While you’re here please read my latest investigation for
@miaminewtimes
about
@icamiami
removing a portrait of Palestinian scholar from a major retrospective:
Very saddened and disappointed to hear that
@voices_______
has been fired from Nowadays. Kristen’s programming made it more than a club. I went there constantly when I lived in NYC and made many friends thanks to her. It won’t be the same.
@RM_Transit
I used to live in Phoenix and they had a few of these solar panel parking lots. Seems like a good idea until you realize the best way for Phoenix to fight climate change is to not exist 😂
Twitter fam: what are the greatest tracks from the new wave of jungle drum and bass?
My current list includes:
Sully - 5ives
Special Request x Tim Reaper - Pull Up
Equinox - Babylon
Coco Bryce - Kissed it Up
What about you?!?!
This is the state of music in Miami.
A city where clubs are demolished to make way for condos for the rich.
A city full of talent with nowhere to play.
My debut feature for
@residentadvisor
My latest feature for
@residentadvisor
explores the world of bassline. Long derided as a Northern answer to UK garage, a new generation has lifted the Sheffield-born genre to global prominence.
“A Northern Sound: The Story Behind Bassline’s Revival”
#BREAKING
: Another Miami art institution censors pro-Palestinian art
@oolitearts
board chair demanded an artwork with a Palestinian slogan be removed from view. In response, staff and artists have demanded her resignation.
FULL STORY
@miaminewtimes
:
I’m extraordinarily proud to announce that I’ve been nominated for an Esserman-Knight Journalism Award for my story for
@residentadvisor
on Miami’s music real estate crisis.
This is the first recognition of this kind in my career. Thanks everyone for your support 🙏
This is the state of music in Miami.
A city where clubs are demolished to make way for condos for the rich.
A city full of talent with nowhere to play.
My debut feature for
@residentadvisor
#BreakingNews
:
@icamiami
is being criticized for taking down a painting of Palestinian scholar Edward Said.
My investigation for
@miaminewtimes
found the portrait was removed multiple times due to pressure from pro-Israel board members. Full story:
Last night at the Esserman-Knight Awards. A story by a freelancer with no budget went up against daily newspaper investigative teams. Never expected to get this far. Thanks to
@knightfdn
for the recognition and for acknowledging that journalists covering music can do great work.
No mention in here that Tower Theater where this exhibition is being held was until last year one of Miami’s only arthouse and foreign cinemas, and it was shut down amid protests from residents for no reason other than the whims of crooked commissioner Joe Carollo.
Very pleased to say I’ve made my music reviewing debut for
@residentadvisor
taking on Vol. 9 of Future Retro’s Meeting of the Minds.
Tim Reaper squares off with some of the best new names in the jungle scene for four tracks of madness.
What’s not lost on me is Pitchfork isn’t just being folded into a men’s magazine, but one that primarily markets luxury clothes and products. Another step in making music into yet another aspirational consumer product made for and by the rich, along with all other forms of art.
Exposing myself as a longtime Chapo listener to wish cohost Matt Christman
@cushbomb
a swift recovery after a recent medical emergency. One of the most insightful, entertaining cultural commentators out there, we’d be so much worse off without him.
New from me: Joan Didion came to Miami in 1985 and wrote a book that defined the city like none before it. As
@pamm
honors the author with an exhibition, I spoke with curators Hilton Als and Marisa Lacayo about what she means to Miami. For
@miaminewtimes
:
@mcmansionhell
@thenation
Thanks for writing this Kate. I live in Miami and I cringe every time I have to go to the Design District, it’s such a soulless place. It really saddens me that this is what the city chooses to prioritize over things that benefit normal people, like affordable housing.
Making my debut for
@hyperallergic
! I spoke with
@thrdhrzn
programming director
@JonathanAliTT
about the film festival's return after a year off, as well as their unapologetic support of
#Palestine
. Third Horizon 2024 is happening May 9-12 in Miami.
Hi folks, ran into some financial difficulties recently so I am very much on the lookout for new work!
Available for:
-News & reviews, listicles, features & profiles
-Artist bios, press releases, record descriptions
-You name it!
