Black Sky Thinking
Essays, investigation and opinion on today’s cultural landscape
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arguing that it reflects the increasingly surreal reality of working class life far more effectively than rock’s outdated cliches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
Black Sky Thinking
Memorable Songs to the Latest Dance Beat: Pet Shop Boys, Pop and the Irresistible Rise of Electronic Dance Music
From disco to Eurodance, acid house to EDM, and electroclash to new album Nonetheless, Matt Anniss explores Pet Shop Boys' long-held fascination with dancefloor culture, and the way it's shaped them across their career
Black Sky Thinking
Why We Need To Stop Seeing Grassroots Venues As Mere Rungs On A Ladder
With music venues in crisis, does celebrating them as places where bands appeared on the way to fame overshadow their true purpose as the places in which music is played for the sake of communal joy, asks Luke Turner
Black Sky Thinking
What Does Dying Sound Like? Music And The Near Death Experience
When Haitao Yang was shot in the head, it brought him to within touching distance of death, an experience that has profoundly influenced his music ever since, but he's not alone. Jak Hutchcraft investigates the bizarre and sometimes disturbing world of music and the near death experience. With thanks to Daniel Hall
Black Sky Thinking
Just Another IDM LP? Squarepusher’s Dostrotime, Continuity & Modernism
Squarepusher's new album is a palate-cleansing summary of work to date displaying an admirable breadth of technique with some amazing peaks, says John Doran, but as a continuity LP it points more clearly to a crisis in criticism rather than IDM
Black Sky Thinking
Unfulfilled Promise: Toronto, Drake & So Far Gone
After Dhruva Balram's family emigrated from India to Canada, he came of age in a new city, the optimistic soundtrack provided by emerging megastar Drake. Here he celebrates the breakthrough mixtape which provided the background to first love but also looks back and asks, what went wrong?
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