David Stubbs
David Stubbs began working life at Melody Maker, joining the staff in 1987, where he wrote the Talk Talk Talk column, creating the "Mr Agreeable" character. He subsequently joined NME and Uncut, and later The Wire magazine. His work regularly appears in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, When Saturday Comes and The Quietus.
He is the author of several books including a song-by-song analysis of the work of Jimi Hendrix and Fear Of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen. He also contributed to No Regrets, the recent anthology of essays on Scott Walker. His Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany was published in 2014 and Mars by 1980: The Story of Electronic Music in 2018.
David Stubbs on the RBP podcast
244 articles
List of articles in the library
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 2 August 1986
THE LITTLE audience gathers. Fred Frith, veteran ferryman between rock and the avant-garde has rolled up to perform a few odd jobs in the improvisation ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 16 August 1986
GWEN GUTHRIE, currently burning 'em up with 'Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent' explains to David Stubbs the genesis of 'Fly Girl' ...
Fields Of The Nephilim: Shoot It Up: Fields of the Nephilim
Profile and Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 13 September 1986
THE FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM – hardly a moniker you can shoot from the hip. They wear Stetsons and describe their music as "Spaghetti Metal!" ...
Full Force, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam: Full Force/Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 1 November 1986
MAY THE FARCE BE WITH YOU ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 28 February 1987
STUMPTHE BAND THAT REACHES THE PARTS OTHER BANDS WOULDN'T WANT TO REACH STUMPA NOISE YOU THOUGHT WOULD NEVER GET SIGNED TO A MAJOR STUMPDAVID STUBBS DOES SOME ...
Janet Jackson: Complete Control
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 21 March 1987
"WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, I USED TO TALK TO THE ANIMALS... THEY'RE GOOD LISTENERS, AND I ALWAYS FELT THEY UNDERSTOOD." SO SAYS JANET JACKSON, IN ...
T La Rock: Lyrical King (Fresh Records)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 30 May 1987
IT'S MR T (La Rock)! ...
The Lounge Lizards: No Pain For Cakes (Antilles)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 30 May 1987
AT THE ICA last year, I was disappointed by the Lounge Lizards. The pianist's fringe, the languid horns, the bath of cigarette smoke, I could ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 6 June 1987
Good lads and all that but are Go West any more than the sum of pop's mediocrity? David Stubbs takes a gander ...
Special Feature by Simon Reynolds, David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 20 June 1987
B-BOYS, Yo-Boys, listen up good, cos a new sound's rappin' up the neighbourhood! Yo, it's the Maker's very own rappin' post-structuralist, the chin-scratchin' semiotician about to ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Paid In Full (4th & Broadway/Island)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 12 September 1987
AFTER GO-GO'S burial come murmurs of the death of hip hop. Has it seized up? Why has the string of rap egos and attendant DJs ...
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 10 October 1987
The Funk Absurd ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Bought and Sould
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 14 November 1987
WITH A HIT ALBUM AND THE TOP 30 SINGLE, 'PAID IN FULL', ERIC B & RAKIM HAVE FINALLY FOUND SUCCESS WITH THEIR UNCOMPROMISING BRAND OF ...
The Young Gods: The Immaculate Inferno
Profile and Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 18 December 1987
THE YOUNG GODS produced the most incendiary music of 1987. They are rock's real unforgettable fire, a new flame on the horizon. David Stubbs flew ...
Loop, Pussy Galore: Mean Fiddler, Harlesden, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 23 January 1988
FASTER PUSSYCATS KILL KILL KILL ...
Prefab Sprout: All The Way To Memphis
Report and Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 30 January 1988
THE BEARD HAS gone. Yes, squeamish sartorial onlookers will be relieved to note that Paddy's shrubbery has been shorn, that his shapely chin now positively ...
Megadeth: So Far, So Good... So What! (Capitol)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 5 March 1988
THE DEATH MACHINE ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 12 March 1988
SO THIS is where all the funk went. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have triumphed in a medium I thought you could only blunder in ...
Pere Ubu: The Tenement Commandments
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 19 March 1988
BEAMING BACK FROM HIS ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE, DAVID THOMAS LEADS PERE UBU'S MANIC WALTZ INTO THE DANGER ZONE. DAVID STUBBS TRACKS DOWN THE REFORMED AND REVITALISED ...
Morrissey: The Last Of England: Morrissey: Viva Hate (HMV)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 19 March 1988
FOR TOO LONG, a faction around here feels, the fey, blithe Morrissey has been allowed to saunter through pop history unchecked, fawned upon even — ...
Butthole Surfers: Swamp Things
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 2 April 1988
THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS ARE THE MONSTER SOUND OF THE EIGHTIES, A SWELLING CULT WHO PULL THEM IN IN DROVES AND HAVE TO TURN AWAY JUST ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 9 April 1988
DAVID STUBBS MEETS MANTRONIX TO DISCUSS VOICES IN THE MACHINERY, STROBE FLASH, THE DECLINE OF HIP HOP, THE TRIUMPH OF ELECTRO-FUNK... AND SUNDIALS. ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 1 October 1988
Harry Crews are an all-woman band featuring Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch. They're destined to "combust after the next three days". But ...
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 15 October 1988
THE LORD'S PRAYER ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: Brixton Academy
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 24 December 1988
FOR TOO LONG, this was the doldrums, the Reid brothers meandering through the dry ice as if it were a miserable February fog in Brechin. ...
