Pulp, Scritti Politti and caroline are set to play special gigs at the London venue this July

Rough Trade will mark 50 years of operations this summer with a weekend of special one-off concerts at London’s Southbank Centre.

Pulp will play the venue’s Royal Festival Hall on 18 July, presenting last year’s More LP in full alongside past material from their back catalogue. Scritti Politti will also play two shows – a matinee at 3pm, followed by an evening set at 8pm – on the same day at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The following day, caroline will play a show in the Queen Elizabeth Hall with support from My New Band Believe. Jarvis Cocker will introduce Ken Loach’s classic 1969 film Kes in the…

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The Scottish duo’s long-time label has shared a social media post featuring images of the posters in different locations around the world

Speculation around the return of Boards Of Canada has been further intensified by the presence of a number of mysterious posters in different worldwide locations, with Warp Records sharing a social media post showing said posters.

Reddit users have been documenting the presence of the posters over the past week, which have been spotted in different locations in London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York and other cities. The creepy visuals depict ghostly figures, such as a woman and a child, with entirely white eyes. They also feature a hexagon shape in the bottom right corner, linking them to the hexagon…

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Julian Cope, David Lynch, standing stones, forest fires and the sound of nature come up as the drone metal titans discuss their love of long walks. Cover photograph by Greg Anderson

SunnO))) are a drone metal band from Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of America. Founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley, over the last quarter of a century they have tended to release records via the former’s Southern Lord label. After deciding to record their first new album in seven years, they looked to a new label, Sub Pop to release it and they booked a studio on the outskirts of Seattle surrounded by forests.

The setting had a strong influence on the music. Taking the unusual…

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From lap steels gaining sentience to a rethinking of the folk compilation, via wax cylinder kantele ghosts, the return of a dub-folk favourite and a confluence of ancient ceremonial song and left-field techno, Patrick Clarke’s guide to the artists pushing the boundaries of traditional music returns

Henry Birdsey

Though I reserve the right to take all this back in the graphene-slim chance that I am ever nominated for anything, I am sceptical about awards. One of my favourite things about writing for The Quietus is not needing to give stars or marks out of 10 to what I’m writing about, allowing me to explore music in broader terms than how ‘good’ it is. I’ve always seen our albums of the year charts,…

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My New Band Believe

My New Band Believe

Formerly of Black Midi, Cameron Picton goes all acoustic, but there’s no shortage of ideas on the thrilling debut from his latest project

My New Band Believe by My New Band Believe

Whilst former bandmate Geordie Greep surged straight into an obvious solo career, just months after the breakup of Black Midi, Cameron Picton took some time out of the game to take stock. He’d spent the first years of his adult life touring the world, and the result was some kind of cocktail of disenfranchisement and exhaustion. With no urge to jump into another musical project – solo or otherwise – with its myriad of tours and album cycles, he opted to take some time…

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Richard Foster explores wildly different iterations of sound at this year’s Rewire in Den Haag, where he witnesses Xiu Xiu, Sumac and Moor Mother, Caterina Barbieri and many more

Sumac and Moor Mother, photo by Esmée de Vette

Two small speakers, suspended from the ceiling by a wire, face outwards through the opened honeycomb windows of Den Haag’s former American Embassy. They emit a ceaseless, chattering drone. A few feet below them on the paved expanse of the Lange Voorhout, people gather to talk or saunter about; walking between government appointments, or to another café. Two utterly opposite worlds brought together, whether they like it or not, by the machinations of Rewire Festival. 

Rewire is adept at staging wildly different iterations of sound….

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In his second column in what’s shaping up to be another great year for metal, Kez Whelan rounds up all things good and heavy, from At The Gates’ triumphant swansong to the glorious return of sludge legends Moloch

Instar Sling

Here we are, barely two columns in to 2026, and I’m already overwhelmed. I feel like I say “this has been a great year for metal” so often it’s in danger of becoming a catchphrase, but I mean, have you seen the release schedule for the next couple of months? It’s ridiculous! I haven’t got over that last Converge album yet, and they’ve already announced another for June – time will tell if it takes a more atmospheric direction compared to the…

The post Columnus Metallicus: Heavy Metal for April Reviewed by Kez Whelan appeared first on The Quietus.

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Squarepusher

Kammerkonzert

Thomas Jenkinson’s new album is an absolutely flagrant showcase for his ear and skill for composition, jazz and harmony, all while completely subverting any rules of these devices

Kammerkonzert by Squarepusher

Kammerkonzert translates into English as ‘chamber concert’, typically compositions performed by a small number of players. But how small is small? In this case, it’s just one hugely impressive performer – Squarepusher himself, who oversees every aspect of this wonderfully multi-faceted production.

Real name Thomas Jenkinson, Squarepusher has returned with his first album since 2024’s Dostrotime. However, Kammerkonzert is a stark departure. Drill’n’bass has been replaced with multi-layered compositions of jazz-cum-IDM-cum-orchestral essences. Currently it’s impossible to not relate the word ‘chamber’ to the triggering buzzterm ‘echo-chamber’, but in a time of complacent…

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Matthew Horton hails a concise manifesto of pop written by Green Gartside just before reaching his full potential

“I find the Scritti Politti syndrome absolutely hysterical,” said Duran Duran’s fedora-topped bassist John Taylor, reviewing the singles for Melody Maker in September 1982. “All these… radical Rough Trade bands suddenly deciding they want to be pop stars. They seem to have everything right but the songs. They have no perfect pop writers.” Taylor could speak with commercial authority at least, but the tell was he’d heard about Scritti Politti and their scheme to invade and master pop. Green’s new doctrine had spread in mere months.

Only in May, Green had laid out his starry ambitions to Lynden Barber, again in Melody Maker. “I…

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Melvins & Napalm Death

Savage Imperial Death March

Washington sludge merchants join forces with marauding blast beat progenitors to produce an album of big licks and a dash of silliness

Savage Imperial Death March by Melvins, Napalm Death

Something is in the water. Mark Z. Danielewski’s 2025 opus Tom’s Crossing follows two teenagers who steal a pair of horses and ride into the fictional Isatch mountain range of Utah. Boyhood, David Keenan’s latest novel, features a scene in which four purloined horses are fed acid and raced through the midnight streets of Glasgow. And a third act of equine larceny now takes place during the unholy Melvins/Napalm Death alliance – Savage Imperial Death March.

Setting off at a gallop, with King Buzzo ripping stoner rock…

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