Reissue of the Week
Live Album of the Week: Cabaret Voltaire’s But What Time Is It Really?
Derek Walmsley revels in a late-period concert document that addresses and answers the age old issues about live electronic music
Reviews
Quiet Light
Blue Angel Sparkling Silver Angel 2
From Texas, Riya Mahesh moves from impressionistic vignettes to pop precision on her True Panther debut
Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: James Bailey on The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
In this month's subscriber essay, Spark biographer James Bailey explores her bleak masterpiece of a life's descent into an "anguished shriek of bloody despair", making comparisons with "giallo horror at its grisliest".
Baker's Dozen
The Ultimate Statement: John Robb’s Favourite Singles
The sharp-dressed man of letters and music takes us through his life in 13 tracks, from formative punk singles to the epicentre of Acid House, via encounters with Steve Albini, The Stone Roses, a pre-fame Fontaines and more
Reviews
Review Columns
Folk
Radical Traditional: Folk Music for Spring, by Patrick Clarke
From lap steels gaining sentience to a rethinking of the folk compilation, via wax cylinder kantele ghosts, the return of a dub-folk favourite and a confluence of ancient ceremonial song and left-field techno, Patrick Clarke's guide to the artists pushing the boundaries of traditional music returns
Baker’s Dozen
Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives
Subscriber Playlists
A Quietus Interview
A Particular Beauty: Irmin Schmidt Interviewed
From a childhood obsessed with art to the electroacoustic, treated piano work of new album Requiem via Can's "school of pain", the German composer reflects on a life well lived. And for top tier tQ subscribers, an exclusive playlist on all streaming platforms of his finest solo work
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Low Culture Essay
Low Culture Essay: James Bailey on The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
In this month's subscriber essay, Spark biographer James Bailey explores her bleak masterpiece of a life's descent into an "anguished shriek of bloody despair", making comparisons with "giallo horror at its grisliest".
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News
Anniversary
The Vanishing Twin: Tricky’s Nearly God turns 30
In the mid-90s Tricky was the future of music. Toby Manning looks back to his second album and asks, What Happened?
The Portal
Explore 15 Years Of Cultural Wayfinding
Each week we conjure up a miscellany of tQ writing from the mists of time for you. Most often random. Sometimes themed. Always enthralling.
Explore The Portal
Anniversary
The World That Glitters: Diamonds And Pearls By Prince Revisited
Diamonds And Pearls may have been the first Prince album to feature The New Power Generation but it also marked the period where he began falling from critical favour. It is, however, an album that has aged extremely well, argues Lesley Chow. [NB: This feature was written before Prince's untimely death earlier this year]
Culture
Books
Portraits of the Artist: Künstlerromane in an Age of Uncertainty
From Goethe to Novalis, nineteenth-century novels about artists offered stories about self-invention and self-discovery, but what happens to the artist-protagonist in an age where no-one any longer feels in control of their own destiny? Gabrielle Sicam looks to recent books by Anika Jade Levy, Brandon Taylor and Stephanie Wambugu
Books
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Ben Cardew on The Pivotal Role of Stereolab’s ‘Super-Electric’
Ben Cardew's new book, Space Age Batchelor Pad Music: The Story Of Stereolab In 20 Songs, recounts the tale of Stereolab in 20 songs that represent certain vital aspects of the band’s make up (from romance, to collage and repetition). In this extract, he looks at the idea of 'propulsion', as it relates to ‘Super-Electric’, the title track of the band’s second EP