Throwing Muses: Daughters Of The Fatherland
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 28 January 1989
THEIR HUNKPAPA ALBUM IS WIDELY REGARDED AS THEIR MOST ACCESSIBLE YET. THEY'RE SOON TO TOUR BRITAIN WITH THE SUNDAYS. THEIR CARD TRICKS ARE CRAP. DAVID ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 11 February 1989
ABOUT TO TOUR BRITAIN WITH LIVING COLOUR AS SUPPORT, ANTHRAX TELL DAVID STUBBS HOW THEY PLAN TO BE AS BIG AS U2 WITHOUT SELLING THEIR ...
Prince, Wendy And Lisa: Wendy & Lisa: Sisters Of The Revolution
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 4 March 1989
PRINCE'S FORMER SIDEKICKS, WHOSE NEW SINGLE,'ARE YOU MY MAYBE' IS SELDOM OFF THE MAKER TURNTABLE, THIS WEEK RELEASE THEIR SECOND ALBUM, LAYERED AND IMPOSSIBLY RICH ...
Bobby Brown: Goodbye Cruel World
Report and Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 10 June 1989
THE ALL-SINGING, ALL-DANCING WUNDERKIND IS CURRENTLY THE FASTEST RISING STAR IN AMERICA WITH HIS DEBUT ALBUM DON'T BE CRUEL. AT ONLY 20 HE IS SET ...
De La Soul: The D.A.I.S.Y. Chain Gang
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 10 June 1989
DAVID STUBBS FLEW TO NEW YORK TO MEET THE TRIO WHO'RE RADICALLY CHANGING THE IMAGE OF THE RAPPER AND WHOSE DEBUT ALBUM, 3 FEET HIGH ...
The Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (Capitol)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 29 July 1989
COCKS OF THE WALK ...
The Human League: Romantic Antics
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 15 September 1990
THE HUMAN LEAGUE are back among us, more serious than ever, not for a last gasp, but completely reinvigorated and rewired – after what ...
My Bloody Valentine: All Hail the Future!
Profile and Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 26 January 1991
For three years, the Valentines were accused of being Mary Chain rip-offs, but the Top 40 hit Glider EP scotched that and now bands like ...
The KLF: Pranks for the Memory
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 16 February 1991
They can't help having hits, they can't come to terms with fame and they can't keep out of trouble! DAVID STUBBS witnesses THE KLF's dawn ...
Julian Joseph, Sun Ra: Sun Ra, Julian Joseph: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 21 September 1991
HAVING accelerated towards a state of whiteout in the late Sixties with the antics of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra, a state beyond ...
Obituary by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 12 October 1991
JAZZ TRUMPETER Miles Davis, who died last week in Santa Monica, was a 20th century genius on a par with Picasso in that he was ...
Curve: The Bend Of The World As We Know It
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 14 March 1992
Their single 'Faît Accompli' is storming the Top 20, their debut album's waiting to make a bigger splash and even John Lydon likes them. Is ...
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 1 August 1992
"I DON'T have a driving ambition to be famous myself but I think the songs would eat me alive if I didn't let them go." ...
Report by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 10 October 1992
Fiddling with their jockstraps, lacing up their boots, THE SHAMEN face the Gooners at Highbury and come away with a 0-0 draw. DAVID STUBBS joins ...
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 15 May 1993
BEETHOVEN WAS indeed deaf. And, Lord, upon looking at the CD panel and realising that after a full prison stretch of maudlin warbling that there ...
Frank Zappa, The Mothers Of Invention: Frank Zappa RIP
Obituary by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 18 December 1993
FRANK ZAPPA, who died last week at the age of 52, has long been regarded as one of the most important figures in rock, a ...
Aphex Twin: 'Phex And Drugs And Rock'N'Roll
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 12 March 1994
APHEX TWIN is the first superstar of ambient, the crossover King of innovative pop. Which is why Seefeel, Saint Etienne, The Boo Radleys, Curve, hell, ...
Nirvana: Kurt Cobain: I Hate Myself And I Want To Die
Obituary by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 16 April 1994
AND SO, to quote his mother, the only person who appears to have been actively concerned about his well-being in the last few days of ...
Massive Attack, Martina Topley-Bird, Tricky: Tricky & Martina: Slack Magic
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 14 May 1994
Remember Massive Attack's languid, smoky, shuffling, bluesy 'Unfinished Sympathy'? Former MA maverick TRICKY has done it again, with the languid, smoky, etc, etc 'Ponderosa'. DAVID ...
Prince: And The Bland Played On: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 18 March 1995
THIS could be bad. Why? ...
Oasis: What's The Story (Morning Glory) (Creation CD C-CRE189P 12tks/50mins/FP)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 30 September 1995
TALE ENDING?After effortlessly conquering all our hearts with their singles-stacked, stellar debut, Oasis now face the K2 of their career, that difficult second album. Question ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 7 October 1995
GARBAGE, the band formed by Nirvana producer Butch Vig, are like a black cloud looming over the fluorescent landscape of current pop and their current ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 23 December 1995
Forget Blur vs Oasis — this was PULP's year. Two Number Two singles, a Number One album, triumphant festival appearances, the MM hacks' LP and ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages audio, 1996
The R.E.M. guitarist talks about the songs and artists that meant most to him, from Moon River to the Ramones and beyond.
File format: mp3; file size: 29.9mb, interview length: 32' 37" sound quality: ***
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 27 January 1996
For 25 years, DAVID TOOP has been writing about making music that breaches all musical boundaries. Now he's compiled a CD that sets out to ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 10 May 1996
Jarvis Cocker predicts big things for them. Rock'n'roll bible The Independent called them Britain's best new band. Clearly, the dizzyingly eclectic MOLOKO can't fail ...
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 22 June 1996
BECK is back. But is the slacker guru's new opus a celebration of eclectic musical styles or just an aimless shambles? ...
