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

New Music Radar: Rose Woods, Millie Atlas and Mono Mochi

October 2

Happy Mag https://happymag.tv Fourteen new tracks worth your ear. Fourteen new tracks for your weekend queue, spanning confessional indie-pop and bubblegum rock to hydraulic R&B, dreamy electronics…

Read at Happy Mag ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

New Music Radar: Rose Woods, Millie Atlas and Mono Mochi

More from Happy Mag on XLR MAG

ScenesCarly Rae Jepsen announces 2027 North American tour Happy Mag

ScenesNew Music Radar: Seré, Dreamline and VENUS Happy Mag

ScenesLiving Like Lenny review: Controlled chaos takes flight on ‘Pelican Isle’ Happy Mag

ScenesHow to watch Austin City Limits Festival 2026 from Australia Happy Mag

ScenesConrad ‘Cronos’ Lant, frontman and founding member of Venom, has died aged 63. Happy Mag

ScenesPartisan drops a masterclass in sonic anarchy with ‘Song for Julius Eastman’ Happy Mag