Charlie Bertsch / 22 Dec 2021
Hip-Hop Spring
Jolfa, by Alexie Ivanovich
People often speak of a need to express themselves in music. But few in the West contend with the difficulties that face Iranian hip-hop artist Alexie Ivanovich.(...)
Music
Charlie Bertsch / 08 Dec 2021
Rock Without Workers
Dignity of Labour, by The Ex
While The Ex’s post-punk has enjoyed several revivals since their 1980 debut, it always felt too fresh to be a forebear. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 25 Nov 2021
Past and Present
Pip Blom’s Welcome Break
Although it’s easy to list Pip Blom’s forebears, especially the Riot Grrl-inflected pop of the 1990s, their second album Welcome Break still sounds like it was made from scratch. (...)
Steven Rubio / 22 Nov 2021
Music is Underrated
Listening for the Future, by Charlie Bertsch
Charlie Bertsch begins the illuminating introduction to his new book Listening for the Future by posing a question: “What do we ask of popular music?” (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 10 Nov 2021
Pandemic Expressionism
Sonic Hauntology: Subterranean Internationale, by Raz Mesinai
Sonic Hauntology, Raz Mesinai's new album of field recordings for The Battleground, pushes that peculiar genre in exciting new directions. (...)
The Battleground / 23 Oct 2021
Don’t Call it World Beat
The Charlie Bertsch Interview, Part II
Culture is never foreign. The more distant it seems, the more we find that it ultimately looks or sounds familiar. (...)
John Foster / 15 Oct 2021
More Than a Nostalgia Exercise
Two Books About Punk and Politics
Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term as America’s president in November 1984.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 13 Oct 2021
The Sixties Are Forever
Where The Wild Purple Iris Grows, by Wild Billy Childish & CTMF
Since his early days with the Pop Rivets in the late 1970s, Billy Childish's music has been remarkably consistent.(...)
The Battleground / 08 Oct 2021
Music Opens Your Mind
Listening for the Future: The Charlie Bertsch Interview
In the 1960s, they called it consciousness-raising. The idea was that popular music is about social change.(...)