Lewis Taylor: Jazz Cafe, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 14 September 1996
OH DEAR. Mick Talbot's here. Perhaps as an innocent punter, perhaps as an Emissary from Pope Paul Weller. My only fleeting concern with "white soul ...
Moby: Animal Rights (Mute 12 tks/54 mins)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 21 September 1996
MOBY WAS responsible for 'Go', not just one of the few techno/pop crossover hits to endure in the affections of non-dance aficionados but also one ...
DJ Shadow: The Penumbra of the Beast
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 26 October 1996
The way Portishead took dance into uncharted territories in 1994, the way Tricky took chances in 1995, so DJ SHADOW is pushing back the envelope ...
The Fugees: Ready Or What?: The Fugees: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 2 November 1996
THREE NUMBERS. Over some 40 minutes prior to the encore, that's all they manage to play. Three numbers in full. And two of them are ...
Daft Punk: Plastique Fantastique
Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 29 March 1997
It's taken a while, but mainstream America is finally welcoming dance music with open aims. Now they're going crazy over the Chemicals and are poised ...
Jimi Hendrix: Jim Hendrix: Reissues
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 1997
Higher than the sun ...
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 1997
Tommy and Quodrophenia were louder and longer, but the psychedelic pop irony of this 1967 album remains Pete Townshend's masterpiece ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 1997
YELLO HAVE been into electronica since their inception in 1980, when only the most wilfully avant-garde dabbled in synthesisers for any purpose other than the ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Various Reissues
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 1997
A LOT of claims are being made for Yoko Ono. That those first albums she made with Lennon in the late Sixties weren't the random ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 1997
THIS IS Lydon's first solo album, recorded before and after the calamitous reunion of The Sex Pistols. You'd have thought his cup of derision would ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 1997
Junior Delgado: Dance A Dub (Big Cat); Augustus Pablo: Augustus Pablo Presents DJs From 70s-80s (Big Cat) ...
Puff Daddy and The Family: No Way Out (Arista 17 tks/78 mins)
Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 2 August 1997
THE ART OF FLATULENCE The single, you'll know. It's the sound of the Police. PUFF DADDY's album is here, and to be honest, it's the ...
Spice Girls: The Spice Girls: The Notorious Zig-A-Zig-Ah!
Profile by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 16 August 1997
THERE'S NO ducking it. The Spice Girls are undoubtedly the most successful British teenypop act. Their album, Spice, has sold over seven million albums in ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 1997
Baby Bird's Stephen Jones talks to David Stubbs about life after 'You're Gorgeous' ...
Brian Eno: We Have Ways Of Making You Talk: Brian Eno
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 1997
...on Russia, Roxy and tennis players' bottoms ...
Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne: Ozzy Osbourne (1997)
Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1997
The Ozzmeister effs and blinds his way through subjects ranging from the death of Princess Diana to the myth of Sabbath's Satanism and the US religious backlash, via a detailed description of his substance abuse and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 62.6mb, interview length: 1h 08' 22" sound quality: ****
The Pixies: Death To The Pixies
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 1997
The Pixies: grievous, greedy and groundbreaking ...
Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne: Ozzy Osbourne: His Satanic Majesty Repents
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 1997
JOHN "OZZY" OSBOURNE, FORMER HELL raiser, outrageous roister-doister, Dark Lord of Metal and rough diamond geezer extraordinaire has sung much about death, visited it summarily ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 1997
ROBERT WYATT'S career has meandered long and strange, like an underground driver. He's played alongside Hendrix, Mike Oldfield and Phil Manzanera, as well as avant-garde ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 1998
JOY DIVISION were the last British band who mattered, for whom something was truly the matter. Forget Oasis' last-gasp efforts to bring the rock community ...
Roni Size and Reprazent: Collective Consciousness
Report and Interview by David Stubbs, Vox, January 1998
Dust off your bus pass and get down with RONI SIZE and REPRAZENT. There's Bristol beats aplenty, Genghis Khan gets a look in, and skipping ...
The High Llamas, Stereolab: Stereolab, The High Llamas: 9.30 Club, Washington DC
Live Review by David Stubbs, Vox, February 1998
WASHINGTON DC encapsulates all America's contrasts in extremis. Up on Capitol Hill, they're running the country. Over at the White House, he's running the world. ...
The Associates: The Affectionate Punch
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, February 1998
THIS is impossible music. It's impossible to mimic its myriad uniqueness, impossible to place in pop time, impossible to imagine how such music could ever ...
Book Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 1998
THESE TWO volumes comprise anthologies of journalism, contemporary and retrospective, about two great black musicians of the 20th century whose brilliance was not usually matched ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1998
Messrs. Rev and Vega discuss their legendary status and regular rediscovery; look back at their formation and NYC context; discuss their technology and methods, and contemplate their place in the greater scheme of things.
File format: mp3; file size: 76.2mb, interview length: 1h 23' 15" sound quality: **
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 1998
Return to electronic form for the New Gold Dreamers ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 1998
Test card music for the Gods. Band at vanguard of American 'post-rock' developments ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 1998
Before the Chemical Brothers, before Ministry, before even Soft Cell, there was SUICIDE, the original electro-duo. DAVID STUBBS meets the synth-terrorists whose noise still provokes ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 1998
THERE ARE surprisingly few bands like Garbage, bands operating in that shadowy, uncertain zone between the flesh of rock and the metal of techno. They're ...
Courtney Love, Nirvana: Kurt and Courtney: Love Will Tear It Apart
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
"I'M INTERESTED IN forbidden stories," says Nick Broomfield of his latest project, Kurt And Courtney, his drawling English vowels tanned with West Coast inflexions from ...
Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain: Kurt and Courtney; dir Nick Broomfield
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
Starring Nick Broomfield, Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love Directed by Nick Broomfield Opens July 3, Cert tbc, 99 mins ...
