I'm Begging For Some Context
In which I spiral about release calendars, calm myself down by creating a fake app to fix them, and share what I use instead
I have to confess something.
There’s a reason I ask you guys in chat or Discord most Fridays what new music releases you’re most excited about, and it’s not (just) because I’m trying to make conversation. Usually I’m using you to find out what actually came out that week and what’s worth the bother.
Did I start a newsletter and build a 19,000 person reader base just to help myself keep up with new music? Possibly. It’s working, isn’t it?
You know what doesn’t work, though? Release calendars. Not unless your preferred method of music discovery is throwing a dart at a wall.1
I am so wholly out of touch with how sane people keep up with new music that I have no earthly idea what role release calendars play, if they enter the equation at all.
What I do know is that as somebody who has to pay attention to new releases every Friday (semi-)professionally, I find them almost entirely useless. And if I were a casual listener — a civilian, if you will — I would be really fucking annoyed.
This article is secretly telling you about upcoming music releases AND sneaking in new music recs. Hot dang! For more obvious new music recs and monthly roundups, why not subscribe?
My Kingdom for a Genre Tag!
Raise your hand if you’ve actually discovered a new band thanks to a release calendar.2
Release calendars could easily double as new artist discovery tools, but they give us nothing.
Realistically, you’re only scanning them for recognizable names, and you’re only recognizing most of the names if you’re already “in the biz” or otherwise hyper locked in to new music. If only industry insiders recognize most of those names, then what are those calendars but smug gatekeepers? They’re serving half of their potential purpose.
I’ll grudgingly forgive the lack of standardization or completeness — it’s not like there’s a single source that announces to media outlets on January 1st when all of the year’s records will be released. And even if they did, every magazine has a different niche and different audience to cater to.
What I can’t forgive is the almost complete lack of context.
Part of the release calendar’s inherent smugness is the assumption that everyone knows the artists on the list. Not just that, but because there’s rarely a priority signal of any kind, there’s also an assumption that everyone knows which albums are most highly anticipated and why.
I reject that notion outright. My brand of anti-gatekeeping accepts that some people have, in fact, been living under rocks (and like it that way).
“Tracking new release calendars can be a slog and is useful only up to a point. Sure, it’s nice to know what’s coming out soon, but if your biggest issue is that you haven’t heard of most of these artists in the first place, it might be better to wait on the other end of this particular production line, where everything has already been sorted, digested, processed, and tabulated by the Pitchforks and Stereogums of the world to let you know what’s what.” -New Music Discovery 101
Invariably, the music topping all my lists at the end of the year comes from bands that I knew absolutely fuck all about at the beginning of the year. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty plugged in and I’ve likely heard of more obscure, pre-debut, up and coming artists than the average person. A sizable percentage of you are probably reading this newsletter precisely because you rely on me to tell you about those kinds of artists. And I’m still hearing crickets when I read these new release announcements.
Who, then, is the release calendar for? At least as a prognostic tool?
People who don’t actually need to discover any music, that’s who.
The lack of context extends beyond the missing genre labels. It’s helpful to see the occasional notation that an release is actually an EP, and there are a few outlets who will notate live albums and reissues, too. But that’s as far as it goes. How nice would it be to have debuts highlighted? Or a quick “for fans of”?
No Ripcord’s release schedule is the best I’ve encountered, and I’m only partially saying that because I had input into its design. If you read New Bands for Old Heads via e-mail, you’ve already seen it (and potentially use it?) for yourselves. It comes closest to the idealized calendar in my imagination — I may not agree with all of the genre labels, but at least it has them! The flag stickers are also a cute touch, even though they’re mostly just reminding us how anglocentric the average curatorial focus continues to be.
Still, it’s not enough.3
Maybe I’m inventing problems where there aren’t any. Maybe this is a complete non-issue for you. So what if release calendars are inscrutable? That’s what music critics are here for. That’s what curators are here for. That’s what I’m here for! Maybe the whole point of release calendars is to scan for the artists you already know about and move on.
But damn, what a wasted opportunity. There’s a staggering amount of new music being released every day, and I could use all the help I can get filtering the signal from the noise.
Let me show you what I came up with.
The Release Calendar of My Dreams
As long as I’m wishing for a metaphorical pony here, I might as well give you everything I desperately want in one place when I’m scanning for new music every week. This is truly the context motherlode.
My mockup ended up looking like a very Glossier-coded little app. I have no idea what to call it.
Imagine a site filled with cards like this one. Somewhere behind the scenes, you can filter and sort by release date, genre, etc.
The cards are split into two parts. The top has the key album info, while the bottom has extras and clickable links.
Here’s what I envision it will include, roughly in order from most to least likely to appear on current release calendars and/or aggregators:
Artist name
Album name
Release date
Label
Release Type
LP, EP, live album, reissue, single, debut, reunion
Genre
Album art
Country
Links
to Bandcamp, to official sites
App integration
Not just for streaming services, but also for things like email notifications or RSS or Last.fm or whatever else people want to use
Popularity
RIYL Comparisons
“recommended if you like” or “for fans of” is a context goldmine
Sorting/filtering
Not in my little mockup, but presumably somewhere on the full imaginary website, as already mentioned
Connections
e.g. is it a solo project?
