Orbital Glastonbury 94 was the UK’s Daft Punk at Coachella moment
If Daft Punk’s 2006 Coachella concert was the moment that the great American public was introduced to live electronic music, then Orbital’s 1994 Glastonbury...
“I gave you my heart but not my fire” - an interview with Sébastien Tellier
Sébastien Tellier is preposterous. And I mean that as the highest praise. The singer, originally from Le Plessis-Bouchard on the outskirts of Paris, has been...
“I put my weapons to the floor” - an interview with Colleen
23 years after the release of her first studio album, Colleen continues to delight and surprise. Libres antes del Final, her tenth studio album, was inspired...
Disco for funerals - PiL’s Metal Box and the grim power of freedom
What’s the greatest British disco album? With all respect to Heatwave and Hot Chocolate, the troubling answer might be Metal Box, Public Image Ltd.’s second...
Le Patron Est Devenu Fou! - Super Discount at 30
It seems oddly, ineffably French that one of the best albums of the French Touch era isn’t really an album at all. Or not in the way that we commonly think...
Not Daft, not Punk - Best of the French Touch underground, from 1995 to 2000
It sometimes feels as if Daft Punk have swallowed the French Touch whole, as if the entire generation of electronic music made in France between 1995 and...
“It's never not funny” - an interview with Matmos
Every time a new Matmos album is released, I think what unbelievable fun it must be to actually be in Matmos. Consider it: the loving couple of M. C....
“Things are ever more mysterious” - an interview with Call Super
Who was the best DJ at Primavera Sound 2026? Most people I asked said Call Super. Which didn’t really surprise me because Call Super, aka Joseph Richmond...
Officially, the dance music songs of the 90 are…
The Portuguese have saudade - a deep state of yearning for absent people, places or things. I have the 90s. Not quite the same thing, I realise. But I do...
“I am an anti-loop person” - an interview with Dimitri From Paris
I have history with Dimitri From Paris. It’s just that he didn’t know it. When I arrived in Paris, in August 1997, I bought myself a cheap CD player and...
Pop subversion, robbing cowboys and Greek mythology - Nancy Sinatra in excelsis
The Sinatra name will forever be associated with the musical mainstream, snugly tied to big-band jazz, Vegas casino shows and comfy classics. But if Frank...
Do you even like pop music? - Nile Rodgers and Chic live and alive in Barcelona
There’s a playlist on Apple Music called “Inspired by Chic”. It might as well be called “breathes oxygen”, I thought to myself, as I wandered down to...
The Future Sound of London will gloriously expand your mind - Part Two
Welcome to part two of my guide to those Far-Out Son of Lungs, the Future Sound of London. In part one, published last week, I took you through Stakker...
The Future Sound of London will gloriously expand your mind - Part One
If you're going to choose a name as showy as The Future Sound of London, then you’re going to have to work for it. Luckily FSOL, the British electronic duo...
Five songs that prove that My Bloody Valentine were electronic music pioneers
Read anything about My Bloody Valentine and inevitably it will go on about guitars: glide guitars, drone guitars, sludge guitars, tremolo guitars, detuned...
Pau Cristòful, from the Primavera Sound booking team, names his must-see acts
Primavera Sound in Barcelona starts today, with the first of the Ciutat concerts. I am going and I hope you are too. I asked Pau Cristòful, from the...
A Remarc of obsession - saluting the Amen king
Much great music is the result of obsession. It might be obsessive love, obsessive hate or just that obsessive desire to keep on doing what you are doing...
Of course you shouldn’t actually READ them - some thoughts on reviews
Do you read your reviews? Should you read your reviews? You definitely shouldn't. And yet of course you do. I have been thinking about this a lot recently on...
“John Denver’s got some bangers” - an interview with Sully
Remember when jungle was fun? Norwich producer Sully does and that is one of the reasons why he is among the best artists in the modern-day jungle game. Of...
“Humbleness is important” - an interview with Olof Dreijer
Were you slightly intimidated by The Knife? I know I was. I loved - and continue to love - their music but the duo of Olof and Karin Dreijer always seemed...
