All Latest
Catch up on our latest writing.
Anniversary
To Lose The Spark Along The Way: U2’s The Unforgettable Fire
Forty years on from its release – and with the band’s popularity in question more than ever – Wyndham Wallace returns to The Unforgettable Fire, U2’s incendiary denial of expectations and their first encounter with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. (This feature was originally published in 2014)
Anniversary
Blood Red Dues: King Crimson’s Red Turns 50
Recorded at King Crimson’s nadir, Red looked destined to be just another forgotten final album, its release playing second fiddle to Robert Fripp’s idiosyncratic “retirement”. 50 years later, its influence is immeasurable, the perfect distillation of what’s possible from a rock trio, says Jeremy Allen
Black Sky Thinking
Forget Blur v. Oasis, the True Heart of Britpop was the Satanic Plummet of Dog Man Star
Ahead of a 30th anniversary reissue, Darran Anderson casts a caustic eye over feverish cash-driven nostalgia for the big-hitters of 1994, reserving praise for Suede, who, despite the odds being stacked against them, got it exactly right with their second album
A Quietus Interview
Expanding the Circle: Blood Incantation Interviewed
In summer 2023, death metallers Blood Incantation decamped to Berlin’s Hansa studios to record groundbreaking new album, Absolute Elsewhere. Isaac Faulk talks to Dan Franklin about how pushing at the boundaries of what a band can be and a near-disaster with an untied shoelace went into creating their most mind-expanding music yet
A Quietus Interview
Start With the Noise: The Unlikely Return of The Wolfgang Press
With a post punk pedigree that stretches back to the origins of 4AD, The Wolfgang Press have made their first album for nearly 30 years, and the only thing it has in common with its predecessors is that it sounds nothing like them, they tell Wesley Doyle
Baker's Dozen
Unshakable: Nonpareils’ Aaron Hemphill’s Favourite Albums
From underage drinking soundtracked by Germs to the ton-of-bricks hit of Prince And The Revolution, via classics in hip hop, goth, easy listening and metal, former Liars and current Nonpareils musician Aaron Hemphill takes Luke Turner through an eclectic Baker's Dozen
A Quietus Interview
Metamorphic Rock: Gwen Siôn Discusses Quarrying Slate for Sound
Gwen Siôn speaks to Jude Rogers about how her love of dubstep raves in tunnels became a creative practice of turning the slate of North West Wales into music, blending field recordings with choral song, and how landscape art is political
A Quietus Interview
Beautiful Beyond Grasp: Raphael Rogiński Interviewed
Ahead of sets at Unsound's Krakow and New York editions, and a long-awaited reissue of his recordings of John Coltrane and Langston Hughes compositions, Raphael Rogiński speaks to Jakub Knera about his love of the world, spirituality in music and Central and Eastern European identity in a time of flux
Low Culture Essay
The Low Culture Essay: Skye Butchard on the BBC’s 1981 The Lord Of The Rings Adaptation
In this month's essay, Skye Butchard remembers their dad's collection of cassettes on which he recorded the 1981 radio version of Tolkien's classic to reflect on memory, archiving, and how familial relationships and loss are intrinsically bound up with the culture we share.
