Melvin Gibbs
melvingibbs.bsky.social
Melvin Gibbs
@melvingibbs.bsky.social
Human/Creator/Composer/Musician/Writer
Next Up:
music: Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 - out now! on Hausu Mountain
Electrical Field Of Love - Feb '26 on Pi Recordings
writing: How Black Music Took Over The World - Apr 14 '26 on Basic Books
Pinned
check out the visualizer for
"Gullah Jack Style"
the latest single from my album
Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2
dropping on October 14th
on Hausu Mountain Records
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSFC...
Gullah Jack Style [Visualizer]
YouTube video by Melvin Gibbs
www.youtube.com
O’ trying to think of music I would absolutely not listen to - got it -
AI schlager music
To be clear, I was referring to the Scott Joplin 8 bit video game music. I think I’m an open-minded guy, but I don’t get why people would find that pleasurable.
December 10, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Exactly
For real
"That was great!": cool
"That was awful!": cool
"It's ok": damn we fucked up
December 9, 2025 at 11:55 PM
I always tell people
I hope you enjoy my music
but if you don’t enjoy it
I hope you hate it vehemently
I gotta be real: I could never imagine listening to this for pleasure.
December 9, 2025 at 11:42 PM
I’ve been thinking a lot about turn of the 20th century Black music a lot lately cause I dug into it while writing my book. Jason Moran’s James Reese Europe project is one template for engaging with it today. This is another.

ragger.bandcamp.com/album/euphon...
Euphonic Sounds, by Ragger
8 track album
ragger.bandcamp.com
December 9, 2025 at 10:27 PM
someone need to explain
The Statue of Liberty
to this guy
Stephen Miller: "If Somalia keeps failing, if these societies all over the world continue to fail, you have to ask yourself if you bring those societies into our country & then give them unlimited free welfare, what do we think is going to happen? You're going to replicate the conditions they left"
December 9, 2025 at 9:21 PM
good to see HxH on this list
daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025...
The Best Electronic Music of 2025
Our guide to the year’s crucial electronic LPs.
daily.bandcamp.com
December 9, 2025 at 5:20 PM
they gave Orange Julius a participation trophy
Remember the character Diabate from last night's Pluribus? And how he delighted in having all these people treat him like a God? Even though it was obvious to everyone, including him, it was all bullshit?
this shit is just beyond parody, man
December 5, 2025 at 7:09 PM
speaking of End Of Year love -
as a long-time fan (& subscriber) of
The Wire Magazine
this one touches me
🎵 @melvingibbs.bsky.social - Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 - featured in @thewiremagazine.bsky.social's "Releases of the Year"

❤️‍🔥 Huge thanks to Phil Freeman for the wonderful review, and to The Wire for the many years of support!

The 2025 Rewind is available at your local record shoppe & digitally.
December 5, 2025 at 5:32 PM
last night I was thinking that "Halo On The Inside" by Circuit Des Yeux (which I played on btw) wasn't getting enough End Of Year love
so it was good to see this list:
daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2025...
The Best Albums of 2025: Essential Releases
The 12 key albums of 2025.
daily.bandcamp.com
December 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I'm not saying that I want to see businesses do everything Simon suggests in his book. I AM saying that from a practical standpoint -- for Artists 50K on less streams is better than 30K on more --- of course from the standpoint of Spotify & the majors the opposite math applies
This is a crazy back and forth between a Spotify exec & an artist whose music is up on the platform.

We're able to pay more b/c we pay less 👎

In "Confessions of the Pricing Man: How Price Effects Everything", pricing consultant Hermann Simon explains why that thinking is flawed
congrats on all the streams, and i really appreciate the transparency!

i get why "per stream rate" feels intuitive — but the lower "per stream rate" on spotify is actually part of the reason why we're able to pay out more than other services (more than 50% of total royalties in your case).
December 4, 2025 at 4:34 PM
This is a crazy back and forth between a Spotify exec & an artist whose music is up on the platform.

