Charlie Bertsch / 23 Mar 2023
All About the Heimat
Music as Politics in 1980s Germany
Teenagers were milling about. Bright colours shot off the portable mirror ball. The DJ stepped up to his console to cue the first track.(...)
Music
Charlie Bertsch / 15 Mar 2023
Socialist Realism Done Right
Sleaford Mods’ UK Grim
If the UK had gone in a different direction over the past decade, if its leaders had remembered the people who slaved to make it great, Sleaford Mods might have become one of those novelty acts that disappear from view after a song or two.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 22 Feb 2023
After Music
Through Mazes Running, by Drew Daniel and John Wiese
Through Mazes Running, the new collaboration between Drew Daniel (Matmos, The Soft Pink Truth) and John Wiese (Sissy Spacek), toes the line between pleasure and pain with great dexterity.(...)
The Battleground / 20 Feb 2023
Retro World
The Battleground’s Spring Books List
Protests and war belong together. Not because they reflect each other but because conflict stirs the pot. Not just about itself but everything else.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 08 Feb 2023
Resisting the Status Quo
Catalogue’s Modern Delusion
Marseille trio Catalogue’s new album Modern Delusion demonstrates why we need music criticism more than ever.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 25 Jan 2023
The Dub Perspective
Rob Smith’s Jungle Archive Collection 1 and 2
How can we think about music historically without turning it into a museum piece, a beautiful butterfly impaled on a pin? Bristol legend Rob Smith’s new Jungle Archive Collection 1 and Jungle Archive Collection 2 pose this question forcefully.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 11 Jan 2023
Distance is Relative
TLM Presents…Vol.2: To Be Discontinued
Thirsty Leaves Music’s new compilation TLM Presents. . .Vol.2: To Be Discontinued makes for invigorating listening. Although most tracks incline towards ambient electronica, there’s enough rhythmic grit to distinguish them from soundscapes that refuse to provide a foreground.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 21 Dec 2022
Sonic Reporting
Everywhere But There, by Joel Schalit
Battleground editor Joel Schalit’s new album Everywhere But There forcefully demonstrates the need for a new kind of political reporting, one which presents the world as it actually is instead of distorting it in the pursuit of profit.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 07 Dec 2022
Music for Drone Wars
Web of Lies/Death Won’t Even Satisfy, by AMMO
On their debut full-length Web of Lies/Death Won’t Even Satisfy, AMMO reminds us that hardcore punk can embrace more musical diversity than we tend to think.(...)
John Foster / 02 Dec 2022
From Punk to Rojava
The Adrestia Interview
Adrestia are one of the most important hardcore bands in Sweden today.(...)