BENJAMIN ADAMSON: INTUITIVE LIVING DOCUMENTS
It was a major pleasure to interview trumpeter, producer, songwriter, Madd Galaxy aka Benjamin Adamson in 2018. An email a few month ago and this genuinely talented LA musician let us know he’s got new material. With three new cuts to offer, it’s a living document of...
MOSCOW IN MAY (Вдохновлено Владой)
I grew up and read a great deal about state violence, about ideological interpellation, and I came to see clearly enough how the concept of “everyone” can be used, within structures of power, to swallow the individual. There is, every month, a night like...
DINA GOLDSTEIN-A PHOTOGRAPHIC VOICE, THAT’S LOUD AND CLEAR
I was a first-time mother and inspired to create a series of narrative photographs. This was a shift in my methodology. Dina Goldstein “nuanced narrative photography” When digital photography became commercially accessible a lot changed in my industry. Taking...
SIMON ARNOLD: STATIC, STATIC……. 1467kHz
Dresden leads to FREEDOM I was born in the mid-80’s in the former GDR, and I have been living in Dresden, on the river Elbe, for more than 20 years. For many years I tried to make a living as a professional musician. For about 15 years now, I have also been working...
PEARLA-DXMX: SOUND PORN, CASSETTE TAPES AND INTOXICATING MUSICAL ODESSEYS
Japanese producer Daika-Kagata (a friend of itchysilk) put us onto the dynamic dj, producer and label owner of Paradoxy, Pearla (DXMX). Based in Berlin (that mecca of electronica), he’s made a name for classy electronica productions and on point curation. In his...
PROFESSOR JASON ARDAY-STICKS AND STONES?
Like many people, the death of Professor Jason Arday (41) deeply unsettled me. My doom scrolling abruptly stalled on a Saturday afternoon. A brief Sky notification popped up on my phone, “Jason Arday had died” I quickly clicked the link. My immediate morbid thoughts:...
B’LICIOUS- FORGING HER OWN IDENTITY WITH THE LEAD SINGLE ‘APPLE’
I’m a big fan of Slovak singer/songwriter Barbora Patkova aka B’licious, the lead singer of the outstanding band, Heliocentrics. Alongside the ‘OG’s’ Malcolm Catto and Jake Ferguson they’ve dropped genuine classic material. While I could write copious superlatives...
YAZZ AHMED-FEMALE JAZZ MUSICANS MUST BE MORE THAN JUST NUMBERS
I am not sure if I have the right to state- female jazz musicians are more prevalent than ever-after all I am male and I am not a musician! However, in the current climate (from a UK perspective) I think tentatively things have changed. Personally, I can reel off a...
SOUNDSYSTEMS AS SPIRITUAL POWERFUL LANDSCAPES
Sound systems as Spiritual Landscapes Deep deep inside the dark urban jungle, bodies are moving where the bass is booming. The lighting is minimal and low except for the occasional extraordinary flashes of red, gold, and green which illuminate, for just a moment, the...Welcome to Wasia: What Should We Consider Representation?
In April 2026, Laufey’s “Madwoman” music video sparked widespread celebration online. With its all–mixed white and Asian (“Wasian”) cast (featuring rising figures like Lola Tung, Alysa Liu, Megan Suri, and Hudson Williams) the video offered a stylised, 1960s-inspired...
Inheritance of Emotion: An Out-of-Body Awakening
The Moment We Leave Ourselves In moments of overwhelming emotion, the body can feel like it momentarily steps aside. We observe ourselves from a distance – as if watching a character in a story rather than inhabiting our own skin. This strange separation between...själens trädgård
this is a story, some based on reality, other parts, not so much, i’ll leave that to your imagination. A black crow perches in the arms of a willow, keeping watch over the land unfurled beneath it. The ground is gentle – soft with bloom – strewn with...
Flowers, Forests, and Fate: Nature as Symbol in Shakespeare
Every year, Earth Day invites us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world—how we use it, neglect it, and depend on it. Centuries before modern environmental debates, William Shakespeare was already weaving nature deeply into his plays, not just as a...
YAMS AND BESSI TAKE THEON CROSS TO THIRTY YEARS OF CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL
In my second interview with musicians performing at Cheltenham Festival, I spoke to the experimental London composer and tuba player, Theon Cross. While Theon has been in and around jazz since primary school, he’s still a young guy at just 33. Musically, however...The Drama: Who are we to judge?
In A24’s movie The Drama Charlie (Robert Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya)’s wedding preparation is thrown off by a seemingly innocent game, initiated by her maid of honour Rachel: revealing the worst thing they’ve ever done. SPOILER ALERT: The secrets of each person in...
SUSANNE JUNKER-FROM HEROIN CHIC TO EXCITING MULTI-MEDIA HEROINE
self-portrait A former successful model in the heroin chic era, circa (1993-1996), Susanne Junker has morphed into an astounding creative with a clear unapologetic feminist voice. Through her multi-media artistry, she is a foil against all those negative expectations...
The Delay of Desire
A Phenomenological Note on the Structure of Love Human feeling is not a social movement; it does not always begin with a declaration. It may have no clearly circumscribed point of origin, no single...HELIOCENTRICS: HIDDEN GEM UNEARTHS POWERFUL NUCLEAR WAR
What do you get if you cross the “dissonance” of the London based band Heliocentrics and the majestic brilliance of The Sun Ra Arkestra? How about Nuclear War. I called up one half of Heliocentrics, Jake Ferguson for a quick chat about an itchysilk project –...This Isn’t Diplomacy—It’s Brinkmanship
When leaders claim they are pursuing peace while simultaneously escalating threats, the line between diplomacy and danger becomes dangerously thin. In the case of Donald Trump’s approach to Iran, that line has not just blurred—it has been deliberately erased. What is...Run Away to the Forest
What As You Like It teaches us about escape, identity, and the quiet fantasy of starting over. Something of an afterthought Isabel Adomakoh Young as Orlando and Nina Bowers as Rosalind in As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe. (2023) Photograph: Ellie Kurttz There’s a...Exploring Identity, Culture, and Sound at the SXSW Festival: Zola Marcel on Heritage and Artistic Expression
Zola Marcel explores how her music is shaped by curiosity, cultural identity, and human connection. Rather than fear, she approaches performance with a desire to understand how her work resonates across different communities, seeing music as a shared conversation...I’m scared, I can’t see the future.
