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

The Line of Best FitScenes

On Desire Path, Absolutely Yours offer consolation via mellifluous dream-pop

October 1

The songs of Desire Path cut through in mostly subtle ways,

Albums

Read at The Line of Best Fit ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

On Desire Path, Absolutely Yours offer consolation via mellifluous dream-pop

More from The Line of Best Fit on XLR MAG

ScenesChristian Forshaw & Grace Davidson strike a near-perfect balance The Line of Best Fit

ScenesHelen's unexpected return is more comforting than essential The Line of Best Fit

ScenesFontaines D.C. release new single, "Tongue" The Line of Best Fit

ScenesTinashe explores her vulnerable side on the sleek, strong Popstar The Line of Best Fit

ScenesDavid Sylvian returns with first new album in seventeen years, The Distance Between the Killer and the Killing The Line of Best Fit

ScenesWishy lose themselves in affectionate jangly rock on Nature’s Pill The Line of Best Fit