METAL Magazine • 15th May 2020

Tony Njoku Is Building A New Sense of Identity | Metal Magazine

Tony Njoku’s new album plucks our most delicate emotions and paints a rainbow with them. The British-Nigerian artist is known for his sonic fusions and experimental tendencies, but Your Psyche's Rainbow Panorama is his most formidable work yet. Building on 2018 H.P.A.C.’s exploration of masculinity, he scripts an immersive vista circling black-British identity, the fragility of manhood and the nuances of the psyche.

Youth Music - Supporting life-changing music-making • 15th May 2020

Youth Music Awards 2019 - an uplifting evening from a charity inspiring change

The first ever edition of the Youth Music Awards, in association with Hal Leonard Europe, took place last week (Wednesday 16 October 2019) at Battersea Arts Centre in South London, as part of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of Youth Music. The evening featured an array of live performances within the venue’s Grand Hall, and 12 awards categories, all celebrating the diverse talent and achievements of Youth Music stars and leaders across the country. An inspiring energy and the power of youth collaborating was present throughout the night.

Academy of Music and Sound • 24th April 2020

8 great films about music to stream in isolation

What strange times we find ourselves in. At least we’re learning a lot… Including about how boring isolation can get sometimes, how much TV it’s actually possible to binge at once, and just how much fun snacking really is. To help beat the boredom, we’ve pulled together a list of 8 great films about music for you to stream in isolation. Music can be an amazing escape, but sometimes you just need to chill out and settle into a great, comforting, insightful, heart-warming, or just downright entertaining flick…

METAL Magazine • 2nd December 2019

Looking back on the future with The Shanghai Restoration Project | Metal Magazine

Dave Liang and Sun Yunfan are retro-futuristic artists and a formidable duo. In fusing traditional music forms and retro themes with futuristic and dystopian concepts, Brooklyn-based duo Shanghai Restoration Project creates a melodic, contemplative soundscape containing elements of folk, choral music, electronica, and even hip-hop, that enthral and beguile. Their work hums with both the strain of the past and a longing buzz for the future.

METAL Magazine • 16th September 2019

Infinite Sonic Wisdoms with Aïsha Devi | Metal Magazine

Aïsha Devi is not the pop star you want her to be. Since flirting with the pop persona earlier in life, the electronic music producer has turned inward, focusing on the collective, healing power of rave. She now calls herself a “hijacker” of the system. The Danse Noire label boss has been contesting society’s structures through this medium, and she re-adopted her birth name in a defiant move to forget her past.

Manchester Wire • 21st August 2019

Manchester clubs guide for August 2019 ft. Peach, Leon Vynehall + more

Manchester clubs for August gets rounded up. Even as summer reaches the end of the road, Manchester’s divine club nights (and days) mean you have no excuse not to make the most of the last few weeks of whatever sunshine there might be left. With Pride parties galore and a big Bank Holiday Weekend, we recommend you keep the party going until Summer finally fades away.

Crack Magazine • 21st August 2019

Fast Forward Productions to release compilation album in aid of refugees

Copenhagen DIY collective Fast Forward Productions are releasing a compilation album in aid of incarcerated refugees and asylum seekers living in poor conditions in refugee camps across Denmark. Nine artists including Schacke, Sugar and Repro have contributed tracks to the digital album, set for release on 2 September. DJ Ibon, Rune Bagge, Ezy, Funeral Future and Lund&Rønde also feature.

Crack Magazine • 20th August 2019

Oneohtrix Point Never is scoring the new Safdie Brothers film 'Uncut Gems'

Oneohtrix Point Never (aka Daniel Lopatin) is working on the soundtrack for the Safdie Brothers’ upcoming film Uncut Gems. Starring Adam Sandler, The Weeknd, Lakeith Stanfield, Idina Menzel and the NBA’s Kevin Garnett, the film is “an electrifying crime thriller about Howard Ratner (Sandler), a charismatic New York City jeweller always on the lookout for the next big score.”

Crack Magazine • 19th August 2019

Youth Club Archive are building the UK's first Museum of Youth Culture

The team behind the site are building the UK’s first Museum of Youth Culture. Having collected photographs, clothing and rave ephemera over the years, the online archive has now launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a permanent Museum of Youth Culture in London – designed to be a free education space with a darkroom and gallery. The plan is to launch the museum next year, in 2020.

