Sound & Fury

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1615

Abstract

. For example:</p><ul><li>When <a href="undefined">Jessica Lee McMillan</a> wrote about opening a CD under a gunmetal grey British Columbia sky, I knew exactly what she was talking about. That’s a shade you only know if you grow up in the Pacific Northwest.</li><li>My shoebox of ticket stubs hasn’t survived all my moves, but if I still had it, my guess is <a href="undefined">Rob Janicke</a> and I would have a lot of the same ones. Actually, after reading his work, I <i>know</i> we would.</li><li>Going the other way, I wrote a piece about the Housemartins, and <a href="">David Acaster</a> shared what it was like living in Hull when the band was still playing locals.</li></ul><p id="d54c">From where I sit, all of that…<i>relatability</i> is what makes <i>The Riff</i> what it is. No SEO, no gaming the algorithm. Just people sharing their experiences.</p><p id="4130">And not just from the fan perspective, either. This page is full of working musicians, producers, label owners, and more.</p><p id="4f5e">When I end my own articles thanking everyone for helping build something great, it’s not meant to be saccharine — to me, that common ground is the page’s superpower. And I’m here for it.</p><p id="ef44">That said, it should be easy to see why it’s so hard to pick just a few pieces to showcase. Restricting myself only to work submitted over the past week made for a nice initial set of guardrails, but even that quickly proved to be not enough.</p><p id="c4ae">In the end, I went with the ones that were most relatable to my own life in one form or another.</p><p id="8df5">Think of this list as a wri

Options

tten mixtape of things I hope you’ll like.</p><p id="6228">So grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea, cue up your favorite record, and dig in! Ideally, you’ll find yourself nodding a lot as you go through the list. Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts.</p><p id="3f58">Have a great week!</p><h2 id="2131">American Crisis Playlist #50</h2><p id="e043">Celebrating Juneteenth by <a href="undefined">Terry Barr</a></p><h2 id="25a7">Five Albums That Prove 1994 is The Greatest Year In Music History</h2><p id="4c7a">Volume one. by <a href="undefined">JL Matthews</a></p><h2 id="b600">Songs About Trains</h2><p id="6b4c">Travel, freedom, symbolism, and escape by <a href="undefined">Kathryn Dillon</a></p><h2 id="7d8b">Heavy Guitars and Isolation</h2><p id="12d4">Coming of age in Doc Martens and flannel shirts…the Grunge years by <a href="undefined">Rob Janicke</a></p><h2 id="6b81">The Dead and Me</h2><p id="5f9c">The “trip” begins by <a href="undefined">Dave Logan</a></p><p id="86eb">In case you missed last week’s fantastic debut issue:</p><div id="017e" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/this-weeks-greatest-hits-1f3a4afb7e5"> <div> <div> <h2>This Week’s ‘Greatest Hits’</h2> <div><h3>My Five Favourite Riff Stories</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*-GaxzEp_Xeh8EdrK)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

This week on The Riff

Music is something we share collectively, yet experience in our own unique way. I’m honestly not sure how best to articulate that — trust me, I’ve written this paragraph about 15 times now — but I hope it makes sense.

I’m hesitant to use the word relational here, mostly because it’s become a stale trope on this platform. But it… kinda fits.

The Riff’s Midwest division HQ. Photo by author.

One of the perks of being an editor at The Riff is seeing people’s work before anyone else, and I usually read submissions while eating before going to work (if you’ve ever wondered why there are notes being left on your stories at 3 am, now you know).

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found myself nodding along with the writer, or catching myself trying to highlight stories that haven’t yet run.

In other words, I find myself totally relating to someone else’s unique experience.

Maybe relatable is a better fit. For example:

When Jessica Lee McMillan wrote about opening a CD under a gunmetal grey British Columbia sky, I knew exactly what she was talking about. That’s a shade you only know if you grow up in the Pacific Northwest.

My shoebox of ticket stubs hasn’t survived all my moves, but if I still had it, my guess is Rob Janicke and I would have a lot of the same ones. Actually, after reading his work, I know we would.

Going the other way, I wrote a piece about the Housemartins, and David Acaster shared what it was like living in Hull when the band was still playing locals.

From where I sit, all of that…relatability is what makes The Riff what it is. No SEO, no gaming the algorithm. Just people sharing their experiences.

And not just from the fan perspective, either. This page is full of working musicians, producers, label owners, and more.

When I end my own articles thanking everyone for helping build something great, it’s not meant to be saccharine — to me, that common ground is the page’s superpower. And I’m here for it.

That said, it should be easy to see why it’s so hard to pick just a few pieces to showcase. Restricting myself only to work submitted over the past week made for a nice initial set of guardrails, but even that quickly proved to be not enough.

In the end, I went with the ones that were most relatable to my own life in one form or another.

Think of this list as a written mixtape of things I hope you’ll like.

So grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea, cue up your favorite record, and dig in! Ideally, you’ll find yourself nodding a lot as you go through the list. Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Have a great week!