I took my friend Sarah to a Leith Ross concert in Dublin. She says I listen to a lot of depressive music but I think it’s slowly growing on her. The room is small. I like the concerts better here. In Paris you’re further away from the music. Here, if you wanted to...Rings of Resilience
When a young tree is injured, it does not stop growing. It does not abandon itself, nor does it attempt to erase what has happened. Instead, it grows around the injury. Layer by layer, season by season, the tree continues its upward and outward reach. Over time, the...Welcome to Data Atlantis
“Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed.”― Chuck...Screen Tests and the Quiet Faces of 1960s Counterculture
Screen Tests, created by Andy Warhol between 1964 and 1966, offers a unique lens into the cultural shifts of 1960s America. At first glance, the films appear deceptively simple: individuals sit in front of a camera, often silent and nearly motionless. Yet beneath this...Maledlo: Faith, Flesh, and the Filipino Body
Inside the World’s Only Annual Holy Week Crucifixions I watched an old man get nailed to a cross with my own eyes. For a moment, I wanted to look away. The instinct came immediately — the body’s reflex to turn from something irreversible. Instead, I kept my eyes fixed...VENDING MACHINE
Let’s be honest: we are all products of a capitalist society that has expanded so far, it feels impossible to turn back. And to be clear, I’m not arguing for its opposite—history has shown how badly other systems can fail. But is it unreasonable to ask whether this...
Monstrous monster songs: how strong are aesthetic alibis?
“Consuming a piece of art is two biographies meeting: the biography of the artist that might disrupt the viewing of the art; the biography of the audience member that might shape the viewing of the art. This occurs in every case.” ― Claire Dederer, Monsters: A...
FROM THE ETHICS OF VIEWING TO THE DIFFÉRANCE OF THE GAZE
The Collapse of Documentary Photography and the Reconstruction of Subjectivity — A Critical Reflection on My Own Documentary Photography Introduction — Do Images Bear Ethics? Looking back on my early...
Agnes Denes’s Wheatfield — A Confrontation
In the spring of 1982, Agnes Denes planted two acres of wheat on a landfill near Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan. The site lay in the shadow of the World Trade Center, bordered by Wall Street and the Hudson River—among the most symbolically charged and...
You are who and what you eat !
Eating is never just eating. It is habit, inheritance, access, geography, and, more often than we would like to admit, power. Taste, if anything, is trained. In Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (in the original mandarin chinese and translated by Lin King) food is...
Ghouls Conversation
On an overcast, rainy Sunday afternoon—February 1, 2026—at MINIWAX, a vinyl record store in the coeur of Paris (11 Av. de la République, 75011), Bastien Keb, Mark Millington, and Malik Ameer Crumpler gave the first live performance of their 2025 album, GHOULS. With...
From Stoke to the Stage: Harri Georgio on Music, Growth, and Breaking the Rules
Emerging from Stoke with a story shaped by resilience and creativity, Harri Georgio’s journey into music is anything but conventional. Speaking candidly about his beginnings, influences, and creative process, he paints a picture of an artist driven not by industry...
Trauma Is a Nervous System Injury, Not a Character Flaw
For many people, trauma is first explained as a personal failing. It arrives disguised as advice.You should be over this by now.You’re too sensitive.Why do you react like that? Over time, these messages sink in. They turn inward. What began as pain becomes shame. The...
Nature as One: Earthly Appreciation and The Ancient Art of Witchcraft
Witches and Pagans: An Overview Witchcraft is very much real, and it can be found everywhere: in mothers and their intuitions, and in anyone open enough to feel the world to their very cores. After trial and punishment, this practice prevails, and it exists in more...
This One is For the Toads
No.Not the creature that hops from branch to leaf, content in its own small orbit.Not the one torn from the ground by a sudden force, lifted skyward only to be returned violently to earth in the rain. Not that toad. I’m talking about a different kind altogether. The...
I am a bad feminist: Do we actually need the label?
“I have a horrible feeling I’m a greedy, perverted, selfish, apathetic, cynical, depraved, mannish-looking, morally bankrupt woman who can’t even call herself a feminist.” Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag: The Original Play I never choose peace over...
NAO YOSHIOKA- MUSICAL DREAMS CREATED IN NEW YORK’S CONCRETE JUNGLE
For the past thirteen years, the talented Japanese singer songwriter Nao Yoshioka has become a force in contemporary rnb/neo-soul. Respected by her peers, in the last two years things have really “blown up”. Signed to the independent (and dare I say) brilliant...
Vilém Flusser and the Fate of Images: Photography, Apparatus, and Post-History
From Traditional Images to Technical Images Flusser’s most influential insight is his distinction between traditional and technical images. Traditional images—such as paintings or drawings—are produced directly by human intention and situated within historical and...
Ode to Humanity
I have often contemplated the reality of existence.If you strip it back far enough, past the names and the rules and the rituals, we are animals—clever ones—moving through a world shaped by agreements we never signed. Social constructs layered upon instinct, built...
Letters from a dead poet
There is an open bookshelf in a town I’ve visited almost every summer since I was born. The general consensus in this kind of affair is that you should leave one to take one. I’ll admit I’ve seldom abided by that rule under the pretense of being on holiday. There are...
Awakening the Matriarch
Celebrating International Womens Day THE BLOOD MOON Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft, 1855. Oil on canvas. In the early hours of March 3, 2026, the sky above Barcelona glowed in strange colors—orange, pink, and deep red...
The chinks are keeping their luck, by the way
Year of the horse I have waited for you. I’m not a fan of New Year’s Eve parties. Never have been. They’re uncomfortable and tacky and provide little comfort to all the fears condensed in my mind for one more go at a year of existence. Thankfully, half of February and...
Claiming Space in Europe: A Spotlight on Filipina Artist Kim Cruz
I used to think Filipino artists in the diaspora were rare. Moving through Europe — Portugal, London, Paris — I would meet Filipino communities who seemed genuinely surprised when I spoke about working in the arts. Across Southeast Asia, fine art — especially overseas...
Chris Marker: Human Beauty, Held in Time
Cinema Beyond Movement Chris Marker occupies a singular place in the history of cinema because he treated film not as moving pictures, but as a thinking process made visible. More than any other filmmaker, Marker demonstrated that photography—still, silent,...
