All Latest
Catch up on our latest writing.
The Quietus International
Rockfort! French Music for June, Reviewed by David McKenna
In his latest dispatch from the French fringes, David McKenna reports from this year’s New Trad Fest in the Loire region and rounds up new releases including a surrealistic Breton folk duo, Japanese gagaku-inspired drones and much more
Black Sky Thinking
How Women are Changing Greater Manchester’s Grassroots Music Scene
Perturbed by a study that found young women in the north of England are struggling to feel musical, Lottie Brazier set out to speak to the promoters, artists and managers who are helping shift the dial in the region
Anniversary
Auto-Invention: The Soft Boys’ Underwater Moonlight Revisited
Nobody wanted what The Soft Boys were selling in 1980, but as David Bennun recounts, their superb swan song, Underwater Moonlight, made them a Velvet Underground for new generations of jangle and psych bands. This feature was first published on 29/06/20
Reissue of the Week
Reissue of the Week: Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly (10 Year Anniversary Edition)
In 2014 Kendrick Lamar found himself in South Africa, an experience that helped to shape his third studio record, which is perhaps his most complex and enduring statement. Siobhán Kane revisits To Pimp A Butterfly
Black Sky Thinking
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
Baker's Dozen
Ain’t it the Truth: Robert Lloyd of Nightingales’ Favourite Music
In the wake of Nightingales' new record The Awful Truth, the band's leader Robert Lloyd takes John Quin for a freewheeling ride through 13 significant tracks, from a boyhood love of Lulu and Lou Reed to later encounters with Faust and Freakwater
Reviews
Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)
On its tenth anniversary, the Midwestern singer-songwriter returns to his classic autobiographical album with a new release featuring previously unreleased demos and outtakes. Listening to now double-disced record anew, Kat Lister finds a profound meditation on the nature of grief
Books
Jungle Just Crushes: Two Fingas on his Novels Chronicling London’s 1990s Ravers
As his novel Bass Instinct returns to print after 30 years as part of a long-overdue reappraisal of his trilogy of books about jungle, bass and rave in 1990s London, Two Fingas speak to Rob Corsini about being one of the few to document the subculture from within
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
A Quietus Interview
Pedal Off The Metal: Backxwash Interviewed
Ahead of a much-anticipated slot at this year’s Supersonic Festival, the Canadian-Zambian rapper speaks to Alex Rigotti about her pivot away from industrial beats, the end of her award-winning album trilogy and an embrace of considered craftsmanship on Only Dust Remains. Content warning: this article contains discussions of suicide.
Most Popular
6
Previously Read
A Quietus Interview
Music For Mallet Musicians: Ex-Easter Island Head Interviewed
Using mallets and guitars, Liverpool's Ex-Easter Island Head whip up tropical storm clouds of rhythm and natural reverberation. Simon Jay Catling speaks to the band's Benjamin Duvall about minimalism and making hypnotic music for £5 worth of bamboo
Black Sky Thinking
Dread Magnificence: LSD, Selected Ambient Works II & The Psychic Death of Aphex Twin
The word 'ambient' is a misdirection worthy of the greatest illusionist, says John Doran, SAW2 is the work of a modern electronic composer, intent on destroying the boundaries between himself and the material of Cornwall which inspired him
A Quietus Interview
Couple Goals: Toyah’s Lockdown
Toyah Willcox tells us about her and husband Robert Fripp's bonkers lockdown videos, why she sees herself as honouring Barbara Windsor, how they might influence King Crimson going forward, and how they've inspired a surge of interest in her kitchen cupboards. Plus, tQ's top seven lockdown home broadcasts!
