Happy new year everyone! Hope you had a safe and festive December.

I wanted to drop in and say that I’m starting a newsletter called “I Keep a Diary.” The first one goes out on Tuesday, January 5. Sign up here, if you’d like:

I Keep a Diary on Substack

See ya soon!

I wrote about Oceanator, Barely Civil, Sinai Vessel, and Stay Inside for The Alternative’s end of the year list:

The 75 Best Albums of 2020 + The Alt Music Awards

I contributed to a couple end of the year lists for Slant Magazine, writing blurbs about some of my absolute favorites:

• Bartees Strange
• Empty Country
• I’m Glad It’s You
• Ratboys
• Shamir
• The 1975
• The Mountain Goats
• NNAMDÏ
• Dogleg
• Phoebe Bridgers

Check those out here:

Slant’s Best 50 Albums of 2020

Slant’s Best 50 Songs of 2020

I wrote about Philly’s long trudge toward winter, slow songs, and the debut album from The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick. Here it is for The Alternative:

Album Review: The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick — “Ways of Hearing”

Last month, I had a lovely conversation with Gulfer about their excellent new self-titled record and how they see themselves in the context of the emo scene. Here it is, for The Alternative:

Interview: Gulfer Really Feel Like Themselves

Jimmy Eat World’s seventh album Invented turned 10 last month. It’s not the most glamorous of the band’s records, but it holds a special place in my heart—read my essay about Invented, underdog favorites, and the significance of being there over at The Alternative.

It Holds Up: Jimmy Eat World’s “Invented” Turns 10

A few words on Matt Berninger’s solo album, which is exactly what you’d expect it to be but still makes for a pretty nice listen. You can read my review over on Slant.

Review: Matt Berninger’s Serpentine Prison Is an Easily Digestible Solo Debut

Across eleven tracks that traverse and defy easy genre classifications and burst at the seams with creativity, originality, and heart, the debut album from Bartees Strange signals the arrival of a visionary songwriter.

Read my review of Live Forever, out this Friday, on The Alternative:

Album Review: Bartees Strange — “Live Forever”

Sufjan Stevens is without a doubt one of our most talented and creative songwriters, but his latest doesn’t quite live up to his high standards. I wrote about why for Slant:

Review: Sufjan Stevens’s The Ascension Aims for Great Heights but Often Gets Lost

I wrote about the new Barely Civil album and the ways in which we talk about and engage with emo music. You can read that over at The Alternative:

Album Review: Barely Civil — “I’ll Figure This Out”