Opinion & Essays
Clear-sighted and well informed opinion on the culture of our past, present and future
25 Years of Infernal Weight: The Destructive Legacy of Electric Wizard’s Dopethrone
Dopethrone, says Dan 'The Doom' Franklin, is the greatest album ever recorded; so great in fact that it splintered the band that created it. But one person was standing in the wings, with resurrection on her mind. Jus Oborn and Liz Buckingham discuss the 25-year legacy of Electric Wizard's most notorious album
Black Sky Thinking
Three Album Run: How Emo Never Bettered Jimmy Eat World’s Static Prevails, Clarity and Bleed American
As the world was changing irreversibly, from 1999 to 2001 Jimmy Eat World went from DIY band done good, to powerhouse name, to international phenomenon – the story of emo itself in microcosm. For Emma Garland, their encapsulation of the subculture's multi-generational range is emo's definitive three album run
Black Sky Thinking
Essays, investigation and opinion on today’s cultural landscape
Black Sky Thinking
Confronting & Celebrating the Limits of the Body: Black Sabbath Live at Villa Park
Keith Kahn-Harris argues that the Back To The Beginning show highlighted the pivotal role that the imperfections of the body play in metal. Live photographs courtesy of Ross Halfin. With thanks to Jasmine Hazel Shadrack
Black Sky Thinking
The Jonathan Swift of NYC: an Appreciation of Larry Cohen
Whether working in Blaxploitation, horror or sc-fi, auteur Larry Cohen was often battling against constraints created by money, time and his own skill set, says Mat Colegate, but ultimately he trained a satirical eye on America few could match
Black Sky Thinking
O Superfan: How Rock & Pop’s Elite Screw their Loyal Supporters – and why it won’t Work
The mainstream music biz reckons that devoted fans are the golden geese that'll keep laying, and the streaming services are about to get in on the grift. Eamonn Forde explains why this makes no business sense
Black Sky Thinking
Confronting & Celebrating the Limits of the Body: Black Sabbath Live at Villa Park
Keith Kahn-Harris argues that the Back To The Beginning show highlighted the pivotal role that the imperfections of the body play in metal. Live photographs courtesy of Ross Halfin. With thanks to Jasmine Hazel Shadrack
Black Sky Thinking
The Jonathan Swift of NYC: an Appreciation of Larry Cohen
Whether working in Blaxploitation, horror or sc-fi, auteur Larry Cohen was often battling against constraints created by money, time and his own skill set, says Mat Colegate, but ultimately he trained a satirical eye on America few could match
Black Sky Thinking
O Superfan: How Rock & Pop’s Elite Screw their Loyal Supporters – and why it won’t Work
The mainstream music biz reckons that devoted fans are the golden geese that'll keep laying, and the streaming services are about to get in on the grift. Eamonn Forde explains why this makes no business sense
Low Culture Essay
Illuminating treasured cultural artefacts
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: Marie Le Conte on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
When Marie Le Conte moved from Nantes to London she rejected her French identity, along with a teenage infatuation with Phoenix' fourth album. Years later, she reflects on how the "youth and hope and enthusiasm bottled inside ten neat and clean little songs" actually allows her to have a conversation with her past self about life, love and becoming.
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: Ian Wade on Queer As Folk
In this month's subscriber essay, Ian Wade writes on how pioneering British gay drama Queer As Folk, screened by Channel 4 in 1999, reflected a generation's experiences of coming out and discovering their identity
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: James Cooray Smith on David Lynch Sitcom, On The Air
Although David Lynch's 1992 sitcom was a quickly forgotten flop, James Cooray Smith argues that it has enough of the director's mercurial strangeness to be considered alongside his finest work
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
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: Marie Le Conte on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
When Marie Le Conte moved from Nantes to London she rejected her French identity, along with a teenage infatuation with Phoenix' fourth album. Years later, she reflects on how the "youth and hope and enthusiasm bottled inside ten neat and clean little songs" actually allows her to have a conversation with her past self about life, love and becoming.
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
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Subscribe NowAnniversary
Spotlighting the impact of cultural landmarks
Anniversary
Another Round: The Pogues’ Rum, Sodomy & The Lash at 40
Four decades on, Tariq Goddard returns to The Pogues' second studio LP, a record of unguarded sentiment and open hearted revelry, strange and dark surrealism, empathic univocity and plain-speaking insight
Beyond The Hits
A deeper dive beyond the charts
Beyond The Hits
Stronger Than Pride: Beyond The Hits Of Sade
Sade superfan Alex Macpherson celebrates the release of a career-spanning box set by selecting lesser known gems from their back catalogue
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