Obituary by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
IN A SENSE, Frank Sinatra represented a lie. Much as beneath Bing Crosby's ambling, indolent persona lay a pointedly less easy-going character, Sinatra was actually ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
Slam funkers: sixth release from rap collective once called "the greatest rock'n'roll band on the planet". ...
Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom/Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
Overdue CD reissue of Seventies English avant-rock classics ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 1998
"BRITPOP IS AN ATTEMPT TO REASSERT A sort of mythical whiteness," asserts Aniruddha Das, aka Dr Das, bassist of Asian Dub Foundation, leaning forward in ...
Grace Jones: Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 1998
Pop's most formidable iconette of electro-dance ...
The B-52s: Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 1998
HISTORY OF Athens perfect popsters with two new tracks. ...
Baby Bird: There's Something Going On
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 1998
STEVEN JONES'/Baby Bird's biggest sounding and best offering to date ...
Manic Street Preachers: This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 1998
Fifth album, and long-awaited follow-up to Everything Must Go ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1998
The American Great (and daughter Antonia) talk about Radio City Music Hall, the Great American Songbook, his return to the spotlight, his family and Depression upbringing, and a whole lot more, whilst tasting the delights of Teodora's cuisine.
File format: mp3; file size: 57.4mb, interview length: 1h 02' 42" sound quality: ***
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 1998
"I DIDN'T START UP A BAND BECAUSE I COULDN'T get laid," says Greg Dulli with that suave, Satanic leer of his. "I started a band ...
David Bowie, Marc Bolan: Glam Revival
Comment by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 1998
Why the frightening prospect of a full-scale Glam revival fills David Stubbs with dread… ...
Tony Bennett: The Croon Prince
Interview by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 21 November 1998
He wowed all at Glastonbury and is revered by everyone from Jarvis to Elvis Costello. Here's your ten-point guide to why you young whippersnappers should ...
DAF: Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft: Reissues
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 1998
Overdue reissue of Eighties German minimalist synth duo's electronic pop albums ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 1998
Unexpected return to peak form after 1996's disappointing New Adventures In Hi-Fi ...
Black Box Recorder: Garage, Highbury, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 12 December 1998
'ENGLAND MADE Me' was the most poisonous record of 1998, driven by the sick, silent laughter of Auteur Luke Haines. The likes of 'Girl Singing ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 1999
Of course, everyone usually goes on about tne size of their singer, Tiny — but what s really vast about ULTRASOUND is their boundless musical ...
Sneaker Pimps: The Brilliant Corner: Sneaker Pimps: ICA, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 28 August 1999
SNEAKER PIMPS originally swept up on a crest of post-Portishead bands. Photos of them always marked them as standard trip-hop — singer Kelli Dayton posing ...
Can Solo Projects: Barbican, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 30 October 1999
KRAUTROCKERS CAN'S influence on modem music has been more profound perhaps even than Kraftwerk's. Way back in 1973, with 'Moonshake' they were making prototype techno, ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: The Sounds Of Science
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2000
Extensive compilation of their greatest hits, finest moments and rarities ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: Three's Company…
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2000
David Stubbs takes a shine to the mesmerising remorselessness of PUBLIC IMAGE LTD's post-punk Metal Box... ...
R.E.M.: REM: Man On The Moon — Soundtrack
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2000
R.E.M.'s ASSOCIATION with Andy Kaufman goes back to 1993 when they penned 'Man On The Moon', Stipe's achingly personal tribute to the late comedian. ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, February 2000
Their sixth album kick starts the Millennium in angry electric jazz/punk/funk style. Significantly, the sleeve thanks Jaki Liebezeit of Can and The Prodigy's Liam Hewlett ...
Oasis: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2000
Change of producer and change of mood for long-awaited fourth album ...
Asian Dub Foundation: Community Music
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2000
Storming new set of eclectic agit-pop from best live band in Britain ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2000
THE MUSICAL JOURNEY undertaken by Talk Talk, from centre-right pop to the far, fan left of post-rock, remains unique in music history. ...
Black Box Recorder: The Facts Of Life
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2000
LIKE THE ABSINTHE which Black Box Recorder's John Moore has busied himself importing since last year, BBR are an unusually toxic pleasure. Here, once more, ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2000
Stretching the imagination: Frischmann's answer-album to Blur's relationship-dissecting 13 ...
Max Tundra - Whizz-kid to watch
Profile and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2000
"WHEN I was growing up, I'd go through my mum's record collection –things like 10cc, Nik Kershaw – and make these mixes on a tape ...
Romanthony: R.Hide In Plain Site
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 2000
BRILLIANT RETRO-futurist funk from New Jersey house sensation. ...
David Bowie, Nick Cave, Phil Collins, Mick Jagger, Sting: Acting, baby!
Retrospective by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 10 June 2000
…it's obviously not as easy as it looks. Because although All Saints might have sucked big-time in Honest, they were merely part of a rich ...
Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, July 2000
Before their drums fell silent, 23 Skidoo’s percussion-heavy apocalypses ripped away the city’s civilised surface to reveal its primitive heart. Now the long wait is ...
Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2000
Could Damon Gough's long-awaited debut be the indie Pet Sounds? ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2000
DEBUT FROM Bournemouth 'blue-eyed soul' Seventies revivalist. ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2000
Where Jimi Hendrix came from and where he would have gone next, had he survived, Hendrix expert Charles Shaar Murray talks to David Stubbs ...
Jimi Hendrix: Public Image Unlimited
Essay by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2000
Hendrix the black radical. Hendrix the glam dandy. Hendrix the icon. Hendrix the man. ...
