The team behind the event said they’ve had public funding cut after supporting student-led protests against the government earlier this year

This year’s edition of EXIT Festival will be its last in Serbia.

The festival confirmed the news yesterday (June 12) via Instagram, citing “financial and political pressures” as the reasons for the decision. These pressures, the team behind the event said, have arisen after they supported student-led protests against the government earlier this year.

“Public funding has been completely cut at all levels,” EXIT’s organisers said. “Under fierce government pressure, even some long-time sponsors were forced to end their cooperation.”

Festival director Dušan Kovačević added: “This is the hardest decision in our 25-year history, but we believe that freedom has no price. With…

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source https://thequietus.com/news/exit-festival-to-leave-serbia-after-2025-due-to-financial-and-political-pressures/

Skintone Edition Volume 1 is out on August 1

Seven albums by the revered Japanese ambient and techno music producer Susumu Yokota are to be reissued in a vinyl box set this August.

Skintone Edition Volume 1 features remastered versions of the albums Magic Thread (1998), Image 1983-1998 (1998), Sakura (1999), Grinning Cat (2001), Will (2001), The Boy And The Tree (2002) and Laputa (2003). It features 84 tracks by the late artist in total, and will also be released digitally and in a seven-CD box set.

“Yokota’s music evolved far too quickly for us to grasp at the time,” Gavin O’Shea, founder of the Lo Recordings label that is putting the set out, said. “Now, as we look back, we can fully…

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The legendary funk musician was best known as the leader of Sly And The Family Stone

Photo via WikiMedia Comms

The pioneering singer, songwriter and funk musician Sly Stone has died, at the age of 82.

His cause of death was given as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), while he also had other health issues. In a statement, Stone’s family said: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone.

“After a prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues, Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family. While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical…

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source https://thequietus.com/news/sly-stone-has-died-aged-82/

Moin and Bassvictim are among the final acts to be added to the bill

Photo by Jake Davis

London festival RALLY has shared the final list of acts playing its 2025 edition this August.

The Southwark Park event will newly host live sets from Moin, Bassvictim and AMORE, while DJs FAUZIA, OK Williams and Sophie McAlister have also joined the bill.

They join the previously announced likes of Floating Points, Geordie Greep, Astrid Sonne, CASISDEAD, Ben UFO, MIKE, Porridge Radio and others on the lineup for the festival. The lineup is co-curated by NTS, London sister festival GALA and promoter Bird On The Wire.

RALLY will take place on August 23, 2025. Find more information here.
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The new version updates the lyrics from the original track to include words that the Trump administration flagged to cancel grant projects and research proposals

Photo by Vice Cooler

Kim Gordon has shared a new version of ‘Bye Bye’, the lead track from her 2024 album, The Collective.

The new version, titled ‘Bye Bye 25!’, has been positioned as a protest song against US President Donald Trump and his administration. The lyrics have been updated to swap out some of the original words – a packing list for a trip – for words that the current administration has flagged to cancel grant projects and research proposals.

In a statement, Gordon said: “[Producer] Justin Raisen had this idea to redo ‘Bye Bye’ starting…

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source https://thequietus.com/news/kim-gordon-reworks-bye-bye-as-trump-protest-song/

Reflecting on the life of Douglas McCarthy, who died this week, Tim Burrows writes that he was a man whose art and hypnotic stage presence was forged in the tough, working class Essex attitude of the 70s and 80s

Douglas McCarthy by Polly Tootal

It always felt as if Douglas McCarthy had unfinished business with Essex. Though the Nitzer Ebb frontman spent his later years in Los Angeles, once he found out I was writing a book about the county, he seemed almost hell bent on telling me his story of growing up there. Those stories almost became a guiding light for my writing. It was the place that shaped him – I cannot separate Douglas from Barking, Canvey Island or Chelmsford, and…

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source https://thequietus.com/news/remember-them/douglas-mccarthy-nitzer-ebb-obituary-essex/

Rock remix projects are typically inconsistent, says JR Moores. The Cure’s latest foray into the format is a mixed bag, with the most successful moments those which somewhat stifle Robert Smith’s sadness

There’s no denying that Songs Of A Lost World was a monumental latter-day triumph. But let’s be honest for a minute: how many times have you re-listened to it since its release in November 2024? Be honest now and take into account how morbid it was, even by the standards of The Cure. For 50 minutes, Robert Smith told us again and again that one day he was going to die. Also, that one day you are going to die. And that everyone you know is going to die….

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source https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/reissue-of-the-week/mixes-of-a-lost-world-the-cure-review/

In this month’s antidote to the algorithm, Francis Buseko takes us back to mid-70s Zambia and the radical sounds of artists like WITCH, pictured below, who blew the minds of his parents’ generation

WITCH in the mid-70s (credit: Partisan)

In the 70s, as many African nations were working to define themselves beyond the weight of colonial oppression, a country in the heart of the continent was crafting its own revolution – not just politically, but sonically too. Zambia, newly independent, landlocked, and learning to stand on its own, gave birth to a music that cracked the air like lightning.

Zamrock wasn’t just music, it was rebellion; a sonic renaissance and a radical act of self-definition, funneled through fuzz pedals, sweat, and spirit….

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Mary Halvorson

About Ghosts

The New England guitarist beefs up her ensemble for a stunning suite of modern jazz instrumentals

About Ghosts by Mary Halvorson

The strength of the guitar in jazz is its ability to do many things. With a less defined role than the piano or a brass instrument, it can push and pull compositions in a multitude of directions. It can provide a driving bluesy undercurrent or subtly colour a track with gentle finger picking, and a great deal in between. On About Ghosts, American guitarist, bandleader and restless experimentalist Mary Halvorson leans into her instrument’s versatility within jazz ensemble playing.

Opener ‘Full of Neon’ kicks things off in fine style with its strident percussion and bass work underpinning wandering improvisation from…

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source https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/mary-halvorson-about-ghosts-review/

We Are Nothing / All Night is out now on Phantasy

Tom Rowlands, otherwise known as one-half of The Chemical Brothers, has released a new double-single via Phantasy.

We Are Nothing / All Night marks Rowlands’ first solo release of club music since 2013, with the first of the two cuts sampling Canadian poet Bill Bissett. The second of the two tracks, ‘All Night’, lifts the tempo and centres around broken beats.

Rowlands’ previous work outside of The Chemical Brothers saw him score an eight-part drama series on Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. He’s set to DJ at Glastonbury’s Stonebridge Bar on June 27.

Listen to both new tracks below.

We Are Nothing / All Night is out now on Phantasy.

We Are Nothing / All…

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