Three pins, and nearly every signal in this business passes through them.

The magazine is named after the cable: the microphone in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX run that fires the lights. Studio, stage and rig share the same cable. Most magazines pick one of the three. This one covers all of it, because the people we read do too — the engineer mixing a record on Tuesday is on front of house by Saturday.

Around a hundred and sixty sources, in English, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Chinese and Italian: makers and their release notes, reviewers who put a hand on the thing, studios and touring crews, the producers and collectives surfacing this month and the scenes they came out of. Synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lighting. What the trade is talking about is counted and plotted. The editor's letter has just started; it will find its rhythm.

For each story: a headline, a short excerpt, one picture and the link out. We never reprint the article, and the picture belongs to the maker or the photographer. A German review appears in German and a Japanese one in Japanese, as the writer published it; the link goes to the original.

Nothing is sold on this site. When a link leads to a shop, it is the maker's shop, not ours.

← XLR MAG Archive

Happy MagScenes

How am I only just hearing about this album of Tom Waits covers?

September 24

Happy Mag https://happymag.tv You’re going to want to sit down for this. The other day, the algorithm was kind enough to share the fact that around 240 million years ago, it rained for...

Read at Happy Mag ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

How am I only just hearing about this album of Tom Waits covers?

More from Happy Mag on XLR MAG

ScenesHayley Williams honours Chad Gilbert’s pop-punk legacy Happy Mag

ScenesJustin Bieber’s impromptu park concert is the sweetest story of the week Happy Mag

ScenesRuby Archer on rage, release and Worship the Flora Happy Mag

Scenesgon pulvo slows down the tracker chaos for mid-tempo magic with ‘opportunity’ Happy Mag

ScenesNew Music Radar: Harriet Bennett, Lifeofkwasi and L!FE Happy Mag

ScenesThis is it – The Strokes return to Australia in 2027 Happy Mag