STILL IN A DREAM AUTUMN EVENTS - Bratislava! Walthamstow! Bruxelles ! Den Haag! (plus a medley of reviews + reactions) (plus translation news)

! UPCOMING EVENTS! 

Saturday October 3 - NOVOTVAR FESTIVAL, Bratislava, Slovakia

Conversation with Miloš Hroch

Time: 5pm

Location: V-klub

Free and open to the public

Tuesday October 20 - ROCK AND ROLL BOOK CLUB,  Walthamstow, London

Conversation with Daniel Avery + Kitty Empire

Time: 6.30pm

Location: Walthamstow Trade Hall 

Tickets

Wednesday October 21  -  TROPICALL RECORDS, Bruxelles, Belgium

Conversation with Simon Taylor

Time: 7pm

Location: Rue Haute 235, 1000

Friday October 23 -  BORDERKITCHEN, Den Haag, Nederlands 

Conversation with Lee Brackstone 

Time: 8pm

Location: BorderKitchen, Kerkstraat 13 

Tickets

 

!NEWEST!

Rather aptly there is an adapted excerpt from the book about slackers in The Idler, where Still In A Dream is Book of the Week. That's online - meanwhile in the print edition,  Cathi Unsworth reviews it. 

A MEDLEY OF REVIEWS + READER REACTIONS

"A history of the music twinned with an account of the music press that covered it. That slight dip into autobiography spurs grander questions about what the point of music and music criticism is... His statement on what all that work ultimately means is significant to me. Like Harold Bloom or David Thomson – the opinions are less valuable than the sheer enthusiasm with which they are expressed. A brilliant critic has the authority and verve to move you to try something you haven’t heard of before just through the power of their words." - Ilia, Goodreads

"Both eulogy and manifesto, Still in a Dream is an enthralling, nostalgic meditation on formative, lost-in-music moments and an eloquent, enduring argument for an art of bliss and bewilderment" - - Declan Long, ArtReview

"Read it for Reynolds's argumentative vigour and his enthralled immersion in the music he adores"

- 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

"What a fantastic book this is! It is, I think, the finest work by the best living music writer." -  Martin Raybould, Goodreads

"An absolutely sublime lovesong to the era, could read over and over" - Jazmine, Goodreads

“Absolutely loved this one, it took me the whole summer to read it, i simply wanted to take my time and i wished this book would never end! it was so much fun to learn more about the alternative music scene, the artists and the writer himself. i can’t wait to read it again in a few years and fall in love with it again” - Floortje, Goodreads

"A pleasure to read!" -  Iggy Pop Barker, amazon.co.uk

"Despite being 464 pages, it breezed by...  It might be the most brisk, easy read of any of his books, and I enjoyed it immensely" -  Fast and Bulbous blog

"Surprised even myself by how much I enjoyed and devoured this book. Just loved it...  Over 400 pages and I wished it was longer" -      Robert, Goodreads

"I read this in two days flat: that's how much I enjoyed it.... It is more personal than his other books, but without being self-indulgent." - William, Goodreads

"As blissful as the cover, as wondrous as the swathes of music Simon Reynolds goes into detail on.... a glorious celebration of music." - Top10Nathan

“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…"  WaneLietoc, r/indieheads

"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

"A perfect accompaniment to  Rip It Up and Start Again. Thank you Simon for bringing back so many memories"  -- Bookends (Amazon.co.uk reviewer)

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

"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.... A lot of this reads like an impassioned plea for the value of criticism " -  Luke McCarthy (Goodreads)

"A very fun and approachable writer " - Ben Yaxley, Goodreads

"I have never gone to the bookstore and bought a book as fast in my life" -  Jo, Goodreads

"Was incredible and Simon Reynolds definitely succeeded in his explicit aim of giving me a retroactive high through the rich history of rock with memorable chapters on shoegaze and dream pop... great great account of the reinvention of rock through Reynolds’s own meditations on his life and journey as a music journalist" - - Yağmur, Goodreads

"One of the finest music books of the year" - Jonathan Wright, Classic Pop

"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" - Susanne Christensen, Vagant

"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.... 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

"Highly enjoyable blend of memoir, history, anthology. Reynolds never really fails."-  Stagger Lee, Goodreads

"A brilliant, bittersweet chronicle of what happens when six-string romanticism finally hits its sonic end of the road and has nowhere left to go but pure noise."- Ilya Miller, Goodreads

"Reynold's prose is as sharp as ever, and his connections to the milieus and awkward network of slackers is heartfelt and never crosses over into sappy territory." - Maldini Damas, Goodreads

