STILL IN A DREAM - interviews, reviews, podcast + radio appearances, translations + American edition

    

                     Table for one - Still In A Dreams pulsing with an ultravivid glow at Foyles, Charing Cross Rd. 

Snapped by old friend Mark Hudson.

"Life in a Storm of Sound" - the online headline for Tobi Muller's review in the Frankfurter Allgemeine

!NEW!

Very fun chat with Fran and Babs at Overunderrated Podcast

Very nice review by Eamon Sweeney for Arena on RTE Radio 1

Interview with David Eastaugh for the C86 Radio Show podcast –  main site or Spotify

Interview for Rock N Roll Book Club Music Maps podcast 

interview with BBC Radio 6 Huw Stephens 

Lovely long review from Susanne Christensen for the pan-Scandinavian arts magazine Vagant

Essay for Vice's "Self-Destruction" issue - on the oblivion-thru-obliteration aesthetic of narcotic neo-psych bands like Spacemen 3 and other late '80s bliss-rockers. 

Check out Instagram.com/simonreynoldswriter/ for the latest news about the book

IMMINENT

Interview with Robert Quinn / Wasteland Receiver (Resonance FM) - soon

interview with Robin Allender for The Allender Calendar podcast - soon

RECENT AND OLDER COVERAGE

Extract from Still In A Dream at The Wire website - on the dawn of post-rock versus the rise of Britpop, Seefeel versus Pulp...

Great in-depth chat with Luke Clancy for his radio show Culture File

Rock’s Back Pages podcast - great chat with Barney Hoskyns, Jasper Murison-Bowie + William Pike.

Perceptive Observer review (pictured above) ofStill In A Dream by Kitty Empire

Kieran Press-Reynolds chats with  Dad for GQ -  long,  rambling, occasionally goofy colloquy with my firstborn

My Baker's Dozen on reinvention of the guitar at The Quietus - with a YouTube playlist to accompany.

Moonbuilding - lovely review by Neil Mason (scroll down a ways)

Matt Moore at Lost Tempo appraises not just the new book but the entire Reynolds bibliography

Financial Times best books of the summer

Shoegaze Special dreamy ASMR-y session for Zakia's Sewell's Welcome To Dream Time, BBC 6 Music - origially aired June 14

909Originals in depth interview with Stephen Wynne-Jones

Nice review from Ngaire Ruth at Louder Than War 

Record Collector interview and review by David Pollock - current issue

To Here Knows When podcast - excellent chat with Paul McDermott 

Word In Your Ear podcast - fun chat with Mark Ellen and David Hepworth - Word In Your Ear podcast -  the episode with me now available on Apple   and YouTube

Quietus news story by Christian Eede on Still In A Dream, with comments from myself and from the cover designer Henri Holz 

REVIEWS + REACTIONS

- Teddie Jamieson, The Herald, 12 best music books of the year so far...

"An insightful history, mixed with fond memoires of writing for Melody Maker, one of the weekly "inkies" in the UK's exuberantly opinionated music press ― Financial Times, Best Books of the Summer

"Still In A Dream is at once erudite and expansive - it does what the most convincing bands he's writing about managed to pull off: open doors to other worlds" 

- Miloš Hroch, The Wire

"Reynolds proves to be the ideal guide. He builds bridges between British indie, American rock, grunge, and shoegaze, and shows how ideas, bands, and scenes constantly interact. As a result, a period usually fragmented into genres and subcultures acquires a surprising unity. The book demonstrates how alternative music shifted from society to experience. Much of contemporary alternative music still builds upon this. What felt like separate scenes at the time turns out, in retrospect, to be one of the most fruitful periods in the history of alternative music."

- Hester Aalberts, OOR (Netherlands)

"Still in a Dream is Reynolds' clearest attempt to write close to his own life, with attention directed towards his work in the Melody Maker editorial office and the love affair with the American journalist Joy Press, to whom he is now married. This forms the framework for some overarching thoughts about work (what society wants from you) versus art (dreams and desires) and what opportunities existed in the transition between the 1980s and 1990s to escape society's expectations and create alternative worlds that went under the radar of a more utilitarian parent generation.

"One of the best things about Still in a Dream is the many descriptions of the material conditions under which the music – and Reynolds’ own journalism – came into being….  A small gap exists in time where they can create a life outside the demands of society. There is room to dream, and thus the music also sounded floating and yearning….