Crack Magazine • 10th August 2019

6 books you need to read this month

In our August instalment, we turn our hand to a different type of club culture – the niche world of the online book club. If, like us, you’re looking for a distraction whilst travelling to work in a human sweatbox, then you’ve come to the right stop. Whilst you’re still learning to cope with the heat, perhaps indulge in Lydia Lunch’s visceral revenge fantasies, or the musical history of UK cities. Alternatively, just fan yourselves with the pages. Either way, these are the books you’ll want to be seen with.

Crack Magazine • 8th August 2019

Houghton Festival cancelled due to extreme weather warnings

The organisers behind Houghton Festival announced on Facebook this morning (8 August) that the event has been cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. In the post, the team explain that weather conditions “dramatically worsened” overnight and are set to “deteriorate further into the weekend.” Houghton was due to take place this weekend, on 8-12 August, at Houghton Hall in Norfolk.

Crack Magazine • 7th August 2019

Allen Hughes to direct new documentary series about Afeni and Tupac Shakur

Seminal filmmaker Allen Hughes is working on a new five-part series for FX Networks called Outlaw: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur. FX Networks confirmed the project yesterday (6 August). The series will focus on Tupac and his mother Afeni Shakur’s relationship but also promises to recount Afeni’s activism.

Crack Magazine • 6th August 2019

Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate and 'Beloved' author, has died aged 88

The author, known for her works Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye and Beloved, has passed away. Morrison’s publisher Knopf confirmed in a statement today (6 August) that the writer died on Monday (5 August) at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. Her cause of death has not been disclosed.

Crack Magazine • 2nd August 2019

Oval Space and The Pickle Factory implement plastic-free initiative

The two clubs become the UK’s first to eradicate single-use plastic. London dance venues Oval Space and The Pickle Factory are going plastic-free with immediate effect. As part of their new initiative Oval Green, the two spaces will no longer serve drinks via single-use plastic bottles and cups. Launched on 31 July, the initiative reflects the clubs’ attempt to go “completely green”.

Crack Magazine • 1st August 2019

Behind Drag Syndrome: The performers with Down's syndrome expanding the art of drag culture

Since forming a year and a half ago in the basement of an avant-garde club in east London, Drag Syndrome – the UK’s first Down’s syndrome drag night – has exponentially grown to become a team of artists who are currently zigzagging across the world as part of the organisation’s first global tour.

Crack Magazine • 1st August 2019

Blood Orange scores new Lena Waithe film 'Queen and Slim'

The former Crack Magazine cover star announced the news yesterday (31 July) and shared a short clip from the film. Dubbed as the “modern day Bonnie and Clyde” Queen and Slim stars Get Out‘s Daniel Kaluuya alongside Jodie Turner-Smith as two young lovers who become unlikely fugitives after witnessing a shooting. It’s set to be the latest body of work from Blood Orange since his Angel’s Pulse mixtape, released in July.

Crack Magazine • 26th July 2019

Jeremy Deller's new rave documentary airs next week

The Turner Prize-winner explores the political context of the rave scene from 1984-1993 in a new film. Jeremy Deller’s documentary Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1993 will be shown on BBC Four next Friday (2 August). The film, which came out in 2018, has previously only been screened at film festivals and on select platforms.

Crack Magazine • 25th July 2019

Pop Kultur Berlin unveils live acts and speakers including Mykki Blanco and Anna Calvi

Berlin festival reveals a line-up of music and talks focused on inclusiveness. Pop Kultur Festival in Berlin has announced a full line-up for 2019 which includes guests speakers and panel discussions in addition to live acts. Mercury Prize-nominated Anna Calvi, America duo CocoRosie and Swedish singer Jenny Wilson are among the performers announced.

Crack Magazine • 23rd July 2019

Elena Colombi launches new label Osàre! Editions

London based DJ and promoter Elena Colombi will launch her new label Osàre! Editions in September. The first record released by the label comes from Free Range – a collaboration between CGI Records’ Matt Weiner and Lithuanian producer Ernestas Sadau and will be titled King of Snake. It promises to mix “lovingly sludgy” DIY electronic sounds with new wave influences, and includes the track Relax It’s Just Eggs which is out now.

Crack Magazine • 17th July 2019

Madlib and Freddie Gibbs are releasing 'Bandana' on vinyl

Madlib and Freddie Gibbs will be releasing their second collaborative album, Bandana on vinyl on 26 July. The special edition release of the LP will be exclusively released by Berlin-based retailer HHV and is limited to 1,000 copies. This exclusive variant of the 16-track recording will be pressed onto white vinyl, and like the original edition, features artwork from long-time collaborator of Madlib, Jeff Jank.