Liner Notes (November 27th, 2021)

Thanksgiving

This week’s newsletter looks at the upcoming holiday season and some of the music I find myself throwing on during this time of year. This week, it was a relatively slow music week, but that led me to return to some music I haven’t spun in a while (Mutemath, Academy Is…, Butch Walker). Also, if anyone has some favorite holiday tunes/albums they’d like to recommend, please toss those my way. As always, there’s a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (November 20th, 2021)

This week’s newsletter looks at new music I checked out this week (Adele, Jimmy Eat World, Bad Suns, New Found Glory) as well as some old favorites (Jimmy Eat World, Brian Fallon, Days Away), and then I talk a little about how much I love Edgar Wright. Jimmy Eat World and Edgar Wright praise … could this be anymore of a Jason-themed newsletter?

This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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So Casually Cruel in the Name of Being Honest: A Closer Look at ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’

Red Double

When Taylor Swift launched her unprecedented catalog re-record project this past spring with Fearless (Taylor’s Version), the three resident Swifties on the Chorus.fm staff – Craig Manning, Anna Acosta, and Garrett Lemons – dove deep to dissect the plethora of revisited songs, b-sides, and vault tracks. Seven months later, Taylor is back with part two of her backward-looking series, which means we’re back too! And while we all love Fearless, the second album Taylor has deigned to revisit – her fourth LP, 2012’s Red – holds a significantly more special place in all our hearts. At the end of 2019, when we submitted ballots for the Chorus.fm end-of-decade staff list, all three of us shared a number-one pick: Red.

So, the question becomes: Can Taylor recapture the magic of Red for three people who love it beyond all reason? We spent some (read: a lot) of time with Red (Taylor’s Version) to find the answer.

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Liner Notes (November 14th, 2021)

This week’s newsletter looks at new music out this week (Taylor Swift, Walk the Moon) as well as looking at some revisits (Dashboard Confessional, Relient K) and some thoughts about trying to sort of, kind of, remember what it was like to do things before the global pandemic. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (November 6th, 2021)

Coffee

This week looks at new music out this week (Webbed Wing, Stand Atlantic, Brian Fallon) and music I listened to through the rest of the week (New Found Glory, Descendents). There are also some thoughts on entertainment I’ve been enjoying and/or suffering through. As always, there’s a playlist of ten songs I liked, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (October 30th, 2021)

Pumpkin

It’s almost Halloween, and I think one of my cats currently has on a bat costume and is starring in an Instagram video. This week I write about new music I checked out (Florrie, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, The War on Drugs, Ed Sheeran) and old music I revisited (Underoath, Anberlin), and then some thoughts on all the Halloween movies we’ve been watching this week. As always, there’s a playlist of songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (October 23rd, 2021)

Halloween

This week’s newsletter has thoughts on the latest Apple event and thoughts on internet drama, and the serenity of realizing you don’t need to have an opinion about everything. Then I go over stuff I revisited this week (Cartel, Finch, The Format) as well as share thoughts on new music out this week (ETID, Super American) and other albums I listened to (No Rome, Mom Jeans). And then I gush about how good the new Dune movie is. As always, there’s a playlist of ten songs, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (October 16th, 2021)

Leaves

This week’s newsletter looks at the new music I checked out this week (Kacy Hill, Coldplay, Knocked Loose, This Wild Life, Blackstarkids), as well as some old favorites I returned to or decided to give another shot (ManDancing, Turnover, Bad Luck., Citizen). And then there are some quick hits on a few first impressions (Snail Mail, Jim Lindberg, American Teeth) and a reevaluation of Taking Back Sunday after all these years. We’re jam-packed this week, and I still find some time to touch on some other media as well. As always, there’s a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed this week, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Hey, Hi, How’s Your Weekend Going?

Chorus.fm Logo

I try not to be too heavy-handed when it comes to pitching our upgrade membership program. I try and keep the big sell to once a year, and as we walk into October, it’s that time again.

As I wrote about last year, things are bizarre in the online space. Ad revenue has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The place for a small independent, primarily text-based music website and community is extremely not in the mainstream of where the internet is these days. But, tens of thousands of people still come and read our homepage daily, and thousands of people hang out and talk in our forums as well. And, like so many of you, I still have a passion for music that bursts from my seams.

So, if you’d like to see us continue to do what we do, please consider becoming a supporting member of the website. Doing so gives you awesome perks like a dark theme for the website and removes all of the advertisements. I built the website to be extremely fast to load, and without ads, it’s almost unbelievable how speedy it feels. I know many of you use an ad-blocker, and I could be far more hostile to those that have them installed to incentivize either uninstalling them or becoming a member, but I don’t. But if you do use an ad-blocker, please consider just signing up for our smallest package. For pennies a day, you can get a better experience on the website and can be absolved of any ad-blocking guilt because without the ads and the supporting members, we simply could not exist.

There are three packages, all of them have the same perks, and you can choose what tier fits with you. The truth is, I’m bad at selling myself but built the kind of system I wish more online businesses had. I think we have a great core product, and we have an easy way to remove all ads and help keep us online. That’s really the entire pitch.

As always, thank you for reading. In a world dominated by YouTube or hot-take chasing SubStack personalities, it’s often hard to know where we fit into the landscape. But every week, I see how many people still check out our little corner of the internet. And every week, someone tells me they’ve discovered a new band they love because we wrote about them. And every week, I laugh at a joke posted somewhere in our community. So, I remain happy we’re still online, and if you feel the same, please consider becoming a member.

Thank you.

Liner Notes (October 9th, 2021)

This week’s newsletter looks at some new music out this week (Noah, Poorstacy, Oh Wonder) and dives into some other music I checked out this week (Five Iron Frenzy, Allday, Wiki) while also looking at everything else I listened to, watched, read, and played throughout the week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (October 2nd, 2021)

Fall Leaves

This week’s newsletter looks at my iPad home screen, widgets, and my new favorite Safari extension. Then I looked at new music out this week (Hovvdy, Shad, Public Service Broadcasting) and some of the music I was listening to throughout the week (Cub Sport, Benne, Angel Du$t, and much more). And then some thoughts on entertainment I consumed and a tease about my first ever Raspberry Pi project. As always, there’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (September 25th, 2021)

Forrest

This week’s newsletter has some thoughts on the new version of iOS and what I like (and don’t like) about it so far. There are also thoughts on music out this week (Poppy, One Step Closer, Third Eye Blind) and commentary on other bands I enjoyed this week (Joystick, Catbite, Heathcliff), as well as my usual running views on media. Plus, a playlist of ten songs worth your time and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (September 18th, 2021)

Rain

This week’s newsletter has first impressions of the new Noah Gundersen album, a review of the iOS music app Marvis, and thoughts on other albums out this week (NVM, Spiritbox, YMAEWK). There’s also the usual commentary on other media I consumed over the past week, a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (September 11th, 2021)

Sunshine

This week’s newsletter has broad impressions of the new album from Thrice, first impressions of the new Angels and Airwaves record, random other thoughts about the music I listened to this week, and musings about organizing my music collection (both physical and digital). There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed this week, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (September 4th, 2021)

Pineapple

This week’s newsletter is not allowed to review the new album from Thrice, so instead, I hint at first impressions. I also talk a little about my rediscovering my enjoyment of Last.fm stats, more love for Turnstile, and some other thoughts on music I listened to this week. And, of course, there’s some commentary on the entertainment I consumed and a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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