Beyond the Stage
Beijing. I am seated in the audience of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. On the stage below, an unmistakably deliberate narrative is laid out—birch forests, permafrost, feminine softness, and the order of the collective. The moment the first piece begins,...
Decay of the defining decade: it’s all about rats
“There’s nothing so stable as change.” Bob Dylan There is a museum of almosts in my mind and it is the most all consuming thing to ever exist. How many times were we told: these are the best years of your life! I think about it in the shower as my skin turns red, in...
Pathetic Fallacy in Literature: Meaning, Function, and Impact
Pathetic fallacy is a literary device in which human emotions, thoughts, or intentions are attributed to non-human elements of the natural world – such as weather, landscapes, animals, or inanimate objects. When writers describe the sky as “angry,” the wind as...
Grief Without Witness in Hamnet
After tears trailed down my rough skin, making my pores as slippery as an ice-skating rink, I thought it may be necessary to delve into the new film, on an old life, Hamnet. Profound Soundscape With Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg among the film’s producers, it comes...
THE AMAZING DIVERSIFICATION OF TAWIAH BRINGS A NEW ALBUM
It’s 10am on Thursday and I have a zoom call with the supremely talented British musician Tawiah. Bang on time for the interview, she’s sitting at her piano in her home studio. Behind her I see more instruments of her trade. The room has a high ceiling, decked out in...
To the Mirrorballs: Sadness as a rite of passage
Many people will tell you that grief is what thrusts you into adulthood—that it marks the moment when the world stops feeling padded. It is the instant you understand that love and loss are not opposites but extensions of the same experience. Loss is love. Or perhaps...
Who could ever stop the birds?
With the writer’s own paintings The birds Every year, almost to the day, they leave. You notice it only if you’ve been paying attention. One morning the sky feels louder, fuller, threaded with motion. Wings cutting clean lines through the air. Small bodies...
Let’s Give Dirty Looks to the Fashion Industry
The Barbican’s latest exhibition digs up the dirt on the fashion industry by representing its faults in some of the filthiest pieces of clothing. From the 25th of September last year, London’s Barbican Centre art gallery displayed a collation of global fashion...
When Love Speaks Spanish
Imagine being so hateful that you can’t hear joy or love just because it’s sung in Spanish. I currently live in France, and I have never wanted to be back in the States as much as I did for the Super Bowl. I wanted so badly to be there with my best friends—dancing,...
Nigel Farage’s “Restoring Justice” Is Not Reform — It’s a Blueprint for Authoritarianism
Nigel Farage’s so-called Operation Restoring Justice is not a plan to fix Britain’s justice system. It is a populist power grab dressed up as common sense — a project that weaponises public anger, attacks the rule of law, and openly borrows from some of the most...
Inner Exile: Gazing, Childhood, and the Cracks of Subjective Freedom – Part III
Beijing, Collective Ethics, and the Reclaiming of Judgment I leaned back in my chair, my shoulders aching slightly from the release of tension. The cigarette had burned close to my knuckles; I tapped off the ash. The room was so quiet that only the rustling of an...
Inner Exile: Gazing, Childhood, and the Cracks of Subjective Freedom – Part II
Ivan, Sartre, and the State’s Claim on Childhood A book lies open on the table. It is Sartre’s essay on Tarkovsky’s “Ivan’s Childhood”, from a collected volume on Tarkovsky. I must admit, reading such a text carries with it a delicate irony: here I am, a man still...
Inner Exile: Gazing, Childhood, and the Cracks of Subjective Freedom – Part I
This text was not written in a moment of clarity. It began one night, when the body was already fatigued, yet had not given way. I was not seeking to recall anything, nor to endow fatigue with meaning. I simply needed to withdraw briefly, from the order of the day, so...
The Guerrilla Girls: Art, Activism, and the Fight for Equality
The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous collective of feminist artists and activists who use art, humor, and data to expose discrimination in the art world and beyond. Formed in New York City in 1985, the group emerged in response to the persistent underrepresentation of...
Marie Antoinette and the Art of the Fan: Fashion, Power, and Courtly Expression
Marie Antoinette—arguably the most styled and scrutinised queen in European history—was not just a wearer of fashion, she was its engine. The Marie Antoinette Style exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London traces the cultural impact of her aesthetic...
“Autism is Not a Flaw — It’s a Lens on the Only World We’ve Designed”
Reflecting on autism, representation and design in the context of the V&A’s Design and Disability exhibition. When I was nine–rising ten, my brother was diagnosed as different. Over ten years later, the way people perceive him still haunts me. I remember a...
Words don’t come easy: the politics of understanding
One of my greatest fears in life, for as long as I can remember, has been to be mistaken for an American on any given holiday. My luggage will be packed at the very last minute, yes—but safely tucked into the front pocket of my backpack will be a few sentences in the...
Bread of Angels: Patti Smith’s Hymn to Hunger, Grace, and the Sacred Ordinary
Patti Smith’s “Bread of Angels” stands as a quiet yet resonant meditation on spiritual hunger, human fragility, and the enduring search for grace. Like much of Smith’s work across poetry, music, and memoir, the piece resists easy categorisation. It is neither sermon...
Wild wild words on the World Wide Web
our media literacy crisis In 2026, I think we should bring back boredom. I like that life is supposed to be, technically, a little boring. We are a silly little species when we peacefully exist, and that’s fine. Sunsets are exciting for that unexplainable...
The Ritual of Making Tea
There is something quietly grounding about making tea. Not drinking it—making it. The small, deliberate steps feel like a conversation with time itself, asking it to slow down just for a moment. But beyond its softness and symbolism, this ritual also carries centuries...
Why Generative AI is So Confident – and So Wrong
Generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence that creates new content – such as text, images, music, or code – by learning patterns from vast amounts of existing data. Rather than retrieving information or understanding meaning the way humans do, it...
The Ghosts Between the Shelves: Writers, Readers, and Parisian Bookstores
In Parisian bookstores, the past is never entirely past. It lingers in the narrow aisles, in the smell of paper and dust, in the way a bookseller pauses before recommending a title, as if consulting not only their own taste but a long, invisible lineage. To step into...
