About No Ripcord
A little over a quarter of a century ago, I started a music website called No Ripcord.
My name is David Coleman, and at the time I was a seventeen-year-old music obsessive growing up in the musical No Man’s Land of West Cumbria. Did I foresee the demise of print media and lead the charge in pioneering an exciting new brand of music criticism? No. Honestly, no one would enjoy telling that story more than me, but the truth is nowhere near elastic enough to stretch that far.
I idolised the music magazines of the era, especially the British weeklies NME and Melody Maker, and wanted to create my own version. I didn’t even add the caveat of doing it better—a second rate knock-off would have sufficed.
At that point, I was blissfully unaware of Pitchfork, but I had read and admired the Drowned In Sound precursor The Last Resort, so I did at least recognise the medium’s potential. Being a flaky teenager with intermittent exam pressures, I couldn’t commit to any kind of schedule, so the resulting product took the form of an irregular ‘issue’ sent to subscribers by e-mail. A newsletter, basically.
As new contributors came on board, No Ripcord became a team effort, and my humble newsletter gradually morphed into our irregularly updated website, with a heavy focus on verbose album reviews and a penchant for ambitious collaborative lists. I qualified as a doctor, formed a band, got married, had a couple of kids, split up the band—probably for the best—and eventually handed over the reins to Juan Edgardo Rodríguez, whose unrivalled enthusiasm and skilful leadership kept No Ripcord alive for more than a decade.
Along the way we launched three separate podcasts, all with limited success, and even produced a rather niche digital magazine celebrating long-form music writing, which lasted precisely one issue.
It’s been a fascinating journey, but now it’s time for a new chapter.
A few months ago, No Ripcord’s antiquated Drupal website finally gave up the ghost—no pun intended—creating an urgent dilemma: call time on a 26-year-old institution, or dust ourselves down and evolve.
It didn’t take long to settle on evolution.
We believe in honest music criticism. Not gatekeeping, not snobbery, just fair and proportionate opinions. There are some wonderful writers out there covering music, and some superb curators too, but measured critics feel increasingly rare. No Ripcord has always celebrated the best new music through the long-form record review, and Juan and I intend to keep that tradition alive for the readers who value it as much as we do. It may be a niche audience, but we’re happy to write for our fellow music nerds.
And we hope to keep doing so for many years to come.
Everything on the site is currently free to read, with the exception of our monthly supporters’ newsletter, Insider Monthly. If you become a supporter, you'll also be able to comment on articles and join discussions with No Ripcord staff and alumni.
Your support makes No Ripcord possible and allows us to continue producing honest, independent music criticism. Thank you.