My first foray into writing about public transit and urban design! This year I got so tired of Art Basel traffic that I decided to do something unprecedented in Miami: I took the bus 😱🚌
For
@miaminewtimes
:
Disgusted by the brutal layoffs at Bandcamp and Bandcamp Daily, one of the greatest music publications on Earth and one I turn to almost daily. As usual the ownership class has no idea of the true value of anything and we all suffer from their stupidity.
“Every Jew is Israeli” is a dangerous lie designed to erase 2,000 years of diasporic culture and draft all Jewish people into the Zionist project. I have nothing to do with Israel and after the last six months I want nothing to do with it.
My original
@miaminewtimes
story on ICA Miami taking down a painting by Charles Gaines depicting Palestinian scholar Edward Said with new comments from the artist:
Jimmy Buffet dying seems like really bad omen for the whole concept of Florida. Kinda like the queen dying, like God is saying “okay, the good times are *really* over now”
Just heard about Steve Albini. One of the last incorruptible forces in modern music, a true die hard for an anti-corporate counterculture that has largely been snuffed out. He didn’t care whether anyone liked him, or agreed with him, and for that, I will always respect him. RIP
No cheating - your Quietus style Bakers Dozen. 13 albums (off the top of your head) to know you by. Not looking for a perfect list, looking for a list that you instantly regret posting because you then remember something else.
New from me: Jungle/drum & bass has exploded in popularity, but the genre's revival has been a long time coming. I chart the movement's progress in nine tracks for
@miaminewtimes
ahead of a set from
@sullyE64
at
@jezebelsound
tonight in Miami.
A really great piece that does one of the greatest tricks in criticism, completely upending a widely-held orthodoxy in a single stroke. (Also begs the question, why isn't the original FMA streaming anywhere??)
SSX 3 was one of my favorite games of all time and a lot of it had to do with the music. So many great dance/electronic tracks on that soundtrack, turned out to be my first major exposure to electronic music in general.
The way SSX3 handles its music is so genius. The songs mix in real-time, adding and removing specific instruments. It results in a version of the song that feels perfectly in-synch with where you’re at on the course. Listen to the vocals come back in when I get out of the forest.
My weekend:
Applied to jobs ❌
Wrote new pitches❌
Worked on overdue stories❌
Went to events❌
Went outside at all❌
Watched all 42 episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam (the original 1979 TV series) as well as the movie Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988) ✅✅✅✅✅
@deejaygeejaygee
I think for a lot of people (Americans mostly) it was their first exposure to jungle/dnb/footwork type sounds. That and DJ Rashad’s album were very formative for me.
For
@miaminewtimes
I interviewed legendary filmmaker and proud Florida Man Harmony Korine and his
@EDGLRD
crew. Their new movie/game/experience/thing Aggro Dr1ft opens today at
@OCINEMA
in Miami Beach. Thanks for chatting Harmony!
New from me: For decades MDMA has been demonized by authorities and celebrated by dance music fans. Now, new research suggests not only is it a breakthrough mental health treatment - it could forever change life as we know it.
For
@miaminewtimes
while the rich property owners of miami got to enjoy their holidays, a community of immigrant tenants in Hialeah were hit with abusive rent hikes. $1k to $1650, for the same units they’ve been living in for decades.
show up with them tomorrow night. there is power in a union!!
A thousand substacks spread across the internet like stars in the sky cannot possibly replace what sites like Pitchfork and Bandcamp Daily offer btw, no matter how hard you try.
@gabrielszatan
I went to Battle Train, the footwork dance contest, while I was living in Tokyo. A girl won the whole thing with a routine where she mimed slashing her opponent with a sword. Whole place exploded, it was incredible
This Friday!
Making my DJ debut at
@techniquerecs
with the Kissa Mode crew
3 hours of Japanese jams, all on vinyl
If you’re in Miami - come thru ⚡️⚡️⚡️
Listening to the last ten minutes of
@JubileeDJ
’s Essential Mix where she goes from DJ Uncle Al “Mix It Up” into DJ Rashad “Damn Ma” into Nigelthreetimes “Early Morning From 103rd St” and shedding a single tear 👌
New from me: For
@BurnawayGA
I profiled Loriel Beltrán, Miami's most important painter, in search of an abstraction the city can call its own. His work is on view at
@MOADMDC
until May 1.
Today I’m excited to announce that weekly movie reviews are back in
@miaminewtimes
, headed up by yours truly.