I’d Like to See AI Wiping Her Mascara
I have a small bump on the middle finger of my right hand from the way I’ve always held pens and pencils. After particularly intense exams, my friends used to gasp at the depth of the dent, as if it were proof of something extreme, something excessive. I’ve been told...
The Day the Sun Stands Still
On December 21, the world leans deepest into shadow.This is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year – when the sun offers only 8 hours and 46 minutes of light between sunrise and sunset. At 3:03 PM, the solstice arrives exactly. After this...
THE SIX BILLION DOLLAR MAN
Directed by the two-time Emmy director Eugene Jarecki this riveting piece of documentary film can list the prestigious Cannes Festival as an accolade. And rightly so. Perhaps I should lavish a plethora of superlatives to entice you; “magnificent” “stupendous” “held...
babygirl politics: risks of the parasocial
Somewhere on the world wide web someone is writing a deeply urgent piece of literature: a Zohran Mamdani × Donald Trump fanfiction. Yes, none of us asked for it. Here we are anyway. I personally have nothing against fanfiction. In fact, I think it deserves far...
the big man
a couple of nights ago, on my way home, i saw a Woman at a bus stop with Her child in a pram. a man was shouting at Her. tearing Her apart as if She were nothing. i turned back and looked deep into Her eyes. She whispered, “it’s okay.” but i knew it wasn’t. still, i...
Brownies tasting like fudge type shit
I woke up less than an hour ago. Groggy on the bus. Going to class. Boring. Girl in front of me black fluffy coat and high ponytail. I know I shouldn’t but I do catch myself looking at other people’s screens most days. She’s looking at flights from Dublin to Seoul....
THE GOTHIC IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE GOTHIC
In these dark times of Charlie-xcx-Jacob-Elordi-Dubai-Chocolate-Labubu-Wuthering-Heights it would be oh so easy to claim gothic is dead and has finally met its dawn. Our world is haunted perhaps now more than ever. Every decade declares the death of the Gothic, and...
The Pulse Beneath the Visible: Entering Emma Talbot’s Energetic Worlds
In an era of ecological urgency, technological upheaval and existential questioning, British artist Emma Talbot’s latest solo exhibition Everything is Energy at Arnolfini (18 October 2025 – 8 February 2026) emerges as a potent and immersive exploration of our...
THE POCKET ROCKET JUNA SERITA LIGHTING UP BASS GUITAR
Songwriter, singer, and bassists, is there nothing Juna Serita can’t do. Born in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, but now living in Tokyo, her ascension has been prolific. An immense talent with an electrifying stage presence, June’s latest album, Show Me...
From Paris to Ponce: Cyril Bailleul’s Residency at the Clermont Lounge
Watch Interview With Cyril Bailleul When French photographer Cyril Bailleul first stepped into Atlanta’s legendary Clermont Lounge, he couldn’t have imagined that a single evening would spark a decade-long creative journey. Yet ten years later, his camera has quietly...
Is There Any Hope for Our Oceans? How Our Oceans Might Still Save Us
Diving Into Wonder I was ten years old the first time I slipped beneath the surface of the ocean. The world above—sun, sand, and screaming seagulls—vanished, replaced by a cathedral of light and color. Tiny fish darted between waving anemones, corals swayed like...George “The Dragon” Caruana: a professional #MMA fighter’s story
Watch the Video of George “The Dragon” Caruana: a professional #MMA fighter’s story
BLACK HISTORY MONTH AIN’T NOTHING BUT GESTURE TOKENISM..
At a time where the tolerance of ‘differences’ is scarce, perhaps Black History Month (BHM) has added significance. Racism, bigotry (etc) derives (in part) from ignorance and a lack of understanding. From its inception in 1926 BHM (initially named Negro...
Edward Hopper: Realism and the Strangeness of Familiar Surroundings
The Quiet Power of Edward Hopper Few artists have captured the quiet poetry of everyday life as hauntingly as Edward Hopper. Renowned as one of the most influential realist painters of twentieth-century America, Hopper epitomised what it meant to be modern and...
Is Generative AI Destroying Our Planet?
Let’s stop pretending. Generative AI isn’t the shiny miracle Silicon Valley promised us—it’s a parasite, feeding on human creativity and planetary resources alike. Behind every slick demo and cutesy chatbot reply lies an inconvenient truth: AI is accelerating the...
THE STARTLING ALLURE OF ESCAPISM WITH DETROIT TECHNO FOUR DECADES STRONG
Circa 1981, Detroit native, Juan Atkins (then, part of the group Cybotron) released Alleys Of Your Mind from their debut project Enter (released in 1983). A ‘sound’ inspired by names like P Funk and the German group Kraftwerk, the track was a seminal moment. While it...
From Club Bangers to Sad Girl Anthems: Pre-Heat’s Alice Preat on Her Most Vulnerable Song Yet
From a recent interview with Pre-Heat’s Alice Preat, she describes her creative process into the group’s new song ‘C-A-T-B-G’, standing for ‘Crying at the Boarding Gate’. “It’s kind of a love song, I guess, even though it might not feel like that. I guess that was why...
EDGAR MARTINS: (PART 1) HOW TO TELL A STORY WHEN THERE ARE NO WITNESSES
In a two-part interview, we talk to Portuguese photographer Edgar Martins about his latest photo book- Anton’s Hand is Made of Guilt. No Muscle or Bone. He has a Gung-ho Finger and a Grief-Stricken Thumb (2025) released under Moth House. Shortlisted for this...
A Night of Sound & Spirit: Constellar’s Live Gospel Recording Lights Up the Logic Church
Privilege and Calling “First of all, it’s a dream come true. Second of all, it feels really good.It feels like a privilege. It feels like a privilege because I feel like whatever thing you have to do, that ends up inspiring people around you, that ends up...
Venus Among the Stars: Astrology, Art, and the Echo of the Divine Feminine
How the symbolism of Venus continues to shape our myths, our culture, and our understanding of feminine power. Introduction: More Than a Planet Have you ever looked up at the night sky and felt something ancient stir within you? A quiet sense that the stars aren’t...
Meryl Meisler’s New York: A Stunning Photo Journey from Disco to the Deuce
Meryl Meisler’s New York: A Stunning Photo Journey from Disco to the Deuce Origins and Creativity “I started doing photography at the age of seven. I received a camera from my parents for my birthday. That’s when I started and I took pictures of my little...
