Punk
Charlie Bertsch / 31 May 2023
The Better 1990s
Bettie Serveert’s Palomine
As I stumbled into the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot, the world outside the window painfully bright, I suddenly heard the voice of Bettie Serveert’s Carol van Dijk in my head: “Down under lock and key/There’s a brain tag to every secret”. I just couldn’t figure out why.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 17 May 2023
The Great Revolt
Cease & Resist – Sonic Subversion & Anarcho Punk In The UK 1979-86
Cease & Resist - Sonic Subversion & Anarcho Punk In The UK 1979-86 takes us back to the heyday of anarcho-punk when DIY values were inextricably bound up with political statements.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 05 May 2023
The Long 1980s
Molchat Doma in America
When Belorussian dark wave band Molchat Doma began to play their viral TikTok hit Судно at their recent Tucson, Arizona show, I looked out over the tightly packed crowd filling the floor in front of me and was struck by how happy and how diverse it was, from race to age to fashion.(...)
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 / 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 / 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.(...)
Oliver Sheppard / 28 Nov 2022
Unfinished Business
A Brief Moment in the Sun, by Soulside
That the first song on Soulside's new LP ends with a sample from a 1952 American civil defence film Duck and Cover, about a nuclear apocalypse, says it all.(...)
John Foster / 25 Nov 2022
Think Different
Culture from the Slums, by Jeff Hayton
Based on the flurry of academic titles about it over the last decade, punk has become as common to college curriculums as it is to the Top 40. Why this took so long is baffling.(...)