Jace Clayton’s writing on arts & culture have appeared in such places as The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, ARTFORUM, Frieze, 4Columns, The Fader, Bidoun, Pitchfork, and n+1. He gives frequent artist talks and keynote lectures worldwide. Clayton has written catalog essays for various artists including Arthur Jafa, Carl Stone, and Invernomuto. In 2016 Farrar, Straus and Giroux published his book Uproot: Travels in 21st Century Music and Digital Culture. Clayton received a 2020 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers grant for his forthcoming book, Behold the Monkey.
SELECTED ESSAYS
Whitney Biennial review, ARTFORUM.
Camille Norment @ Dia Chelsea review, 4Columns.
Afrofuturist Period Room @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art review, 4Columns.
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry tribute, Pitchfork.
On Carl Stone & Spotify, ARTFORUM.
That Singing Crowd, a text about the American political soundscape, vis-à-vis a 16-second video that artist Meriem Bennani posted to her Instagram feed. Commissioned by Unsound Festival for their Intermission book.
Reverence is a Form of Forgetting, on Julius Eastman’s legacy. Walker Art Center catalog essay. Summer 2020.
Where’s the Party, on Carl Craig at Dia:Beacon. ARTFORUM, May/June 2020.
Stream Logic, on Carl Stone and close listening in the Spotify era. ARTFORUM, May 2019.
As Brilliant as the Sun, interview with filmmaker and artist Arthur Jafa. Frieze, February 2018.
cover story: J Hus, The Fader
Rich Brian Is Taking Over the World—or Is the World Taking Over Rich Brian? How the 18-year-old Indonesian viral rap star once known as Rich Chigga is upending hip-hop. Pitchfork, February 2018.
On rap and white noise, for The New York Times Magazine, March 2016.
Review: Clement Siatous’ Sagren at Simon Preston Gallery – Frieze, 2015.
Something New – The Fader, 2012. On incredible new music called festival coming out of Cairo, in the context of post-revolutionary Egypt.
La Voz de Huitzilpochtli – Frieze, 2012. Examining how Aztec-inspired sounds and ideas of cyclical time interact with online remix culture & Mexican electronic music.
Happy Songs – The Fader, 2012. A group of Californian musicians tap into the heart of The Congo’s Jamaica.
Curiosity Slowdown – Frieze, 2010. This essay on the slowed-down tempos of screw and its influence on contemporary bands was selected by Alex Ross for inclusion in the Best Music Writing 2011 anthology.
Tribal Guarachero: Mexican Teens & Aztec History – The Fader, 2009. Clayton investigates the incredible new music phenomenon of tribal guarachero.
Abraham Cruzvillegas, interview – Frieze, 2015. On the occasion of the Mexican artist’s Tate Turbine Hall installation.
DJ Khaled, interview. The Fader, summer 2013.
Philip Glass, interview. The Fader, fall 2012.
Confessions of a DJ – n+1, 2009. This essay was selected by Greil Marcus for inclusion in the Best Music Writing 2009 book.
Pitch Perfect – Frieze, 2009. The best article on Auto-Tune or your money back. New York Times called this ‘Idea of the Day’. Zeitgeisty!
Through the Wires – The National. December 2009. “Born and raised in internet chatrooms and DIY studios, world music 2.0 has colonised international playlists…”
Christine Abdelnour Sehnaoui: Respiratory Disorder – The National, October 2010. Profile of musician Christine Abdelnour Sehnaoui and the experimental music scene in Beirut.
Past Masters – The National, October 2009. “Since the 1960s, Western musicians have been making pilgrimages to Jajouka, a tiny Moroccan village of 600. Jace Clayton considers a musical identity crisis created by overseas demand for ancient authenticity.”
Slow Burn – The Fader, spring 2008. Buenos Aires to the Bay Area, 2008 is experiencing the explosion of cumbia, a bomb with a century-long fuse.
Rock the Rai Now – The National, November 2008.
Muslin Gaze – Bidoun, 2007. Reflections on British musician Bryn Jones aka Muslimgauze.
Defending the Pig: Oink Croaks – Mudd Up!, October 2007. Later translated into Spanish and Italian and reprinted in Abitare.
Search and Rescue – Frieze, September 2008. The hunt for rare African funk records raises questions about how the digitized music of the 21st century will be archived.
Epiphanies – Wire, early 2000s. “Jace Clayton, aka DJ /rupture, remembers how a cassette of Japanese noise became the first music he could call his own.”