katherine st asaph (@katstasaph) profile picture

music writer

Joined April 2011
My October Stereogum column is about Halsey's "The Great Impersonator." I am posting this today because it went up today. Like many reviewers, I find the record compelling, but I knew after listening that it would likely draw bad-faith dismissal. stereogum.com/2286107/halsey…
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Specifically, I think the album places itself in direct textual conversation with the reckoning on fame and parasocial fan attachment that Chappell Roan invoked this year, and that Mitski, Allison Crutchfield, Sidney Gish and others have also addressed. nylon.com/fandom-danger-fema…
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bumping, as they say, for the afternoon crowd teapaw.org/katstasaph/status/1610…
coming out of twitter retirement to do the thing el*n doesn't want anyone to do and plug my stuff elsewhere -- namely, that I have a newsletter now! expect column fragments, new music reviews, old music reviews, and more: ksta.substack.com/
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coming out of twitter retirement to do the thing el*n doesn't want anyone to do and plug my stuff elsewhere -- namely, that I have a newsletter now! expect column fragments, new music reviews, old music reviews, and more: ksta.substack.com/
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here's what's in the first edition: - the zoomer Enigma revival - some music on cappuccinos and introspection - a 2023 banger - more?
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and wrote about Fiona Apple's When the Pawn for this, in a diabolical plot concocted in my teens to further the women's agenda or whatever by loving an amazing album teapaw.org/pitchfork/status/15751…
Presenting the best albums of the 1990s See our list of the 150 best albums of the decade → p4k.in/xlDLSh5 #p4k90s
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wrote about Liz Phair and Massive Attack for this, my old winamp playlists are vindicated pitchfork.com/features/lists…
Was the site perfect? No. Having a lot of blurbs means you're probably going to have some regrettable blurbs; I've contributed my share. Like the rest of music writing, it slowly got less contrarian over time (though that has more to do with who kept writing and who stepped away)
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There were some genres -- wildly popular ones -- we consistently fell short on covering; we made an effort, but effort is a limited resource. We shifted from being UK-centric to US-centric; songs inevitably fell through the cracks. Some of them were probably amazing.
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this, too, was one of my favorite parts. one of our highest-rated songs ever (and a perfect pop song in general), Sofi de la Torre's "Vermillion," was something I found trawling through new Vevo videos teapaw.org/EveryUKNo1Game/status/…
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I haven't written anything about the @SinglesJukebox closing until now. I'm too close to it. It's going to take a while to feel anything about the situation but deep regret. Nevertheless, here is my attempt at a eulogy. (thread)
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The whole thing is wrapped up in a lot of complicated and ambivalent feelings about the last decade and the shell of itself that music writing has become. But it was a great thing that existed, and music writing is lesser for its being gone. I will miss it a lot.
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Perhaps something will come along like it. Perhaps we could reboot in the future (super open to that, subtle hint subtle hint). Perhaps some music publication will adopt its format (it's happened before, multiple times actually). We had something great. Maybe we'll have it again.
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