Saint Etienne: St Etienne: Sound Of Water
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2000
BACK IN the early Nineties, St Etienne were ubiquitous, perhaps a little too ubiquitous. Rarely out of the music press, constantly hovering on the edge ...
The Associates, Billy Mackenzie: Billy MacKenzie
Profile by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000
"MacKenzie's real fear was the banal actuality of pop success…to keep his perfect, impossible-past-and-future pop fantasy intact, it was necessary to destroy Associates" ...
Black Sabbath: The Best Of Black Sabbath
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000
TWO-CD compilation of Brummie metallurgists' grimmest, finest moments. ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000
DEVO'S FIRST single, 'Jock Homo', was released in 1977. An instant hit, it expounded the group's theory of de-evolution, that mankind is regressing, rather than ...
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: Kurt Cobain
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000
WHEN ROCK stars die, it's usually as a result of living too well, taking too much, going too fast, getting too high. ...
Manic Street Preachers' Richey Edwards
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000
"It's about detesting the body. That's why you choose to mark it...all my life I've felt weak compared to others. If they want to crush ...
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000
"His fears mounted — nuclear apocalypse, gunmen out to get him…" ...
Stevie Wonder: The Electrification Of Soul
Overview by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000
"THERE'S NEVER BEEN a time when Stevie Wonder hasn't been relevant," said an associate of Wonder's on Channel 4's recent Top 10 Seventies Soul run-down. ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2000
IN AN ANNOYINGINGLY loud Oxford Street pub, Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, is struggling to make his voice heard above the raucously assertive blare ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2000
Long-awaited second album from R&B retro whiz in lovelorn mode. ...
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 2000
"Some people know why they make music, I suppose. But we never talk about what we're doing. Ever" – Simon Raymonde, 1990 ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 2000
ANOTHER SUPERLATIVE ambient/techno album from former Bjork collaborator ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2000
'Is Morris operating from a high plane of disgust or from some pit of personal rage?' Compilation of best bits from the dark ambient comedy ...
The Beatles: The Death Of The Beatles
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2000
JANUARY 2, 1969. They are probably the four most famous people in the world, but this morning at the raw beginning of the last year ...
Afghan Whigs, The Twilight Singers: The Twilight Singers: Twilight As Played By The Twilight Singers
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2000
SIDE PROJECT from The Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli, featuring Fila Brasilia and Pigeonhed's Shawn Smith ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 2000
ANOTHER BRILLIANT sprawl of ambient indie-rock from the Montreal 10-piece ...
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 2000
DAVID STUBBS SWOONS OVER THAT POIGNANT PRECURSOR OF TRIP HOP, JOHN MARTYN'S SOLID AIR ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2001
LONG OVERDUE re-release of debut by great lost Britpop precursors ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2001
Gods of "filter disco" finally issue follow-up to 1997'strailblazing Homework. ...
Eileen Rose: Live at Borders Bookshop, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2001
BOSTONIAN EX-PAT Eileen Rose continues to rack up plaudits for her mesmeric debut album Shine Like It Does and so it was that, flanked by ...
Michael Jackson: Greatest Hits – History Volume 1
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2001
ONCE UPON a time, wise critics dubbed Michael Jackson pop's Peter Pan. ...
Manic Street Preachers: Know Your Enemy
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2001
Tentatively experimental, hardline political stuff from Wire, Bradfield and Moore ...
Orbital: The Altogether (ffrr) ****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 2001
ON THE techno calendar, the present era isn't so much AD as AD&B – the post-drum'n'bass era. That genre followed a curious arc – it ...
Profile and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 2001
"PEOPLE ASSOCIATE us with groups like Lemon Jelly and ask, 'Is there a scene? Where do you all hang out together?' We've heard maybe one ...
Air, Daft Punk: Daft Punk & Air: Disco Tech
Profile and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2001
DAFT PUNK AND AIR ARE THE BEATLES AND STONES OF THE INTERNATIONAL DANCE SCENE. SO WHY IS THE FRENCH ESTABLISHMENT – SO PROUD OF ITS ...
Perry Farrell: Song Yet To Be Sung (Virgin)****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2001
FIRST SOLO album from ex-Jane's Addiction frontman in half-century celebratory mode ...
Radiohead: Amnesiac (Parlophone)****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2001
DISGUST, DESPERATION, desolation, derision – all of these were once key qualities in what constituted left-field/indie. From The Birthday Party to PiL, from Elvis Costello ...
Tindersticks: Live at The Botanique, Brussels
Live Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2001
AH, EUROPE. Given the increasingly infantile world of Anglo-American rock and pop culture, it's heartening to know there are giant pockets of pre-post-modern, un-ironic reverentiality ...
Plaid, Prefuse 73, Squarepusher: Warp Records: Various Reviews
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2001
Don't all rush at once, alt.country fans – a triple-whammy of Warp techno Plaid - Double Figure Prefuse 73 - Vocal Studies And Uprock Narratives Squarepusher - Go ...
Butthole Surfers: Crust Of A Wave
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2001
THEY STARTED musical life riding the first wave of US punk rock in the early Eighties, Texans purveying lo-fi snotballs of geetar with titles like ...
John Oswald: Plunderphonics 69/96 (Fony)****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2001
Sample Minded… Sampladelia run rampant from the USA ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: Back On The Right Track*** and Ain't But The One Way*** (Warner)
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2001
REISSUE OF Sylvester Stewart's last two albums to date ...
Roy Harper: The Spirit Lives: Roy Harper
Retrospective and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2001
"I DON'T THINK I'm very good at interviews, because I have too many thoughts going off at the same time to be able to explain ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2001
Trip hop supremo Adrian Thawes returns, restored to health, and helped by guests Cyndi Lauper and Red Hot Chili Peppers ...