I’m especially proud that our first review is an absolute miracle of a film from Jane Schoenbrun (
@sapphicspielbrg
) and
@A24
, I Saw The TV Glow.
This makes me so happy to see. Berkley gave a bold, unapologetic performance in Showgirls that was totally lambasted at the time by a press that took particular glee in mocking her and refusing to see beyond the film’s sexual content. Glad she’s finally getting her flowers.
New from me:
@residentadvisor
asked me to speak with activists in three different cities on how they're using local politics to protect their local nightlife. I reached out to folks in Montreal, Chicago, and Dallas to get their perspectives and ideas.
FUCK IT WE DROPPING IT EARLY
LIST SEASON OFFICIALLY OVER - TOP 100 FUNK SONGS FROM 2023 - CRAZIEST WORK TO DATE
MULTIPLE CITIES & SCENES GRINGOS HAVE NEVER HEARD OF; EVERYTHING U NEED ABOUT THE BEST MUSIC IN THE FUCKING WORLD
AQUI É BRASIL PORRA 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
There used to be large and midsize venues in Miami but they all closed, and promoters can’t open new ones because rents have skyrocketed, in part due to events like Art Basel encouraging rapid gentrification.
Don’t come here for a week and act like you know the place.
Here is a long thread of my favorite clips from this year, starting with the stuff I did for
@residentadvisor
"A Northern Sound: The Story Behind Bassline's Revival"
NEW: The Miami Beach City Commission voted unanimously today, without discussion, to oppose the county's Metromover extension to South Beach. Neighborhood associations near proposed new stations have railed against the plan.
Happy Trans Day of Visibility to my wonderful sister
@antimatterhorn
. I am so proud of you today and every day for coming out and living your truth 🏳️⚧️
New from me: A pioneer of the jungle/drum & bass revival,
@RuptureLondon
co-founder
@DUBZLO
just released an LP that's deeply in touch with the genre's proud history. Read my latest review for
@residentadvisor
:
@kissphoria
I drove through here once to see Cadillac Ranch (art installation of a bunch of cars buried in the sand - was cool). Otherwise seems like a lot of wind farms. There’s also a big novelty steakhouse.
The fact that the New Yorker still allows you to keep writing for them while Condé Nast guts its other publications and fires critics with things to say that are actually insightful is an indictment of the entire company.
It just struck me why the fanboys come out for The Zone of Interest: it's a science-fiction film about the Holocaust, complete with abstraction, design, grandiosity, and world-building.
Last week I caught up with the one and only
@tim_hecker
ahead of his show here in Miami. Tim's one of my favorite artists ever - his new album No Highs doesn't disappoint, and neither did our chat. Read on at
@miaminewtimes
Starting something new
Today I am launching a new musical project under the name Fujimidai
First up is a DJ mix, in two parts, inspired by the legendary 1996 rave Rainbow 2000 Fuji. Please enjoy:
Fujimidai - Rainbow Mountain Blend (Pt. 1)
When I worked at alt-weeklies before the pandemic I was often the only person doing arts coverage, and the loneliness of that was cushioned by having coworkers and freelancers to communicate with. I don’t have any of that anymore and it’s been damaging for sure.
Something that sucks about starting out as a freelancer, beyond the humiliation of pitching and the uncertainty of payments etc., is that you get into this thing without any sort of community. All the staff writers have a group chat and you're just on your lonesome? Yeah, sucks.
"In many ways, (Travis) Scott represents the triumph of pop, consumerism, and the commercial music industry over the historically radical elements of American music."
I wrote about
@trvisXX
for
@miaminewtimes
Finally listening to this. Better than their last, better than Radiohead's last, if they kept making records like this for the rest of their careers I wouldn't be disappointed at all. "Bending Hectic" - man, what a tune.
It is so crazy that they did this on national tv. You tune in to watch the biggest rock band in the world and their lead singer is jumping around like a little freak to horrific free jazz. Great stuff.
Radiohead released In Rainbows independently in 2007 and let people pay what they want, basically inventing the model used by sites like Bandcamp. But sure, pretend Kanye is still innovating.
Really would love to see more great critical writing on anime and manga like this in major publications. Why doesn't the NY Times have a manga critic in an era when Spy x Family tops the bestseller list every other week?