Crate Digest Takes Nielly & Miki’s Substacks Live!

Nielly & Miki, the creators behind Music as Literature and Inside the Credits, are coming together to bring our online worlds to life—on stage, in real time, with you in the room.

Crate Digest is a cohosted live listening experience where guests take in a pre-selected playlist through an exploration of the five senses. Through this process we will traverse instrumental and lyrical analysis, politics, societal patterns, and emotions. 

This platform is a beautiful combination of our musical superpowers: Nielly’s deep-dive into music history and society and Miki’s deep knowledge of culture and music production. Expect an immersive experience that blends both our voices into something greater than the sum of its parts.

For our first event, BOYS DON’T CRY, we’ll guide you through an interactive musical discussion about men’s mental health, friendship structures, homophobia, and its impact on women & allies’ wellbeing. We’ll explore the topic of masculinity with sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound leading the way.

This is a facilitated dialogue and community gathering centered around music and social justice. Come ready to snack, chat, make new friends, and become more empowered in your communities.

🗓 Date: October 22, 2025

📍 Location: Whammy! Video Store, 2514 W Sunset Blvd Rear, Los Angeles, CA 90026

🕖 Time: 7:15 – 10 pm

🎟️ Tickets: https://posh.vip/e/crate-digest-boys-dont-cry

About the Creators

Nielly, Music as Literature

Music as Literature was born out of a desire to harness my love for and curiosity about music. As a high schooler, I took advantage of my Entertainment Editor and Editor-in-Chief credits at the high school newspaper to reach out to bands traveling through my town. I took interviews with them on sidewalks, parking lots, along the side of the tour bus, their tents at festivals – you name it. I took a long detour through college, young adulthood, and an early-life crisis to pursue more “adult” careers and landed right back to where my heart felt most full: writing about music.

MAL is where I share my passion for music in three ways: deep dives into music history, concert reflections, and weekly playlists exploring global music. A lot of music about writing is so clinical: this happened, then that happened. I write about how music makes us feel, how it shapes and reflects society, and what we can do to be more empowered and engaged citizens of the world.

I reached out to Miki to create Crate Digest to give life to what we’ve all been yearning for: community. I’ll give us the space and tools to tap into our bodies and spirits as we listen and reflect. And Miki will come in with his connection to the culture and deep knowledge of music production. Together, we’ll present you with a holistic music listening experience.

Miki, Inside the Credits

The best possible outcome from starting my Substack is forming a community with other music obsessed people. Nielly took the initiative here and I was hyped, not just because of her impeccable ear and its alignment with mine, but because there’s a natural symmetry to explore between our platforms. Crediting and production analysis feels like a puzzle piece ready to fit within looking at music as if it were classic literature. This type of exploration feels as if we are completing each other’s stories.

My personal hosting credits are a bit varied. I cohosted a music journalism podcast In Search of Sauce from 2020 through 2023 where we highlighted impressive music journalism pieces and conducted journalist interviews with people like Yoh Phillips and Danyel Smith. I also recently hosted in the form of moderating a live conversation with rapper, singer, and producer Russ at The Grammy Museum and co-hosted a private screening of my food/music interview show The Spot. I hope in this endeavor to expand that ability by combining my music journalism and storytelling experience. I’ve been a freelancer since 2018 and fell into highlighting the work of producers as my natural beat. I am also obsessed with various types of storytelling structures. I constantly speak about the Aristotelian style and other forms that intentionally and successfully break those rules. I am impelled to find the natural fluidity of our interactive stories.

I’m wildly excited to expand my craft in a new way and learn about how different people process music through the process. 

👉 Reserve Your Spot Now!