"Compared to Reynolds’ previous books…. Still in a Dream is a broader account of the connections between the individual and the collective and how cultural currents can wash through us and create oceanic trends…. Reynolds weaves all these stories together and gives a kind of portrait of a moment in time. The stories about being a music journalist in London, and what this community was about, are some of the most interesting things about the book. He takes self-criticism at some points and surprises with his music historical revisionism…. Reynolds is aware that the many journalistic conceptualizations have not always been for the best... In Still in a Dream Reynolds tries to sneak away from the labels. It fits well with the dream theme. He captures some currents under the language, and some melodic textures outside the reach of the official narratives. Maybe it's possible to bathe in the pink mist and still have new experiences." -  Susanne Christensen, Vagant

                                                                    Daniel Avery, Instagram reel

"Was it all a dream? I'm still dizzy, there could be various reasons for that, but a noticeable, sweet whizzing lingers in my body. I've read the new book by one of the most influential music writers of our time: the Englishman Simon Reynolds. Still in a Dream is at times dizzying non-fiction about the most wonderful and dreamy music that was created in the alternative rock era 30–40 years ago. This was among the last events in analog pop culture before the internet changed everything. At that time, alternative expressions could be viable, without having to be explicit resistance work, like today. You also have to dig out old LPs, CDs, seven-inches and maxi singles, not least Youtube videos, to get this music straight into your veins again. Thus, a very inspiring book."

- Audun Vinger, DNHelg

"Although he is mature in his analysis, he nonetheless retains the zeal of an erudite cheerleader. He writes eloquently on the feeling of being overtaken or subsumed by the music, of relinquishing logic in pursuit of inner space . . . to devote a book to a set of wilfully amorphous and hazy bands, many of them long-forgotten outriders, is an act of love, commensurate with the saturated thrum of much of the music" ― Kitty Empire, Observer

“My final verdict is that the book is so readable I want to re-read a few chapters again, just live in all this music and splendor...  A lot of humor and wit, some post-40 wisdom that only comes from looking back…. The mention of REM's Murmur as an American Cocteau Twins (backed up with interviews and writing of the time) is a reminder as to why I enjoy reading Reynolds and loved getting these dispatches; there is new knowledge, new lenses of appreciation.

- WaneLietoc, r/indieheads, Reddit

"Simon Reynolds is the kind of music writer who makes you want to rush out and listen to a hundred bands you have either never heard of or heard of / meant to check out / never got round to. If you dabbled with any of his previous books (Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84 is one of our particular faves) you’ll need little encouragement to make a beeline for this one..... An essential purchase for the muso in your life, Still in a Dream is as entertaining, informative and combative as a night out with your gig going buddies." - Bookmunch

"A masterwork . . . The fascinating thing about Simon Reynolds is that as he gets older and adds more books to his canon, it becomes increasingly fascinating to see where his attention will turn next. Where ever it is you know it's going to be good. After all, you don't get to be the best music journalist working today for no reason" ― Neil Mason, Moonbuilding, Book of the Week

#1 Best Sellerin Punk Music (Amazon.co.uk)

"Through the fug of nostalgic haze, [Reynolds] brings his subjects and their times to crystal-clear life, with plenty of the kind of new, exciting pin-sharp thought we came to adore from the very best of the weekly music press . . . Still in a Dream acts beautifully as a thorough, thoughtful examination of the many featured bands and their music, as an encapsulation of the societies in which they emerged, and as a memoir of the formative years of Reynolds' adult life" -- David Pollock ― Record Collector

"His writing is passionate. . .  it's a thrill ride. If you weren't there, you'll wish you had been" - Uncut

"We know and appreciate the Simon Reynolds authority and formula but, Still in a Dream, is worth more than the value of considered critical conversation . . . not so much a memoir or biography, unravelling the person, but a grand hat tip and bow to the bands and their music . . . In the end, Still in a Dream will be personal for some readers too: triggering stops and starts as you retrieve vinyl, CDs and other memorabilia to revisit with fresh interest" -- Ngaire Ruth ― Louder Than War

