Neil Kulkarni
From 1994 until his death in 2024, Neil Kulkarni wrote about pop in a career characterised by an unerring determination to make his writing the very best on the planet. Starting at Melody Maker in 1994, Kulkarni was one of the few print-dissidents to the mainstream in the Britpop era, a ferocious champion of extreme music and hip-hop for nigh-on 20 years through publications as diverse as DJ, Bizarre, Uncut, Terrorizer, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Bang, Plan B, Careless Talk Costs Lives, Loose Lips Sink Ships and the Quietus website.
Hugely influential on a whole generation of new critics, Neil inspired fear in his peers, awe in his readers and divided opinion wherever his words dropped. After spells as a DJ and broadcaster, he became a lecturer in media and music at a college in his beloved home town of Coventry. He died in January 2024.
(drawing of Neil by Public Enemy's Chuck D)
114 articles
List of articles in the library
Letter Of The Week: The Beauty of Words
Readers' Letters by Neil Kulkarni, Cathi Unsworth, Melody Maker, 9 October 1993
Letter of the Week ...
Cop Shoot Cop, Gunshot, Therapy?: Therapy?, Cop Shoot Cop, Gunshot: Coventry University
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 January 1994
SHAKEN BUT NOT STIRRED ...
Fun-Da-Mental: Moseley Dance Centre, Birmingham
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 21 May 1994
BRUM RUSH THE SHOW! ...
Ice Cube / Gravediggaz: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 10 September 1994
TRY AND tie down hip-hop with yer baggage and it always finds a way to bust loose. Never mind asking "Has Rap Gone Too Far", ...
Downset, Pantera: Pantera, Downset: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 24 September 1994
VISIBLE PANTERA LINE ...
Method Man, Redman: Redman: Dare Iz A Darkside/Method Man: Tical (Def Jam/Island)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 14 January 1995
REDMAN'S Whut? Thee Album came out around the first Cypress Hill's and for those that investigated it was even more blunted to the bone, streaked ...
Slick Rick: NO CELL OUT! Slick Rick: Behind Bars (Def Jam/lsland 523 847-2/11 tks/40 mins/FP)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 25 March 1995
'The greatest living American poet bar none'? 'Hot-kniving the shit of God'? Oh, we know what you're thinking, children. Just another bleedin' baaad-boy banged up ...
Babes In Toyland: The Boardwalk, Manchester
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 27 May 1995
I MISS Ligament cos (I was gonna come up with an excuse as contrived as my mate, who was late for school one day cos ...
Foo Fighters: Foo Do You Love: Foo Fighters: Foo Fighters (Roswell/Capitol)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 24 June 1995
Nirvana may have been heroes to many but they never meant shit to some. And, overburdened though it is by the weight of recent history, ...
Mobb Deep: The Infamous... (BMG/RCA 07863664882 16 tks/67 mins/FP)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 1 July 1995
I WASN'T expecting this. ...
Ned's Atomic Dustbin: Brainbloodvolume (Furtive 478330 11 tks/41 mins/FP)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 July 1995
TRASHED! We asked NEIL KULKARNI to review the new NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN LP. Instead, he's written one very long sentence, and one very short one. Well, ...
Public Enemy: The Greatest Rap Band In The World... Ever!
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 July 1995
PUBLIC ENEMY are still the fastest, fiercest, radicalest hip hop act on the planet, still trying to right wrongs, fight the power and change the ...
Wu-Tang Clan: The Island, Ilford
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 12 August 1995
SHAME ON THE NUH! ...
Ash: Better Cremate Than Ever?: Ash: LA2, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 2 September 1995
IT'S POURING OFF ME. Pure f***ing rage. See, the enemy isn't hoary rockers. It isn't Britpoppers, soul-sincerity dullards or synthetic chart popsters, although they all ...
Stereolab: Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2) (Duophonic D-UHF-CD09 13tks/65mins/FP)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 September 1995
WEIRD SCIENCE: By now, Stereolab's Marxis elevator music ('Ping Pong') and francophone Krautrock should have flirted with your consciousness. So here's your chance to catch up with their ultra-sexy ...
Cypress Hill, Ice Cube: Cypress Hill: Do Believe The Hype
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 16 September 1995
CYPRESS HILL's self-titled debut album changed the face of hip hop. Their second, Black Sunday, was the rap crossover LP of the early Nineties. But ...
Mobb Deep, Redman: Redman/Mobb Deep: Digbeth Institute, Birmingham
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 30 September 1995
TWO GIGS separated by a fortnight, linked by a common grievance. As illustrations of the two ways a hip hop gig can go, they're pretty ...
