2018 for me included both becoming the indie rock music director at WKNC and starting an internship here at Merge, thus beginning my transition to a professional Cool ManTM. Most days I still have trouble believing that I actually have been given these amazing opportunities, and overall this has been a super lucky year for me.  There are too many radical things to list here, so I’ll just give a highlight reel

  • Seeing Mothers, Lala Lala, Snail Mail, Alex G, Shame, Ian Sweet, Thundercat, Hatchie, Kim Gordon and Parquet Courts perform live

  • Interviewing Jerry Paper and Spud Cannon

  • Paying real-life money to go see Anthony Fantano on his speaking tour

  • Getting trapped in a blizzard and not dying

  • Hosting a weekly vaporwave show on WKNC

  • Buying a cool sweate

Best Non-Merge Albums 2018:

  • Perfect Shapes- Madeline Kenney

  • Year of the Snitch- Death Grips (sorry everybody)

  • Render Another Ugly Method- Mothers

  • In Heaven, All My Jokes Will Kill- FUTO

  • Veteran- JPEGMAFIA

  • whinnies- Green Aisles (local emo badboys)

  • LivingSucks- BONES

  • Save in the Hands of Love- Yves Tumor

  • Clean- Soccer Mommy

  • Like a Baby- Jerry Paper