''XLR8R'' (pronounced "accelerator") is a website that covers music, culture, style, and technology. It was originally also a print magazine.

History and profile

''XLR8R'' was founded as a newsprint zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. It has offices in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. While ''XLR8R'''s initial focus was on electronic music, it has widened its scope to include

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

, and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

music as well as related trends in style, art, fashion, and technology. ''XLR8R'' was published 10 times per year and distributed internationally. Special issues included a Music Technology issue, a year-end "Best Of" issue, and an entire issue devoted to the music scene of a particular city (

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, etc.). Subscribers receive ''Incite'', a free monthly CD of tracks hand-picked by the magazine's editors. Standout features of the publication include "Audiofile," a collection of short pieces on up-and-coming musicians; "Machines," a section devoted to technology (reviews, recording techniques of various artists, etc.); "Vis-Ed," a showcase of emerging illustrators, photographers, and designers; and "Bitter Bastard," a curmudgeonly rant on various frustrating topics within the music world. Each issue traditionally has hundreds of reviews of various albums, singles, compilations, books, and DVDs. ''XLR8R'''s website features breaking music and culture news, high-resolution music videos and free weekly MP3 downloads and podcasts. Additionally, back issues of the print magazine are accessible from 2003 to the present as freely downloadable PDFs. In March 2007, ''XLR8R'' launched XLR8R TV, an internet TV show hosted by

Revision3 Revision3 was a San Francisco, California, San Francisco–based Multi-channel network, multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidia ...

, with a new episode appearing every Tuesday. The show features musicians, artists and scenes covered in the pages of ''XLR8R'' magazine. In 2011, ''XLR8R'' ceased publication of their print magazine and became a web only publication. In 2012, ''XLR8R'' was acquired by Buzz Media. In December 2024, ''XLR8R'' announced a "pause" in the creation of new content due to a lack of financial resources.

References

External links

*{{Official website, www.xlr8r.com Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1993 Magazines disestablished in 2011 Magazines published in San Francisco Magazines published in Seattle Monthly magazines published in the United States Online magazines with defunct print editions Online music magazines published in the United States