Her blog is a good add for your rss reader too:
Books, short stories, music, and a sometimes broken website. Based in Toronto. Web: https://www.turnandwork.com Newsletter: https://www.turnandwork.com/follow/#newsletter IG: https://www.instagram.com/turnandwork
626 followers 2,076 following 1,328 posts
view profile on Bluesky
Her blog is a good add for your rss reader too:
I heard about this book in the most 2025 way possible. I read the author's blog post about quitting social media because it was exhausting to promote her book that way, which was linked to on social media. Does that sentence even make sense? Anyway, it's a good book and you should read it.
In A Body Made of Glass, Caroline Crampton writes a fascinating cultural history of hypochondria, blending her own experiences with wide-ranging references from Ancient Egypt to South Park. More here:
Lots more at the link. What are you listening to?
England's LEMONSUCKR with irresistible, edgy dance-rock:
Toronto's Tijuana Taxi with some heavy, groovy, shoegazey psychedelia:
Some highlights (they're all highlights): Experimental, sample-based music from Brandon Juhans from North Carolina:
The Monday Music Post, featuring artists you should hear who have just landed on my radar. Here's what I have for you today: JOURNEYGLO, Spawner, broken glass kid, Brandon Juhans, Josie, Tijuana Taxi, The If So's, and LEMONSUCKR Check it out here:
Or just listen to Night Hawk. This record has been on repeat since it came out a couple weeks ago:
All those juicy links are paywall free in the newsletter that comes out Fridays. Get on the list:
Welcome Distractions for a holiday Monday. Links to great stuff: - One album wonders - The Eat Pray Love lady's disastrous new memoir - A bunch of Ted Chiang short stories that you can read for free - ...and rich people behaving like idiots. That and a recap of last week. Check it out:
Here’s the song, it’s an all-timer:
I included Wheat Kings in my Personal Anthology: open.substack.com/pub/apersona...
Adult content label? Wtf Bluesky?
This is a good read. I hated the Tragically Hip as a kid because all the cool kids were obsessed (or maybe I viewed myself as too cool). But I came around. The band was incredible, and this gets into why:
Chaos, or as young me assumed, cha - os
Gordon Lish just showed up so I’m still a ways from that I think. Still one of the best biographies I’ve ever read so far.
So far this book is incredibly good and full of rich detail and (oddly) suspense, but it isn’t making me like Carver very much
I agree with this. I loved a lot about that book but the author was so complicit and just keeps saying ‘I needed the health insurance!’ Took away so much of her credibility
Apple Music and Spotify What are you listening to this weekend?
Dayfiction, from Richmond VA:
moodlighting, a duo from LA and Denver
Can't miss singles from: England's Debdepan
The Setlist on August 29: A fresh batch of independent, under-the-radar music. Apple Music and Spotify.
Here's a demo from yesterday that's more raw and rock-ish, you really should listen to the record.
The band's name and music is inspired by the art of Edward Hopper, but I kept thinking of Raymond Carver's short stories when I was reading the lyrics.
Night Hawk’s Before We Begin is a collection of folkish indie rock stories about moments of transition. It's gorgeous, enthralling and essential.
this one's my favourite though:
Just blistering stuff:
The first album from @ganserband.bsky.social in five years, Animal Hospital is urgent, jagged post-punk for anxious times. It’s irresistible, immediate, and essential. More here:
Lots more at the link. What are you listening to today?
Eternal Requiem, punk rock from Toronto:
Stathi ft. Conor Oberst, indie-folk from Omaha:
Some highlights (they're all highlights): Maneater, indie pop from Vancouver:
The Monday Music Post features artists you should hear who have just landed on my radar. Here's what's on today: Maneater, Stathi, Eternal Requiem, Blue Ringed Baby & Kami, Rachel Reale, Jnatra & Taciturnity, and People Pleasers. Check it out here:
Watched Relay today, with Riz Ahmed. It was terrific for 75%, then fell apart. The ending is so bad that it ruined the whole thing. Such a bummer. It was so clever and so fun and the ending was sooooo bad.
CORRECTION, Bella Gibb's piece is nonfiction! It's been fixed on the page itself.