Mercury Rev: Dream Of A Lifetime
Retrospective and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2001
"WE WERE NEVER interested in placing ourselves, in saying that we were a band that started in the late Eighties and were the musical emissaries ...
Prefab Sprout: The King Of Rock'n'Roll
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2001
FOR SOMEONE who's only ever strived to bring a little wistful beauty into our pop lives, with an honest and artisan approach to the craft ...
The Human League: Are Friends Electro?
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2001
JOANNE CATHERALL (the brunette one) has been relatively quiet throughout the interview, content to pick through her lunch while Susanne Sulley (the blonde one) and ...
The Strokes: Road To Nowhere: The Strokes: Is This It? (Rough Trade)
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 2001
Debut album from the year's other most talked-about new American band. ...
Spiritualized: Urban Spaced Man
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 2001
ON LET IT Come Down, the latest and greatest Spiritualized album, Jason Pierce utilises some 100 musicians, among them choristers, gospel singers and entire brass ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2001
LATEST TWO-CD album from ageing boy genius shows hints of classical influence ...
Garbage: Beautiful Garbage (Mushroom)*****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2001
THIRD AND arguably best album yet from Madison's finest. ...
Michael Jackson: Off The Wall*****, Thriller**** and Bad**** (Epic)
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 2001
RE-RELEASED SOLO albums include interviews with Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton plus demos and unreleased tracks. ...
Scritti Politti: Everything's Gone Green
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 2001
David Stubbs on Scritti Politti's subversive pop-soul masterpiece, Songs To Remember ...
The Chemical Brothers: Chemical Brothers: Come With Us (Freestyle Dust/Virgin)***
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, February 2002
PSYCHEDELIA-TINGED fourth offering from Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, featuring Beth Orton and Richard Ashcroft ...
OutKast: Kicking up a Stank (Arista) *****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2002
Best of dirty South rappers' first three albums interspersed with new material ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2002
Star-Spangled Bummer: Record of benefit concert/telethon for victims of September 11 ...
A Certain Ratio: Early (Soul Jazz)****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2002
BEFORE A CERTAIN Ratio there was The Pop Group but, the latter apart, no one can claim to have played an earlier role post-punk's then ...
Jimi Hendrix: Why Are You Experienced is Rock's Greatest Debut Album
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2002
'WE'LL WATCH THE SUN RISE FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA...' ...
Position Normal: Goodly Time (Rum) *****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2002
VINYL-ONLY second LP from art-rock samplers in exclusive handprinted sleeve. ...
Simple Minds: New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2002
David Stubbs commends Simple Minds' New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2002
Third album from Norfolk singer-songwriter, featuring numerous collaborators. ...
Death In Vegas: Scorpio Rising (BMG) ***
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 2002
Brighter follow-up to 1999's The Contino Sessions, featuring Liam Gallagher and Paul Weller on vocals. ...
Underworld: A Hundred Days Off (JBO) ****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 2002
FIRST ALBUM by electronic dance act now a duo since departure of Darren Emerson ...
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2002
Of all of rock's great legends, JOHN LENNON is the most widely-loved and sorely-missed. In this Uncut special, we look back on what he made ...
Asian Dub Foundation: Faces and Windows: Asian Dub Foundation
Profile and Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, January 2003
Community, collectivism, connection are keywords in Asian Dub Foundation's irresistible assaults on cultural apathy. From their Community Music roots they have established a broad popular ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 11 January 2003
THE NEWS THAT the Vines have been sent back to Australia, following a bout of Ricky Gervais/Grant Bovey-style pat-a-cakes onstage between singer Craig Nicholls and ...
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2003
Sombre fourth album, featuring guest vocals from Sinéad O'Connor ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 1 March 2003
THERE ARE MANY reasons to see Live Forever, the new documentary about the 1990s Britpop years. Mostly they involve Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn being ...
Sly & The Family Stone: There's A Riot Goin' On
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2003
THE COVER SAYS it all. An American flag, the stars replaced by white flowers on a black backdrop, the stripes soiled by a brown stain, ...
Autechre: The Futurologists: Autechre
Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, April 2003
The world of electronica might have become overcrowded since their first releases a decade ago, but Autechre are still burrowing through microscopic cracks into the ...
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, April 2003
South London duo head out West to beef up sound for follow-up to The Optimist LP ...
The American Song-Poem Anthology: Music By The Metre
Review by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 20 June 2003
SO YOU THINK it's only since the rise of manufactured pop, with its endless boy and girl bands, each a more faded and insipid photocopy ...
Live Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, August 2003
ON PAPER, what a line-up, what a dub melding of nonconformist minds: The Mad Professor (aka Neil Fraser), who through his remixes of Primal Scream ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 2 August 2003
ON JULY 3, the House Of Lords failed to block government moves to introduce a new law requiring pubs, clubs and cafes to apply for ...
Shack: Here's Tom With The Weather
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2003
THEY'RE A LUCKLESS lot, Shack. They made Waterpistol, an album that might have been one of the defining recordings of 1991, had the studio not ...
Kraftwerk: Tour De France Soundtracks/Karl Bartos: Communication
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 2003
Kraftwerk's first "proper" album since 1986, plus ex-member's solo outing ...
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, October 2003
Jason Pierce and co. blast back with album recorded in three weeks. ...
Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, November 2003
It's been a long trip for Richard D James, the notorious and misunderstood figure behind the Aphex Twin and co-founder of the Rephlex label. As ...
Retrospective and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2003
As R.E.M release their first compilation — and 32nd single — for Warners, David Stubbs asks America's greatest band to talk about their 20 greatest ...