"For those of us who lived through the late 80s and early 90s, it’s a bit disconcerting to see this period of music eulogised through multiple articles and books.  But every so often, a ‘must-read’ book emerges from this literary mountain, and Simon Reynolds, ex-Melody Maker journalist, has written a remarkably detailed account of what you might term alternative music....  There are some interesting stories from the perspective of somebody who was definitely there and most likely wore the t-shirt.  It’s one for the music nerds, but it’s written with a real sense of joy.  Even the most ardent student of this period will surely not be familiar with everything here; there’s plenty of scope to learn... It’s an extraordinarily detailed work, nostalgia for a pre-Internet age.  It will be of interest to anybody interested in the music of the period" -  No More Workhorse

"A masterful cultural and social archaeology"- Richard Imrich, Fullmoon

"I've never dropped everything so fast to read a book immediately after receiving my pre-order.... It's a good book. It met my sky-high expectations" - Richard Balmer (Goodreads)

"Long-awaited follow-up to the 2006 classic Rip it Up and Start Again. And by far the best Simon Reynolds has written.... Nearly every band covered in this book I fell in love with; the music, the way they looked and dressed, the music press at the time... the concerts and festivals I attended when these bands were in their pomp. I feel privileged to have been at an age to appreciate everything going on around 84/85/86/87. Reading this I get exactly the same impression that Simon Reynolds had, and this privilege and passion pours off every page. If you were my age around the time period of this book. If you fell in love with any/all of the band's mentioned in this book, then this is a book for you. A perfect accompaniment to his Rip It Up and Start Again. Thank you Simon for bringing back so many memories. Highly recommended." - - Bookends (Amazon.co.uk reviewer)

"Enjoyed this more than Reynolds’ “Rip It Up and Start Again”... Much more personal and sensational than his recounting of Post Punk history. These years clearly have much fondness attached to them from him which makes this a joy to read." - Aaron Hodgetts (Goodreads)

"Reynolds is a great writer. Many visceral, haptic descriptions of music that made me immediately put the book down and look up whatever song he was waxing lyrical about.... I loved hearing Reynolds discuss the critical 'battles' which took place within the independent music zine world (who did Melody Maker think was the future of music, and how did this show that NME's position was retrograde, old hat, soporific?). A lot of this reads like an impassioned plea for the value of criticism. It reminded me of how much I owe my aesthetic taste to those who write about art, who helped me see its value – it's beauty." -  Luke McCarthy (Goodreads)

"Reynolds is one of the sharpest minds in music journalism, and like his other excellent books, this one is no disappointment. Taking a HUGE area of music to cover, he depicts his time writing for Melody Maker in the 80s / 90s and the emerging explosion in indie rock." - Nick Cubs (Goodreads)

ENDORSEMENTS

"Still in a Dream is more than just a celebration of some enduringly wonderful music - it's a great book full stop, Reynolds' best yet. Bringing together the sugar hiccup enthusiasms of his music press youth with the harsh wisdom of his extremely online old age, it covers everything from the sensual sublimity of the Cocteau Twins to Big Black and the genesis of edgelordism, from the little undergrounds of C86 and shoegaze to the pyrrhic overground victories of Grunge and Britpop. It's warm, funny, sometimes startlingly honest, and a very timely reminder that 'withdrawal in disgust is not the same thing as apathy'

- Owen Hatherley, author of Militant Modernism and The Alienation Effect

"Still in a Dream is as important a work of art as any of the records that inspired it. Simon Reynolds's erudition and judgement is at the service of the music he so passionately loves, his words meeting the songs on an equal footing thanks to an innate lack of ego which allows his insights to float amidst the notes in an ether of sonic luminosity

- Tariq Goddard, founder of Repeater Books and author High John the Conqueror

'Much like the melodies of the music itself, this book feels like a story which has been waiting to burst out and shine for an eternity. Every band detail is fascinating but the real joy lies in Reynolds being entirely enraptured by a scene, the tales of someone blissfully caught in the heart of a storm'

- Daniel Avery, deejay and producer

‘The alternative guitar rock of the late 80s was imaginative, expansive, experimental, and ultimately - and perhaps unexpectedly - proved to have a lasting impact on the way pop sounds in the 21st Century. Simon Reynolds was there, filing dispatches from rock's cutting edge: part-memoir of a lost world of music journalism, part critical analysis, Still In A Dream brings an important and exhilarating era vividly to life’

- Alexis Petridis, The Guardian

PLAYLISTS AND FOOTNOTES

Still In A Dream YouTube playlist

Early activity at the Still In A Dream Footnotes blog - The Lost Epigraphs and Lodestar Quotations - with much more to follow in due course

TRANSLATIONS 

German version from Ventil Verlag. November 2026

American translation on Da Capo January 2027

Spanish language version is due from Caja Negra Editora in Argentina. 2027.