Is creating something like this realistic? I guess not, or it would already exist.4 But if I were doing this music thing full time, you’d better believe I’d be giving you at least half of it.5
Do you actually use release calendars? How?
If you could build your own perfectly tailored music discovery tool, what would it look like?
and most importantly…
What are we calling my app/website??
What To Use Instead
Honestly, I’ve practically stopped looking at any calendars in advance. I wait until the day before a release day6 and frantically scan all of these websites. I quiz you guys to see what you’re excited about. I ask the Discord. A few days later, I use my weekly go-to outlets to find out what’s already come out. Preparing proactively hasn’t worked out well historically, especially when you factor in surprise drops.
I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with using release calendars as a catch-up and retroactive discovery tool, but they’re not ideally suited for that purpose, either. While we wait for somebody to capitalize on my rantings, here are a few alternatives I personally use.
MOPS
Mariana Neri built one of my favorite and most visually appealing/intuitive new release trackers. It focuses primarily on indie, alternative, and Brazilian music.
Every Monday, she publishes a collection of last Friday’s releases, featuring:
Album art
Genre descriptors
Streaming links for instant listening
Bandcamp, Wiki, and official website links
Country of origin flags
Save-for-later buttons
You can also find her here on Substack.
NEW MUSIC TRACKER
Mark G’s sparsely-named tracking tool does exactly what it says on the tin.
The site is still under development and will have more features and integrations in the future, but for now, the sorting and filtering features are what make it stand out for me.
Current functionality/features include:
Album art
Popularity ratings
Genre tags
Streaming links for instant listening
Full artist discography
More?
There’s no end to the music catch-up and discovery tools out there. There are almost as many ways to discover new music as there is new music itself.
Obvious picks include AllMusic, Bandcamp, and Rate Your Music.7
There are also the critic aggregators, like Metacritic and AOTY, which I used to use religiously and have now completely given up. If you just want to know which albums the critics are yapping about the most, these are still your best bets.
I trust you’ll also fill me in on your favorites.
Meh, it’s valid.
Be so for real right now.
Sorry, David Coleman — there’s only so much you can do!
…does it exist? Is somebody about to make a fool out of me? PLEASE make a fool out of me!
I wish I were actually unveiling a new website or app instead of just complaining. Maybe somebody with more free time and coding expertise can steal my ideas.
Also called “Thursday”
In January of 2025, I sat down and went through the Wikipedia listing of album release dates for 2025. But, yeah, I basically wrote down bands I already knew. The couple of websites I had bookmarked for new releases were just too much for me to make heads or tails of. I quickly abandoned my idea of spending time listening to new music that way. I mostly listened on recommendations and stuff I liked on my local alternative station.
This year, I have made an actual effort! I start with the no ripcord release calendar because at least it has genre. I am going to say that Spotify has been the biggest source though (may not be a popular one). As I was listening to an enormous amount of stuff in December, I clicked “follow” on every artist I liked. If they had a new album coming out, I clicked “presave.” I’ve also used the no ripcord list to presave albums in Spotify. Every Friday, I also listen to a couple of Spotify playlists highlighting new singles, when I hear stuff I like, I go check to see if there’s a new album coming and presave it.
Every Friday, I go listen to any albums I’ve presaved first, then I go check no ripcord to see if there was anything else that caught my eye (but, yes, with the lack of info, I’m going on genre alone here).
One of the local record stores (it’s actually two stores that are related, most of the time both owners are there) does a segment on the local alternative station on Friday mornings talking about new releases. They only talk about titles they’ve ordered. I know from talking to them that one owner mostly decides what to order by the record label (if there isn’t name recognition). Their list to order from is just titles and record labels. The other owner will go listen to singles and have listening parties with his employees to decide what to order (his store is bigger and he has more ability to take chances on stuff).
Whatever they talk about that sounds good, I add to my list if it isn’t already on it. There’s always a few things that aren’t on other lists.
I also check the Discord to see what other people are talking about.
I have checked the MOPS site a few times, but I mostly do all my listening on Fridays and over the weekend. I need to remember to go there on Mondays! Especially since indie/alternative is my main preferred genre.
I would love to have a release calendar that gives more info! Especially the RIYL piece.
They are absolutely overwhelming, so I release a list of what I liked from the last week every Thursday, but that is essentially too late because everyone is looking forward to Friday already.
I do use release calendars though, and like you wish there were some quick descriptors. MOPS is great, and I’m glad they’re back from the short hiatus. Shatter the standard is completely overwhelming, but does use genre descriptors so it’s a little easier to visually filter out what you might be looking for. On X there are a few guys I follow that seem to have pre-filtered their drop list every Friday, Ruben//Check the Rhyme, and Jah Talks Music are my go to hip hop guys. Brad Luttrell, and Modern Country Music That Doesn’t Suck, are my Americana/Country guys. AlbumsColector on insta is my metal plug, and YOU are my indie/post-punk guru!