PEQUEÑA MUERTE (PART 2)-JOIN THE EROTIC RESISTANCE MOVEMENT
In the second part of our interview with Pequeña Muerte we understand the genesis of the project. We delve into eroticism and the constant “contradiction” and “flux” with morality. We discussed this antagonist dichotomy with the talented Filipino artist Darling Kink a...
PEQUEÑA MUERTE (PART 1)-EROTICISM FOR THE MIND?
In this latest full feature, we take a three-part journey to Mexico. We explore erotica with the startling multi-disciplinary project Pequeña Muerte ‘little death.’ Created by multi-disciplinary artist Chema Contreras and Andrea Valverde (cultural manager, sometimes...
YUGEN BLAKROK: DEEPENING ARTISTIC HEIGHTS WITH HER ALBUM-THE ILLUSIONS OF BEING.
It’s thirteen years since South African verbalist, Yugen Blakrok dropped her debut album Return of the Astro-Goth (2013): a scintillating project. It was a powerful introduction to Yugen’s thoughtful brand of, intricate word play with esoteric leanings. Since that...
PAPAYA NOON AND SEAMLESS RNB VIBES
With plaudits from names like, Snoop Dogg, Queen Latifah, Missy Elliot and more, Welsh duo Papaya Noon (Greg writer/producer, Annie writer/vocalist) are ones to watch. Active from 2022, they bring a seamless mix of rnb with splashes of jazz vibes. Far from that overly...
ADAM SCRIMSHIRE DISCUSSES IMPERFECTIONS WITH HIS LATEST PROJECT WILLOW
Established musician and producer 46-year-old Adam Scrimshire captured our attention with his newsletter where he discussed ‘imperfections’. His newsletter centred on an ‘imperfect’ old piano owned by his wife. Due to a lack of space, his wife had to leave the piano...
ESWATINI GETS THE MUSICAL ANTIDOTE
35-year-old Sizo Hlophe, a cultural producer and manager from Eswatini pushing the music scene. At itchysilk we have long loved and championed the brilliant music coming from this landlocked country. For all the talent in the world, however, there has to be...
INSIDE BUDAPEST’S ILLEGAL TRAIN GRAVEYARD
In another brilliant photo essay, Lorna May delves into Budapest’s illegal train graveyard; secrets hidden by decaying steel. (4 mins read time) Some of these iron giants may have dark secrets, possibly ferrying Jews to their deaths in WWII – one-way tickets for...
The Puppet Parade and The Man of Peace-Chapters 3,4 and 5.
It’s been a long while coming (our fault) but it’s here. The last three chapters of The Puppet Parade and The Man of Peace from Matt Jones. A Canadian war veteran and born-again bohemian completes his tale where PTSD and reality collide in a day in Paris. Chapter 1...
NIGERIAN PHOTOGRAPHER PAUL ABBAH BRINGS THE STUNNING ‘THE ORDER OF THINGS’
Nigeria represents a deep creative antagonism: embracing contemporary creativity with verve while Nigerian traditionalism fights to “keep the status quo.” Is it possible for Nigerian ‘contemporary creativity’ and ‘traditionalism’ to co-exist? The brilliant...
“WHAT LOVES MEANS TO ME”: A PHOTO ESSAY BY SOFIA MENDOZA
In this amazing, honest photo essay by Mexican photographer Sofia Mendoza she details what love means to her. Are you in love?
‘BABY DRAGS’ A PHOTO ESSAY BY LORNA MAY
I braced for the hum of razors, the sculpting of fake breasts, and the neat tuck of penises.
‘BLOW’ DEBUT TRACK FROM pre-heat
Amazing synth laden track Blow from pre-heat out now.
LILIAN BLU MAKIN-NEW SINGLE THE SUMMER
We got into Canadian alternative rapper Lilian Blu Makin back in 2020. At the time she released her EP Under cover Comfort 2020. We really loved the kind of low fi, hazy loveliness of the track Golden Lies featuring vocals by Mighloe-it was a track that (at the time)...
OGINEE VIAMONTES PHOTOGRAPHIC CHAOTIC BEAUTY
Oginee Viamontes and her debut book The Seen detailing the LA punk movement.
MZA BRINGING OLD SKOOL RAVE WITH SHINING SAMPLES
31-year-old beatmaker and DJ, MZA has managed something amazing with his aurally intoxicating third ep Impermanence. Hailing from Singapore, he delves with gusto into a plethora of genres from the UK electronic scene. His ep transports us into an 80’s, 90’s rave...
SALLY DAVIES-ALWAYS OWNING HER STORY
Canadian born photographer, painter and teacher Sally Davies is resolute when she states: “you must always own your story”. She has used that telling and poignant viewpoint throughout her work as a painter and a photographer. Born in Winnipeg Canada,...
Daiki Kagata explores perception with his project ERROR
There’s an innate love here at #itchysilk for Japan and its wonderful culture. Today we delve with unmitigated enthusiasm into the world of Japanese beat maker Daiki Kagata and his latest project ERROR. It’s a project influenced by luminaries such as Flying Lotus, J...
SUITCASE JOE-GREY FLOWERS, SKID ROW AND UNCONVENTIONAL BEAUTY
For over a decade, Suitcase Joe the anonymous LA based photographer has documented the inhabitants of Skid Row. Unflinching, powerful images capture this man made ‘city’ created from the depths (and necessity) of poverty. Undoubtedly [Skid Row] is a product of the...
Eastman talks HIStory and leaving Kool FM after 32 years.
Eastman and Suzy
Meryl Meisler is ‘scintillating’
Meryl Meisler in the featured image.
WE TALK TO SARAH GRACE ABOUT HER UP-CYCLING BRAND PURPLE GUAVA
For a while now, we have been keeping an eye on an Instagram and twenty-two year old photographer Sarah Grace and her up-cycling clothing brand Purple Guava. To be honest we absolutely love the name and her brilliant reels showcasing her amazing talent. We just felt...
TIGER PICASSO PRE-APOCALYPTIC MUSINGS
Tyler Tilley aka Tiger Picasso is a painter based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Born in Canada, the 40 year old has been blessing socials with his contemporary social commentary paintings. In his “pre- apocalyptic” paintings his humorous take on contemporary celebrities...