We're able to pay more b/c we pay less 👎

In "Confessions of the Pricing Man: How Price Effects Everything", pricing consultant Hermann Simon explains why that thinking is flawed
congrats on all the streams, and i really appreciate the transparency!

i get why "per stream rate" feels intuitive — but the lower "per stream rate" on spotify is actually part of the reason why we're able to pay out more than other services (more than 50% of total royalties in your case).
December 4, 2025 at 4:26 PM
It's funny how irrelevant Spotify is to what I do. The biggest record that I have a direct business interest in (Rollins Band - Weight) isn't even on there. And if you judged by our impact there, the scene I'm a part of now doesn't exist.
For me these days it's useful as a thermometer-nothing more
December 4, 2025 at 3:50 PM
there are many great things on here
but
my favorite is
#82
Thanks for the great reception to our AOTY Chart - have you found any new favourites?

buff.ly/HP76GUt
December 3, 2025 at 6:31 PM
I put my writer's hat back on in this issue -
I talked to Makaya McCraven
then wrote an extended piece about his career & process
go buy it!

thank you to Makaya, @saving-throw.bsky.social & @jjstannard.bsky.social
The Wire 503-4 is out now!

Featuring the Top 50 new and archive releases, critical analysis and reflections, plus Hilary Woods, Makaya McCraven, Anna Högberg, Tristan Perich, Derek Bailey’s Company, Ikonika’s Jukebox, and much more.

Pick up your copy here: thewire.co.uk/shop/
December 2, 2025 at 4:00 PM
tbh I assumed that
I'm riffing on the "AI makes everyone an artist"
to point out that we're not hearing about anyone using AI to make everyone financially secure
back the day
I used to the say
the people telling you
"information wants to be free"
aren't going to give you their bank info
They definitely already have. I first heard of machine learning when I was working at a hedge fund in the 90's.
November 26, 2025 at 10:42 PM
that's the point
by definition all finance info is digitized
so why isn't their someone out there building a product that can make anybody a millionaire
the same way people are making AI products that claim to make anyone a filmmaker, writer or musician?
It's the financial people who can and should be most easily replaced
November 26, 2025 at 10:30 PM
I keep wondering
why nobody’s created
an AI product
that plays the stock market
the way that Suno plays music
November 26, 2025 at 8:42 PM
5 stars for this one
There is no pain
You are receding
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
November 23, 2025 at 3:29 AM
“Gibbs and co. find plenty of undiscovered areas to explore”
btw - I didn’t know Tumblr was still a thing…
November 19, 2025 at 4:19 PM
does this count as
Christian persecution
or nah?
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays
The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.
thisweekinworcester.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:36 AM
I post on social media b/c a lot of what I do is public knowledge in any case - I have people close to me who’ve NEVER done so & quite a few friends who are “quiet quitters”
In today’s episode of
“I have no Black friends”
(& apparently no queer ones either)
we have an ironic explainer of how many people I know navigate American life (iow for many people the US has functionally been a fascist country for generations)
My mistake has been trying to explain what "fascism" is to people who don't care what it is.

So I'm going to try something else. Let's do this as a practical thought exercise.

If America *were* fascist *today* - what would you have to do differently in your daily life? /1
November 16, 2025 at 7:27 PM
In today’s episode of
“I have no Black friends”
(& apparently no queer ones either)
we have an ironic explainer of how many people I know navigate American life (iow for many people the US has functionally been a fascist country for generations)
My mistake has been trying to explain what "fascism" is to people who don't care what it is.

So I'm going to try something else. Let's do this as a practical thought exercise.

If America *were* fascist *today* - what would you have to do differently in your daily life? /1
November 16, 2025 at 7:22 PM
one of the basic rules of late 70s/early 80s jazz
is
every Moers Music record
is worth owning
November 12, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Dems once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
November 10, 2025 at 2:59 AM
people aren’t talking enough
about the fact that
every judge who’s ruled against
military deployments & LEO in US cities
says that the government is lying to us
November 8, 2025 at 4:33 PM