The Tonearm
@thetonearm.com
celebrating music journalism
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putting a needle on the cultural wax
an online journal of unexpected music + culture → thetonearm.com
+
putting a needle on the cultural wax
an online journal of unexpected music + culture → thetonearm.com
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The Tonearm
@thetonearm.com
· Mar 20
The Tonearm is an online journal of unexpected music and culture, a shared exploration of what it's like to create cool + meaningful things.
Check out our latest articles + podcasts: www.thetonearm.com/linkinbio/
and don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Talk Of The Tonearm ✨
Check out our latest articles + podcasts: www.thetonearm.com/linkinbio/
and don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Talk Of The Tonearm ✨
"They bonded over boxing and blended prog, art-rock, visual theatre, Dadaism and music hall – a surreal mix that shouldn’t have worked, and yet which caught the imagination of Britain, propelling the band to stardom …"
The story of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band:
The story of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band:
“He came in with Billy Bunter trousers, frock coat, euphonium and horrible glasses. And big rubber ears. I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll sign up to this’”: In 1962 a band decided to play as badly as possible until someone noticed. It worked.
They blended prog, art-rock, visual theatre, Dadaism and music hall – and never pretended to do any of it well
www.loudersound.com
December 9, 2025 at 3:16 PM
"They bonded over boxing and blended prog, art-rock, visual theatre, Dadaism and music hall – a surreal mix that shouldn’t have worked, and yet which caught the imagination of Britain, propelling the band to stardom …"
The story of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band:
The story of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band:
In this clip from the latest episode of The Tonearm Podcast, blind jazz pianist Marcus Roberts details his quest to optimize technology for jazz collaboration across distances and the importance of preserving the interactive essence of the music.
Hear more: podcast.thetonearm.com/marcus-rober...
Hear more: podcast.thetonearm.com/marcus-rober...
December 9, 2025 at 1:30 PM
In this clip from the latest episode of The Tonearm Podcast, blind jazz pianist Marcus Roberts details his quest to optimize technology for jazz collaboration across distances and the importance of preserving the interactive essence of the music.
Hear more: podcast.thetonearm.com/marcus-rober...
Hear more: podcast.thetonearm.com/marcus-rober...
"The music press, sniffing a possible feud, gave Marsalis’s venting about Miles plenty of column inches. The first time the two met, Miles said, 'So here’s the police.'"
The Icon and the Upstart — On Miles Davis’s Legendary Feud With Wynton Marsalis: lithub.com/the-icon-and...
The Icon and the Upstart — On Miles Davis’s Legendary Feud With Wynton Marsalis: lithub.com/the-icon-and...
December 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
"The music press, sniffing a possible feud, gave Marsalis’s venting about Miles plenty of column inches. The first time the two met, Miles said, 'So here’s the police.'"
The Icon and the Upstart — On Miles Davis’s Legendary Feud With Wynton Marsalis: lithub.com/the-icon-and...
The Icon and the Upstart — On Miles Davis’s Legendary Feud With Wynton Marsalis: lithub.com/the-icon-and...
Mexican-born, Chicago-based drummer Gustavo Cortiñas discusses his album 'The Crisis Knows No Borders,' his philosophy on small daily sacrifices, and why convenience keeps getting in the way of saving the world.
Bangs of Convenience — Gustavo Cortiñas Drums For Climate Action:
Bangs of Convenience — Gustavo Cortiñas Drums For Climate Action:
Gustavo Cortiñas Drums for Climate Action | The Tonearm
The Mexican-born, Chicago-based drummer discusses his album 'The Crisis Knows No Borders,' his philosophy on small daily sacrifices, and why convenience keeps getting in the way of saving the world.
www.thetonearm.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Mexican-born, Chicago-based drummer Gustavo Cortiñas discusses his album 'The Crisis Knows No Borders,' his philosophy on small daily sacrifices, and why convenience keeps getting in the way of saving the world.
Bangs of Convenience — Gustavo Cortiñas Drums For Climate Action:
Bangs of Convenience — Gustavo Cortiñas Drums For Climate Action:
"Bowie’s 1999 album Hours… was the first to go on sale online before hitting regular stores – and his experimentation caused horror in the music industry."
‘The internet is an alien life form’ — how David Bowie created a market for digital music:
‘The internet is an alien life form’ — how David Bowie created a market for digital music:
‘The internet is an alien life form’: how David Bowie created a market for digital music
Bowie’s 1999 album Hours… was the first to go on sale online before hitting regular stores – and his experimentation caused horror in the music industry
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:45 AM
"Bowie’s 1999 album Hours… was the first to go on sale online before hitting regular stores – and his experimentation caused horror in the music industry."
