My name is Norman Brannon. I am a writer, editor, musician, infrequent television personality, and university lecturer living in Brooklyn, New York.

When it comes to making a living, I’ve been lucky. My first book, The Anti-Matter Anthology: A 1990s Post-Punk & Hardcore Reader, was published in 2008 through Revelation Books. Before that, I owned and operated an independent record company and did feature-writing and pop criticism for Alternative Press, VIBE, Ego Trip, Soma, and other fine periodicals. Until very recently, I found the time to be a contributing writer for MySpace Music and resident music critic for Towleroad.

As a songwriter and musician, I still collect residuals from previous work with Texas is the Reason and New End Original, but these days, I make electronic music under the name Zodiac Social. To varying degrees in the past, I’ve also played with and/or written music for Fountainhead, Ressurection, 108, Shelter, and Gratitude.

I still occasionally appear as one of the hosts for a pop culture magazine show on Here! TV. This totally betrays my flawed self-concept as an introvert.

I’m difficult to pin down, I suppose.

Selected Work

Stop Making Sense: The Life & Folklore Of Amy Winehouse, MySpace (Writer)
“Are You Sure?” Far (Co-songwriter)
The Anti-Matter Anthology: A 1990s Post-Punk & Hardcore Reader (Author)
Tokyo Police Club, MySpace Music (Writer)
Greetings from Vrndavana, Dhanurdhara Swami (Editor)
Kill The House Lights, Documentary Film (Writer, Interviewer)
Somewhere in the Swamps of Jersey, Lifetime (Liner Notes)
With Love, Adam Collins & Sloth / Lawnchair Generals (Executive Producer, A&R)
Bring It EP, Antoine Diego & Midas (Executive Producer, A&R)
Binary is the Language of Love EP, Mr. Barcode (Executive Producer, A&R)
Thriller, New End Original (Guitar, Piano, Arrangements)
Lukewarm EP, New End Original (Guitar, Arrangements)
The Emerson EP, Wyatt Earp & DJ Foxx (Executive Producer, A&R)
Searching EP, DJ Adnan & Amit Shoham / Jay Tripwire (Executive Producer, A&R)
Rancid: Platinum Punks, VIBE (Writer)
Waves of Devotion, Dhanurdhara Swami (Editor)
Rage Against the Machine, Alternative Press (Writer)
Do You Know Who You Are? Texas is the Reason (Guitar, Co-songwriter)
Texas is the Reason EP, Texas is the Reason (Guitar, Co-songwriter)
Anti-Matter, Various Artists (Executive Producer, Liner Notes)