessive rhythms 13 years later

You're a Goofy Goober Hard-won easy listening, a perfectly outlandish West Coast rap throwback, and more.

This week, we've got bars for your haters, easy melodies for tough days, folk-rock with a whole new take on the meaning of “Lynchian”, and a psychedelic instrumental from the guitarist behind one of 2025's best albums www.hearingthings.co/youre-a-goof...

Dry Cleaning’s Florence Shaw on the Lyrics That Changed Her Life The post-punk singer admires Björk’s verbosity and Life Without Buildings’ lateral connections.

"We often get compared to lots of bands I’ve never listened to in my life. But a band I have listened to a lot is Life Without Buildings."

Dry Cleaning’s Florence Shaw on the Lyrics That Changed Her Life The post-punk singer admires Björk’s verbosity and Life Without Buildings’ lateral connections.

"I think Björk is my favorite lyricist, full stop. The way she writes—I feel like she’s holding you on a leash or something, leading you somewhere, but you don’t know where."

Liz Pelly on the Impact of Her Anti-Spotify Book ‘Mood Machine’ and Where We Go From Here “The point is to encourage people to reject the idea that it’s a one-click solution.”

"In a lot of ways, the fight for a world where music and culture are more accessible and democratized is connected to the fight for free time, because there’s so many people whose everyday lives are mostly spent on work and trying to survive."

How Tucker Zimmerman and Big Thief Made the Album of a Lifetime The octogenarian singer-songwriter and the millennial indie-rock band just had a feeling about each other.

Rest in peace to the folk legend Tucker Zimmerman, Big Thief cohort and would-be member of the Grateful Dead. “I believe, when you’ve got something going, go all the way through," he told Andy in a 2024 interview. "Go to the end, see what happens.” 🌈 🙏

Does the World Need Another A$AP Rocky Album? The rapper takes a break from Denzel movies and daddy-dom to drop his most superficial album yet. Plus: Must Hear indie rock about a literal dead horse.

"For all the #taste and eclecticism being projected outward," Dylan writes, A$AP Rocky's new one "comes off as too manicured—musical aura farming that doesn’t connect at a visceral level."

You're Not Ready for This Opening Line Three raging Must Hear tracks and more.

We've got a handful of Must Hear song picks this week: a sax-punk rager, a TikTok rap hit that plays like a scene from Tom and Jerry, and the kind of music that makes the apocalypse feel just fine. www.hearingthings.co/youre-not-re...

Liz Pelly on the Impact of Her Anti-Spotify Book ‘Mood Machine’ and Where We Go From Here “The point is to encourage people to reject the idea that it’s a one-click solution.”

"There have been times where people are like, 'I read your book and then I canceled Spotify and I got Apple Music!' That kind of misses a lot of the point that this book lands on." – 𝘔𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 author Liz Pelly

Keiyaa Breaks Down 12 Perfectly Produced Songs The R&B innovator dissects tracks by faves including Britney Spears, Brandy, and Nine Inch Nails, explaining how they inspired the sound of her brilliant 2025 album ‘Hooke’s Law.’

"There’s a lot of layers to the way I explore being horny in my music: It’s for my inner child, my inner teen, and Black women as a whole. Nine Inch Nails helped awaken that."

Super-Useful Seasonal Depression Soundtracks A Singaporean rapper, a symphonic UK band, an artful club producer, and more music for working out the doldrums.

Pitfalls, deceptions, and doubt lurk around every corner of life, but to this rapper and producer, stepping out the crib is just the first step toward charting a better path

The Most Overrated Albums of 2025 The albums that made us go "huh?" this year, from a lifeless rap sequel to a certain spectacularly hyped indie rock record.

I’m confident Hayley Williams can make a classic solo album. This ain't it.

Robyn's Sexistentialist Treatise Plus: Doechii and SZA chillax, Bonnie "Prince" Billy holes up, and more.

Doechii’s new single is so lethal it’s peaceful. Blast some essential oils, turn down the overheads, fuck a limitation, breathe in, and have a blesséd day.

Robyn's Sexistentialist Treatise Plus: Doechii and SZA chillax, Bonnie "Prince" Billy holes up, and more.

It’s cringe, it’s camp, it’s cunty—it’s sexistentialism, baby