About
Hi, hello, and welcome to Ghost Tropic, an independent music newsletter run by me, Natalie Marlin.
I've been a freelance music journalist for sites like Stereogum, FLOOD Magazine, Paste Magazine, The Quietus, Bandcamp Daily, and Pitchfork since 2022, and before that, used to be a staff writer for the Boston-based blog Allston Pudding. I'm also the author of the upcoming book Noise Music with 33 1/3's Genre series.
Ghost Tropic is going to be a mix of everything I love doing in music writing: interviews and profiles of big players and some of the coolest bubbling-under acts around, essays and reflections on current trends or albums that leave an indelible mark, and maybe even the assorted rapid-fire blurb recap of what I've been listening to lately. Along the way, I might even post some book news and annotated playlists of the artists I'll be writing about there. Who knows, not even I know. Anything's possible here, it's the Wild West, baby.
What makes this newsletter different from your other music writing?
Well, plainly put, this newsletter is the easiest direct-to-reader platform possible. The interviews I do here will mainly be with those who might not get much spotlight in traditional music outlets, or who work in niche DIY spheres, but are just as worth the attention and discussion as anyone you'd read in a rising profile elsewhere. But I'm also planning on doing some more fun, outside-the-box interviews with bigger acts too—the kind of interview formats or questions that don't often get much room amid typical press cycle features. Doing a bit of work outside the freelance model is a way to get to write my dream pieces that might otherwise not find a home or get written about at all.
Also the blog-ish aspect of it means you get the more ~ diaristic music thoughts ~ that just fully wouldn't work anywhere else.
Where did the newsletter name come from?
Excellent, excellent Bas Devos movie about the quiet connections and subtle hostilities of post-industrial life for the working class. At first, I thought maybe I chose that just because I liked the name, but wow, writing that out, maybe that's just apt for the state of the freelance music writing economy right now lol.
Wait, who are you?
This is me.