NARDUCCI RELEASES THE ENIGMATIC DARKNESS TO LIGHT EP
In our best New York Italian mafia voice-Narducci is “a friend of ours”. itchysilk has held a long and absolute admiration of Narducci the brilliant producer and saxophonist. Last time we touched base with Narducci was in 2020 with his astral like project Ancient...
DIARY OF A NIGERIAN DYKE, LESBIAN…HUMAN (ENTRY 5) 18/05/2021 Pause, wait … stop
In the 5th part of her diary, our protaganist reaches her first blissful climax taking her her bi sexual experience to something more. I had my first squirting experience, an electrification that lead to a beautiful pussy eruption. Dear Diary, to be clear, before the...
THE PUPPET PARADE AND THE MAN OF PEACE (PART 2)
In the second of his five part series of features, our new writer Matt (a war veteran) continues the story of the Puppet Parade-it’s a cerebral dance as our protagonists takes us deeper into this weird and wonderful moment-just where is he taking us? You cannot bring...
DIARY OF A NIGERIAN DYKE, LESBIAN….HUMAN (ENTRY 4) 17/05/2021
As if a sudden urge took my very body over, after ages of deliberation I knew I had to go hers …I called said wanted to meet up…it was an easy call “no qualms let me know”…. this was meant to be a chill hangout for a couple of hours; Music jammed and drank...
THE PUPPET PARADE AND THE MAN OF PEACE
In his second article for #itchysilk, Matt Jones, Canadian veteran and born-again bohemian, brings the first of a five part series. In it he is recruited by a troupe of artists in the town of Ouzouer-sur-Trézée, South of Paris, to carry an enormous puppet in the...
FARID IBRAHIM DABA-“A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSAND WORDS”
In our on-going focus on Nigeria, here we talk to Farid Ibrahim Daba a young photographer who started his “creative journey” in 2017. Despite his relatively short career here at #itchysilk we feel he manages to capture telling poignant images of Nigerian youths who...
SATCH HOYT-AFRO-SONIC MAPPING
In this rather intriguing interview, the artistic polymath Satch Hoyt discusses his latest work Afro-Sonic Mappings. It’s a deep dive into understanding Black history, present and indeed future through the musical histories of ‘Black people’. Photo credit, Jordane...
STREGA NONA IS OFFENSIVE AS FUCK
In her next piece for #itchysilk, Semtex goes in like the proverbial charging bull on Italian stereotypes. Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola is the catalyst for her ire. Through the lens of this children’s book, Semtex highlights that, in many...
THE BODY AS A NON-ARTIFICIAL MACHINE
In her first piece for #itchysilk lecturer and writer Ashby Solano brings a most profound discussion-what is this thing called ‘humanity’. It’s a question we have pondered for thousands of years. While we have brought a plethora of suggestions from some of the great...
DYSMORPHIA
In her second piece JOY (our Nigerian poet) details our on-going obsession with the body beautiful and the impact it has on the young and old. **** Stop staring at me like that, I see it in your eyes you don’t like how my shoulders are built, My back is hunched and my...
LETTER FROM A PISSED OFF VETERAN
In his first article for #itchysilk, Matt Jones shifts our perpetual anxious gaze from the Ukraine (if only for a brief second) to our liberty squashing (perhaps man-made) covid virus. Dear Freedom Convoy, I know you’re probably feeling a little abandoned right now...
JERMISIDE & THE EXPERT DROP NEW ALBUM-THE OVERVIEW EFFECT
In the age of cross Atlantic projects The Overview Effect is an awesome album. The brainchild of Atlanta emcee Jermiside and Dublin based producer The Expert it’s a concept album. The duo run full pelt into 1960’s psychedelia while poignant bars galore delve (at...
A LETTER TO CUPID
In something a bit different, poet JOY (based in Nigeria) blesses us with some poetry. In this first installment, JOY has been shot (with pin-point accuracy) by that damn rascal Cupid-my oh my. I haven’t even gotten over the fact that your lack of archery...
“CAN I KEEP YOU?” “YOU CAN’T AFFORD ME”
If you have been a fan of itchysilk, you will know a while back we had a writer Semtex who would ignite our synapses with her rather incendiary words. Well she is back. How long she is with us we do not know but for now Semtex brings her own inimitable view on life-we...
DIARY OF A NIGERIAN DYKE, LESBIAN…..HUMAN (ENTRY 3) 14/04/2021
Our Nigerian heroine continues her exploration and finds someone who allows her to truly explore, experience and enjoy her sexual discovery. In this third series she enjoys a powerful physical liaison. I am a natural when it comes to giving head, she didn’t...
EROTICA PLUSH-CATHOLICS LOVE LUST TOO
As a platform, #itchysilk aims to inform, and create discourse on areas deemed challenging or taboo.It is far from a discourse about right or wrong. Rather, presenting as many thoughts, and opinions to help the reader decide. Isa Luzuriaga aka Erotica Plush, currently...
PAUL ABBAH-INTERSTELLAR TARGETS AND AUTHENTIC BLACK REPRESENTATIONS
Featuring creatives from Africa has always been one of our main aims. To that end, we feature the phenomenal self-taught photographer Paul Abbah. Born in Abuja Nigeria, the twenty-one-year-old is unashamedly focused on bringing his black experience and black reference...
BETTINA PITTALUGA-CONSIDERATE PHOTOGRAPHY
At #itchysilk we were taken by the French-Uruguayan photographer Bettina Pittaluga and her honest “considerate” photography. It was an image capturing the love between two black women that caught us; it was a delicate image of ‘love’-nothing more, nothing less....
PREMIER:YARLIE BRINGS OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR HER EP-STUPID WITH A SORE HEART
We have championed the Swedish singer, songwriter Yarlie since 2021 when she came onto the musical landscape with her talented pop sensibilities. Truthfully, we don’t necessarily push pop (as such). With Yarlie however she just knows how to bring that contemporary pop...
DIARY OF A NIGERIAN DYKE, LESBIAN…..HUMAN (ENTRY 2)
As we continue in the quagmire of Coronavirus and the establishments’ insidious (and blatant attempts) to defy our rights to Democracy, we our delve into our second installment with our Nigerian heroine. Here she immerses herself into the rabbit hole of...
