Black Sky Thinking
Essays, investigation and opinion on today’s cultural landscape
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
Some Might Not Say: What a Glut of New Oasis Books is Leaving Unwritten
Oasis are back, and a publishing supernova of new biographies examines the Manchester band... but for most of their lifespan, they were appalling. Fergal Kinney asks how do writers confront Oasis after their peak
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
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
Black Sky Thinking
The Countercultural Figures who Helped Give Birth to the Neo-Nazi Terrorist Networks of Today
The academic author and political analyst Spencer Sunshine has uncovered disturbing evidence that links musicians Boyd Rice and Nikolas Schreck, writer Michael Moynihan and publisher Adam Parfrey to the current explosion in neo-Nazi terrorism. CW: discussion of racism, anti-semitism, murder, violent assault & child sexual abuse
Black Sky Thinking
Three Album Run: How Rock Music Never Bettered AC/DC’s Powerage, Highway To Hell & Back In Black
Zachary Lipez puts on his his tightest pants, casts "'n' Roll" to one side and hails the unbeatable trinity of 20th century rock music. All photographs by Maria Jefferis. Thanks to Matt Ducker
Black Sky Thinking
The City Surreal: How Underground Rap in the 2010s Located Truth in the Bizarre
Liam Inscoe-Jones explores the psychedelia inherent in the music of Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt and others, arguing that it reflects the increasingly surreal reality of working class life far more effectively than rock’s outdated cliches
Black Sky Thinking
How to Talk to your Son about Dangerous Extremist Influencers
With TV drama Adolescence and Andrew Tate currently in the news, author Craig Johnson asks how the toxic ideology extremist influencers became so widespread and offers practical advice to help young people affected. CW: Reference to sexual assault and violence against women. Contains mild spoilers for Adolescence. Stills courtesy of Netflix
Black Sky Thinking
Three Album Run: How Krautrock Never Bettered Can’s Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi & Future Days
Darran Anderson sifts through all of the glorious rubble of German experimental music, psychedelic rock, avant funk and elektronische of the late 1960s onwards to hail an unbeatable trinity. All photographs by Maria Jefferis
Black Sky Thinking
TikTokin’ in the Freed World: Social Media’s New Payola Scandal
The scandal of artists paying DJs for radio plays might seem a relic of the past but, says music biz expert Eamonn Forde, news that influencers might demand a percentage of artist royalties in return for exposure gives this corruption a grim contemporary twist
Black Sky Thinking
Hope Sings Eternal: Can Listening to Music Help you Cheat Death?
Tech whoppers the world over are obsessed with eternal life. But, argues Professor John Tregoning of Imperial College, scientific research increasingly suggests that the music we love can have a huge boost to our immune system and health
Black Sky Thinking
Beyond the Black Eyed Dog: Why Nick Drake Deserves more than ‘Indiefication’
On the fiftieth anniversary of Nick Drake's death, Rob Chapman argues that his legacy has been let down by a culture that allows his mental health struggles to overshadow his art, and that turns his songs into fodder for wellness-adjacent twee whimsy
Black Sky Thinking
Indie-gestion: With Universal Ravenously Hungry, is the Independent Label Sector Facing an Existential Crisis?
As the Universal Music Group gobbles up independent stalwart PIAS, music biz expert Eamonn Forde asks if this corporate greed suggests bleak times are ahead for the rest of the indie ecosystem
Black Sky Thinking
Why Dance Music and Club Culture Need a Revolution, not Night Czars, to Survive and Thrive
As London's Night Czar Amy Lamé leaves her job this week, Ed Gillett investigates her failures and successes, the increasing politicisation of her role, and whether alternative approaches offer any chance of doing better
Black Sky Thinking
The Academisation of Rave: Is Everyone Talking About Dancing, Rather Than Doing It?
Clubs are closing, a new generation is less keen on going out and bashing their bonces with garries – yet raving is discussed more than ever, with endless books and academic articles discussing the dancefloor as a utopia. Chal Ravens asks what this phenomenon tells us about the state of modern raving.