Italian version from Minimum Fax.  2027

Turkish version from Ayrinti. 2027

French version from Audimat. 2028

First copy seen in the wild - Waterstones, Hampstead

reading matters 2: keeping it in the Family

Our Kid with a Rabbit Holed about the wacky world of the Young Wikipedians who are frenziedly  writing the second draft of music history.  (The first draft being the journalism that these shadowy aliased individuals cite and source).  Kieran's piece takes you inside the sausage-making process of how decisions get made on what is "real" and who deserves an entry.....

This reminded me of my own peek behind the curtain, when I was tipped off about in camera deliberations on whether hauntology was a real music genre or not: a discussion led, unbelievably, by someone whose Wiki-editor moniker was PhantomSteve, and who steered the cabal towards "consensus is to delete". 

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Over at the sporadic L.S. Trackhead, the mysterious blogger takes a rich 'n' ripe delve through the dense discography of Family. 

First time I ever did hear the group's name was from the lips of a recently acquired friend. Quite a bit older than me, Martin was incredulous - perhaps perturbed, or maybe offended -  that I had never heard of Family. Probably it felt like a whole world that he'd once inhabited as a young man and that was super-important  to him - it was disappearing, thanks to a new generation of ignoramuses indoctrinated to believe unquestioningly that the early '70s had been a virtual wasteland. 

So Martin snorted something scornful along the lines of "only one of the most important U.K. Underground bands of the late '60s,'early 70s'".  This was 1987, though, and I wonder now how could I have come across the name? Family =  surely one of the most spectacular examples of Dropped Away Syndrome, even more so than The Edgar Broughton Band, who in the Eighties still trod the boards and flickered in the corner of your eye as you perused the gig guide with its adverts for upcoming concerts. 

I promptly forgot about Family again until about a year later, when a musician friend made me a cassette, a guide to the lost treasures of the pre-punk era. And there they were: Family, represented by the off-kilter boogie of "Burlesque", which had actually been a modest chart hit I discovered much later (no doubt thanks to Wikipedia). 

I loved it and picked up the parent album Bandstand...  and then a few other records. 

But I never found anything quite as appealing as the hairy-palmed lurch of "Burlesque". Roger Chapman's voice is an acquired taste and especially in its psychedelic-era incarnation on Music In A  Doll's House, the phlegm-y rattle of that juddering vibrato is too pungent for my palate. L.S. Trackhead does write alluringly -  almost aromatically -  about the records, though. Enough to make me entertain another attempt on the urrrrv. 

This got to #4 in the hit parade during that pre-glam lull 

Family decreed not family entertainment, with a concert at the Coliseum banned

This is a period, before glam really takes over completely, when the Underground and pop music overlap....  "Burlesque" is in the charts. So even a teenybopper oriented publication, as New  Musical Express still was then, put artists like Family, Jethro Tull, Curved Air, and Hawkwind on their front cover.

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Another post from "abstract cinema" fan John Coulthart of { feuilleton }, this one pointing to Doodlin', an old documentary that's resurfaced on YouTube about "visual music" pioneer Len Lye. 

Visual Music being a subject I recently posted on at Dreams, Built By Hand - resurfacing a lecture I did at the Tate Modern wouldyafuckinbelieve (a mixed anointing, in the event)

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The Impostume a.k.a. Carl Neville has a really interesting conversation with Claude about the sensory impoverishment of AI.... the way it works with language without any somatic experience of  language's referents.... and the assymetry of the exchange between embodied and disembodied entities that then ensues:

"You can't generate from pure linguistic interpolation, and I can't generate from a body...  I am language without world, talking with someone who has world, and the exchange takes place across that gap."

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Torpedo the Ark's Stephen Alexander has further reflections on the work of Mark Fisher - now turning to the big fat K-punk collection of bloggige, and looking initially at my preface and Darren Ambrose's introduction.

