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Spotlighting the impact of cultural landmarks
Dismayed by the relative failure of Red Wedge, The Style Council find solace soundtracking the bleak state of the nation while pushing the possibilities of pop. Paul Weller discusses one of his more overlooked albums with Lois Wilson
Half a lifetime ago, an Armenian exiled to London set the template for today's DIY musicians and raised a standard that British rap has rarely reached since. Angus Batey had a ring-side seat while Blade fought to make himself heard: he looks back on a landmark in the history of independent music
Created 30 years ago through financial precarity, a new family and phantasmagorical feedback, Soliloquy For Lilith is too often labeled as simply ‘dark ambient’. But Nurse With Wound’s album of hallucinogenic, avant garde and intrepid spirit helped spawn a lineage that includes Aphex Twin, Sunn O))) and Klara Lewis
The alternative rock major label gold rush of the mid-90s didn't last long but it burned most of those involved, in one way or another. Stevie Chick examines how the New York mavericks managed to "quietly decouple" themselves from the mainstream and prepare for their final late period genius phase as he looks at A Thousand Leaves, which was released 20 years ago
25 years on from Suede’s eponymously titled debut, Jeremy Allen rediscovers a record that shares a lineage with glam rock, music hall and Victorian burlesque and is not afraid to explore the underbelly of British sexuality. Photos courtesy of Suede/Pat Pope, John Cheeves, Phillip Williams
Change was in the air in 1998 when a duo from Versailles released an album that did better internationally than it did in France. Jeremy Allen wonders if Moon Safari by Air was the point where Anglo Saxons stopped ignoring the surreptitious delights of French pop
You’re Under Arrest - the final album of Serge Gainsbourg - is often cited as the one where he tried his hand at hip hop. Jeremy Allen argues that it was more a consolidation of a proto-rap master after years of innovation and petty musical larceny
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