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, December 2003
THIS IS THE soundtrack by Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood to a unique film directed by Simon Pummell. It traces the journey from birth to death ...
Explosions In The Sky: The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2004
A FOUR-PIECE COMPRISING just two guitars, bass and drums, Explosions In The Sky seek to capture, examine and elongate moments of high emotion, awe and ...
R.E.M.: In Time. The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2004
THIS COLLECTION spans the past 15 years and features songs covered extensively in the November 2003 issue of Uncut. There are few surprises, not least ...
Tori Amos: Tales Of A Librarian
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2004
DRAWING ON her albums from 1992's Little Earthquakes to 1999's To Venus And Back, this collection tracks the numerous crests and vicissitudes of Tori Amos' ...
Gang Of Four: A Brief History Of The Twentieth Century
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, February 2004
Reissued best-of follows renewed interest in scabrous post-punk politicos ...
Retrospective and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, February 2004
Pre-Oasis, My Bloody Valentine were Creation's greatest band. Between 1988 and 1991, they reinvented electric guitar music before vanishing in a haze of white noise. ...
Memoir by David Stubbs, The Wire, March 2004
David Stubbs recalls early arousals caused by Faust's "wonderful wooden reason". ...
Explosions In The Sky: ICA, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2004
Texan noiseniks battle big beards and beer monsters to find life in the old rock yet. ...
Book Review by David Stubbs, Jockey Slut, May 2004
THIS IS A revised edition of a volume first published almost a decade ago. ...
Retrospective by David Stubbs, The Wire, June 2004
On the 40th anniversary of the death of Eric Dolphy, David Stubbs offers a personal benediction to one of the most enigmatic and neglected figures ...
The Who: Then & Now and Singles Box Set Volume 1
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 2004
Two best-ofs, including first new studio recordings in 22 years ...
Throbbing Gristle: The Taste Of TG – A Beginner's Guide To The Music Of Throbbing Gristle
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, June 2004
Introduction to the work of recently reformed art/industrial/electronics collective. ...
The Pogues: I Remember... (Melody Maker Reminiscences)
Memoir by David Stubbs, mr-agreeable.net, 26 July 2004
I REMEMBER a three month stint in 1986 as a trainee chartered accountant, a profession for which I was ill-suited in every respect except the ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 30 October 2004
THE ONE AND Only, a hardback celebration of one-hit wonders by Tom Bromley, is a touch too self-satisfied a stocking filler, inviting us, not for ...
Xmas LPs: Worst Christmas On Record
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 11 December 2004
THE CHRISTMAS SINGLE is a thing of thudding familiarity - brace yourself again for Jona Lewie to make his annual re-emergence, bludgeoning you like a ...
Low: The Great Destroyer (roughtrade)
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, February 2005
Rage before beauty: Eighth album sees one-time slowest band in the world in bitter, take-no-prisoners mood ...
David Sylvian: The Good Son vs the Only Daughter: The Blemish Remixes (Samadhisound)
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, March 2005
2003's BLEMISH was a significant improvement on David Sylvian's previous album, the far from mediocre Dead Bees On A Cake. ...
The Residents: Four-legged trends: The Residents: Animal Lover (Mute) ****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2005
Latest concept album from cryptic Americans ...
The Tube: Sound Of The Underground
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 28 May 2005
THE RELEASE OF the first series of The Tube on DVD is a chance to give kudos to a groundbreaking programme that naively but bravely ...
John Cage, Keith Rowe: Seriously funny
Comment by David Stubbs, The Wire, June 2005
David Stubbs on discovering that humour and music do mix ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 22 October 2005
"FUCK THE GHETTO! Look to space!" That, according to Wayne Kramer of MC5, in a nutshell was the message of Sun Ra, as conveyed over ...
Profile by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 12 November 2005
YOU'D IMAGINE THE minimal and portentous name 4AD, with its arcane, spiritual overtones (4AD is the year many historians believe Christ was actually born), to ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 19 November 2005
IN SPRING 1981, in an act akin to James Brown relocating to Hull, a 42-year-old cash-strapped Marvin Gaye took the Southampton ferry to the Belgian ...
Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, February 2006
"ONE AVANT GARDE child prodigy, two indie guitar nerds and one hard rock borderline metal drummer thrown together in a filthy basement studio in Brooklyn," ...
Town and Country: Up Above (Thrilljockey)
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, February 2006
FEATURING, AS EVER, an impressively antique array of instrumentation, including harmonium, cello, viola, handbells and string bass, Up Above is Town And Country's sixth release, ...
The Streets: The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living (679) ****
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, May 2006
MIKE SKINNER'S EXISTENCE has been transformed by success and fortune. It's a fortune accrued by observing, in startlingly prosaic detail, a life of Wetherspoons and ...
Matthew Herbert: Fuelled By Outrage
Interview by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 27 May 2006
"CHECK THESE OUT," says Matthew Herbert aka Dr Rockit, Radio Boy, modern-day big-band leader, seductive deep-house purveyor, moments after answering the door to his studio-cum-pad ...
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, February 2007
It might feature a mad king's castle on its cover, but the first Pole LP in four years is a garden of abstract funk delights, ...
LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, March 2007
THE LYRIC to the title track of LCD Soundsystem's latest album is more of a mantra: "The sound of silver/Makes you want to be a ...
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, January 2008
THE RELEASE of Burial's second album Untrue chimes in well with the coming of British winter, as the air turns chill and dirty, the days ...
Penguin Cafe Orchestra: Catalogue Reissues
Review by David Stubbs, The Quietus, 22 July 2008
PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA, a large, shifting coalition of classical and acoustic musicians led by the late Simon Jeffes, are often regarded with either confusion or ...