Sleeper: Digbeth Institute, Birmingham
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 21 October 1995
INDIE IS IN Birmingham. Indie goes down a rapturous storm. Indie makes everyone happy tonight. Indie is lovely. Indie is the fleetfooted reduced to leadboot ...
East 17: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 23 December 1995
WE FOUR KINGS OF ORIENT ARE… "a joy-bomb doused in every single conceivable bodily fluid in the rainbow". ...
Ride: Eight-legged Snooze Machine: Ride: Tarantula (Creation)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 March 1996
Who will mourn RIDE, now gone the way of all flesh? Not NEIL 'Bites Yer Legs' KULKARNI, that's for sure ...
The Fugees: Fugees: Subterania, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 March 1996
BLUNTED BY SUCCESS ...
Foo Fighters: Have We Got Foos For You
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 6 April 1996
Foo Fighters are back with a new single, 'Big Me', and a fresh determination to not let adulation force them into a Nirvana–type corner. Melody ...
Nas: Written Out — Nas: It Was Written (Columbia 14tks/59mins)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 13 July 1996
NAS is one of rap's supreme lyricists and vocal stylists. A pity, then, that his new album isn't worthy of his talents ...
Slayer: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 July 1996
THRILL KILLER CULT ...
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 14 September 1996
I'VE JUST BEEN informed by that porridge-faced wanker, Simon Mayo, that Kula Shaker are "the next Oasis". Of course, the obvious questions don't even get ...
Soundgarden: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 28 September 1996
PERFECT. AS only the superficial can be. ...
Screaming Trees: Riverside, Newcastle
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 16 November 1996
FOR A gig you might've expected to be a pissed–up, beery slop, all bum–notes and chaos, it's all in the subtleties of feel. This is ...
Dr. Dre: The Dre Today: Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath (Interscope/MCA)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 30 November 1996
Don't be fooled by his past, DR DRE is a one-man Motown, a pop perfectionist for the 21st Century ...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 7 December 1996
STARSPOTTING. Robbie Fowler. Good. Hollyoaks cast. Bad. After the gig, back at the hotel, I get in the lift. Brett Anderson's pressing the button for ...
The Roots: Illadelph Halflife (Geffen)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 1 February 1997
HIP HOP RULE NUMBER 4080: "live" instrumentation and hip hop don't mix. Hip hop rule Number 4081: except for The Roots. The exception, the exceptional, ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Clan-destined: Wu-Tang Clan: The Rocket, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 3 May 1997
OK, YA WANNA KNOW what the new LP sounds like, right? Oh, man, oh Jesus, it's the bomb, baby. It's incredible. It's the LP that's ...
Mogwai: Ten Rapid (Jetset 9tks/33 mins)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 10 May 1997
MONSTER CRAZY! ...
Smog: Pea Super! Smog: Red Apple Falls (Domino 9 tks/43 mins)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 17 May 1997
You might not want him living next door to you, but Bill Callahan, aka SMOG, is surprisingly fine company... ...
Supergrass: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 17 May 1997
LIFE'S A SNITCH? ...
Ghostface Killah, Method Man, RZA, Wu-Tang Clan: Wu-Tang Clan: Martial Lore
Special Feature by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 24 May 1997
Public Enemy's fall from grace left hip hop without a heroic focus. Enter WU-TANG CLAN, a crew from Staten Island whose ever-changing line-up has produced ...
Marilyn Manson: Freak Showmanship: Marilyn Manson, Brixton Academy: London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 31 May 1997
YOUNG BOYS. HALF-NEKKID. COVERED IN MAKE-UP. GULP. It's heaving in here and I can't tell if it's down to a pilgrimage of worship or just ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Forever (Loud/RCA 28tks/120mins)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 31 May 1997
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY Have the WU-TANG CLAN just made the greatest hip hop album of all time? ...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 7 June 1997
ICE AND A SLICE ...
The Jungle Brothers: Jungle Brothers: Raw Deluxe (Gee Street 11tks/52 mins)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 7 June 1997
SEVEN YEARS is an eternity in hip hop. Cliché. Seven years is nothing in hip hop. Truth. It doesn't feel like it's been seven years ...
Portishead: Roseland Ballroom, New York NY
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 16 August 1997
'HEAD OVER HEELS ...
Coldcut: Let Us Play (Ninja Tune 13 tks/77 mins)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 13 September 1997
Coldcut have come up trumps with a new album full of kitsch delights — and it's bloody good fun too... ...
Marilyn Manson: Alternative Cult Star
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 September 1997
He's seven-foot tall and rips his stomach to shreds with a half-broken bottle on stage. But, heh, he's still little Brian to his mum. We ...
