Spark

The Translator

Free Improvisation

PUBLISHED Oct 24, 2011

What is it? Free improvisation is music made spontaneously without regard to an underlying structure. It's also code for "pretentious made-...

The Year Punk Broke

PUBLISHED Sep 26, 2011

In 1991, Mötley Crüe released a cover of Sex Pistols' anthem "Anarchy in the UK." Such an atrocity inspired Sonic Youth to proclaim 1991 as...

The Translator

Twee

PUBLISHED Sep 26, 2011

What is it? Twee is a branch of indie pop said to have originated from NME's beloved C86 compilation. Bands favour a DIY aesthetic, jangly...

The Legacy of the Real Frequency

PUBLISHED Aug 22, 2011

Given the deluge of online mixtapes, loyalty to an old-fashioned, painstakingly curated terrestrial radio show is charmingly anachronistic....

Secrets of Central Asia

PUBLISHED Aug 22, 2011

The Secret Museum Of Mankind series was a beguiling series of folk music from around the world compiled by Yazoo Records during the 1990s....

The Translator

Screw

PUBLISHED Aug 22, 2011

WHAT IS IT? Also know as chopped and screwed, slowed not throw and chopped not slooped, screw was fathered in late '80, early '90s Houston,...

Murray, Dear

PUBLISHED Jul 24, 2011

At just 91 pages, many would argue that The Dears: Lost in the Plot, Lorraine Carpenter's new book about Montreal indie-rockers, is a littl...

The Translator

Kosmische

PUBLISHED Jul 24, 2011

What is it? First in vogue in the '70s alongside Krautrock, kosmische musik strayed away heavier, psych-rock leanings and zeroed in on ambi...