Kaiya Gordon

Author

AF 2018 IN REVIEWThe Year in Soundtracks

In California’s Bay Area, where I grew up, a single adult movie ticket costs $13.25. In Columbus Ohio, where I currently live, a single adult movie ticket (with my student discount) costs $3. On Tuesdays, popcorn is free. The independent theater I frequent is walking distance from my house. So,...

Kaiya Gordon

PLAYING COLUMBUSdidi Grows into Their Second Album

Out of the 90 minutes I spend talking with didi, 30 are consumed by parking troubles. Circling foggy blocks in the Richmond District ahead of the group’s San Francisco show, guitarist/vocalist Meg Zakany tries fitting their tour van into one tiny spot after another, only to eventually find that the...

Kaiya Gordon

32901743_1770431396313421_5553877220398727168_n

PLAYING COLUMBUSGalen Tipton Sparkles on First LP Nightbath

As the dusk of May began to fall on Ohio, I discovered fireflies. The first time I saw them, flickering across my cobbled neighborhood street, my overjoyed reaction made my roommate laugh: pointing and squealing like a kid, I couldn’t get over the shock of them, the way that they zipped through the...

Kaiya Gordon

PLAYING COLUMBUSRevisiting Queer Kevin's "If I Had Known"

This is how I wrote this review: I listened to If I Had Known for an entire day, ears devouring my headphones as I walked from my office, to get food, to my home, and again as I rode the bus downtown, where I was set to be a Legal Observer at a political action, and again on the bus home, after I...

Kaiya Gordon

PLAYING COLUMBUSFlyover Fest 2018

All photos by Kaiya Gordon Over the past eight and a half months I've spent living in and writing about Columbus, I've been introduced to so many crevices of the city's arts and music scene, each one as remarkable and needed as the last. Columbus houses long-term open mic nights, hip-hop...

Kaiya Gordon

PREMIEREBeatrice Deer “Takugiursugit”

I’m listening to the song with awful earbuds, in my office, where the air conditioning never stops buzzing, but the opening notes reverberate, thickly,...

Kaiya Gordon

PLAYING COLUMBUSGrrrls Rock Columbus to Host Halloween in April

com Retrograde’s over, we’ve moved into Taurus season, and the snow has finally disappeared for good. It’s almost summertime, which means three things: cut-offs, camp, and second Halloween. If you’ve never celebrated second Halloween, you’ve been missing a solid...

Kaiya Gordon

18222621_2017875071575564_5291433483980149078_n

PLAYING COLUMBUSThe Sidekicks Tease New LP With "Twin's Twist"

Weeks ago, I teared up while hearing Columbus poet Hanif Abdurraqib read an essay about a Columbus pop-punk band. That band was not The Sidekicks, but as I listen to The Sidekicks' latest single, “Twin’s Twist,” I can't help but recall the essay. I am stirred, settled memories of trauma, pain, joy,...

Kaiya Gordon

PLAYING COLUMBUSStems Fearlessly Fuse Prog and Hip-Hop on Debut

In the past year, the group – which members describe as “prog-hop” – has released an EP, two singles, and an album; they’ve been featured by Columbus’ Mouth Mag and The Dispatch; and on...

Kaiya Gordon

PLAYING COLUMBUSThree Ohio Acts That Slayed SXSW

Remember Sports photo by Jess Flynn While Columbus geared up for yet another snowstorm last week, Austin was getting ready for South by Southwest (SXSW), a yearly conference and festival highlighting music, film, and art. SXSW is notorious for its sprawl – the festival spills over the city limits...

Kaiya Gordon

PLAYING COLUMBUSHiss Mag Preps Long-Awaited Second Issue

Cover art by Nicole Dadonna One year ago, editor and photographer Heather Taylor conceived of Hiss Mag, a quarterly "femme run publication covering contemporary art, music, and culture." Its first issue, "Juicy," which included 39 artists working in multiple mediums, was featured by the Wexner Art...

Kaiya Gordon

PLAYING COLUMBUSField Sleeper on His New LP, Musical Efficiency, and Collaboration

“This is a weird time,” Alex Paquet tells me as we sit down over coffee to talk about his musical project, Field Sleeper. “I’m not usually this bright of a person. There was a very long time – a good year and a half – where I was ultra-sensorially attentive and very, very calm. And it’s still all...

Kaiya Gordon