The Portal | The Quietus

From Saint Etienne to Pride Month in our Weekly Archive Dive

With the news last week that Saint Etienne are to call it a day following the release of International later this year, we’ve gone down to the archive to find our finest writing on or involving Bob, Pete and Sarah. So we’ve got the trio discussing the magical ingredients that make for good pop in an interview from 2012, Bob Stanley on the Things He Has Learned about the architecture of London, and Jude Rogers’ reflections on So Tough and The Sound Of Water. We’re marking the start of Pride Month with Michael Amherst’s wonderful essay on embracing the complexities of sexual identity, as well as Paul Flynn’s Baker’s Dozen style guide to 13 essential tracks that soundtrack what at the time of writing was 30 years of gay liberation in the UK. An official Baker’s Dozen comes from Holly Johnson, there’s an interview with Total Freedom, and from our Subscriber Area, the Low Culture Podcast featuring Alli Logout of Special Interest discussing Velvet Goldmine, and catch up with what we were writing about four years ago with our epic playlist from June 2021.

A Quietus Interview

Words On Music: Saint Etienne On The Joys Of Pop

The charming London trio discuss the ingredients to pop’s magic potion with Aug Stone

3 Dec 2012

Baker's Dozen

Strange Refuge: Holly Johnson Discusses His Favourite Albums

In our final Baker's Dozen of 2014, Ian Wade talks to the former Frankie Goes To Hollywood frontman following the release of Europa, his first solo album in 15 years, about his all-time top 13 LPs

23 Dec 2014

Baker's Dozen

Dancing & Defiance – A Soundtrack to 30 Years of Gay Culture

To mark the anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, Paul Flynn (author of Good as You: From Prejudice to Pride, 30 Years of Gay Britain) chooses 13 records that soundtracked his life, from ACR to Elton and Lil Kim to Sleaford Mods.

24 Jul 2017

A Quietus Interview

Infinitely Inspired By The Club: Total Freedom Interviewed

The DJ sets and collage edits of LA's Total Freedom dissolve R&B, pop and rap into churning noise and razor beats, distorting time and space in the club. He meets Alexander Iadarola to discuss a fascination with club cultures, and folllowing the impulse to fuck with dancers' pleasure centres

19 Aug 2014

Things I Have Learned

Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley On The Architecture Of London

As Saint Etienne release best of collection _London Conversations_, The Quietus sits down with Bob Stanley for a conversation about the architecture of the capital, modernism, and why he hates the Trellick Tower

17 Feb 2009

Black Sky Thinking

Gay Any Way: Why You Don’t Need To Meet Anyone Else’s Queer Expectations

We live in a supposedly more open age for those who don't identify as straight. But, argues Michael Amhert, demands that people be more 'out' risks bisexual erasure and creating new binaries

27 Mar 2018

Subscribers

Low Culture Podcast

Low Culture Podcast 14: Alli Logout On Velvet Goldmine

How cinema will change your life and queer lives on film are the subjects discussed on this month's Low Culture podcast, in which Alli Logout from Special Interest joins Luke Turner and Jennifer Lucy Allan to discuss Todd Haynes 1998 film, Velvet Goldmine

1 Oct 2021

Subscribers