"Although with Energy Flash, Rip it up and Start Again, and Shock and Awe he's set impossibly high standards, this might be his masterpiece" - Ingram, Amazon.co.uk

"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.... Still in a Dream is as entertaining, informative and combative as a night out with your gig going buddies." - Bookmunch

"Simon Reynolds, you have outdone yourself"- James Marples, Instagram

"A masterwork" ― Neil Mason, Moonbuilding, Book of the Week

"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

"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

"Pretty good" - Kieran Press-Reynolds, GQ

EDITIONS IN OTHER LANGUAGES + COUNTRIES

German translation from Ventil Verlag -  December 2026

American publication from Da Capo -  January 12, 2027

Spanish translation from Caja Negra Editora - 2027

Italian translation from Minimum Fax - 2027

Turkish translation from Ayrinti -  2027

French translation from Audimat - 2028

HIGHLIGHTS FROM EARLIER COVERAGE 

In-depth review at London Review of Books by Chal Ravens

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

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

Interview for Rock N Roll Book Club Music Maps podcast 

909Originals interview with Stephen Wynne-Jones

To Here Knows When podcast -  with Paul McDermott 

FURTHER READING + LISTENING + WATCHING

Still In A Dream Footnotes

Chapter by chapter footnotes + bonus material will start going up in February. In the mean time, check out these early posts -  The Lost Epigraphs and Lodestar Quotations - and look out for an Auto-Interview in the next month or so. 

Instagram.com/simonreynoldswriter/ for the latest news 

Baker's Dozen on Reinvention of the Guitar at The Quietus - with a YouTube playlist to accompany

Still In A Dream YouTube playlist

reading matters / music that stutters

Chal Ravens has written a lovely in-depth review of Still In A Dream at London Review of Books

There's even an LRB playlist so you can listen as you read

Kieran Press-Reynolds has a really entertaining survey of the stutter in pop and unpop music, from "K-K-K-Katy" to "Melatonin", 1918 to 2026, over at Pitchfork

There's a playlist for that piece too

I feel like there's loadsa stutter and stammer candidates in ardkore, jungle, 2step...

Perhaps more like the vocal equivalent of facial tics... a Tourettic frenzy

 Also footwork, whose GIF-like properties have been noted...

This is probably my favorite bit of rockpop stuttering -  "b-b-b-b-baby you ain't seen n-n-n-n-nothing yet"

Used to love this song as a kid... it seemed sweetly, somehow innocently saucy... now as an all growned-up listener I dig that plaintive bit of lead guitar like a bird circling way way up high in the sky

Another classic stutter - digitally addled by Butthole Surfers into a Thai pop song - turning an innocent-in-the-original syllable into a dirty word. 

Something I read (about Karin Krog + John Surman's great Electric Element) referenced this track's electronic stutter

BoC now stirring faint memories of juddering vocal tics on My Life In Bush of Ghosts

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There was a really touching story on the World Service yesterday... told by  a woman who has a stutter - stammer, apparently is the more common expression in the U.K. - and as a child went through a lot of anguish, bullying etc - and how, at a particularly low point in her teenage years, when she was feeling suicidal, she heard the Scatman John song, which is all about how he dealt with his own severe stutter, turned it into music,  "if I can do, so can you". It pulled her back from the brink. 

Conversely, while trawling through ancient episodes of Top of the Pops from the peak Bad Music Era - just unbelievable torrential shite that I never even knew existed, because I didn't have a TV for most of the later  Eighties and was out all the time, seeing bands, so rarely saw TOTP -  conversely, there is this horrid (s)hit single by Morris Minor & the Majors 

Still In A Dream - reader reactions... upcoming events.... interviews podcasts etc.... official reviews... translations

REACTIONS FROM READERS WHO DIDN'T GET SENT IT FOR FREE

"Surprised even myself by how much I enjoyed and devoured this book. Just loved it.... What I really appreciate about Simon’s writing is his capacity to trace the lineage of sounds and influences, his thoughtful capacity to put words to ineffable qualities of music....  but perhaps moreso, his ability to see into the ethos of the time, place and people who were making the music. His sense of how the cultural aesthetic and music philosophy and politics are all boiled into the indie music is just fabulous, and I found myself often amazed at how he was capturing feelings of an era that I felt true, but had never articulated. I love this ability to see how the potent fresh music of a culture are a direct manifestation of that moment’s gestalt....  I thank Simon for such a labour of love and such a delightful insight....  Over 400 pages and I wished it was longer....  If you love this era of music, read this book. So, so satisfying.

