Yes, The Riff Has Been Growing

Introducing new writers to our community.

In a recent article, Terry Barr has made an observation I’d like to acknowledge.

“Have you noticed that the Riff is growing? More followers and more writers all the time.” — Terry Barr, Valentine’s Day, 2021

It’s true.

In the past month alone, The Riff has published at least one article from almost 20 new writers.

There’s one big reason for this, and it’s all of you. It’s because of your dedication to reading and writing about music that has people starting and engaging in the conversation.

I find our community particularly interesting in our cultural moment. In a society that prizes quantity over quality — especially in “followers”, The Riff is the antithesis that digital platforms need for their users. For a publication that has less than 300 followers (you read that correctly), I can’t find many articles that have less than 150 claps or sans comments.

In a funky way, The Riff has become something akin to a close-knit subreddit where the contributors actually get paid, even if it’s only coffee money.

Truth be told, I don’t give a shit about the money. I don’t get paid as The Riff guy. I do this for the love of you and for the love of music.

As I mentioned previously — and as Terry Barr noted here — I was gone for quite a bit. I was an absent editor and that’s never good. Granted I went through my fair share of pain and shitty situations — that I may or may not write about one day — that caused this absence.

But know this, I’m back. And in the span of one month, The Riff went from being “another stagnant publication” to a thriving blog where we share our hearts out in the name of music.

Without further ado, let me introduce our brand new writers.

Kalin M. Williams is one of the most eloquent music writers I have read in a long time. I only wanted to pick one article per writer to feature in this piece, and Kalin’s writing savvy makes this tough. So read his piece on what he learned from observing Russ’s hard-earned dime in the music biz.

Who the hell thought we’d have a published author write at The Riff with us? Well, that person is Frank Mastropolo. Read his background story on Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, an amazing fuck-you song to people like our former angry Cheeto of a president.

Nia Simone McLeod poured her heart and soul into this piece on how these three albums by black artists changed her life. She convinced me to jam to Channel Orange, a decision I definitely do not regret.

Mai Mislang is busy. A graduate of Harvard Kennedy, she writes essays on urban policy, fronts a band, and writes lengthy pieces on what musicians can do in a world devoid of live music.

Aoife Chaney has a message for us: what if we took songs and made fiction stories out of them? That’s exactly what she did with Bob Dylan’s John Brown. What an entertaining yet fucked-up story, Aoife!

Did you know former mayors of California cities with 100k+ populations write for The Riff? I didn’t either until Bill Fulton showed up.

Finally, someone at The Riff is covering k-pop. Who better to do it than fawzul himaya hareed?

Kathryn Dillon isn’t brand new to The Riff, but she finally made her big debut last night. What’s a wedding without some Black Sabbath?

Anton Astudillo is right: Elliott Smith was much more than his history with substance abuse. Thank you for bringing light to his phenomenal career ❤

You’re weird if you don’t like alternative, “disorientating” rock. At least that’s what I think, Matt Comeau.

Michelle Aarons makes an interesting case study on TSwift rerecording her OG stuff after her original recordings were treated as nothing more than commodities of the music industry.

AJ Wiseman reminded me that Nirvana’s performance isn’t the only Unplugged concert I should jam to 100 times or so.

Two words from Graeme A Henderson: London Calling. That should be enough to convince you.

I feel like Kevin Alexander was here for longer than a month…it’s hard to keep track because this man is simply prolific as hell. Either way, his weekly Heavy Rotation series is a must!

Kathy Gerstorff did something pretty new for The Riff, sharing lyrics she liked as a post. I love that. I want more people to do that.

Pavle Marinkovic gave us a deep dive on why musicians are selling that good-good. Michelle Aarons, what are your thoughts on his think-piece?

I love it when musicians themselves, like Gabriela Kettle, write with us at The Riff. And if you want songs to jam to get through the rest of winter (*cough cough*, Kevin Alexander), may I suggest this piece.

MikeSemantics is another musician writing at The Riff. Want to know his perspective on an extremely important album? Read it here.

Kimberly Us is another author writing with The Riff. She wrote an awesome piece about rockabilly that makes me want to transport to the past and see the original movement myself. It’s still going on today, which she explains more about in her article. Give it a read right here.

Last but not least, thank you to our OG crew at The Riff for being writers on the art of sound: Rob Janicke, Terry Barr, Jessica Lee McMillan, Liam Heitmann-Ryce, If Ever You’re Listening, Drew Wardle, Brandon Johnson, Neil Mathew, Mike Marolla, John O'Neill, Veronica Charnell, Cameron Garnes, and more ❤