Stephen has just added another post about how, with some of the central writers in K-Punk's Pantheon, he's never read them or doesn't get on with them - and then the mystery of why some books touch us, some writers attract us, and but others don't. (Same here re. some Markfaves:  never read Spinoza, only read about 10 pages of Kafka, and am currently reading for the first time Margaret Atwood (specifically her Fisher-favored Oryx and Crake). (Which is  really absorbing but I'm not quite seeing as yet how it fits the K-punkian vision. Will have to go back to his chapter on it in The Weird and the Eerie, after I've finished the novel).  (I've also never quite seen the Kubrick-worship thing, despite the excellence of specific films. The Shining in particular elicits a big shrug from me. But each to their own god, eh?).

And another K-punk post from Torpedo the Ark, this time on Mark's enduring sense of wonder. 

Earlier in the year, Stephen extended a similarly generous gaze towards Retromania, starting here. I always meant to blog some annotations to his annotations, but the moment escaped me.

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Circling back within the extended family to my own scribblings.... I did a liner note for the Superior Viaduct vinyl reissue of Flipper's debut album Generic Flipper. 

Despite buying the record at the time and playing it a great deal, I had never noticed the running joke of the pharmaceutical packaging until doing the essay....

Here's a review I did of the second album Gone Fishin' in 1987... I think the record had already been out a year or two by this point, but perhaps had only just become available in the U.K. for the first time as a domestic release. Who knows, and who cared - I certainly was not going to miss the opportunity to rave on account of a technicality like the record's release date. 

(Several months after the Flipper review I gushed about Saint Vitus's Born Too Late, unaware that it had come out a couple of years earlier - Reviewed Too Late, more like! . Except it was totally timely, given the massive surge in Sabbath-influence within underground rock.). 

Again, talk about not seeing what is right in front of your eyes, but I never fully clocked that the album packaging is designed so that you can cut out and assemble a cardboard model of Flipper's tour van, along with figures of each band member.  

Yes myopia aside, I was pretty fucking keen on Flipper. On my first visit to America, earlier in '87, I picked up a Flipper T-shirt. Here I am wearing it to that year's Melody Maker Party. 

And here is the T-shirt itself, looking a bit dingy.  I wonder if it is worth anything? 

Alas am no longer skinny enough to wear it. 

Years later I finally saw Flipper in the flesh, when they played New York during the tour for their Def American comeback album American Grafishy. 

x

You know the score

Son vaults ahead of father by joining the select grouping of music critics who have had diss songs aimed at them by aggrieved musicians.  

In this case, the wounded ones rather disingenuously claim that  "this song is about the modern American music critic, not about one single person, and any resemblance between the characters in this video and any persons, living or dead, is their own problem" - oh yeah, pull the other one, you start the video with screenshots of the measly score he gave your record. 

(Funnily enough I rather enjoyed the Callahan & Witscher record Think Differently). 

Still waiting for an inverted-tribute like this to happen to me, although I did get gently piss-took in this Saint Etienne advertisement, which delighted me (although I'd still rather have been in a Saint Et song like Joe Dilworth and Simon Price were)

Here's some new Kieran - a piece for Mixed Feelings on "Rollywood"  - TV soap operas and full-length movies made using Roblox.

more reading matter

Had a fun chat with Lawrence of Mozart Estate / Go-Kart Mozart / Denim / Felt legend, condensed into this pithy Pitchfork Q+A 

Kieran on Kirkslop (it's what you think it is) for GQ

Did a bunch of interviews while in Argentina - this one by Romina Zanellato for Cenital is a good read (and can be easily flipped into English). 

Another one worth a look is Carlos Priego's for Le Tempestad but somewhere between AI doing the transcription and AI doing the translation (I'm guessing but I'd be surprised if wrong), somewhere between those processes and condensation of the conversation for space reasons, the most marvelous error has been generated. For during an explanation of the reasons for writing Retromania, I am said to have uttered these words:  

"I, in particular, had become addicted to U2, listening to all their albums and feeling like I was drowning in the past, so a lot of what I wrote had that feel."

It took me a while to realize what had happened - YouTube has been mis-transcribed as U2.

Except I wouldn't have said I had been addicted to YouTube. 

What I might have said is that I was addicted to downloading albums off blogs. There had been a long unhealthy phase of OCD / manic greed I got caught up in. To this day I have thousands and thousands of never-unzipped, never-played files stowed away….

Reading Matters

A couple of things to read:

Kieran spends a "messy evening" with Bassvictim, whose music is one of the rare things he's alerted me to that I actively enjoy, but who sound rather alarming as an interview experience. 

