Welcome to Front, a Dutch online magazine publishing stories about music. This month, we celebrate our third birthday. We look back fondly on the beautiful stories and sessions we have made in those years. We are, however, happy that something has changed: as of today, all new pieces and the 120 pieces we have already written are also available in English.
Front’s focus lies with longform articles about music we think more people should listen to, with a story we think more people should hear. We don’t try to keep up with the fast pace of the industry, so you will find no breaking news at Front, nor any premieres or song reviews. We cover artists from different genres and parts of the world, from Russian ambient to Angolan house and from American indie to Pakistani classical.
We may write about established artists from time to time, but prioritize stories from musicians who we feel are underrepresented in music media. Being based in the Netherlands, we also strive to highlight what Dutch artists have to offer.
Today three brand new articles can be found on the site. Ruben van Dijk spoke to Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek about new record Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You and wrote about Fuubutsushi, a joint project of four musicians who made beautiful records through a digital connection during the pandemic. Loulou Kuster spoke with Mary Lattimore about how she collects memories in her music.
Furthermore, we would like to encourage you to take another dive into our rich archive. Take a look, for instance, at our live sessions , or read pieces on learning to love the uneventful through ambient music, Dutch indie label Subroutine Records , the lessons Cassandra Jenkins learned from David Berman’s untimely passing, dj Jasmín ’s search for dialogue and diversity, and the forgotten 80s new wave band Nasmak. In December 2020, we published Rotterdam Goddamn: an outsider’s testimony , a book about the vivacious Rotterdam scene by journalist and regular Front contributor Jasper Willems.
We are looking forward to a year full of great albums, interesting interviews, and hopefully lots of impressive concerts and festivals.
Regards, the editors of Front,
Jasper Boogaard
Jente Lammerts
Ruben van Dijk
Dirk Baart