Tod Lippy, the polymath creative force behind the award-winning arts publication Esopus, has released his latest musical project, Midterms, a six track EP this month following the recent release of the single “Bob” which features on the project. (Tod Lippy, 2022)

Midterms is the third album from Lippy following the well-received LPs Here We Are (2019) and Yearbook (2021), both produced by the legendary Kramer (Low, Galaxy 500). The message behind the rest of Midterms EP is anything but vague: “This country is grappling with a dark period of hyper-polarization, distrust in institutions, and economic instability,” Lippy says. “Midterms is my attempt to come to terms with, and maybe even try to make some sense of, this reality.” The other songs on the album deal with issues ranging from toxic television personalities and celebrity culture to armchair activism and apathy in general.

Acclaimed artist Steve Keene, perhaps best-known for his iconic album art for bands like Pavement, The Apples in Stereo, and Silver Jews, has painted a series of 7 different covers on 50 chipboard sleeves containing the forthcoming lathe-cut 10” vinyl release of Midterms. The paintings include Keene’s interpretations of the EP’s original cover in addition to 6 images corresponding to each track on the release.

Lippy has always been at the forefront of creating art that helps find meaning in life. Starting in 2003, he produced ESOPUS, the esteemed arts publication declared “a thing of lavish, eccentric beauty” by The New York Times. For his “one-man magazine,” Lippy handled all design, editing, publishing, distribution, and selection of/interaction with contributors, ranging from writers like Karl Ove Knausgaard and Francine Prose to art world superstars like Jenny Holzer, Marilyn Minter, Anish Kapoor, and Kerry James Marshall, from filmmakers such as actor Lisa Kudrow and director David Lynch to musicians and composers like Kimya Dawson, Sharon Van Etten, and Carter Burwell. 

Lippy has also made a name for himself as a book designer, most recently creating the cover for Louis Menand’s critically acclaimed The Free World (FSG); artist, earning a coveted MacDowell Colony Residency in 2018 to complete a series of drawings related to his work on Esopus); curator, responsible for exhibitions at White Columns and Pioneer Works, among other venues); writer for Artforum and other publications; and filmmaker, whose 2000 short film Cookies played at 20 film festivals around the world.

Tod Lippy may be best-known as the creator of the award-winning arts journal ESOPUS, the multidisciplinary publication that attracted readers from around the world over the course of its 25-issue run and is now in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress, among many other institutions. Every issue of ESOPUS included a CD of brand-new music Lippy commissioned from musical acts such as Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Neko Case, Cloud Nothings, and Kimya Dawson. Lippy, who studied classical guitar for over a decade, was inspired by their contributions to start making music on his own. When ESOPUS ceased publication in 2018, he started spending a significant amount of time honing his songwriting and recording skills.