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

NMEScenes

Morrissey ranks his solo albums and singles

October 16

Morrissey has shared his own personal ranking of his solo albums and singles, which includes the song he released with Green Day ’s Billie Joe Armstrong , and the currently unreleased album ‘Bonfire…

Read at NME ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Morrissey ranks his solo albums and singles

More from NME on XLR MAG

ScenesPoppy launches her own ‘Fortnite’ musical mini-game NME

ScenesJosh Brolin is making a documentary about his teenage punk band Cito Vice Squad NME

ScenesOlivia Rodrigo teams up with Chappell Roan for ‘Expectations Remix’ – and David Byrne and Dan Nigro for video NME

ScenesRoger Waters hits back at “complete prick” James Hetfield after Metallica frontman’s statement on music and politics NME

ScenesBrandon Flowers imagines “what would New Order sound like if they were Johnny Cash” at spellbinding Royal Albert Hall gig NME

ScenesNeil Young: “‘Digger’ is the best film I have ever seen” NME