‘The internet is an alien life form’ — how David Bowie created a market for digital music:
‘The internet is an alien life form’ — how David Bowie created a market for digital music:
Reposted by The Tonearm
dub: a step by step guide, by dennis matumbi/bovell, december '77, via this wonderful stack of '70s reggae/dub coverage posted by @simonreynolds.bsky.social: musicpresspantheon.blogspot.com/2025/09/soun...
December 9, 2025 at 2:18 AM
dub: a step by step guide, by dennis matumbi/bovell, december '77, via this wonderful stack of '70s reggae/dub coverage posted by @simonreynolds.bsky.social: musicpresspantheon.blogspot.com/2025/09/soun...
"The studio was like heaven for us."
Decades after their collaboration, Steven Hall offers rare insights into Arthur Russell's creative process, his ban on vibrato, and their search for musical purity.
Tell Us Today — Steven Hall Remembers Arthur Russell:
Decades after their collaboration, Steven Hall offers rare insights into Arthur Russell's creative process, his ban on vibrato, and their search for musical purity.
Tell Us Today — Steven Hall Remembers Arthur Russell:
Tell Us Today — Steven Hall Remembers Arthur Russell
"The studio was like heaven for us." Decades after their collaboration, Steven Hall offers rare insights into Arthur Russell's creative process, his ban on vibrato, and their search for musical purity.
www.thetonearm.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:45 AM
"The studio was like heaven for us."
Decades after their collaboration, Steven Hall offers rare insights into Arthur Russell's creative process, his ban on vibrato, and their search for musical purity.
Tell Us Today — Steven Hall Remembers Arthur Russell:
Decades after their collaboration, Steven Hall offers rare insights into Arthur Russell's creative process, his ban on vibrato, and their search for musical purity.
Tell Us Today — Steven Hall Remembers Arthur Russell:
"Flicking through the pages of an old diary, Dunstan Bruce, former Chumbawamba vocalist, pauses. 'This will give you an idea of how immersed we all were in the wider anarchist scene in the 1980s,' he says, running his finger down the diary’s fading gridlines."
Archiving anarcho-punk:
Archiving anarcho-punk:
Against The Grain: Archiving anarcho-punk - The Wire
The London based MayDay Rooms’ anarcho-punk archive is a valuable resource for radical cultures and politics today, writes Seth Wheeler in The Wire 503/4
www.thewire.co.uk
December 8, 2025 at 8:45 PM
"Flicking through the pages of an old diary, Dunstan Bruce, former Chumbawamba vocalist, pauses. 'This will give you an idea of how immersed we all were in the wider anarchist scene in the 1980s,' he says, running his finger down the diary’s fading gridlines."
Archiving anarcho-punk:
Archiving anarcho-punk:
Things Will Remain, by Living Hour
from the album Internal Drone Infinity
livinghourband.bandcamp.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:45 PM
"Bowie remembered those strange pictures later, and they worked together again the following year … you can see why Bowie was attracted to the Ockenfels aesthetic, which is typically vibrant and frayed at the edges, sometimes using multiple images, blur, and splashes of ink."
‘I Shot David Bowie’:
‘I Shot David Bowie’:
‘I Shot David Bowie’
Frank Ockenfels III first crossed paths with David Bowie by chance.
Ockenfels was assigned to photograph Bowie and his band Tin Machine for an early-’90s i
www.spin.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:45 PM
"Bowie remembered those strange pictures later, and they worked together again the following year … you can see why Bowie was attracted to the Ockenfels aesthetic, which is typically vibrant and frayed at the edges, sometimes using multiple images, blur, and splashes of ink."
‘I Shot David Bowie’:
‘I Shot David Bowie’:
Sam Sarty + Gilad Carroll of Living Hour discuss their Winnipeg roots, the making of 'Internal Drone Infinity', and how the band transforms isolation and distance into thoughtful dream pop that leaves space for memory and the quiet work of getting better.
Living Hour and the Perimeter of Yearning:
Living Hour and the Perimeter of Yearning:
Living Hour and the Perimeter of Yearning | The Tonearm
Sam Sarty and Gilad Carroll discuss their Winnipeg roots, the making of 'Internal Drone Infinity', and how the band transforms isolation and distance into thoughtful dream pop that leaves space for memory and the quiet work of getting better.
www.thetonearm.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Sam Sarty + Gilad Carroll of Living Hour discuss their Winnipeg roots, the making of 'Internal Drone Infinity', and how the band transforms isolation and distance into thoughtful dream pop that leaves space for memory and the quiet work of getting better.
Living Hour and the Perimeter of Yearning:
Living Hour and the Perimeter of Yearning:
"As time went on, Sign o' the Times often provided a gateway into genres I didn’t know, or a bridge between ones I did. And each time it did, I understood it a bit more, and it grew. But it wasn’t until the early 00s, and a Saturday night DJ pub residency that I really 'got' 'Starfish & Coffee'."