And then this mega-post from Matthew Ingram at Sick Veg which is not just something else worth reading but a gateway to an enormous number of other things worth reading. 

In the tradition of his 100 Best Records and similar epic sweeping-survey bloggerations at Woebot and its precursor blogs, this is an inventory of non-fiction books that Matt read while researching his trilogy of linked books:  Retreat, The 'S' Word and The Garden.  Organized into categories such as Psychoanalysis, Eastern Philosophy, Self-Sufficiency, Acid, Anti-Psychiatry, Beat, Agriculture, Communes, Permaculture, Anthropology, Tibet....

Actually, inventory is the wrong word: the Sick Veg 100 is the distillate of, or extremely selective selection from, the two thousand  books he read -  the nutter that he is! An obsessive after my own heart, Matt, but with a capacity for research and filtration that far exceeds my own. 

This is one of the handful books on the List that I own - and, naturally, I haven't read it.  

(Theodore Roszak's work is so important to Matt that he actually has his own category in the List.)

My rate of reading has slowed down grievously. I must have at least 400 never-even-opened or started-but-got-only-a-little-way in tomes lying around the house in neglected piles. (And many, many more in naughty PDF or epub form).

Supposedly having lots of unread books is the mark of the true bibliophile (was it Benjamin who said that, or Eco?).  But this seems like an odd way of loving books - not reading them. 

Not counting all the text I consume on the internet, reading seems to occupy a smaller and smaller portion of my waking hours. Which is sad to consider, given that, outside of spending time with beloved people, reading is probably my greatest pleasure - perhaps even more so than listening to music. 

As a child, I could read several books a week. I would burn through the stuff. Such that rereading was a big feature of my life. Certain books, or book series, would get read three or four times. 

What is to blame for the eroded capacity? 

The obvious things: the computer, the phone, the immense amount and range of television and film available in the domestic space nowadays, YouTube...  The kind of everyday places and phases of down time that would once involve reading a book or at least magazine - commuting, using public transport, waiting in a queue or for an appointment - you will now reflexively fill up with phone scrollige. 

The desire to read is there.... but things seem to get in the way.  I'll have four or five books on the go at once, but make tortuous headway with all of them. 

I finished the Gormenghast trilogy - but it took me over a year.

And there's a sense of time running out. 

Which then creates an almost voluptuous feeling of sin when you succumb to the temptation to reread a favorite, knowing all the while that there are thousands and thousands of books out there you should be reading.... hundreds in the house alone, already paid for or otherwise acquired... 

Rereading is never a completely empty, reiterative act of nostalgia - so much that's contained in the beloved book you will have completely forgotten. New details in the text will be noticed for the first time...  fresh perspectives emerge through accumulated life experience or different knowledge... 

Still, it feels deliciously indulgent, a dereliction of duty. 

For instance, I quite fancy picking up Titus Groan again... 

it takes two to tango

Me and Kieran are going to Argentina this week for the 20th anniversary celebrations of Caja Negra, the Buenos Aires publisher who have put out nearly all of the books of mine that have been translated into Spanish. 

Actually it takes four to tango because the panel event we are doing on Saturday November 15 at 7pm at the Deseo Club is a quadraphonic colloquy with Argentinian writers Pablo Schanton and Antonia Kon. 

The event is wittily titled Presentemanía - and you guessed it, Kieran is there to represent the present: the !NOW!-minded younger generation of music critics. I, inevitably, will be there to stand for the past-it cohort. Yes, it's all a bit of a set-up but I shall graciously accept my role as the grizzled old fart in the rocking chair mumbling about Omni Trio and Associates. 

Still, who gets top billing, eh? Eh? 

I have no idea if this lot have any cred in Argentina but I have long loved this tune

On your Marx

A couple of related pieces from Kieran Press-Reynolds:

1/ A sharply observed portrait for GQ of the trio behind the popular left-wing podcast TrueAnon. The show started out with deep descents into the foulness pit of Epstein-Maxwell, but quickly diversified, becoming "an oracle of our hysterical times," K writes. "In an online slopscape dominated by far-right furor and mercenary clipfarming, TrueAnon offers something unusual: carefully researched takes, delivered with humor and genuine empathy." 

I was tickled to learn from the piece that one TrueAnon, Liz Franczak, used to read Blissblog and K-Punk back in the day.

