Richard Foster

Covers Album of the week: Xiu Xiu’s Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1

Richard Foster peels back the multiple layers of this collection of heavenly covers belted out as if at a karaoke bar in Hell

A Long Drink of the Best Water: Highlights from 2025’s Le Guess Who?

Richard Foster reports back from another stellar edition of the Utrecht Festival, where he finds equal space for spiritual nourishment gibbering wig-outs, courtesy of Valentina Magaletti, upsammy, EarthBall, The Fiery Furnaces and many more

The Utopia Strong

Doperider

The British trio's fourth album suggests equal parts journey into space and a scrabbling around in the undergrowth, finds Richard Foster

Marta Forsberg

Archaeology of Intimacy

A quiet but often surprising suite of songs from the Berlin-based singer demand your close attention, finds Richard Foster

PREVIEW: Richard Foster on Haldern Pop

Once a year, a small German town mutates into a huge, baffling and refreshingly odd outdoor party. From asparagus to bus stops, Richard Foster gets to grips with the strange mythology of Haldern Pop

Heavy Metal Rituals: Osmium Interviewed

Richard Foster speaks to four "serious geologists" – Hildur Guðnadóttir, Emptyset's James Ginzburg, Senyawa's Rully Shabara and Sam Slater – about designing new instruments and the racket made by the heaviest of heavy metals

The Ex

If Your Mirror Breaks

The ever-curious Dutch quartet’s latest album shows yet again that they manage to look at the world through a very singular lens, over and over.

Romance In The Air: Rewire 2025 Reviewed

Richard Foster needs a sit down after a spell-binding weekend taking in sonic veterans, new pioneers, and a waterborne performance that is like "some absurd clash of Handel, Stockhausen and Jerome K Jerome"

Use Knife

État Coupable

Dark folk, new beat and post-national sensibilities combine in a searing indictment of the violence of the state

Inturist

Tourism

With a broken tape recorder and a flea market mixer, the exiled artist summons ghosts of Cluster and the Clangers

Boba Sopa

That Moment

GW Sok, formerly of The Ex, narrates a cautionary tale by Nicoleta Esinencu with dramaturg Jean Vangeebergen and musician Pavel Tchikov on modular synths

LIVE REPORT: MENT Festival 2025

Richard Foster reports from Ljubljana's MENT Festival, where Lankum, Širom, Laura Agnusdei, Tramhaus, Yalla Miku, Use Knife and many more deliver the goods

Richard Foster on the Art of Punk Rock Birdwatching

Writer/ idler/ photocopyist Richard Foster is about to publish his second auto fiction – The Punk Rock Birdwatching Club – this month. Here he outlines the credo of this pastime. Portraits by Nina Dörner 

The Legendary Pink Dots

So Lonely in Heaven

The increasingly accurately named Anglo-Dutch experimental rock return with yet another one – this one's a brooder set to a set of arrangements that feel strangely comforting, finds Richard Foster

Lewis Spybey

LEWISPYBEY

Members of Wire and Zoviet France unite for a bumptious and oddly beautiful record

Even The Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996 

Reviewing a new Light In The Attic compilation of Ukrainian music, Richard Foster explores how artists were able to find a voice and sense of identity against the strictures of Russian communism

Rubber Oh

SOIL

Of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Sam Grant gets his hands dirty (and his embroidery)

Fat Dog

WOOF

South East London quartet summon a very particular sort of Englishness, finds Richard Foster

Liew Niyomkarn

In all possible places at once

Liew Niyomkarn’s second release for Chinabot, is exactly what its title claims it to be

Shane Latimer

Residuum

Plenty of snap and crackle / not so much pop, on the new album by the Irish electronic producer

Альтернативи: tQ Launches New Voices Ukraine

We'll be spending 2024 showcasing the best of Ukraine's underground in a new collaboration with 20ft Radio, Neformat, the British Council and Ukrainian Institute.

Luka Aron

XV XXVII III XXI IX: Variations & Coda

Despite the austerity of the title, the Stockholm synthesist makes a surprisingly cosy kind of minimalism, finds Richard Foster

One Direction: An Interview With Tramhaus

As they release new single 'Beech', Richard Foster meets mercurial Rotterdam post punks Tramhaus to talk collective desire, strong emotions, the power of connection, and why they're prioritising art over the industry

LIVE REPORT: Rewire Festival 2024

At Rewire in Den Haag, Richard Foster finds a festival aptly-titled, witnessing transformative, earth-altering performances from Mabe Fratti, Sunn O))), Cole Pulice and more

Only Becoming: Ulyap Songs Re-Imagined By Minami Deutsch, Zongamin & More

The latest mix of archival and re-interpreted musics from the Flee Project, Ulyap Songs: Beyond Circassian Tradition, captures the music of the Northern Caucasus without isolating it from the convivial atmosphere it stems from

Jozef Van Wissem

The Night Dwells in the Day

Dutch composer draws contemporary sounds from an ancient string instrument

Struggles With Space: An Interview With Mayssa Jallad

Mayssa Jallad speaks to Richard Foster about her new album inspired by Lebanon’s hotels, their repurposing as instruments of war, and the ever-changing realities of Beirut

Music For A New Society: Use Knife Interviewed

Richard Foster meets Belgian/Iraqi outfit Use Knife to discuss their all-embracing vortex of a sound, anti-violence, the essential link between politics and art, and breaking down barriers

Dinamies In De Stad: An Interview With Lewsberg

Richard Foster meets Rotterdam foursome Lewsberg to discuss their sonic volte face, the changing nature of their home city, playing with the brain and their favourite biscuits

Reissue Of The Week: The Teardrop Explodes’s Culture Bunker 1978-82

Nothing Matters: The Decline Of British Sea Power 20 Years On

Richard Foster revisits Sea Power's debut album and finds a record for the ages; and one that has not lost its mystery

The Trenchcoat Mafia: John Robb’s History Of Goth Reviewed

A new history of all things goth is a labour of love, finds Richard Foster