Black Sky Thinking
Essays, investigation and opinion on today’s cultural landscape
Black Sky Thinking
Burn Up The Floor: Pop & Politics In 2013 Dance Music
At the end of an exhausting year in club music, Rory Gibb reflects back upon 2013 on and off the dancefloor, and considers some of the political, social and technological issues facing the dance music community in the near future
Black Sky Thinking
Governance By Algorithm: Big Data, The NSA & A Sinister Future
One of the biggest stories of the year has been the perhaps-not-shocking revelation that the American NSA and our own GCHQ have been snooping on our everyday communications. Becky Hogge writes about how we're struggling to grasp the consequences of this erosion of our rights, and asks what we might do to counter it
Black Sky Thinking
Terror In The Terroir: Resisting The Rebranding Of The Countryside
Resisting ideological efforts to brand the countryside as a place of safe, reassuring conservativism, argues Joe Kennedy, a host of art and music in 2013 powerfully emphasised the uncanny and traumatic aspects of rural Britain. Photograph by Luke Turner.
Black Sky Thinking
A World Of Dreaded Fear: Revisiting Band Aid’s Lyrical Crime Scene
Band Aid raised awareness of a disastrous famine, as well as huge sums of money to try ease it but, one year ahead of its 30th anniversary, Wyndham Wallace begs us to condemn, not celebrate, a song whose lyrics are uglier than Rupert Murdoch’s ballsack
Black Sky Thinking
Gary Glitter, Re-Writing Musical History & The Danger Of Censorship
Gary Glitter has been omitted from a recent major compilation about glam. Johnny Sharp argues that such censorship and re-writing of musical history is dangerous, no matter how heinous the artist's crime. Photo from Shutterstock.
Black Sky Thinking
Song To The Siren: Pop Culture & The Warning Klaxon
Robert Barry explores the growing ubiquity of the warning siren in popular culture, all the way from When Worlds Collide to Jason Derulo's 'Don't Wanna Go Home', via hip hop, the rave explosion, sonic weaponry and the panic sonics of contemporary pop
Black Sky Thinking
Cooked To Perfection: Why You Have To Watch Breaking Bad
With its final installment about to arrive, David Stubbs casts an eye back over the exquisitely bleak, hyperreal vista of one of the most unique TV shows in history and asks - why haven't you watched Breaking Bad yet? (contains mild spoilers)
Black Sky Thinking
Coming Twice: Why Do Artists Feel Compelled To Reenact Past Events?
Jeremy Allen investigates the current vogue for artistic reenactments of concerts and tours, from Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway to The Cramps and Einsturzende Neubauten making a racket at the ICA. Featuring interviews with Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, Jo Mitchell, Vivienne Gaskin, Jeremy Deller Mike Rutherford impersonator Sébastien Lamothe
Black Sky Thinking
Where Consciousness Ends: How Can Art Coexist With Nature?
How can art provide an illuminating window on human society's changing relationships with nature? The gradual reclaiming of the sculptures at Ireland's Lough Boora by their surroundings and the work of musician Richard Skelton offer powerful examples, writes Ian Maleney
Black Sky Thinking
Landfill Futures: Is The EDM Bubble About To Burst?
Hubris in the 1980s video game industry ended with millions of E.T. games buried in the desert. With the latest wave of corporate tie-ins and a Deadmau5/Space Invaders hook-up, asks Scott Wilson, is the apparently booming US EDM industry heading for a similarly spectacular fall?
Black Sky Thinking
Strategies Against Estate Agents? On Gentrification & The Avant-Garde
The recent London Contemporary Music Festival, held in a Peckham car park, provoked a debate about the role of leftfield art in deprived areas. Joe Kennedy examines some of the knotty debates around gentrification, the arts, and class in Britain today
Black Sky Thinking
Whistle While You Work: On Music & Toil From Communism To Coldplay
Next time your bellend of a boss tells you to take out your headphones, throw this at him. David Bell interviews Marek Korczynski of the University Of Nottingham about the history and functionality of music in the workplace
Black Sky Thinking
Mr Agreeable: Taking A Pricke To Robin Thicke’s Balloon
Our gouty old chum Mr Agreeable rises from his repast in a fit of pique once again, this time enraged by Robin Thicke's sexist videos, Robert Plant joining Twitter, Jack White's restraining order, and Hugh Laurie playing the blues