The KLF: Getting Arrested With Bill & Jimmy
Retrospective by David Stubbs, The Quietus, 15 August 2008
SO, IT'S LIKE THIS. It's February 1991. A couple of years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, which supposedly heralded the End of History, ...
Jimi Hendrix: Mitch Mitchell Remembered
Obituary by David Stubbs, Guardian Unlimited, 13 November 2008
THE DEATH of drummer Mitch Mitchell, aged 61, marks an unwanted milestone in rock mortality. ...
Burial, Flying Lotus: Various Artists: Five Years of Hyperdub
Review by David Stubbs, bbc.co.uk, 2009
Dance music with a recurrent sense of subdued anxiety ...
Guns N' Roses: Chinese Democracy
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2009
Long-promised, finally delivered. Axl and co's first new album since 1991. ...
Big Black, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth: Sonic Youth And the Blast First Axis
Essay by David Stubbs, The Wire, 12 February 2009
AS FAR AS many people were concerned in the 80s, in the UK in particular, rock was a discredited medium. ...
Steven Wells 1960-2009: A Tribute
Memoir by John Doran, Andrew Mueller, John Robb, Terry Staunton, David Stubbs, The Quietus, 29 June 2009
David Stubbs ...
Robert Wyatt: Orchestra National De Jazz & Robert Wyatt: Around Robert Wyatt (Bee Jazz)
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, July 2009
ROBERT WYATT has become more and more an object of attention and devotion with the passing of time, as if taking on the status of ...
Miles Davis: Richard Williams: The Blue Moment (Faber & Faber)
Book Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, August 2009
MILES DAVIS's Kind of Blue is probably the most popular jazz recording of all time, equally so among those who don't own any other jazz ...
William Basinski: Invisible Jukebox: William Basinski
Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, September 2009
Each month we play a musician a series of records which they are asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of ...
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band: Between My Head And The Sky Chimera
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, September 2009
YOKO ONO has long been a pariah figure for many, in both the rock and art worlds. She's been perceived as a baleful influence who ...
Review by David Stubbs, bbc.co.uk, 5 October 2009
They sound reinvigorated, differently coloured, and full of fresh intentions. ...
Review by David Stubbs, bbc.co.uk, 2010
Welcome reissues showcasing a group to whom there was always more than met the ear. ...
Pink Floyd: Prog rockers strike a blow for all musical artists
Comment by David Stubbs, The Independent, 12 March 2010
PINK FLOYD'S legal victory over EMI may be welcomed by some as a victory for artistic integrity. ...
Cabaret Voltaire, Richard H. Kirk: Warp Records: Richard H Kirk looks back on a futuristic life
Report and Interview by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 5 November 2011
RICHARD H KIRK spent much of his career waiting for the future. He remains a resident of Sheffield, a city with a rich tradition in ...
Robert Wyatt: The End of an Ear
Review by David Stubbs, bbc.co.uk, 28 May 2012
Wyatt's sometimes overlooked solo debut shows off his multi-instrumentalist chops. ...
Kraftwerk: Ladies und Gentlemen, the future has arrived
Retrospective by David Stubbs, The Independent, 27 January 2013
To the unenlightened (i.e. most of us), they were just naff. Now, with good reason, they are hailed as prophets. David Stubbs hails synthpop pioneers ...
Band of Susans, Big Black, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth: Sonic Youth and the Blast First axis
Retrospective by David Stubbs, The Wire, February 2013
A previously unpublished essay by David Stubbs, on Paul Smith's Blast First label and Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's Sonic Youth. ...
Can, Conny Plank, Kraftwerk, Neu!: Conny Plank: The Soundtrack Of Our Youth
Profile by David Stubbs, The Quietus, 13 February 2013
As Gronland release a four-disc box set of the music of Conny Plank, David Stubbs remembers the "midwife of Krautrock"... ...
What's In a Word: "Krautrock" as a Term
Book Excerpt by David Stubbs, 'Future Days' (Faber), August 2014
"THE GERMANS have every right to be critical of the word 'Krautrock'," says Wire's Colin Newman, and it's hard to disagree. It would be one ...
Godflesh: Invisible Jukebox: Justin Broadrick
Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, September 2014
JUSTIN BROADRICK was born in 1969 in Birmingham. Raised by his mother and stepfather, he was exposed to underground music at an early age and formed ...
Eric Clapton, Morrissey: Eric Clapton & Enoch Powell To Morrissey: Race In British Music Since '76
Essay by David Stubbs, The Quietus, 9 August 2016
During an August 1976 gig in Birmingham, Eric Clapton made racist comments and praised Enoch Powell, inadvertently inspiring the Rock Against Racism campaign. Four decades ...
Black Country Communion: BCCIV
Review by David Stubbs, Classic Rock, September 2017
Fourth album from supergroup combines hard riffing and pensive lyrics ...
Tangerine Dream: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 25 April 2018
For their first UK show without founder member Edgar Froese, the synth pioneers enlivened their proggy ambience with techno, but still created the same cosmic ...
Jimi Hendrix: David Stubbs and Mark Pringle: Hendrix's Ladyland at 50 (2018)
Interview by Mark Pringle, David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages audio, 28 September 2018
The greatest rock album ever made? David Stubbs and Mark Pringle believe so and tell you why, track-by-track. Plus a conversation about Jimi's post-Ladyland career and a spot of idle speculation about what he might have done had he lived.
File format: mp3; file size: 88.3mb, interview length: 1h 31' 58" sound quality: *****
Pere Ubu: An interview with David Thomas
Interview by David Stubbs, Record Collector, October 2019
"I'VE DIED TWICE in the last two years," says David Thomas, co-founder and lead singer of Pere Ubu, in the living room of his Brighton ...
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