#the quietus

[jgthirlwell]

I'm honored that the new Foetus album HALT has been selected as one of the best albums of 2026 so far by The Quietus. (#26 to be specific). You can pick up your copy of double colored vinyl or deluxe digipack CD HERE

[notfspurejam]

Different League: Mark Gatiss' Favourite Albums | The Quietus

There’s a particular joy in hearing Mark Gatiss talk about the moment something first sparked in his imagination. In this case, it’s The Res

[cilogram]

Set Everything On Fire: Ron Mael of Sparks' Favourite Albums | The Quietus

Ron Mael of Sparks talks us through his favourite albums of all time from foundational free jazz freak out to cutting edge J-pop via Bach

Brand new (quite lengthy) interview with Ron about 13 of his favourite albums! It's so nice. He gives a decent paragraph about each one, and also talks a little about the recent Sparks tour and releases.

I've uploaded only 6 here but there are indeed thirteen. Go forth and enjoy!

[postpunkindustrial]

Reads 100,000 words in The Quietus absolutely fluffing the shit out of a band.

Listens to the band "Eh, They are OK."

[disease]

“Yeah, I think that was probably the first thing. [Coil’s] ‘Tainted Love’ video remains one of the greatest music videos of all time. I was always more attracted to Coil than Throbbing Gristle; the darkness and the scatology really chimed with me. If it’s not immediately obvious: Horse Rotorvator was deeply influential on me. What they did to your senses. What they could do with sound. What Jhonn was doing lyrically. The exotic darkness of them permeated their work. So I figured that if I hired [Sleazy] as a director then I could at least meet him and hang out for a bit. We established a friendship, and that friendship was very valuable to me.” —Trent Reznor, from an interview with Harry Sword for Quietus, 2014

[slashdementia7734]

Plans That They Made: Hüsker Dü Interviewed | The Quietus

Stevie Chick talks to Bob Mould and Greg Norton about Grant Hart, American punk and paving the road for Nirvana

[spilladabalia]

The Fall and Mark E Smith As A Narrative Lyric Writer | The Quietus

The Fall and Mark E Smith As A Narrative Lyric Writer | The Quietus

This article was originally published in July 2010 Dry preamble: in amongst the barbs and the factory clatter, on albums The Fall recorded m

The Fall are a rock & roll group – an extraordinary rock & roll group, progressive and traditional in equal measure, but one which has rarely strayed from certain fundamentals (MES always got it: "Rock & roll isn’t even music really. It’s a mistreating of instruments to get feelings over.")

It should be said, early on, that Mark E Smith is not technically a very good storyteller. Few of these songs obey the basic rules of narrative; character development is not a priority; it’s sometimes less than obvious what the bloody hell is going on. Two reasons why it doesn’t matter: firstly, in storytelling as in playing rock & roll, being technically good is not important when you happen to be a genuine one-off. Secondly, these songs aren’t meant to work like that. In terms of form and structure, The Fall’s narrative songs owe very little to the straightforward short story, neither are they derived from the folk ballad, or from Chuck Berry’s in-car anecdotes, like most of the shit that came before them. And without being limited by the old demands of narrative, or rhyme, or metre, or anything, they work.

[caviarsonoro]

Shards: Agnus Dei ( Byrd Song)

Shards, el conjunto vocal dirigido por Kieran Brunt, presenta en “Agnus Dei” (2024) una relectura radical de la música sacra de William Byrd, con motivo del 400.º aniversario de su fallecimiento. La pieza toma como base los cinco primeros tonos del Agnus Dei de la Missa for Five Voices y los reinventa en una atmósfera minimalista y electrónica. Grabada en una sola toma con voz solista y sintetizador Prophet, la interpretación resulta emocionalmente cruda y espontánea, alejándose del rigor contrapuntístico original para adentrarse en un lenguaje más expresivo e improvisado. Esta decisión estética aporta una nueva dimensión de vulnerabilidad e inmediatez a una obra históricamente asociada al recogimiento litúrgico.

En lo técnico, Brunt utiliza el procesamiento vocal y la textura electrónica para reconstruir la sonoridad coral renacentista en un paisaje sonoro introspectivo y contemporáneo. La modulación de la voz y los ecos sintéticos construyen un espacio armónico donde las suspensiones, disonancias y cadencias típicas de Byrd son reinterpretadas en clave atmosférica, casi meditativa. El ritmo fluctuante y la escasa linealidad melódica sitúan al oyente en una experiencia auditiva cercana al trance, donde el significado textual del Agnus Dei ("Cordero de Dios que quitas el pecado del mundo") adquiere una resonancia individualista, alejada de lo ceremonial. Como señaló The Quietus en su reseña del álbum, “la obra de Shards no busca recrear el pasado, sino canalizarlo a través de una estética de lo íntimo, donde cada vibración vocal parece hablarnos desde un lugar de exilio emocional”.

Desde una perspectiva estética y conceptual, la obra funciona como un puente entre dos mundos: el espiritualismo polifónico del siglo XVI y la sensibilidad emocional del siglo XXI. Esta reinterpretación no solo homenajea la grandeza compositiva de Byrd, sino que la actualiza desde un lugar íntimo, sensible y abierto a nuevas formas de espiritualidad sonora. En lugar de replicar la sacralidad tradicional, Shards opta por invocar su espíritu a través de una poética contemporánea, explorando la fragilidad humana con un lenguaje musical que resulta profundamente conmovedor y radicalmente honesto.