If you set your mind free baby...
...maybe you'll understand.
joemuggs.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
"As time went on, Sign o' the Times often provided a gateway into genres I didn’t know, or a bridge between ones I did. And each time it did, I understood it a bit more, and it grew. But it wasn’t until the early 00s, and a Saturday night DJ pub residency that I really 'got' 'Starfish & Coffee'."
Reposted by The Tonearm
Today's new episode of The Tonearm Podcast features blind jazz pianist Marcus Roberts discussing his work solving latency issues for remote musical collaboration, his views on AI and technology in the arts, and the importance of authentic expression in music…
#jazzsky
#jazzsky
Marcus Roberts: Jazz Piano and Technology's Promise
Blind jazz pianist Marcus Roberts on solving latency for remote collaboration, AI ethics, accessibility tech, and authentic expression in music.
podcast.thetonearm.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Today's new episode of The Tonearm Podcast features blind jazz pianist Marcus Roberts discussing his work solving latency issues for remote musical collaboration, his views on AI and technology in the arts, and the importance of authentic expression in music…
#jazzsky
#jazzsky
"It can feel humorous and satirical, but also deeply melancholic and sad. In its best moments, vaporwave manages to transform seemingly worthless sonic material into emotionally resonant art – a process of upcycling."
ZS History of Vaporwave (Part 1):
ZS History of Vaporwave (Part 1):
ZS History of Vaporwave (Part 1)
From hypnagogic pop to eccojams (2008-2010)
www.zensounds.de
December 8, 2025 at 12:45 PM
"It can feel humorous and satirical, but also deeply melancholic and sad. In its best moments, vaporwave manages to transform seemingly worthless sonic material into emotionally resonant art – a process of upcycling."
ZS History of Vaporwave (Part 1):
ZS History of Vaporwave (Part 1):
"Vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter J Mascis discusses observing how others work, longevity and timing, and getting better by just doing it."
J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) on the importance of staying in motion:
J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) on the importance of staying in motion:
On the importance of staying in motion
Vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) discusses observing how others work, longevity and timing, and getting better by just doing it.
thecreativeindependent.com
December 8, 2025 at 10:30 AM
"Vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter J Mascis discusses observing how others work, longevity and timing, and getting better by just doing it."
J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) on the importance of staying in motion:
J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) on the importance of staying in motion:
Melding Steve Reich's cyclical patterns with club music's magnetic pull, this unconventional trio of piano, clarinet, and drums transforms mathematical precision into pure physical motion.
A Munich Trio Called Prepared Wants You to Dance to Minimalism:
A Munich Trio Called Prepared Wants You to Dance to Minimalism:
A Munich Trio Called Prepared Wants You to Dance to Minimalism
Melding Steve Reich's cyclical patterns with club music's magnetic pull, this unconventional trio of piano, clarinet, and drums transforms mathematical precision into pure physical motion.
www.thetonearm.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Melding Steve Reich's cyclical patterns with club music's magnetic pull, this unconventional trio of piano, clarinet, and drums transforms mathematical precision into pure physical motion.
A Munich Trio Called Prepared Wants You to Dance to Minimalism:
A Munich Trio Called Prepared Wants You to Dance to Minimalism:
"When technology made music mobile, the American South changed from one type of bootlegging industry to another: copying and selling records."
Land of the Free, Home of the Bootleggers:
Land of the Free, Home of the Bootleggers:
Land of the Free, Home of the Bootleggers - JSTOR Daily
When technology made music mobile, the American South changed from one type of bootlegging industry to another: copying and selling records.
daily.jstor.org
December 8, 2025 at 6:45 AM
"When technology made music mobile, the American South changed from one type of bootlegging industry to another: copying and selling records."
Land of the Free, Home of the Bootleggers:
Land of the Free, Home of the Bootleggers:
"Autechre’s journey from their early, beautiful electronica to their later, mind-bending, experimental sound is a marathon of brilliance and confusion, where diamonds still emerge from the chaos but only after sifting through some of the most bewildering, abstract music ever created."
A Deep Dive into Autechre :: From Early Brilliance to Late-Period Noise—A Journey Through Their Evolution
Autechre’s journey from their early, beautiful electronica to their later, mind-bending, experimental sound is a marathon of brilliance and confusion, where diamonds still emerge from the chaos but only after sifting through some of the most bewildering, abstract music ever created.
igloomag.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:00 AM
"Autechre’s journey from their early, beautiful electronica to their later, mind-bending, experimental sound is a marathon of brilliance and confusion, where diamonds still emerge from the chaos but only after sifting through some of the most bewildering, abstract music ever created."
