[Logo courtesy of Hearing Things]

By Grace Koennecke, Managing Editor

Former Pitchfork writers Andy Crush, Ryan Dombal, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Dylan Green, Jill Mapes and five former staffers recently started a new “worker-owned and culture platform,” titled Hearing Things. The new digital magazine comes after mass layoffs and restructuring at Condé Nast, the owner company of Pitchfork earlier this year.

According to the website’s mission statement, Hearing Things “was created to be a ‘bulwark against bullsh*t’ and gives its contributors ‘the freedom and expertise to delve into the art we love (and absolutely do not love!) in a way that furthers the conversation instead of just regurgitating it.”

Read more: Roger Taylor hints at new Queen music 

In an interview with The A.V. Club, Dombal said the website will also feature album and song reviews, as well as investigative reporting and “second day pieces” instead of a traditional news section. Readers will also be exposed to more live event reviews.

The founders want to build a community with Hearing Things through early subscription perks such as commenting, virtual listening parties and in-person events in New York with artists and music writers.

“[It] seems like a kind of a quaint idea, but I feel like that intentionality is really missing for music,” Dombal said. “And we want to bring that back, and meet like-minded people at the same time.” 

Looking ahead, the founders of Hearing Things want to publish digital cover stories and potentially create printed versions of their work. For now, they’re focused on “trying to build up this audience of like minded folks that… see us as people and not necessarily just like this institution from on high. We’ll be doing the writing on the site, but we also wanna be approachable, and have people feel like they can get to know us, get to know our tastes and our style also.”

Hearing Things can be found here.