J Simpson

Portland

Music Journalist and Critical Theorist at Freelance

Music Journalist and Critical Theorist at Spectrum Culture

writing about: 🎵🎥📚 @spectrumculture @freqzine @popmatters 💻: @nordicapis 💘💘💘/ @TheMysticWood open for collaboration [email protected]

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Articles

What Is Model Context Protocol (MCP)?

2 weeks ago | nordicapis.com | J Simpson

Model Context Protocol (MCP) has taken off exponentially since Anthropic released the protocol in November 2024. Since then, the ecosystem has grown to include thousands of servers that extend functionality for AI. But what is MCP, exactly, and how has it gotten so popular so quickly? To answer this question, we’ve compiled a high-level guide to (almost) everything you need to know about MCP. What Is MCP?
How to Turn Any API Into an MCP Server

3 weeks ago | nordicapis.com | J Simpson

Model Context Protocol (MCP) has generated a lot of buzz since Anthropic first released it in November 2024. Intended as a way to extend the functionality of AI tools like large language models (LLMs), MCP is an open-source protocol that allows AI agents to connect with external resources and data. If AI were a smartphone, MCP servers would be the apps. MCP can be broken down into two main components: the host application and an MCP server.
Using OpenAI Tools to Build Agentic AI

4 weeks ago | nordicapis.com | J Simpson

OpenAI recently released a suite of tools designed to help developers and enterprises build and deploy their own agentic AI. For those new to agentic AI, it’s when AI can act on its own with very little human interaction or guidance. OpenAI’s release is a significant boost for advanced AI applications, as complex reasoning, multimodal interactions, and multi-step tasks are some of the most challenging AI activities to implement, even for advanced AI developers and machine learning experts.
Concert Review: Djrum

4 weeks ago | spectrumculture.com | J Simpson

Holocene, Portland, OR5/18/2025Djrum (pronounced Drum) couldn’t be further from most mainstream electronic music. Everything from the biggest EDM festivals to the most micro of club nights to the DJs themselves has a tendency to focus on a singular genre or aesthetic. This might lead to accomplished stylists, but it also results in a lot of interchangeable music.
Hair & Treasure: Disc Rot

4 weeks ago | spectrumculture.com | J Simpson

The term disc rot refers to the gradual deterioration of optical media, particularly CDs and DVDs. Discs suffering from this affliction would bloom with weird splotches like some sort of infernal pox, leaving the media that remains distorted, sickly, blemished and stained.
A Complete Guide to Access Tokens

1 month ago | nordicapis.com | J Simpson

Access tokens are crucial tools for enabling secure access in decentralized systems. Having all of our digital tools and resources spread across the globe creates all manner of complexities, ranging from data governance to proof-of-identity, all of which become more confusing when not constrained to a time or place. Access tokens can also solve the sometimes contradictory needs for enhanced security in an increasingly API-driven world.
How to Automate Your API Governance

1 month ago | nordicapis.com | J Simpson

The number of APIs created each year has absolutely exploded, partially due to AI and partially due to our decentralized and data-driven culture. API Evangelist Kin Lane estimates that large enterprises can have as many as 25,592, with two or more APIs for each employee. API governance is becoming increasingly mandatory, or you run the risk of your API ecosystem spiraling out of control. API governance isn’t just about limiting the number of APIs in circulation, either.
Discography: The Cure: Faith

1 month ago | spectrumculture.com | J Simpson

The Cure’s Faith is a murky record. Its cover depicts Bolton Priory – a church remembered from Robert Smith’s Northern English upbringing – transformed into an expressionistic chiaroscuro so as to become almost unrecognizable. Before one note sounds, Faith is already subverting the solidity and stability of what many people take for granted. While faith may be the bedrock of many people’s existence, the ground was increasingly vanishing beneath the Three Imaginary Boys’ feet.
10 API Observability Tools Worth Checking Out

1 month ago | nordicapis.com | J Simpson

APIs are only as useful as they are transparent. Simply setting an API loose with no oversight is a recipe for disaster. Bad actors could be using your APIs to leak massive amounts of sensitive data or install backdoors to allow more breaches in the future. Even without the extremes, operating your API without oversight can result in inefficiency and poor performance. API observability helps you avoid poor outcomes, letting you know how your API is doing at any given time.
L.A. Witch: DOGGOD

1 month ago | spectrumculture.com | J Simpson

L.A. Witch’s third LP, DOGGOD, is a mirror image of their first two albums. While 2017’s self-titled album and 2020’s Play With Fire seemed to shimmer with SoCal heat and sunstroke, DOGGOD stands cool and remote. If the first two albums were all sunset and Dayglo, DOGGOD is cerulean and indigo. It’s their most intimate and confessional album to date, yet it’s still undoubtedly L.A. Witch. It’s an impressive feat. On DOGGOD, L.A. Witch switch up nearly everything.