Insider Monthly #2
In this month’s Insider Monthly, we discuss Deerhunter, Tim Buckley, Smog, and The Twilight Sad—while revealing our highlights and disappointments from a busy February of new releases.
Hello everyone!
Welcome to February’s Insider Monthly—our supporters-only newsletter where we step behind the No Ripcord curtain and talk honestly about what we’ve been listening to, arguing about, and thinking through each month.
🎧 Our favourite album of the month
💔 Our biggest disappointment
🔜 The album we’re most excited for next
💿 A classic record we can't stop playing
📝 Plus some personal notes and behind-the-scenes reflections from running the site
The opening section is free to read — supporters receive the full edition each month.
So, if you enjoy this preview, please consider becoming a supporter for just $20 per year. Your support helps keep No Ripcord independent, ad-free, and fiercely opinionated—your home of honest music criticism.
🎧 Album of the Month
David:
It’s a straight shoot-out between Manchester’s Mandy, Indiana and Cork debutants Cardinals—and I could happily go either way. I’ll definitely listen to Cardinals’ Masquerade more, but I think Mandy, Indiana probably made the bolder, more idiosyncratic record in URGH. That awesome cover art might just be the tie-breaker.
David Coleman
Juan:
To the surprise of no one, Cardinals is my pick for this month. David would be the first to tell you that I don’t take hyping up a record on this site lightly, and it’s even less common for me to hype a debut LP. Similar to an album like Turn on the Bright Lights, for lack of a better example as I write this, Masquerade is the rare post-punk debut with very few skips that works around its nascent songwriting limitations with a clear creative vision.
Juan Edgardo Rodríguez
