Erin MacLeod

Wanna be a critic? Only $5 a month! Music criticism is dead. Long live music criticism

I wrote about Pitchfork and criticism.

Monday Rethink: What happened to the high school dance? Why fewer teens are swaying to slow songs in gymnasiums

Me thinking about the decline of the high school dance:

How Alysa Liu reminds me why I skate Are you going to the Olympics? Can you do a triple axel?

Alysa Liu made me write about my experience with figure skating as a teen and now as an adult. touchofallright.substack.com/p/how-alysa-...

I just watched “Wuthering Heights” and I am disappointed at how unsexy the whole thing was. I was promised bridles plural and all I got was bridle singular.

Confabulation and The Volume Know | Erin MacLeod YouTube video by Confabulation : Stories, true as we can tell them

Want to watch me tell a story about Leonard Cohen, Montreal and belonging? youtu.be/DdHIWMh0lpc?si

Thank you for sharing!!!

The cover of Cambridge University Press's The World of Leonard Cohen edited by David R. Shumway features a young Cohen in a black turtleneck writing with a ballpoint pen in a small notebook in his lap.

Hey beautiful losers, this week the books series has ed David Shumway @nearleft.bsky.social talking new collection THE WORLD OF LEONARD COHEN w/ contribs @touchofallright.bsky.social, @eweisbard.bsky.social & Sarah Hill. Wed 5:30 pm ET, achieve satori here: iaspm-us.wildapricot.org/Popular-Musi...

Having a decades-old Wolf Parade song gain new found fame in 2026 due to a Canadian gay hockey romance show makes me feel like anything can happen. Thank you.

I spent an afternoon talking about Leonard Cohen with lovely people in Toronto. I hope this portends that there is indeed a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in. At this moment, I hope and pray this continues to be the case.

Jays, Jays and more Jays.

Best of 2025? It was some of the worst of times, but there were some good and important things.

Here's my review of 2025 - I would love to talk to folks about it. open.substack.com/pub/touchofa...

Someone on threads just said that Quebecois French is not French. It is not going well and I am here for it.

The Canadian music that defined 2025 YouTube video by Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud

I went on CBC's Commotion to talk about the best Canadian music of 2025...the picks were pretty darned good! youtu.be/LC9vboR39Ys?...

Thank you for sharing this! This article is perhaps one of my favourites that I have ever written.

Osheaga really is an all-ages music festival - THE MIDST A 49-year-old music writer attends the all-ages music festival with her teenage niece.

My favourite music moment this past year was going to Osheaga with my niece. Read about it here: the-midst.com/osheaga-revi...

This was really good! Thank you!

Thank you for this important pull quote!!

I totally agree.

Thank you for pulling out that quotation!

I agree with you…and I started a substack this past year. I guess I saw it as a way to have a blog in 2025. I would like to have a space where I can write and interact with people…a sandbox of sorts.

I spoke to some smart people and wrote about something I care deeply about…

Erin Explains: Why She Can’t Visualize Anything YouTube video by Erin Explains Stuff

Have you heard of #aphantasia? I have it - I try to explain it to my friend, who is hyperphantasic... www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdPt...

Yes, it's another person talking about Taylor Swift But also Madonna and Shania Twain

Yes, it's me, I'm part of the problem, it's me. Yet another person talking about Taylor Swift - but also Madonna and Shania Twain. open.substack.com/pub/touchofa...

I feel like Taylor Swift's attack on CharliXCX is the least brat song in existence. Maybe the least brat anything.

Please do subscribe - promise I won't spam you!

Was it better in the 1990s? Thinking about nostalgia (and soft launching "Erin Explains")

Was it better in the 1990s? substack.com/home/post/p-...

Hi!!!!! I hope you are doing well. I am railing away against ridiculousness over here!

Erin Explains: School Supplies and Teacher Tok YouTube video by Not Another Gen X Guy

Me talking about how TeacherTok is not helping anyone. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N52...

What about "weefee"

Is it just me or did Chappell Roan do a Kate Bush song last summer ("Good Luck Babe") and a Cocteau Twins song this summer ("Subway")?