Catatonia: Tipsy Narco: Catatonia: Warwick University, Coventry
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 8 November 1997
YOU LEAVE more alive than you came. You leave with your secrets not just repeated but monumentalised. You never wanna leave. Catatonia are better. ...
Daft Punk: The Astoria, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 November 1997
UNDERGROUND/OVERGROUND, spectacle/black-out, in-yer-face/faceless, pop/music. Dance has to make its choices. Either it believes in its own unique power, rejecting stages, identification, authenticity and the audience/artist ...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 22 November 1997
TO DAI FOR! ...
Rakim: The 18th Letter (Universal 17 tks/58 mins)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 22 November 1997
HE IS the resurrection. From 1987 to 1992, Rakim was every hip hopper's MC choice, the rapper's rapper, responsible (forget Eric B — the man ...
The Prodigy: Prodigy: G-MEX, Manchester
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 13 December 1997
YOUR MUSICAL memory of tonight is reversed; I walked backwards as they got worse. To pin the Prod down, pin down why they still offer ...
Faith No More: 33 Gleibe Freiheit, Hamburg
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Vox, January 1998
The Fifth Element ...
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, January 1998
Heavy metal muthas in peak form shock ...
Kristin Hersh: 12 Bar Club, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 24 January 1998
KRIST ALMIGHTY! ...
Catatonia: International Velvet (blanco y negro 12 tks/45 mins)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 7 February 1998
POP SMART! In just 45 minutes, CATATONIA prove why The Maker stuck its neck out and gave them their first national cover... ...
Janet Jackson: Fondle With Care: Janet Jackson: Ahoy, Rotterdam
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 25 April 1998
IT'S WHEN THE camera catches the screen and doubles her back to infinity. It's when she's frozen silent by the spotlight, in the teeth of ...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 May 1998
It's a Cream come true! We join the madness that's CREAMFIELDS in Winchester with Primal Scream! Cornershop! Roni Size! Run DMC! The full bloody monty! ...
Symposium: On The Outside (Infectious) *
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 16 May 1998
DEAD AND BURIED? ...
Dana International: Eurovision: Hanging Out at the Euro Shenanigans
Report by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 23 May 1998
WE WUZ robbed. Christ, not the UK, I mean Belgium. Did you hear the gorgeous Melanie Cohl's gasping sigh of Saint Etienne-style cine-pop, 'Dis Oui' ...
Tricky: Angels With Dirty Faces (Island)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 23 May 1998
Cherub Thumping! ...
Kenickie: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 June 1998
HEY, LITTLE rich girl, where did you go wrong? The 'Nick should never have moved to London. Left home, met all these glittery chuckleheads, built ...
Wild Style: Hip Hop Don't Stop
Retrospective by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, July 1998
Re-released this month after 15 years, WILD STYLE isregarded as the seminal rap movie. Director Charlie Ahearn puts needle to the groove with Neil Kulkarni ...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 12 September 1998
PREHISTORY IN THE MAKING ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Paid In Full: Platinum Edition (Island) *****
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 31 October 1998
IN THE LATE EIGHTIES, Eric B & Rakim were, simply, the coolest sonic and lyrical innovators hip hop had ever seen: street-level poets and musical ...
Radiohead: Meeting People Is Easy
Film/DVD/TV Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 14 November 1998
...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 2 January 1999
CRITICS AND musicians love him. He can do no wrong. And that's when you get suspicious. That's when you start to wonder if something so ...
Marilyn Manson: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 2 January 1999
"GIG OF '98" isn't speaking the same language. A "happening" leaves you when it's over. No, this, this trip, this frenzy, is a national event. ...
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Spin, March 1999
WHAT'S SO satisfying about the new offerings from Prince Paul and the Roots is how cut-off they seem from both indie-rap's 12-inch fetishism and pop-rap's ...
Britney Spears: Baby One More Time (Jive)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 6 March 1999
I WOULDN'T, actually. Jailbait. Pastels. Popsox. Mall rat. Sure, all the obvious jokes cover up the fact that this is a document of pure venality. ...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 10 April 1999
20 Minute Party People ...
Marc Almond: Open All Night (Blue Star)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 1 May 1999
OK, LET'S GET this straight: Nick Cave is a respected ex-Goth with no hit singles. Marc Almond has had five hit singles, was responsible for ...
Super Furry Animals: Guerrilla (Creation)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 5 June 1999
A MAXIMUM HIGH ...
GZA/Genius: Beneath The Surface (MCA)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 17 July 1999
YOU'VE BEEN WU-TANGOED ...
