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 Texture Songs, Chuck Roth finds whole universes on the fretboard

10.29

The seven tracks that make up Texture Songs are just one guitar and voice; raw takes that capture something incredibly fleeting.

Albums

Read at The Line of Best Fit ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

On Texture Songs, Chuck Roth finds whole universes on the fretboard

More from The Line of Best Fit on XLR MAG

ScenesOn Something Shameful, Sarah Meth addresses the mess of casual relationships The Line of Best Fit

ScenesDIIV release new single "Dare Me" and reveal plans for 2027 world tour The Line of Best Fit

ScenesRobocobra Quartet drop new single, "Nothing" The Line of Best Fit

ScenesFlower Face details new album, Kill the Muse The Line of Best Fit

ScenesShiv and the Carvers are choosing action over perfection The Line of Best Fit

ScenesHow Skerryvore turned a student side hustle into ten albums The Line of Best Fit