Princeton students start new music publication

The Princeton LP is basically the garage band of the Princeton writing world--it’s new, it’s growing, and it covers everything from A$AP Mob’s flowing rap to Tor Miller’s soul-infused rock.Princeton University’s newest student publication, the LP, is also its first to be dedicated entirely to music. The online-only magazine has features and reviews about most genres of music, written entirely by University students.The LP was born out of a perceived hole in Princeton’s array of newspapers and magazines. Will Rivitz ‘18 was excited to write about his passion for music when he arrived on campus three years ago, but none of the existing publications had a department specifically for music.Last spring, Paul Schorin ‘19 suggested to Rivitz that they start an entirely new publication dedicated to music.“He said ‘let’s do this,’ and I was like ‘absolutely,’” Rivitz said. “We’ve been planning it since the summer, and we finally got it launched in October. It’s been good so far.”The LP publishes a couple articles per week, written by a growing staff of contributors. Its main feature, The 45, draws from the entire writing staff and reviews newly-released singles.“We’ll send out a single that came out recently, and people will write a paragraph-long review,” Rivitz said. The collaborative column featured singles from the Weeknd, Brad Paisley, the xx, and others during the fall.The individual reviews in each edition of The 45 range in tone from deliberate criticism to sophomoric humor. When discussing the Weeknd’s October single “Starboy,” one contributor wondered how the singer was trying to continuously shape his image, while another yearned for the Weeknd’s “early-career crotch pumps.”In addition to the usual reviews and playlists, Rivitz likes joke around sometimes.“I wrote a really fun, ridiculous piece about the great-great-granddaughter in the Jonas Brothers’ ‘Year 3000.’” he said. “She’s still doing fine in the year 3000, even though she probably should have lived from about 2250 to 2350.”For the piece, Rivitz did a back-of-the-envelope calculation and found that, absent magical medical advances, Nick Jonas’ descendant in the song would not have lived anytime near the year 3000. He concluded that Jonas must have been deceived by the time-traveling friend he mentions in the song.Rivitz wants to preserve the excited, playful feeling the LP currently has and expand it. He believes that a partnership with WPRB, Princeton’s on-campus radio station, would benefit both organizations.“I would like to use their studios and would like to use their blog too,” he said. “I’d want to invite artists in and record live sessions in their studios.”If you want to read some of the great articles that the Princeton LP is putting out, head over to lp.princeton.edu. If you would like to join Rivitz, Schorin, and crew at their Wednesday afternoon meetings, email wrivitz@princeton.edu or info@princetonlp.com.