Thank you for the correction! I've made the change. Apologoies for the error.
Got a story to share? Here's how:
(2/2) ...and fiction from: Lena Kinder @happilylenaaa.bsky.social in @flashfrog.bsky.social Kay Nguyen in @fracturedlit.bsky.social Bella Gibb and Zoe Ballering in @cincinnatireview.bsky.social David O’Dwyer in TSS Publishing #indieauthors #shortstories
The Shortlist for Aug 22, 2025: Short shortlist this week due to 'life gets in the way' reasons. Featuring nonfiction from: Carole Hinojosa in @literaryhub.bsky.social (...cont'd) #cnf #nonfiction
Apple Music and Spotify What are you listening to this weekend?
Work Wife (Brooklyn)
Days on Parade (Toronto)
With three can't miss singles from blog faves: The Boojums (Nova Scotia)
The Setlist on Aug 22: A fresh batch of independent, under-the-radar music. Apple Music and Spotify.
If this doesn't connect with you, you might not be human:
Winter’s new album, Adult Romantix, is nostalgic, sunny, and lo-fi, filled with fuzzy guitars and melodies. It’s Winter’s best release yet. More here:
Two Can Play That Game, a story of mine about a man on the hunt, was published a week ago on @turnandwork.com. It's the only story I've ever written that grew out of the opening line. Does Cathal get his comeuppance? Check it out and see. www.turnandwork.com/guest-post/t...
The kind *of* album ugh
Here’s what I wrote about it earlier this year:
Just got this in the mail from @iheartnoise.bsky.social it’s the kind album that’s made for physical formats. So glad to have it.
I compare the band to No Use for a Name in the piece, tell me this doesn't sound like a Tony Sly song:
Air Drawn Dagger's debut album A Guide for Apparitions is an emo punk record filled with weird mythical imagery and incredible hooks. And just wait till you see the videos. Check it out:
Gaëlle Bélem’s beautiful, dreamlike The Rarest Fruit tells the mesmerizing story of Edmond Albius, a young slave who revolutionized the vanilla industry. It’s also a jarring historical record of exploitation. More here:
The Pilgrimage was banned in 1960s Ireland for its depiction of promiscuity, homosexuality and skewering of the church. That makes for a compelling case to read it, even if the book is pretty tame by modern standards. More here:
Here's the first track:
On her new EP A CORPSE IS TALKING, Dublin’s Cruel Sister presents a dark exploration of trauma and rage. It’s the soundtrack to a grisly nightmare. It's also fantastic. More here: www.turnandwork.com/music/cruel-...
The Möbius Book is an unforgettable memoir and a fascinating work of fiction tied up together. It’s weird, captivating and pretty much demands multiple readings. Dig in with me:
here's the new song, it's weird, and I can't get enough of it:
Keep a Secret, the debut LP from Toronto's Bebe and Oona, is confident, hooky power pop. Their new single “Green” suggests the best is yet to come. It took me a while to come around on this record, but I'm fully sold. More here:
BUT big things planned for the fall, so get on the welcome d's list now: www.turnandwork.com/newsletter/
It's the dog days of summer, so the links are a little light, but this week's Welcome Distractions has links to: > the 25 best British books of the century (plus OPINIONS) > The Quebec language police doing silly things > an ode to a Freak Palace That and a ton more:
Check 'em all out here:
And the debut from No Peeling, which is goofy punk perfection:
full catholic @fullcatholic.bsky.social is from Minnesota, and "All New Drugs" a great single with a compelling and literary backstory.
Some highlights (they're all highlights): Funeral Lakes @funerallakes.bsky.social from Kingston, Ontario:
The Monday Music Post, featuring artists you should hear who have just landed on my radar. Here's what's on tap today: Hot Wife full catholic @fullcatholic.bsky.social Emma Tea No Peeling The Fool's Agenda Funeral Lakes @funerallakes.bsky.social PTRNS Check it out here:
Got a story to share? Here's how: www.turnandwork.com/submission-g...
