Welcome to Sonus
What to expect from your new favorite music site
Welcome to Sonus, your home for music commentary that moves to the beat of its own drum. Our team of amateur musicologists, cultural critics, and local bar-scene rockstars will explore the very best that modern music has to offer, with a trained eye on the past and a sarcastic grin toward the present.
You may be wondering how we arrived at our name. Latin for sound, the word sonus provided the basis for a number of musical English words — whether you listen to a song, study the sonic elements of your favorite album, or even write a sonnet (a very musical form of spoken poetry), you’re unconsciously alluding to sonus.
To us, Sonus is an idea that touches every corner of musical expression, and we’re okay with spreading our net that wide. We understand that our opinions, no matter how informed, are not gospel, and that different tastes can be equally valid — any creative work can inspire a million unique individuals in a million unique ways. This is why we promise that no kind of music or mode of writing is off-limits here: we don’t want to put restrictions on ourselves creatively because we know that music itself is an unrestricted creative enterprise. (Even still, we promise to keep the Beyoncé references to an absolute minimum, because, let’s be honest, the rest of the internet has that covered.)
Right now, we are an intrepid team of four young adult friends who bonded over great music. Titus and Anthony both rocked with the Killers in high school; Kris and Josh shared an affinity for the early ’90s grunge scene. When Kris and Titus started grabbing Taco Bell dinners and arguing about music together, a legendary friend group was born. We’ve spent the last three years sharing our song links, playlists, and mixtapes with each other, and we’ve finally decided to get out of our group chat bubble and into the real world. We don’t know what, if anything, will come of this project, but we’re excited, and we’re ready to make it work.
At our launch, we wanted to introduce you to the kinds of pieces we and our non-editing contributors will be publishing here. Here’s what’s on tap today:
- Titus wrote the first installment in our “Best of 2017” section, called “Songs You Missed in 2017.” This is not your everyday listicle — it’s a big-boy music commentary on deep tracks from Bleachers, Ryan Adams, and some other artists you may not know. Check out his piece, and accompanying Spotify playlist, here.
- Earlier this year, Titus also got some of his more academic work featured on Medium’s Culture page. Titled “The Gospel According to Kendrick,” our first “Music and Culture” piece is an extensive profile of Kendrick Lamar’s Christianity. It’s an ambitious read, and it’s available here.
- Anthony shares the first of our “Sonus Stories,” personal narratives about musical experiences that have affected our lives. He’s talking about his faith, his addiction, his mental health, and his hardcore music. You’ll want to click here and read through that one.
- Josh offers his commentary on Moose Blood, a British emo band with a new album on the way. They’ve had plenty of controversy this year, and Josh considers those off-the-stage issues while responding to their latest single. You can find this piece here, or in the “Reviews” section.
- Kris, our purest music junkie, kicks off his “Let It Spin” column with a look at three bands in different stages of their careers and what they accomplished in 2017. Click here, or navigate yourself to the “What We’re Listening To” section, and give it a read.
So what are you waiting for? Get reading, follow us, even offer some virtual applause if you want. We’re here for you, and we’re thrilled to launch this site. As the immortal Black Eyed Peas once said, let’s get it started.
