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

Watch Deftones play unreleased ‘Eros’ rarity ‘Melanie’ for first time since 2008 at Dia De Los Deftones: “This song doesn’t exist”

11.09

Deftones broke out unreleased ‘Eros’ rarity ‘Melanie’ for the first time in nearly two decades at this year’s Dia De Los Deftones. Check it out below.

Read at NME ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Watch Deftones play unreleased ‘Eros’ rarity ‘Melanie’ for first time since 2008 at Dia De Los Deftones: “This song doesn’t exist”

More from NME on XLR MAG

Scenes‘Christmas Wrapping’ songwriter praises Olivia Rodrigo’s “homage” festive single and Robbie Williams wades in on comparisons NME

ScenesWatch Geese pay tribute to Television’s Richard Lloyd with cover of ‘Ain’t That Nothin” NME

ScenesSarah Julia enter ‘Witching Season’ with their exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover NME

ScenesMuse to headline London’s BST Hyde Park and Leeds’ Roundhay Festival 2027 NME

ScenesRou Reynolds tells us about Enter Shikari’s hiatus and thoughts on the future: “I was in an extremely bad place” NME

ScenesRosalía celebrates one year of ‘Lux’ with 1,000-song playlist and anniversary box set NME