-          -  Robert, Goodreads

"As blissful as the cover, as wondrous as the swathes of music Simon Reynolds goes into detail on, Still In A Dream is every bit as essential reading as Rip It Up And Start Again. I have literally dozens of recommendations to go through over the coming months; this is a glorious celebration of music." - Top10 Nathan 

“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

"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)

"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)

"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)

UPCOMING EVENTS

end of September - Novotvar, Bratislava, Slovakia 

October 20th / Rock and Roll Book Club, Walthamstow

October 23 / Borderkitchen, The Hague, Nederlands

more to be confirmed

!NEW INTERVIEWS!

Very fun chat with Fran and Babs at Overunderrated Podcast

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

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

excerpt in The Idler

EARLIER 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...

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. 

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 

                    Daniel Avery, Instagram reel

- 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

"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

"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

                     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

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

STILL IN A DREAM OUT TOMORROW!!!!! Details of UK Tour, media appearances, 50 Lost Treasures zine, translations, advance praise...

Check out my Instagram Instagram.com/simonreynoldswriter/ for the latest news about Still In A Dream

NEW Baker's Dozen on reinvention of the guitar at The Quietus

STILL IN A DREAM UK TOUR JUNE 15-20

Monday 15 - London - Rough Trade East 

Location: Old Truman Brewery 91, Brick Ln, London E1 6QL 

Time: doors open 7pm, event starts 8pm on dot

Conversation with Miki Berenyi (Lush / author Fingers Crossed)

Followed by audience Q+A and book signing. 

Get tickets here

Tuesday 16 - Bath - Roseberry Road Studios

Location: 25 - 28 Roseberry Road, Bath, Somerset, BA2 3DX 

Time: doors open 7pm

Conversation with Jonathan Wright (journalist and Groovy Times co-founder)

Followed by audience Q+A, book signing and a DJ set from Dave Howell

Get tickets here

Wednesday 17 - Bristol -  Strange Brew

Location: Strange Brew, 10-12 Fairfax St, Bristol BS1 3DB 

Time: 6pm

Conversation with Darran McLaughlin (Bookhaus)

Followed by audience Q+A and book signing (books courtesy Bookhaus).

Get tickets here

  

Thursday 18 - London  - IMCP The Long Play Sessions,

Location: The Venue, ICMP (Queens Park Campus), NW6 6PA 

Time: 7pm 

Conversation with Rudy Tambala (A.R. Kane)

Followed by audience Q+A and book signing

Get tickets here

Friday 19 - Leeds - Waterstones 

Location: 93-97 Albion St, Leeds LS1 5AP 

Time: 7pm

In conversation with David Hesmondhalgh (Leeds University / author Why Music Matters)

Followed by audience Q+A and book signing.  

Get tickets here

Saturday 20 - Brighton - Resident

Location: 27 - 28 Kensington Gardens, North Laine, Brighton, BN1 4AL 

Time: doors open 6.15 pm, event starts 6.45 on dot

Conversation with Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins / Bella Union) 

Followed by audience Q+A and book signing  

Get tickets here

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, PODCASTS, AND OTHER MEDIA APPEARANCES, PLUS  ARTICLES BY ME RELATED TO THE BOOK

Baker's Dozen on reinvention of the guitar at The Quietus

Shoegaze Special for Zakia's Sewell's Welcome To Dream Time, BBC 6 Music - June 14 10pm-midnight on 6 Music

Very nice review from Ngaire Ruth at Louder Than War 

Baker's Dozen on reinvention of the guitar at The Quietus

Rock's Back Pages podcast (imminent)

Excerpt from Still In A Dream at The Wire website (imminent)

interview with Robert Quinn / Wasteland Receiver (Resonance FM) (imminent)

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. (imminent)

To Here Knows When podcast - excellent chat with Paul McDermott 

Word In Your Ear podcast - a really fun conversation 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 

Still In A Dream YouTube playlist

                                                    

UK edition published June 18 by White Rabbit Books - pre-order. US edition Jan 2027.

FIFTY LOST TREASURES bonus zine

For the U.K. only, the Record Store Special Edition comes with a limited-edition fanzine, Fifty Lost Treasures dedicated to "lost treasure from the lost generation", artists not covered or only glancingly mentioned in the book.  

You can get it here at Gnostic Sonics or here at Resident or here at Stranger Than Paradise or here at Norman Records

TRANSLATIONS

German version from Ventil Verlag. November 2026

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

French version from Audimat. Date TBA.

Italian version from Minimum Fax.  Date TBA.

Turkish version from Ayrinti. Date TBA

PRAISE FOR STILL IN A DREAM

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

"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