Opinion & Essays
Clear-sighted and well informed opinion on the culture of our past, present and future
Eternal Cities: How Underworld Embodied the Agony and Ecstasy of Urban Life
As Underworld's discography from 1994 to 2016 receives a 'perfect sound' reissue, Darran Anderson surveys how their frantic, beautiful music both embodied the overwhelm of city life and offered a rapturous escape from it
Anniversary
The Chameleons’ What Does Anything Mean? Basically, at 40
This relatively obscure, nihilistic and resigned second album by a near forgotten Mancunian post punk group was released decades before the birth of writer Lina Adams in the early 00s; so why does it speak so clearly to her life today?
Black Sky Thinking
The Countercultural Figures who Helped Give Birth to the Neo-Nazi Terrorist Networks of Today
The academic author and political analyst Spencer Sunshine has uncovered disturbing evidence that links musicians Boyd Rice and Nikolas Schreck, writer Michael Moynihan and publisher Adam Parfrey to the current explosion in neo-Nazi terrorism. CW: discussion of racism, anti-semitism, murder, violent assault & child sexual abuse
Black Sky Thinking
Three Album Run: How Rock Music Never Bettered AC/DC’s Powerage, Highway To Hell & Back In Black
Zachary Lipez puts on his his tightest pants, casts "'n' Roll" to one side and hails the unbeatable trinity of 20th century rock music. All photographs by Maria Jefferis. Thanks to Matt Ducker
Black Sky Thinking
Essays, investigation and opinion on today’s cultural landscape
Black Sky Thinking
The City Surreal: How Underground Rap in the 2010s Located Truth in the Bizarre
Liam Inscoe-Jones explores the psychedelia inherent in the music of Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt and others, arguing that it reflects the increasingly surreal reality of working class life far more effectively than rock’s outdated cliches
Black Sky Thinking
How to Talk to your Son about Dangerous Extremist Influencers
With TV drama Adolescence and Andrew Tate currently in the news, author Craig Johnson asks how the toxic ideology extremist influencers became so widespread and offers practical advice to help young people affected. CW: Reference to sexual assault and violence against women. Contains mild spoilers for Adolescence. Stills courtesy of Netflix
Black Sky Thinking
Three Album Run: How Krautrock Never Bettered Can’s Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi & Future Days
Darran Anderson sifts through all of the glorious rubble of German experimental music, psychedelic rock, avant funk and elektronische of the late 1960s onwards to hail an unbeatable trinity. All photographs by Maria Jefferis
Black Sky Thinking
The City Surreal: How Underground Rap in the 2010s Located Truth in the Bizarre
Liam Inscoe-Jones explores the psychedelia inherent in the music of Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt and others, arguing that it reflects the increasingly surreal reality of working class life far more effectively than rock’s outdated cliches
Black Sky Thinking
How to Talk to your Son about Dangerous Extremist Influencers
With TV drama Adolescence and Andrew Tate currently in the news, author Craig Johnson asks how the toxic ideology extremist influencers became so widespread and offers practical advice to help young people affected. CW: Reference to sexual assault and violence against women. Contains mild spoilers for Adolescence. Stills courtesy of Netflix
Black Sky Thinking
Three Album Run: How Krautrock Never Bettered Can’s Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi & Future Days
Darran Anderson sifts through all of the glorious rubble of German experimental music, psychedelic rock, avant funk and elektronische of the late 1960s onwards to hail an unbeatable trinity. All photographs by Maria Jefferis
Low Culture Essay
Illuminating treasured cultural artefacts
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: A Tale of Two Normans – Wrongtom On Beats International’s ‘Dub Be Good To Me’
In this month's Low Culture Essay, Wrongtom weaves the life of his jazz pianist grandad into his encounter with Norman Cook & co's 1990 hit single, and explores how it changed his own musical trajectory
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: Jonn Elledge on The Good Life
In April's essay, Jonn Elledge explains why everything you thought you knew about the popular self-sufficiency sitcom, first broadcast 50 years ago this week, is wrong.
Low Culture Essay
The Low Culture Essay: Jeanette Leech on Elastica’s The Menace
In this month's essay, Jeanette Leech seeks to reclaim the legacy of Elastica's vastly underrated second album from prurient mutterings about drug addiction and the collapse of Britpop, celebrating Mark E. Smith collaborations and the birth of M.I.A.
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: A Tale of Two Normans – Wrongtom On Beats International’s ‘Dub Be Good To Me’
In this month's Low Culture Essay, Wrongtom weaves the life of his jazz pianist grandad into his encounter with Norman Cook & co's 1990 hit single, and explores how it changed his own musical trajectory
Low Culture Essay
The Low Culture Essay: Jeanette Leech on Elastica’s The Menace
In this month's essay, Jeanette Leech seeks to reclaim the legacy of Elastica's vastly underrated second album from prurient mutterings about drug addiction and the collapse of Britpop, celebrating Mark E. Smith collaborations and the birth of M.I.A.
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Subscribe NowAnniversary
Spotlighting the impact of cultural landmarks
Anniversary
From Death Race 2000 to GTA: Celebrating Half a Century of Violent Future Sports
To celebrate the 50th birthday of Death Race 2000, Mat Colegate charts a multimedia genre which would spawn Mad Max, Alita: Battle Angel and Grand Theft Auto, and makes more sense today than it did in 1975
Anniversary
I Can See You Still: Richard Thompson’s Across A Crowded Room at 40
40 years on from its release, Wayne Gooderham revisits the second album Richard Thompson recorded in the wake of his split from wife Linda, and finds a subtle, off-kilter – and unfairly overlooked – mid-career masterpiece (and an utterly essential live sister album)
Anniversary
In Through the Out Door: Prince’s Around The World In A Day at 40
Four decades since its release, Toby Manning revisits how Prince's oft-overlooked seventh album dared to draw on 60s psychedelia at the height of 80s hippyphobia – producing the most countercultural sounding work of his career
Anniversary
I Can See You Still: Richard Thompson’s Across A Crowded Room at 40
40 years on from its release, Wayne Gooderham revisits the second album Richard Thompson recorded in the wake of his split from wife Linda, and finds a subtle, off-kilter – and unfairly overlooked – mid-career masterpiece (and an utterly essential live sister album)
Anniversary
In Through the Out Door: Prince’s Around The World In A Day at 40
Four decades since its release, Toby Manning revisits how Prince's oft-overlooked seventh album dared to draw on 60s psychedelia at the height of 80s hippyphobia – producing the most countercultural sounding work of his career
Beyond The Hits
A deeper dive beyond the charts
Beyond The Hits
Stronger Than Pride: Beyond The Hits Of Sade
Sade superfan Alex Macpherson celebrates the release of a career-spanning box set by selecting lesser known gems from their back catalogue
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Previously Read
Strange World Of...
The Strange World Of… Bill Laswell
From making groundbreaking electro to working with Whitney Houston via boozy sessions with Motörhead, plus avant explorations of thrash, drum & bass, grindcore, gnawa and disco, Bill Laswell has been on more great records than you've had hot dinners. Zachary Lipez offers ten points of entry to his bewilderingly vast back catalogue