Anthony David Vernon argues that vinyl, cassettes, and MP3 players offer more than nostalgia—they present a temporary masculinity alien to traditional gender binaries, one where tactile engagement with sound refuses any single expression.
Xeno-Masculinity and the Return of Physical Music:
Xeno-Masculinity and the Return of Physical Music:
Xeno-Masculinity and the Return of Physical Music
Anthony David Vernon argues that vinyl, cassettes, and MP3 players offer more than nostalgia—they present a temporary masculinity alien to traditional gender binaries, one where tactile engagement with sound refuses to belong to any single expression.
www.thetonearm.com
December 8, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Anthony David Vernon argues that vinyl, cassettes, and MP3 players offer more than nostalgia—they present a temporary masculinity alien to traditional gender binaries, one where tactile engagement with sound refuses any single expression.
Xeno-Masculinity and the Return of Physical Music:
Xeno-Masculinity and the Return of Physical Music:
"There’s so much more to be said about Cliff and his music, but here are a few of my faves, including all four tracks from The Harder They Come (which might be my favorite album of all time) and six others from around the career of this exceptional artist. He will be missed."
Turn It Up - Jimmy Cliff Edition
Charles pays tribute to the great artist
nofencesreview.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 11:45 PM
"There’s so much more to be said about Cliff and his music, but here are a few of my faves, including all four tracks from The Harder They Come (which might be my favorite album of all time) and six others from around the career of this exceptional artist. He will be missed."
"But the era when Tom Waits hung out in this vicinity is a distant memory. The space where Waits performed his Quiet Knight concerts is now a Barre3 fitness studio and Milio’s Hair Studio."
The Chicago Stomping Grounds of Tom Waits:
The Chicago Stomping Grounds of Tom Waits:
The Chicago Stomping Grounds of Tom Waits – ROBERT LOERZEL
I wrote for Chicago magazine last week about the new Mavis Staples cover of the Tom Waits song “Chicago”—one of the great songs about our city, in either version. Writing this essay gave me a gave me a chance to dig a little bit into Waits’s Chicago connections. Here’s more.
www.robertloerzel.com
December 7, 2025 at 8:45 PM
"But the era when Tom Waits hung out in this vicinity is a distant memory. The space where Waits performed his Quiet Knight concerts is now a Barre3 fitness studio and Milio’s Hair Studio."
The Chicago Stomping Grounds of Tom Waits:
The Chicago Stomping Grounds of Tom Waits:
The Closer You Look, by The Bernadette Maries
track by The Bernadette Maries
geographie.bandcamp.com
December 7, 2025 at 7:45 PM
"There’s only three people in history that are in all three halls of fame – the rock’n’roll hall of fame, the musicians’ hall of fame and the songwriters’ hall of fame: Keith Richards, Roy Orbison + Steve Cropper. Pretty good company!"
An Audience With Steve Cropper: www.uncut.co.uk/features/int...
An Audience With Steve Cropper: www.uncut.co.uk/features/int...
December 7, 2025 at 6:45 PM
"There’s only three people in history that are in all three halls of fame – the rock’n’roll hall of fame, the musicians’ hall of fame and the songwriters’ hall of fame: Keith Richards, Roy Orbison + Steve Cropper. Pretty good company!"
An Audience With Steve Cropper: www.uncut.co.uk/features/int...
An Audience With Steve Cropper: www.uncut.co.uk/features/int...
Reposted by The Tonearm
Tom Waits is 76 today.
Matthew Shipp is 65 today.
Greg Tate is gone four years today.
Quite a day.
Matthew Shipp is 65 today.
Greg Tate is gone four years today.
Quite a day.
December 7, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Tom Waits is 76 today.
Matthew Shipp is 65 today.
Greg Tate is gone four years today.
Quite a day.
Matthew Shipp is 65 today.
Greg Tate is gone four years today.
Quite a day.
"The 4 December edition of The Wire’s weekly radio show on Resonance FM and Resonance Extra featured music by Rupert Hine, NOWHERE2RUN, Shudder To Think, Deliluh, Qasu and more …"
Joseph Stannard presents Adventures In Sound And Music:
Joseph Stannard presents Adventures In Sound And Music:
Joseph Stannard presents Adventures In Sound And Music - The Wire
The 4 December edition of The Wire ’s weekly radio show on Resonance FM and Resonance Extra featured music by Rupert Hine, NOWHERE2RUN, Shudder To Think, Deliluh, Qasu and more
www.thewire.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 3:00 PM
"The 4 December edition of The Wire’s weekly radio show on Resonance FM and Resonance Extra featured music by Rupert Hine, NOWHERE2RUN, Shudder To Think, Deliluh, Qasu and more …"
Joseph Stannard presents Adventures In Sound And Music:
Joseph Stannard presents Adventures In Sound And Music: