In the '80s and '90s, these spaces birthed dance icons, genres and subcultures. Why do so few remain? madison moore charts their decline and lifelong impact. In the scholar E. Patrick Johnson's 2021 essay Remember the Time: Black Queer Nightlife in the South, he recalled the fading age in question with fairy-tale enchantment: "Once upon [...]
The one-off event will include conversations, workshops, listening experiences, and a gallery tour celebrating queerness Honey Dijon is set to curate a special one-off exhibition at London’s Tate Modern gallery next week as part of LGBTQIA+ History Month. The one-night event will take place on Friday, 27th February and will include conversations, workshops, listening [...]
While nightclub attendance is on the decline, interest in dance music is “not declining” — with unlicensed events growing by 34% last year Free parties now account for 15% of all electronic music programming across the UK, according to the latest annual report from the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA). The fourth Electronic Music Report was published [...]
A near-endless array of dance music documentaries have been released in recent years, but what makes one work? Is it an impressive cast of interviewees? Exclusive anecdotes? A clever use of archive footage? Top needle drops? The human story at its heart? Here, Wrongtom looks at some examples to work out what qualities can [...]
tripmagazine.jpg A new book reproduces every issue of the seminal Florida rave magazine, Trip Magazine, spotlighting an overlooked chapter in dance music history. The kids down in Florida had a massively outsized role in the evolution of the American rave scene. While everyone had heard of and many were catalyzed by the Storm [...]
Thirty years into this thing we do, and I’m still hearing the same tired argument: electronic music isn’t political; it’s just escapism, just hedonism, just 4/4 music and ravers preaching PLUR in dark rooms. If I had a quid for every time someone’s tried to tell me (or I see it as a comment [...]
The ticketing and event management platform announced a sale to Bending Spoons, notable for their acquisition of declining apps and platforms. Yet another alternative to TicketMaster and Live Nation’s dominance of the ticketing field is changing ownership. Ticketing and event platform Eventbrite is being sold to an Italian company that specializes in acquiring distressed brands, according [...]
Look, we know. Another piece about phones ruining club culture. The think pieces have been written, the surveys conducted, the hot takes delivered. But here’s the thing: most of that conversation has been happening in the abstract, with commentators theorising about what might be happening while the actual architects of nightlife, the people building [...]
The meagre financial returns of streaming for artists has been a point of controversy since its inception. Now substantial investments in AI weaponry are causing musicians, labels, and consumers to further question their relationship with streaming giant Spotify When Michail Stangl learned about Spotify CEO Daniel Ek's initial €100m investment in Helsing — a German company specialising in [...]
With 15,000 flyers from the golden age of UK rave and acid house in his possession, and countless others from around the world stored on the Phatmedia website he’s run since 1998, collector Dave Nicholson has built an essential archive of dance music’s visual history. His new book on Velocity Press, UK Rave Flyers 1988–1989, [...]