We are dedicated to celebrating milestones, unearthing lesser-known musical gems, and promoting discussions around albums and new music that might not receive ample attention in mainstream conversations.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Daily |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 1890 | Founded | 4 years ago | Last Issue | 16 hours ago |
| Active | |||||
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shatterthestandards.comLatest Issues
Album Review: xperiment by Ken Carson
Courtesy of Opium/Interscope.
Rage was supposed to be a phase. Five years after Whole Lotta Red, the distorted synths and blown-out 808s have long since taken their bows, and the style has found its new center at Opium, the label where Pla...
Album Review: the garden by sahn
Courtesy of Independent.
Vallejo retains a certain depth, from which Sly Stone used to sing gospel, Mac Dre created a dialect, and H.E.R. performed her name on arena stages. sahn takes a quiet corner of the same city, from which her 2023 d...
Album Review: Live at the Tabernackle Vol. II by Estee Nack & Mike Shabb
Courtesy of #23INCREDIBLEINDUSTRIES.
Lynn, Massachusetts, an archaic shoe-leather city ten miles north of Boston, has been exporting its loudest form of underground rap for a decade. Estee Nack came up there through Tragic Allies and made...
Milestones: Breaking Atoms by Main Source
Courtesy of Wild Pitch Records.
Paul C McKasty was murdered in his Queens Rosedale apartment in July 1989 on the same night that the SP-1200 sampler that he had been working on for the Ultramagnetic MCs’ second album was left resting on hi...
New Music Drops: July 3, 2026
NMD (07.03.26)
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Madonna: Confessions II
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SIENNA SPIRO: Visitor
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Ken Carson: xperiment
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Rylo Rodriguez: SKATE
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Bigg Ro...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Shatter the Standards sparks discussion around albums and new music that mainstream outlets often overlook, elevates the next generation, provides context, and keeps hyperbolic industry chatter out of the room.
Murffey Zavier has been writing about rap as a hobby for his now-defunct blog. He is also an aspiring writer, film composer, and artist. Even more than that, he is a massive fan of jazz, all kinds of R&B, and hip-hop with an experimental bent.
Massive fan of creative nonfiction, essays, and advocacy for the rights of Black women.
I'm a writer at heart, but music is my drug. Closed mouths don't get fed. For MC.
the internet's biggest unknown Dilla fan
THĒO. I’m a Full Sail alumnus, trained writer, vinyl obsessive, and GROAVEN/REI Tastemaker Council/Shatter the Standards’ primary architect.
People read about you and think you're on top of the world, have everything you want, and can have any woman you want when you're not.
Amplify the global Black soundscape—connecting legacy, politics, and future-leaning music culture in one feed.
Celebrate the depths of modern soul—documenting the intimate frequencies of R&B, hip-hop soul, neo-soul, and groove-centered art across the diaspora.
I got plans for you and me \ud83d\udcdd
Soul and funk historian, and one of the anchors for any lineage project.
Am so sensitive!
Cultural critic ✏️
we eating good tonight
essayist / critic-at-large things will be okay in the end.
I’m a tough-love mentor type. Knows archival R&B and label politics but still curious about TikTok sampling culture.
Hammond sessions loading. Former blog writer-turned-columnist focused on singers (at times, rappers), arrangers, and honest stage craft.
Says what he saw, not what the timeline said.
contributing writer for visual culture, cover art history, and salon-level critique
Just thought I'd share it and write it down while keeping my mind off things.
Music and culture reporter connecting local history to new releases.
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