Illuminating treasured cultural artefacts
In this month's Low Culture essay, Jennifer Lucy Allan rewatches the infamous rave episode of 90s TV detective drama Inspector Morse, and discovers that while he might have preferred lunchtime ale to nocturnal pingers, the Oxford detective knew all about a comedown
In this month's Low Culture essay, Roy Wilkinson writes about the the sleeve for Motörhead's Bomber LP and how it became both an Airfix kit and a curious artefact that sat in the anti-militarism of his brothers' band, Sea Power
In the first of our subscriber-exclusive Low Culture essays, Adelle Stripe opens her battered copy of Julian Cope's The Modern Antiquarian and argues that this guide to Britain's neolithic remains has a strikingly modern relevance
The 1994 documentary Reeling With PJ Harvey is not a household name outside of fan communities but to Stephanie Phillips, the Maria Mochnacz directed film remains a fitting example of an artist’s need to curate their image
Boyd Clack’s late 90s BBC Wales sitcom might be confined to the grey zone of YouTube fan uploads, but it remains a vital document of the dark humour and grim reality of Valleys life, writes Emma Garland in this month's Low Culture subscriber essay
The hours Eliza Clark lost manipulating intricate interactions between learned and inherited traits in Paradox's medieval grand strategy RPG are amply repaid in pope-seducing narratives, mad map-making and a new appreciation of why inbreeding is a bad thing
In this month's subscriber only Low Culture essay, Tom Howells reappraises the first three series of River Cottage and finds a Dorset of esoteric rites, ecstatic natural beauty, eldritch haunting, racist gentry and brutal rural pathos, plus a little bit of food
In our monthly subscriber-only essay, writer Paul Flynn describes being handed a flyer for an unusual literary event which acts as a madeleine, casting him back to the 1980s, and a sexual and sonic awakening. Detail from the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt photographed by the author
In our monthly subscriber-only essay Daniel Spicer has a Proustian rush listening to Elvis Presley's career concluding single Way Down, is reminded of the fragility of existence and is catapulted back into a childhood of ageing teds, biker gangs and wyrd Cornish magic...
In our monthly subscribers only essay, Kat Lister discusses how finishing her first book and a year of being locked down alone steered her towards buying a typewriter, only to discover these machines are going through something of a reversal of fortunes. Homepage photograph: the author's portrait of her own Olivetti Valentine
It seems odd to argue that a member of one of the most celebrated rock bands of all time, the Velvet Underground, is under-appreciated, says Daniel Dylan Wray in this subscriber only essay, until you consider just how absent he is from conversations about popular music