Music matters; music keeps us connected to our emotions and one another. So don’t give up on it. Here’s music for this moment, with an emphasis on Ukrainian voices. But I hope we also acknowledge that musical livelihood is on the edge everywhere, too. And wherever you are, I hope this gives you even a little peace.

Here’s to the sound of acid over the sound of bombs. “The future will survive / future will stay alive.” Yeah, acid might be needed now more than ever.

Epic Games, makers of Unreal Engine, the Epic Games Store, and Fortnite, just bought Bandcamp. The promise is that the core Bandcamp platform as we know it will remain – but this means a big shift in where opportunities on Bandcamp might go.

Sure, maybe you weren’t sold on the metaverse, but what if you had 36 holes of Labyrinth-themed minigolf in VR?

We’re getting news and refugees out of Ukraine, but it’s also worth saying, today we got a press release and a download. I’m sorry, that’s worth noting. Also, Skew is brilliant – hard to describe, but ingenious once you really get it.

There’s never too much music, and never enough attention on independent artists and labels. The reality is that Ukrainian artists – like so much of eastern Europe – often got little recognition even as their cities grew as international party destinations. So let’s do what we always do, and love music – right on to the weird and unheard.

With electronic sounds like no others, Detroit legends Underground Resistance are treating us to a massive lineup of news. While this likely got drowned out by war, it’s worth visiting, as UR dropped the news at Black-organized festival Dweller last week in New York.

With Kyiv under attack as I write this in our neighbor Ukraine, I want to pass the mic to Ukrainian venues and artists and folks of Ukrainian descent/Ukrainian diaspora.

It’s difficult to focus today here in Europe as we’re rocked by war and have friends in danger in Ukraine. To readers, colleagues, friends in Ukraine – I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I hope to make at least some space for networks in Ukraine and across the region working for better futures.

Wow, yay, LOL. 22.02.2022! Is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is? 22.02.2022! LOL, yay, wow!