(3/3) Aaron Gwyn @americangwyn.bsky.social in @electricliterature.com Mallory Smart @mallorysmart.bsky.social in @vol1brooklyn.bsky.social Bright Aboagye in @xraylitmag.bsky.social Sophie Isham in @yourimpossiblevoice.com and Lauren Kardos @lkardos.bsky.social in Milk Candy Review The links:
(2/3) Fiction from: Jen Conley @jenconley45.bsky.social in @reckonreview.bsky.social J.D. Strunk in @fictivedream.bsky.social Anna Koltes in @defenestrationmag.bsky.social AND @xraylitmag.bsky.social Don Rath in @publishedbyjake.bsky.social Sam Brown in @unchartedmag.bsky.social
The Shortlist for August 15: Just a crazy amount of great reading this week. New fiction on Turn & Work from Margaret Cahill @margaretcahillbsky.bsky.social Plus Nonfiction from Barlow Adams @barlowadams.bsky.social and Amanda Ashworth in @reckonreview.bsky.social (...1/3)
Apple Music and Spotify. What are you listening to this weekend?
Rosewater Park from Toronto. Low key alt-pop, no record out yet.
Hornet from NYC - first new music in a year, and it's great:
Here's a taste: People Mover from Australia. Debut record next month.
The Setlist on August 15: A fresh batch of independent, under-the-radar music. Apple Music and Spotify.
Edited by Kim Gordon and Sinéad Gleeson, and packed with essays by some of my favorite writers. This Woman’s Work is an outstanding collection of essays by women about music. More here:
here's the first track, it's a barnburner:
Brooklyn’s QWAM sheds their indie-inflected pop-punk for a heavier, more visceral sound on their new record girls aren’t afraid of blood, and the result is raw and compelling.
So proud to feature this one. Cahill gets inside the head of *that guy* so well.
NEW SHORT STORY "Cathal Shanahan is good at sipping whiskey and feigning emotional vulnerability with women. It works almost every time." Read "Two Can Play That Game" by Margaret Cahill @margaretcahillbsky.bsky.social .
I read a lot of record reviews, and it's gross to see how many well-known outlets are putting out pieces clearly partly (or maybe mostly written) by AI. Not gonna name names, but as always: if you can't be bothered to write it, why should anyone bother to read it?
Sinéad O'Connor's memoir Rememberings is a raw, funny, and relatable book that goes far deeper than the headlines. It's essential reading from a complicated and courageous artist.
Here's their latest single but the whole catalog is killer.
Over-the-top, provocative London band Industry Standard makes wild, theatrical punk rock with a razor-sharp wit. Essential listening.
I heard there was a secret 'b' Hidden inside a 'blueberry' But you don't really care for GPT do ya It goes like this: a 'b' at first, and fourth and sixth, Whoops, minor error; purported fix, My AI reinventing "blubeberry" Blubeberry 🎶 blubellberry Blurblery
Here's the first track. It's only 17 minutes long, you should listen to the whole thing.
Bliss Foxx’s debut album, Eat Sleep Freak, is a 20-minute shot of adrenaline inspired by best of the Riot Grrrl playbook. It's one of the best punk records I've heard this year.
I loved the chapters about the music that I know about, but the chapters about music I don't like were even better.
Saleh isn't just a great historian, he's a really engaging writer: "...we never quite outgrow the sense that there is something profoundly good about the music we like, something profoundly bad about the music we don’t, and something profoundly wrong with everyone who doesn’t agree."
In Major Labels, Kelefa Sanneh delivers a monumental history of popular music. The book dissects how genre has changed and evolved over time, and makes a case for enjoying music on its own merits. Essential reading.
(To be clear, the newsletter was half-assed, not the road trip. The road trip was whole-assed and awesome. Vive la Montréal or whatever)
and if you like, like it, get it in your, like, inbox on fridays: www.turnandwork.com/newsletter/
Welcome Distractions, half-assed roadtrip edition. Links for: > The most savage book review I've read in a long time > The weirdest lyrics in a hit song > the increasing ugliness of substack Plus music reviews, books and a ton more.
More at the link. What are you listening to?
Space Gravy - the name alone is an all-timer, the song is great too:
The Young Liars, from Jakarta. They've been quiet for a long time, but this comeback is really something:
A taster: Outer Shapes, from Brooklyn. Not a new band but new to me: