Even by modern Mercury Prize standards that's a pretty dull list
Patrick Clarke
@paddyclarke.bsky.social
Deputy Editor and folk music columnist at The Quietus // my book Bedsit Land: The Strange Worlds Of Soft Cell is out now // Jacques Cousteau could never get this low
My grand theory of morris has developed a lot since i wrote this last summer in the midst of *quite an untethered moment in my personal life* - but I remain quite proud of this feature
ambush site picnic train attack@picnictrain.bsky.social · 7d agoCan't believe it's been 11 months since I did a search for "morris dancing", unless I somehow missed this gem:
Can't believe it's been 11 months since I did a search for "morris dancing", unless I somehow missed this gem:
Patrick Clarke@paddyclarke.bsky.social · 12mo agoFor @thequietus.com today, I wrote an essay about why we should stop scoffing about morris dancing, and instead view it as something radical, transgressive, and powerful enough to completely alter one's brain
It’s very enjoyable that the first ever literary reference to Morris dancing is a Puritan booklet kicking off at how saucy and gay it is “WHAT GREATER ENTISEMENT UNTO NAUGHTINESS COULD HAVE BEEN DEVISED?!”
Apologies for the lukewarm take but for research I’m reading full-on history books for the first time in ages and Hobsbawm really is just consistently great gear
Very excited to spy that 6Music are re-broadcasting Linton Kwesi Johnson's incredible 10-part reggae history doc from the 1980s over the next month www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
BBC Radio 6 Music - 6 Music Stories, From Mento to Lovers' Rock - Episode 1
Documentary series about Jamaican popular music with Linton Kwesi Johnson.
bbc.co.uk
There are a few experimental English folk releases coming out later this year that are streets ahead of everything else this current scene has yet produced. I think we're really approaching an exciting tipping point
Loved editing @manueky.bsky.social's Tricky BD, particularly the bit where he imagines that he wrote Astral Weeks for his mum before a tangent into rabbiting with his grandad
The Quietus@thequietus.com · 2w agoAs he releases new album Different When It’s Silent and prepares for a set at this year’s Green Man, Tricky takes Manu Ekanayake through his life in 13 songs There’s Nothing Like It: #Tricky’s Favourite Songs buff.ly/bzg34te
what is it about greek salad that makes me feel like i've had a nibbles worth of pingers where other salads simply do not
A crowdfunder has been launched to help Oxbow and Bunuel frontman, martial artist, author and podcaster Eugene S. Robinson raise €45,000 to help towards his treatment, rehabilitation, and living expenses following a stroke earlier this month Further details and donation link here: buff.ly/pfSjoDJ
nothing brings me joy like seeing someone in the British Library reading rooms get bollocked for using a pen
Dunno how I've been sleeping on Exuma all these years
Dambala
YouTube video by Exuma - Topic
youtube.com
The amount of treat your hair loss / play football to lose weight you fat fuck adverts I’m getting served now I’ve hit my 30s is deeply depressing
Sicilian trio Nuhara speak to Patrick Clarke about how the discovery that a member's grandfather had been recorded by Alan Lomax led to a deep dive into the island's traditional worksongs Root and Branch: An Interview with Nuhara buff.ly/8vmNqEH
Interviewed my favourite band of 2026, Nuhara, who are doing the most amazing stuff with Sicilian worksongs. I would love you to read it.
Root and Branch: An Interview with Nuhara
Sicilian trio Nuhara have produced one of the best albums of the year in their debut, Rama. They speak to Patrick Clarke about how the discovery that a member's grandfather had been recorded by Alan L...
thequietus.com
This is a superb piece about a brilliant album. The Trovarobato label is worth investigating, the recent So Beast album, in a rather different vein (alternative/experimental pop featuring a collab with Agathe Max) is really nice too.
Patrick Clarke@paddyclarke.bsky.social · 4w agoInterviewed my favourite band of 2026, Nuhara, who are doing the most amazing stuff with Sicilian worksongs. I would love you to read it.
Interviewed my favourite band of 2026, Nuhara, who are doing the most amazing stuff with Sicilian worksongs. I would love you to read it.
Root and Branch: An Interview with Nuhara
Sicilian trio Nuhara have produced one of the best albums of the year in their debut, Rama. They speak to Patrick Clarke about how the discovery that a member's grandfather had been recorded by Alan L...
thequietus.com
'Dry Cleaning as a foursome have never felt so closely intertwined, nor as broad in their capabilities as they do on Secret Love.' #DryCleaning - Secret Love is at No 19 in tQ's Albums Of The Year So Far Chart @normanrecords.com @4ad.com buff.ly/uaZatLA
Just got off the phone with Anna Lomax Wood (daughter of Alan Lomax) for what was supposed to be a quick fact check, but ended up a one to one half-hour lecture on how the rhythms of smithing work have permeated music from the Bronze age onwards. This is the shit I live for.
Sound the trumpets! The Quietus Top 100 Albums of the Year so far chart is here! But who is number one? And – dare I ask – how many have you heard? Link in bio.
Lad in The Armed t-shirt sat next to me on Merseyrail trying to get a sneak peek at next week’s Quietus cassettes column, I’m onto you
Why does everything in the inbox today sound like that band Menomena
Loving these attempts at synthetic speech / music from the early 70s using surrealist poetry. I think it's the only thing that makes sense any more. deathisnot.bandcamp.com/album/synthe...
Synthesized Voices, by Charles Dodge
12 track album
deathisnot.bandcamp.com
I love the Incredible String Band so much it's not even funny. Just felt the need to say that today.
