Crucial Recap: 2025.ep9
The highlight of this latest issue is a BRAND NEW Crucial Tracks interview... I'm so excited for this one, not only for who it is but the quality and thoughtfulness of the responses. Can't wait for you to read it.
With that said... for Crucial Tracks 009, I present to you Zach Barocas: musician, composer, and Brooklyn stationery shop owner. You may be familiar with Zach's work as drummer for the band Jawbox – one of my favorite bands of all time. I'm so thankful Zach was willing to participate.
Dig in to that interview here:
Jason
The Crucial Tracks app and community are chugging along... my update from last month celebrated 500 posts and 100 community members... we're now up to 1200 posts and 135 members. So exciting!
In June I also added a cool feature that shows the connections between community members at the song and artist level. You can see a good example of this on my post from June 21. The app automatically makes the connections and then you can easily go read the other member's post by clicking on their avatar.
Not only is this a fun way to find people who are into the same artists, but at the song level you can read their take on the song and what it means to them... and it unlocks other creative ways of using these connections like giving someone a hat tip for introducing you to an artist. I can't wait to see how this transforms the site over the long haul, as more connections are made...
In addition to that, you can now export all of your posts in JSON format. I hope this site keeps growing, but if you don't want to stick around, you can grab an archive of your posts. You can find the link on your My Entries page.
Other community notes:
- Don't miss out on Community Tracks, the weekly playlist compiled from songs shared on Crucial Tracks. Listen along as you read posts from some of our featured community members.
- Lastly, Crucial Tracks now has a MERCH STORE! In addition to helping support the site and all of the costs associated with running Crucial Tracks... I will be donating 25% of the proceeds to The Trevor Project in June. There are just a few days left in the month, so get your orders in and have a double impact!
MERCH PARTY!
The Crucial Tracks merch store just launched. We have shirts, hoodies, hats, sealed new vinyl, and much more for sale. EVERY purchase goes to paying the bills to keep Crucial Tracks going.
And, since it's Pride... 25% of June proceeds will go to The Trevor Project. I will also match the first $50!
Over on the blog, I've also published a couple of posts focusing on my favorite releases in June, as well as a look back at my favorite albums of the year (so far)...
Dig in to those here:
Jason
Jason
Jason
Here are some of the records I'm looking forward to checking out in the coming weeks:
- Near-Death Travel Services by Deadguy (June 27)
- The Shadow of the Guest by Blonde Redhead (June 27)
- Different Talking by Frankie Cosmos (June 27)
- Virgin by Lorde (June 27)
- The Staircase by Sharpie Smile (June 27)
- Self Titled by Kae Tempest (July 4)
- The Past is a Garden I Never Fed by The Reds, Pinks, and Purples (July 4)
- Forward by The Swell Season (July 11)
- moisturizer by Wet Leg (July 11)
- Headlights by Alex G (July 18)
- The Longer This Goes On by Forth Wanderers (July 18)
- Kiss From the Balcony by Madeline Kenney (July 18)
Anything I miss?
Some of my favorite YouTube videos from the last few weeks:
Living Colour - Tiny Desk Concert
Ida live on KEXP
Saya Gray live on KCRW
"So Be It" by Clipse
That's it for this issue. Happy Friday! ✌️🤘
--Jason
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