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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
Organic Intelligence
Organic Intelligence XLIV: World-Building-For-One AKA DIY Synth Music for Getting Off-Planet
In this month’s antidote to the algorithm, exclusive to tQ subscribers, Jennifer Lucy Allan guides us through a selection of transportive releases from DIY synth voyagers of the near past
Monthly Playlists
A sonic bulletin of tQ's essential editorial
Monthly Playlists
tQ’s Exclusive Monthly Round-Up Playlist: January 2025
Here's everything we've covered at The Quietus this month, compiled for the listening pleasure of tQ's subscribers
Low Culture Essay
Illuminating treasured cultural artefacts
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: Ian Winwood on How Dead & Company Made Him Love Jam Bands
This month, Ian Winwood writes about the process of his seduction into the patchouli smoke, hardcore fanbase and endless riffs n'widdles of the jam band scene
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: Patrick McKemey on the Musical Architecture of SimCity
In this month's subscriber essay, Patrick McKemey eulogises the genre-melding soundtracks to the SimCity universe of games, sonic portals between the London suburbs and digital utopias built in his teenage bedroom
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: Patrick McKemey on the Musical Architecture of SimCity
In this month's subscriber essay, Patrick McKemey eulogises the genre-melding soundtracks to the SimCity universe of games, sonic portals between the London suburbs and digital utopias built in his teenage bedroom
Help Support The Quietus in 2025
If you’ve read something you love on our site today, please consider becoming a monthly or annual tQ subscriber – our journalism is mostly funded this way. We’ve got some bonus perks waiting for you too.
Subscribe NowMusic Downloads
Exclusively-commissioned monthly releases
Music Downloads
tQ Subscriber Release: Jack McNeill’s Chamber Cairn
Serial collaborator and Propellor Orchestra leader Jack McNeill's long-awaited debut solo album is released today exclusively for tQ subscribers, a record that draws deep on his surroundings in Cumbria, but subverts our expectations of the clarinet as an instrument that hymns the pastoral
Music Downloads
tQ Subscriber Release: Brain Pills
Exploring the subtle microcosms in rock music then bending them to his will, Ryan Walker interviews Mike Vest about Brain Pills, his new band with Nick Raybould and Adam Stone whose debut EP is released exclusively to tQ subscribers today – a gathering of tales, tunes and feedback
Music Downloads
Jas Shaw & Simon Lord Discuss Their tQ Valentine’s Bonus Subscriber-Exclusive Release
As it's Valentine's Day we're showing how much we love our top Subscriber Plus tier supporters by giving them bonus music – here, former Simian members Jas Shaw and Simon Lord discuss how they combined vocals, long form production and the inspiration of Slavoj Žižek on their twinkling epic
Music Downloads
tQ Subscriber Release: 2rana 3crana
After a period of personal tragedy and physical rehabilitation, Gum Takes Tooth’s Jussi Brightmore celebrates life with his new project 2rana 3crana, mixing drag, industrial and Afro-Portuguese dance music. He takes Alastair Shuttleworth through the story behind it, and a special EP exclusively for tQ subscribers
Music Downloads
tQ Subscriber Release: Jack McNeill’s Chamber Cairn
Serial collaborator and Propellor Orchestra leader Jack McNeill's long-awaited debut solo album is released today exclusively for tQ subscribers, a record that draws deep on his surroundings in Cumbria, but subverts our expectations of the clarinet as an instrument that hymns the pastoral
Music Downloads
tQ Subscriber Release: Brain Pills
Exploring the subtle microcosms in rock music then bending them to his will, Ryan Walker interviews Mike Vest about Brain Pills, his new band with Nick Raybould and Adam Stone whose debut EP is released exclusively to tQ subscribers today – a gathering of tales, tunes and feedback
Music Downloads
Jas Shaw & Simon Lord Discuss Their tQ Valentine’s Bonus Subscriber-Exclusive Release
As it's Valentine's Day we're showing how much we love our top Subscriber Plus tier supporters by giving them bonus music – here, former Simian members Jas Shaw and Simon Lord discuss how they combined vocals, long form production and the inspiration of Slavoj Žižek on their twinkling epic
Music Downloads
tQ Subscriber Release: 2rana 3crana
After a period of personal tragedy and physical rehabilitation, Gum Takes Tooth’s Jussi Brightmore celebrates life with his new project 2rana 3crana, mixing drag, industrial and Afro-Portuguese dance music. He takes Alastair Shuttleworth through the story behind it, and a special EP exclusively for tQ subscribers
Low Culture Podcast
Our editors John & Luke bring their insight to an essential album, book, film, etc.
Low Culture Podcast
Low Culture Podcast: La Haine
In this month's subscriber podcast John Doran and Luke Turner revisit Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film of racial tensions and police brutality in the French suburbs
Organic Intelligence
Your virtual guide through the record shop racks
Organic Intelligence
Organic Intelligence XLII: British Bengalis in 90s subculture
In this month’s antidote to the algorithm Puja Nandi celebrates five pioneering artists, from Asian Dub Foundation (pictured) to Osmani Soundz, who enriched the soundtrack of the pre-millennial UK by mixing drum & bass and electronica with the sounds of the Bengali diaspora
Organic Intelligence
Organic Intelligence XLI: Toronto Goth of the 80s & 90s
In our latest antidote to the algorithm, Jonathan Wright visits his younger self in 1980s Canada, when goth was on a rise as steep as his backcombed hair
Organic Intelligence
Organic Intelligence XL: Naples in the Early-Mid 70s
In our fortieth antidote to the algorithm, David McKenna takes us back half a century to Naples, where the influence of a nautical culture and American military radio created a music scene as fertile and chaotic as the city itself
Organic Intelligence
Organic Intelligence XLII: British Bengalis in 90s subculture
In this month’s antidote to the algorithm Puja Nandi celebrates five pioneering artists, from Asian Dub Foundation (pictured) to Osmani Soundz, who enriched the soundtrack of the pre-millennial UK by mixing drum & bass and electronica with the sounds of the Bengali diaspora
Organic Intelligence
Organic Intelligence XL: Naples in the Early-Mid 70s
In our fortieth antidote to the algorithm, David McKenna takes us back half a century to Naples, where the influence of a nautical culture and American military radio created a music scene as fertile and chaotic as the city itself
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