Limp Bizkit: Is This Metal's Answer To Puff Daddy?
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 October 1999
The Maker gets rapping with LIMP BIZKIT's Fred Durst, the ex-tattooist who has become the most powerful man in metal and a big name in ...
Royal Trux: Flapper & Firkin, Birmingham
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 1 December 1999
F***, F***, f***, f***. Try and get hold of the feeling, try and lash it down in blood and spunk just why this did what ...
Slipknot: 0 to 8 – the numbers of the beasts
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 March 2000
The 36-limbed rock apocalypse that is Slipknot has been scaring the UK with barcode names, boiler suits and masks. We join them on tour in ...
Psycore: Rock City, Nottingham
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 5 April 2000
THEY'RE PLAYING 'DISCO 2'. That's cool. ...
Graham Coxon: The Leadmill, Sheffield
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 11 July 2000
MAYBE THE whys and wherefores don't matter. Maybe it's pointless trying to figure out the real reasons for people coming here. Nobody could really have ...
Amen: This week's new band is… Amen
Profile and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 6 September 2000
Menacing US-rock outsiders ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 September 2000
Mr Rock reveals the importance of quality dentistry ...
Dilated Peoples: 'Hip-Hop Culture Has Suffered. We Want To Reverse That'
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 4 October 2000
IT'S NOT JUST PUNK AND METAL THAT ARE KICKING OFF STATESIDE — SO IS HIP-HOP AS DILATED PEOPLES TELL US ...
Clinic: Smells Like Surgical Spirit
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 25 October 2000
CLINIC TELL US WHY THEIR RUMBLING, AVANT-GARDE INDIE CONTRIBUTION TO THE NEW LEVI'S AD IS NOT SELLING OUT... ...
Dr. Dre, Eminem, N.W.A: Dr. Dre: 10 Reasons Not To Forget About Dre
Comment by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 November 2000
THOUGHT DR DRE HAD SLIPPED OUR MINDS, DID YA? NOPE — US MUTHAF***AS WERE JUST ACTING LIKE WE HADN'T REMEMBERED THE HIP-HOP POWERHOUSE. HERE'S WHY ...
OutKast: This week's best new band is… Outkast
Profile and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 6 December 2000
INCENDIARY HIP-HOP MISCHIEF ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Director's Cut: Nick Broomfield on Biggie & Tupac
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, June 2002
THE DIRECTOR OF KURT & COURTNEY ON HIS BRILLIANT NEW DOCUMENTARY INVESTIGATING THE MURDERS OF RAP SUPERSTARS TUPAC SHAKUR AND BIGGIE SMALLS. ...
The Deftones: Deftones (Maverick)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Bang, June 2003
FOR ALL THE horseshit rock bands come out with about "maturity", "creative steam" and "progression", the true measure of whether or not their freshest opus ...
Radiohead: Alarms and Surprises
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Bang, July 2003
With the albums Kid A and Amnesiac, Radiohead achieved the seemingly impossible and brought uncompromisingly experimental music to the arena-going masses. However, their latest, Hail ...
Blonde Redhead: The Social, Nottingham
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, June 2004
I LET MY daughter do my make-up tonight. She has a delicate touch, combined with an innate understanding of excessive face paint and its ability ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
Review by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, September 2004
HEY, LOOK, I believed once. I realised I was buying well-read misogyny, suckered into being controlled by a perfect simulacrum of anarchy. ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, April 2005
"BOREDOM IS SO PRODUCTIVE. It makes you want to please yourself and no one else. I'm just hopeful that other people can dig what I'm ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, April 2005
ASK HOOD whether their new album, Outside Closer, is a break with or continuation of their past work, and this is how much they're willing ...
Animal Collective: Birmingham Academy
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, August 2006
Sugar rush ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, April 2007
WHAT ARE you playing at? "Not what you think" whispers Infinite Livez, Big Dada's most wayward emissary and co–creator (alongside Swedish electrojazz–duo Stade) of a ...
Comment by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, June 2008
His name is Neil, and he would like to shred your speaker cones with big bastard hip hop. Let him, why don't you? ...
Aidonia, Mavado: This Month In... Dancehall: Why Only Jamaicans Should Use Autotune
Overview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 3 March 2010
Neil Kulkarni delivers a swingeing blow to the whingers. Imagine a glitter and blood encrusted Doc Marten stamping on the face of autotune for all ...
Envy, Kelis: Givin' It To The Homegirl: The Trouble With Kelis
Comment by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 10 June 2010
With Neil Kulkarni finding something rotten in the state of girl-pop, he turns up his nose at Kelis' curdled Milkshake and explains why Brit Envy ...
