Everything I wrote for others in 2023

Interviews, reviews and essays from my first year as a freelancer.

If you’re subscribed to Loops, there’s a chance you actually like what I write — or at least what I write about. Before 2023, that mostly consisted of the news. I reported on cities and towns in Colorado struggling to move on from fossil fuels; forests and neighborhoods charred by fire; the street intersection where the Minneapolis Police Department killed George Floyd; the drama inside City Hall.

For the most part, this work terrified me. There were so many days when I dreaded going into the office, dreaded calling council members, dreaded being sent to the scene of a fire or shooting. My nerves trembled in front of editors — especially when I made a slip we’d have to correct. I’d go home late, wake up early and spend the rest of the time thinking about whether the work I was doing was right or wrong. At the end of the day, I knew it wasn’t making me happy.

When I was a kid, it was easy to get out of doing things I didn’t like. My go-to excuse was vomiting. I must’ve gone to the school nurse about a dozen times claiming I was sick to get out of class. In high school, when our jazz combo was set to open for the band Rare Earth at a block party downtown, I was desperate to avoid going onstage. I didn’t know the charts and couldn’t go through with it. I told my bandmate’s mom I was stomach sick — which, in a way, I was. She drove me to Walgreens, bought me popsicles, and then dropped me off at home.

That wasn’t a way to deal with my fear of performance, which, as a reporter started to eat away at me. Panic attacks, sleep paralysis and unhealthy levels of stress followed me until the beginning of 2023, when I left daily news. With the support of my then-fiancée and a couple of music essays as clips, I set out to write about what I loved most. (No pretend-puking this time!)

In total, I wrote 20 pieces of music criticism and reporting this year. They include track reviews for NPR Music, album reviews for Resident Advisor, and a handful of interviews for Passion of the Weiss. You can find all of them below. Thank you to all the artists who I got a chance to talk to and the editors who gave me valuable advice and support. Most importantly, thank you for reading Loops throughout the year. Now on to the next one.

Artist interviews (for Passion of the Weiss)

• An Interview With Jessy Lanza

• An Interview With Alan Palomo, International Man of Mystery

• An Interview With Nocturnal Jazz Giant, Sven Wunder

• An Interview With Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

Album reviews (for Resident Advisor)

• Spencer Doran - SEASON: A letter to the future (Original Soundtrack)

• Natural Wonder Beauty Concept - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept

• K-LONE - Swells

• The Chemical Brothers - For That Beautiful Feeling

• Loraine James - Gentle Confrontation

Track reviews (for NPR Music)

• Sofia Kourtesis: “Madres” (my first review of the year)

• Spencer Doran: “The Seaside”

• Nondi_: “Sun Juke”

• Margaritas Podridas: “Filosa”

• Ryuichi Sakamoto: “20211201”

• Jessy Lanza: “Midnight Ontario”

• The Armed: “Liar 2”

• By Storm: “Double Trio”

• yeule: “dazies”

Other writing

• “DJ Rashad’s Double Cup Turns 10,” for Stereogum

• Something short for a journal that has yet to come out