ANGELIKA KOLLIN-WHAT IT IS TO BE A WOMAN
While our interview with Tampa based photographer, Angelika Kollin is our first for 2022, we decided to delve once again into the theme of catharsis and healing. Healing (on a wider scale) is particularly relevant as we go two years with the global upheaval. Like any...
GLORIJA LIZDE-EXPLORING THE PRE-DETERMINED
Born in 1991 Croatia, freelance photographer Glorija Lizde brings images of intimate depth in her striking personal photography series. We were particularly taken by her images F20.5 exploring the impact (as it were) of her father’s schizophrenia. In many ways the...
MERYL MEISLER-BEHOLDING SUCCESS
Meryl Meisler- an interesting lady. Hopefully she will not take this badly, but you just want her to be your mum, aunt or just someone in your family. She emits this maternal warmth: It’s like a duvet on a cold night with a mug of hot chocolate. More importantly she...
DIARY OF A NIGERIAN DYKE, LESBIAN…..HUMAN-(ENTRY 1) 25/03/2021
In an #itchysilk first instalment we take a voyage into the world of our Nigerian diarist as she takes a journey from absorbing female on female porn to finally taking a leap to her first (proper) female sexperience. We start the journey at the cusp of that life...
BILL SHAPIRO-A LIFE DURING AND AFTER LIFE
“But why do you want to interview me, I am main-stream”? Bill Shapiro the last editor of the famed LIFE magazine states with genuine confusion. For #itchysilk we found it a surprising question. Why wouldn’t we interview someone who was at the helm of a magazine that...
ESWATINI-IS IT TIME FOR A REVOLUTION?
A little while back an #itchysilk writer wrote a piece regarding the unrest in Nigeria fuelled by an angry ‘youth’. In a similar vein eSwatini and its youth are voicing the need for change while their absolute monarch clings to power with a vice like grip. Let’s not...
FRANKIE OROZCO- ‘2 LIVE AND DIE IN LA’- A JOURNEY TO THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
LA, Los Angeles is a city that we at #itchysilk are intrigued by. Of course, many know LA for the booming Hollywood film industry. An industry that has (and continues to) shape the global landscape in a multitude of ways. Established and aspiring actors flock to the...
JUSTYNA NERYNG-HAIRY WOMEN (THE LAST TABOO)?
Justyna Neryng and her latest project, Hairy Women requires one to question: just when did it become the ‘norm’ that women should be hairless? Glossy ads, fashion, social media, film and tv propagate (by and large) the hairless body beautiful woman. While in porn the...
CHEMA CONTRERAS-MEXICO A CONDUIT FOR CREATIVITY
In a third instalment (as it were) #itchysilk talks to another creative from Mexico, Chema Contreras. Like our past Mexican creatives, Edgar Campoy and Ilan Derech, Chema Contreras identifies Mexico as a powerful conduit for his creativity. Indeed it is his love for...
TOBIAS SLATER-HUNT: CHALLENGING THE BODY BEAUTIFUL FRAME BY FRAME.
Tobias Slater-Hunt a photographer and teacher from Brighton brings his exploration of physical identity, sexual identity, notions of beauty and disfigurement in his brilliant body of work. His images of nude human bodies challenge our notions of ‘beauty’. They are...
FREE FROM THE NIGERIAN FLAG
In his latest piece our writer Ebenezer lays blame for the lack of progress in Nigerian culture at the steps of ‘tradition’. Shackled by the formality of ‘tradition’ (ergo those in power) Ebenezer argues the opportunity for change will continue to be curtailed. After...
NATTY WYLAH-“FUCK OFF WITH YOUR LABELS”
With a great deal of pleasure, we checked out the Natty Wylah ep BRUCE sent to us courtesy of our friends at Rap and Soul Promotions. What a stomping eleven track project full of brooding atmospheric energy and lyrically profound bars tighter than that friend who...
ILAN DERECH-COLD STEEL LEADS TO AN EMOTIONAL IMMERSION IN CULTURES
Interviewing Ilan Derech the half Mexican and half Jewish street/travel photographer was a great experience. We veered with ease and fluidity from photography to more profound and thought provoking subjects. It was and is clear than Ilan Derech born in Mexico City...
EDGAR CORTÉS CAMPOY-HELPING TO CHANGE HOLLYWOOD TROPES OF MEXICO
In the spirit of #itchysilk, photographer Sofia Mendoza told us about an intriguing Mexican screen-writer, director and producer Edgar Cortés Campoy. He is still young at 24 in this whole film business, but he’s already released some sterling projects in film...
JAVIER VALLHONRAT-FINDING PEACE AND DESPAIR WITH MALADETA
Spanish born Javier Vallhonrat is a renowned name in photography having plied his trade for over thirty years. Lauded for his ‘distinctive eye’ the 67 year old is perhaps most well-known for his work in the fashion industry. Images of names like Milla Jovovich for...
CAYETANO FERRANDEZ-GRAY BRINGING COLOUR TO THE HUMAN CONDITION.
In his simple yet visually arresting work The Gray Man, photographer, and sculptor Cayetano Ferrandez explores the “human condition”. It is an exploration that is profound, darkly humorous but evidently tinged by a certain uncomfortable knowledge: “Gray……… defines the...
JAHMAR NGOZI: NECESSITY LEADS TO CONVERSATIONS WITH BASQUIAT
In his play The Lost Generation (funded by the Arts Council) talented British playwright and poet Jahmar Ngozi pays homage to the maverick and era defining Jean-Michel Basquiat. The play, imagines a day and night before Jean-Michel Basquiat produces his seminal piece...
#INTOTHEDARKROOM WITH………RENEE C BYER-A MOTHER’S JOURNEY.
In this #intothedarkroom we look at the work of Renee C Byer. Here we briefly discuss her emotionally raw and outstanding Pulitzer winning project, A Mother’s Journey (2006). The series charts the journey of Sacramento based, Cyndie French and her son Derek Madsen...
INTO THE CUTTING ROOM WITH-NIGHTCRAWLER A NEO NOIR MODERN CLASSIC
In this latest #intothecuttingroom we salivate and analyse (briefly) the cult like awesomeness of the neo-noir thriller Nightcrawler (2014). Written and directed by Dan Gilroy (whose credits include work on the Bourne Legacy 2012), this is a classic. The film breaks...