Black Sky Thinking
Shoegaze Revivals I Have Known, by Sonic Cathedral’s Nat Cramp
As Sonic Cathedral prepare for a run of birthday gigs and a box set release, founder Nat Cramp reflects on how shoegaze went from being a dirty word to darlings of Gen Z via a new generation of artists like Whitelands, pictured here. Have a listen to a specially-compiled Spotify playlist here.
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
Black Sky Thinking
Forget Blur v. Oasis, the True Heart of Britpop was the Satanic Plummet of Dog Man Star
Ahead of a 30th anniversary reissue, Darran Anderson casts a caustic eye over feverish cash-driven nostalgia for the big-hitters of 1994, reserving praise for Suede, who, despite the odds being stacked against them, got it exactly right with their second album
Black Sky Thinking
Surviving Threads: Why Are People Drawn To The World’s Most Harrowing Film?
'Thread head' Jude Rogers has spent decades in thrall to the notorious nuclear war television drama as well as recent months researching and writing a new BBC Radio documentary on it. Here she writes about being a member of an international community of fellow, often neurodiverse, obsessives who find companionship within the horror of its devastating frame
Black Sky Thinking
The Real Surreal: On the Road in the USA with a Polaroid Camera
Kat Lister hits the road in the footsteps of Wim Wenders, travelling from Brooklyn to North Carolina, in search of the meaning of instant photography, looking for answers about the transience of life and the ephemerality of art
Black Sky Thinking
Chilly Gonzales: Why I Regret Giving Birth to the Neoclassical Genre
Twenty years on from the release of his first Solo Piano album, Gonzales writes for tQ on his regret that the music he helped to bring into existence now provides easy fodder for streaming algorithms, and piles of cash for a lazy music business.
Black Sky Thinking
Radio / Live Transmission: Autechre As Concert Musicians
Ahead of an appearance at Skaņu Mežs festival in Latvia, Derek Walmsley assesses to what extent Ae are unique in the world of electronic music given their live shows represent a space of spontaneous creation while the release of live albums and radio sessions have started to feel as essential as their studio output... if not more so
Black Sky Thinking
A Penury for Your Thoughts: The Romance & Myths vs the Reality of the Starving Artist
The penniless genius creating work in his or her garret is a long-standing staple of popular culture, exploited for good PR by artists from Bob Dylan to Seasick Steve and Pete Doherty. But, says Eamonn Forde, the reality of life faced by artists like Lawrence of Mozart Estate, is not something to be celebrated by lazy music fans
Black Sky Thinking
Michael Berdan of Uniform on Living with an Eating Disorder
On the release of a new Uniform single and video for 'Permanent Embrace', Michael Berdan writes about the harsh realities of bulimia nervosa. CW: some readers may find this article disturbing. Band portrait by Joshua Zucker-Pluda & Sean Stout
Black Sky Thinking
Stayin’ Alive? We Need You to Subscribe to The Quietus
We're really happy with our beautiful, easy-to-navigate new Quietus, but in order to survive and thrive we need to hit 2000 subscribers by our birthday in September, writes John Doran. With that in mind, we're running a huge sale on subscriptions
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Books
Come Into The Centre of the Crystal: Zardoz and the Politics of Degrowth
Anthony Galluzzo's new book Against the Vortex uses John Boorman's cult sci-fi film as the starting point for exploring a neglected strand of '70s thinkers and artists whose ideas propose a radical degrowth utopia as the horizon to which our politics should be oriented
Baker's Dozen
Escape To The Country: Willy Vlautin Of Richmond Fontaine’s Favourite LPs
Following the release of Richmond Fontaine's tenth and final album, You Can't Go Back If There Is Nothing To Go Back To, the singer and author talks to John Freeman about his favourite albums of storytelling escapism
Black Sky Thinking
Fictions Built Upon Fictions: The Decline Of Totality In Pop
Robert Barry examines how pop culture's impulse towards totality has crumbled during the past two decades, and finds traces of that decline in the fall of communism in Europe, the UK government's crushing of rave, and the rise of the internet
