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A Blaze in the North American Sky
by Brandon Stosuy
A challenge to the infamous bad-assedness of Norwegian black-metal musicians.

A Brief Oral History of U.S. Black Metal
by Various U.S. Black Metal Musicians

Three Short Essays on Jazz
by Haruki Murakami

Two Weeks at Music Camp
by Rick Moody
A writer’s diary of becoming something more than “George Plimpton sitting in with the orchestra and plinking a triangle”

Spare Songs from a Diminished Land
by Theodore McDermott
Souled American’s music will not make you dance or sing along, but it does fulfill music’s simplest function: it makes you listen.

Waiting and Listening
by Lavinia Greenlaw

Bite Me: A Brief History of Dentistry and Music
by Paul Collins

Ian MacKaye
interviewed by Alex V. Cook
The founder of Dischord Records, Minor Threat, and Fugazi is trying to disengage music from the domain of drunken adults.

Irma Thomas
interviewed by T Cooper
The Soul Queen of New Orleans, before and after Katrina.

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Alan Bishop
interviewed by Andy Beta
Releasing albums of Iraqi Choubi music and North Korean pop, the Sublime Frequencies label is like Folkways for the axis of evil.

Notes on the 2008 Believer CD
compiled by Ross Simonini

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Gentle Giant: The Unfair Reputation of Prog-Rock Concept Albums
by Rick Moody

“Too Marvelous for Words”: A Taxonomy of Liner Notes
by John Adamian

The Original Singing Babies: The Jingle Babies
by Blake Butler

Rockin’ Pneumonia: And the Boogie-Woogie Flu
by Douglas Wolk

A Secret History of Phonography: A Consideration of a Field Recording of a Dog Pound
by Christopher DeLaurenti

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The Grizz-ind: In Praise of Rap CDs Purchased on the Street
by Davy Rothbart

The Prophet: Gil Scott-Heron
by Steve Almond

“The Ambient Cannibal”: A Review of a Sept. 1996 Episode of Negativland’s Radio Show
by Matthew Simmons

Sedaratives: Canadian Musician Edition

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Pleasantly False Déjà Vu: The Obscure Vaudeville Charms of Bree Benton
by Ange Mlinko

Schema: Failed Ethnomusicology in Laos
by Andy Beta