The Lovebird’s Throat.

Clara Engel talks about the meaning behind her music, her feelings of transcendence whilst making it and how she feels labels put on artists are redundant.

“I am queer, but my gender and the genders of the people I’ve dated doesn’t affect my art nearly as much as what I’ve read and listened to, for example. Gender identity and sexuality is a curious way to categorize art if you really think about it.”

October 6, 2013.

Daniel Vais writes about the inspiration for the ‘To Russian LGBT – with love’ event, a collaboration between Dalston Superstore, Culture Device and the Queer Archives.

“When other communities in other countries are in need it feels to me like my own community is in need. It’s a duty to organize this event, an honor, and that’s why I want people to join. It is an opportunity to unite in solidarity, to help and support.”

[rating=4]
Released September 6, 2013
The thirteenth and final studio album from giants Ministry returns to a distortion and sample soaked hard industrial metal.

“With its buried melodic undertones, ‘Lesson Unlearned’ should have been the lead single from the album; a track like this would have given people a strong and strange taste of the final Ministry record.”

[rating=5]
Released April 5, 2013
As Is, from The Sulkies, is truly a treat, mixing incendiary queer politics with a raw, primitive industrial sound.

“The Sulkies’ debut album is a masterpiece; a noisy, punk-influenced manifesto raising the middle finger to homophobes, sexists, and anybody who stands in the way of the individual. “

[rating=4]
Released September 23, 2013
Generation Club expands on the minimalist style Love Inks established on their debut, E.S.P., but adopts warmer tones than its predecessor.

“The method in which the band have recorded, and its unpolished sound, allows this album to sound as intimate as the relationships they sing of. Generation Club has the texture of an echo, gently reverberating again and again until its message is heard.”

[rating=2]
47:22 min • Universal • September 16, 2013
Loud Like Love witnesses Placebo stuck in their own groove. Yet what principally lets the album down is its lyrics.

“From a man who has written some of the most twisted and heart-wrenching songs about love such as ‘Taste In Men’ or ‘My Sweet Prince’, a song such as ‘Exit Wounds’ sadly feels underdeveloped and disenchanting.”

[rating=4]
49:10 min • YOY • September 9, 2013
VV Brown has returned with 11 angry, desolate and soulful songs set against a unsettling, uncompromising soundtrack. It is a startling reinvention indeed.

“Samson & Delilah never goes too far, gets too crazy or attention seeking. The measured and meticulous tone and pacing of this album is a very large part of its success.”

[rating=5]
Released September 15, 2013
Nick Brewer’s Flat 10 is an intense, 7 track EP, a collection of chilled-out rap with a message..

“‘Every word that Brewer says on this EP comes from his heart, and is said to make a change – whether it just be to one person or people at large, and that I have a lot of respect for.”

[rating=5]
Released September 16, 2013
Ketevan traces Melua’s steps back to her earlier work and there is an effortless fusion of pop, jazz, rock and blues.

“Ketevan takes Melua back to the peerless blueprint of her previous albums, incorporating contemporary songwriting, the distinctive Mike Batt production and the hallmark sincere, layered and compassionate vibrato Melua vocal.”

September 25, 2013

Celebrate 40 years of Mastermind and those very specific topics. Polari Safari cartoon by David Shenton.