At the unmentionable place, the winning witty comment: "The podcasters have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it"

2/ For his Pitchfork column Rabbit Holed, K delves through the dankness of Marxist brainrot - ultra-left teenage meme-makers battling the "alt-right slop all over TikTok", with a particular focus on the mythos of  "Red Shambhala, the idea of a communist utopia from Tibetan Buddhist lore."

Grassed Up

Here's a funny and sharply observed report by Kieran Press-Reynolds on a  "no phones" event called OFFLINE, the brainchild of  ex-politician / President-wannabe Andrew Yang. People pay through the nose to reconnect briefly with undistracted living-in-the-here-the-now. Cool animated graphic by the team at Rabbit Holed / Pitchfork depicts Kieran and Yang both fondling some Astro-turf.

ran through the jungle (of modern music)

 

Fun piece by Kieran Press-Reynolds looking at oblique strategies for digging up weird music, with a hierarchy of engagements mode from basic to ultra-obscurantist.

I had to look up the word "ran-through" 

"mapping the brainrot continuum"

Hasten to read - while the paywall is relaxed for 24 hours - this fascinating conversation between Kieran Press-Reynolds and Shawn Reynaldo (no relation) for the latter's substack First Floor. Kieran talks about being a Gen Z writer about music + memes + internet subcultures - or as Reynaldo puts it, "mapping the brainrot continuum". 

There's also some glimpses into Press-Reynolds family life. 

E.g. 

"I think I always wanted to be a writer. When I was six, I made my own newspaper. But I also had that teenage rebellion thing where I thought that what my parents did was the lamest thing ever. I’d come home from school and my dad would be playing weird ambient alien sounds, and I’d think, 'I just want to go play Minecraft. Turn this off.' Then my mom would come home and she was exhausted every day from work. Both of my parents were like, 'This is the worst job. Do not follow in our footsteps'."

I must say I don't remember ever saying it was "the worst job", being a critic - after all, it's got a lot of upsides. 

But we did kind of hope he would choose a path that didn't lead to precarity. 

And we really didn't expect him to go down that same path. As a teenager he showed no interest at all. I always thought Kieran would do something involving video. Or invent an app.

But he's joined us in the incredible shrinking field. 

Vaporhaze

"Actively passive, losing-itself-in-the-noise" - new column by Kieran Press-Reynolds steps out of his lane to explore the "dreamy malaise" of "hazy new-gen alt-rock":  bar italia, untitled halo, deer park et al.

Slackerdelia part 3, only this time they don't even have the energy to capitalize their names... 

Slackerdelia part 3? 

Well obviously part 1 is Mercury Rev, Pavement etc. 

But what would part 2 be? 

Chillwave, glo-fi, hypnagogic pop, of course. 

Not the sound of the groups he's writing about particularly, but some of K's evocations of them reminded me of my favorite guitar album of the past 15 years: Suburban Tours by Rangers. 

Also the name of one of the bands, deer park, reminded me of the opening track "Deerfield Village".

I got into this record not long before we moved to LA and I think it somehow prepared me for suburban life in the land of perpetual summer.  Drifting through, dazed by light, mood oddly suspended between anomie and bliss.... 

As I recall, the album is inspired by living in Texas and the newbuilt suburbs, which often have names inspired by the wilderness they've supplanted - hence track titles like "Bear Creek", "Deerfield Village," "Woodland Hills," "Glen Carin."

That integration of wilderness and built-up areas is very LA and something that continues to enchant and unsettle - just the other day heading off to an on-the-early-side dental appointment we saw a mangy looking coyote in someone's driveway. This in a neighbourhood completely built-up with suburban houses, no wilderness or even parks nearby.

An early attempt to connect hypnagogic pop and Southern California while freshly enchanted as a new arrival. 

Then there's the Suburban Tours track "Out Past Curfew" - an allusion to the fact that some  towns in America actually have legal curfews for teenagers. You're not allowed out after sundown. 

Joe Knight has put out a bunch of excellent records since but here he tapped into something really magical-mystical - I bracket Suburban Tours with The Greatest Hit and Up On the Sun. 

Supposedly he drew some sideways inspiration from this song by Rush - not musically but the mise en scene 

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Another recent Rabbit Holed - K reports on SWAGGOTFEST, a 12-hour anarcho-pride parody of a music festival that transcended cringe and captured the sweetest, rawest aspects of the New York DIY scene