Recommended by Piotr Orlov
Steve Smith’s newsletter is a fantastic offering of live NYC music events, spotlighting the simmering edge of what’s often labeled “contemporary classical,” but is basically just creative music.
Jesse Rifkin is an NYC musicker who has written the excellent book, "This Must Be the Place: Music, Community and Vanished Spaces in New York City," which engages the city's post-WWII music scenes thru the lens of neighborhoods and landmarks. His Substack is the long versions of interviews that he conducted for the book, full of information I am sure Dada Strain readers will find fascinating.
Harmony Holiday is one of my favorite literary writer-critic-thinkers engaging the greater sound world and how its history-cim-presence fits into contemporary existence. A must-read pretty much each and every time.
In the 90s/00s, I occasionally read Craig Seymour's writing about house/R&B, and thought his leanings were too major-label, vocals-heavy. They were/are. But his taste is exquisite, and as my own palette has expanded/changed, Seymour's newsletter has been incredible in helping fill in wonderful gaps in my musical education. Disco-soul, big-room house, gospel singles, freestyle edits - almost all-killer no-filler. Deeeep cuts + expert choices.