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 6 July 2011
Neil Kulkarni breaks his no-festival rule and braves the corporate overkill of Wireless to see his Pulp. His verdict? They "now stand mighty amidst the ...
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 17 May 2012
THE NEW Enemy album is finally here. There it sits, being shite, in the noonday sun, attracting flies. Cross over the road my friend, ask ...
Codeine: A New '90s US Edition Part Three: Codeine, A New Kind Of Stillness
Retrospective and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 30 August 2012
Neil Kulkarni continues his secret history of US cult groups of the 1990s, this time speaking to Steven Immerwahr and Chris Brokaw of Codeine. ...
AR Kane: A.R. Kane: The Future Came and Went
Retrospective and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 11 October 2012
Neil Kulkarni speaks to Rudy Tambala, one half of A. R. Kane. ...
Royal Trux: Veterans Of Disorder: Royal Trux Interviewed
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 22 November 2012
With their formative album Accelerator recently reissued, Neil Kulkarni asks Jennifer Herrema to look back over the noise-rock duo's career, taking in junkiedom, spectrum analysers ...
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 6 December 2012
I should declare an infatuation — this album is exactly as old as me and for 25 of its 40 years I have loved it ...
Come: Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zadek: Come On My Shirt, Come In My Ear
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 17 January 2013
I'LL NEVER FORGET. 1994. A cold Wednesday morning in March. The Embassy Hotel, Bayswater. I'm sat down, inside, smoking 'cos you could back then, and ...
Peace: Tiny, Smug and Blissfully Ignorant Minds: New British Indie and Peace's In Love (Columbia)
Special Feature by Neil Kulkarni, fuckyouneilkulkarni.blogspot.co.uk, 30 April 2013
"I. Man's perceptions are not bound by organs of perception; he perceives more than sense (tho' ever so acute) can discover." — William Blake, ...
Black Sky Thinking: White Power And Black Pop: The Real Problem With 1Xtra's Power List
Comment by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 16 July 2014
Neil Kulkarni dissects the recent BBC 1Xtra Power List which featured three white acts in the top four... ...
Retrospective by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 26 August 2014
Commissioned by Kevin Martin as part of our Bug Week, Neil Kulkarni writes about the power, potency and legacy of the UK's premier dancehall sound ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, October 2015
Cassette culture veterans Storm Bugs look forward to fabricating the past ...
JPEGMAFIA x Freaky: The Second Amendment (Deathbomb Arc)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, January 2017
TIME AGAIN for hiphop to look beyond its normal loci of national and international significance and focus on those scenes so cut off from the ...
Moor Mother: The Motionless Present
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, May 2017
COMMISSIONED BY The Vinyl Factory for the 2017 CTM Festival, The Motionless Present handily returns Moor Mother at just the point where the memories of ...
Ka5sh, Signor Benedick The Moor: Ka5sh: Ka5sh, Signor Benedick The Moor: Toybox
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, July 2017
LOS ANGELES INDEPENDENT label Deathbomb Arc continue their tireless mission to offer a distinct alternative to trap's dwindling returns with two startling releases from the ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, March 2018
IN A MUSIC world in which no one disappears, and even the most negligible figures can be persuaded to break their post-fame incommunicado isolation if ...
Little Simz is the uncompromising MC with a raw vision for UK hip-hop
Profile and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, DJ Magazine, 6 March 2019
Grey Area is the most raw and direct record yet from Little Simz. DJ Mag talks to the MC and visionary about being in the ...
Skepta: O2 Academy, Birmingham
Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Metro, 28 November 2019
"BIRMINGHAM, I need your energy," hollered grime veteran Skepta from the stage as the hungry crowd moshed in a rampaging circle. ...
June Tyson, Sun Ra: June Tyson: Saturnian Queen Of The Sun Ra Arkestra
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, June 2020
JUNE TYSON WASN'T just a collaborator with Sun Ra for 25 years, she was an integral Afrofuturist presence in The Arkestra, the only woman in ...
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 29 March 2021
Tel Aviv's Noga Erez boasts razor sharp beats and a heart of pure pop, finds Neil Kulkarni ...
Purbayan Chatterjee: Unbounded (Abaad)
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, October 2021
HOW, WHEN MAKING music wherein avowedly East meets West, can you avoid simply slathering Eastern instrumentation onto Western pop tropes? ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, August 2022
With a visionary new African based film, vocalist, poet and actor Saul Williams has found a place to explore the polyglot power of language and ...
Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, December 2022
YAO BOBBY IS a rapper based in Togo, West Africa; Simon Grab is a producer from Switzerland. ...
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