LIAM WONG-INSPIRATIONS OF SYD MEAD BRING VISCERAL CYPERPUNK.
If you are looking for images which capture that whole dystopian world, Liam Wong is a step in the correct direction. Despite coming to photography more as a practical means to “capture his travels”, Liam Wong’s work is anything but practical as cyber-punk, noir,...
#INTOTHECUTTINGROOM WITH PEDRO ALMODÓVAR AND DOLOR Y GLORIA
In this #intothecuttingroom Lorna May discusses the film Dolor y Gloria (2019) by the renowned director Pedro Almodóvar. In her usual inimitable style she dissects this drama whihc evidently saw Antonio Banderas win best actor at the Cannes Film Festival....
JOHANNE RAHAMAN-BLACK FLORIDA REVISUALISING BLACK COMMUNITIES.
The photographic project BlackFlorida by Trinidadian photographer Johanne Rahaman is a mammoth undertaking capturing images of black residents in Florida. It is a project that she admits will take “twenty years” to complete. The aim is simple: to...
YANCE FORD- “STRONG ISLAND” BATTLING SYSTEMIC AMERICAN INJUSTICE
American Yance Ford director and producer of the Emmy awarded film Strong Island (2017) is, in many ways just another statistic in Amerikaaa. He is one of two surviving siblings of William Ford who was gunned down by Mark Riley a white 19 year old mechanic in 1992....
AMBROISE TEZENAS-VISUAL TREATS FROM A MONOMANIAC
As a teenager Ambroise Tezenas was interested in photography purely as an art and a vessel to “express” and “create something”. A self-confessed “monomaniac” it was only in his later years that photography became a career. After successfully working for editorials it...
RUI TING JI-CHARCOAL, ANIMATION AND THE HUMAN CONDITION
Trawling through the internet looking for talented names for the itchysilkLIVE section we came across the name Rui Ting Ji. Based in Canada and still a student at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema it was her stunning second year film One Day At A Time which...
THE LONGEST LINE IN BERLIN EPISODE 6
In the sixth chapter of his series The Longest Line in Berlin, writer Anthony Dwight Peebles brings us into stories on social media jails, three-way loving, lovers’ quarrels and Joni Mitchell. Through these adventures, we get to understand our narrator a little...
#INTOTHECUTTINGROOM WITH-CAT PEOPLE (1982)
In this #intothecuttingroom, #itchysilk writer Alessia looks at the erotic horror film Cat People. Written by the excellent director and screen writer, Paul Schrader who wrote the classic Taxi Driver (1976), Cat People centres around themes of zoomorphomism and...
JUST A HOLOGRAM IN YOUR HEAD
In the Fugitive Diaries, Jamika Ajalon, brings devisive opinion (for some) and discusses her experiences over the last two decades, as a queer WOC expat in Europe. From the year of President Obama’s election, to the present, when a politically stoked xenophobia...
ANDREW GOLD-EXORCISMS AND FREEING YOUNG MINDS?
In this #itchysilkLIVE we talk to the Argentinian based 29-year old film-maker Andrew Gold about his documentary-Exorcism: The Battle For Young Minds. In truth evoking that explorative inquisitive ease of one Louis Theroux, Andrew Gold casts his gaze on the...
MARC H MILLER-EPHEMERA AND NEW YORK DOWNTOWN ART
Marc H Miller writer, curator and ephemera collector has been an integral name within the New York art scene since the early 70’s. Charting the rise of names like Andy Warhol right through to Mapplethorpe, he witnessed in all its visceral vibrancy a period that...
APHRA BEHN-GUERRILLA GIRLS WARFARE
Recently, #itchysilk writer Semtex spoke to Aphra Behn a former member of the original feminist group Guerrilla Girls. Before Pussy Riot (circa 2011) entered the feminist affray with their punk rock-fuelled sound, Aphra Behn was spearheading a voice for activism and...
ALUNE WADE-BRINGING AFRICAN FAST FOOD
Alune Wade is a bassist, singer and composer originally from Dakar bringing a sound that can be positioned within ‘high life’ come afro jazz sounds. Comparisons to the great Fela Kuti when any African artist brings that high life jazz sound are hard to resist. While...
THE GLOOMIES-HYPNOTIC RETRO FLUSHES WITH SOME ROMANCE
In all honesty we have been a bit hooked on the debut album released on the Thrill Me label from the New York based duo The Gloomies. It all started with an innocent email asking us if we might be interested in pushing the sound of Andy and Chris on #itchysilk. After...
#INTOTHEDARKROOM WITH WALKER EVANS
IntoTheDarkroom sees Alessia Scacchi take in the excellence of the American photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975). Her Alessia looks at that most contentious and amorphus concept/idea-The American Dream through Walker Evans’ famous image of an American gas station. In...
GENDERCIDAL: (WHO REALLY GIVES A FUCK IF) HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU
In this round of Gendercidal, Semtex talks about the continued mental block of women in terms of being unable to resist caring about whether or not he’s “into you,” even though it doesn’t matter because you should really have your own life...
CHIARA FABBI
Chiari Fabbi is the Turin based photographer and writer who finds beauty in the everyday.
ANYA OLEKSIUK-THE PSYCHONAUT AND PSYCHEDELIA
After her own personal experiences with psychedelics, 34-year old Anya Oleksiuk has embarked on a mammoth film project to bring the good news about psychedelics. Here in the West while views are changing, psychedelic’s association with those of a deviant persuasion...
FROM TOKYO WITH LOVE: THE DIARIES – 01
From the Tokyo Diaries aka #FromTokyoWithLove, deputy editor Alice Preat writes her first entry. In this first of a number of entries she dives headlong into Japan and the wonderfully diverse and intriguing Tokyo. In that exploration she evidently falls in love with...
INTOTHEVAULTS WITH PROPAGANDA
#IntoTheVaults and our writer Marco Mini takes the helm and steps into synth heavy expressionism with the 80’s group Propaganda. In this rather sterling feature Marco looks at the German based synth pop band and their one and only album. In his discussion he looks at...
A NIGHT WITH ANGELIQUE KIDJO
#itchysilk asked our London based journalist repmes to step-out from behind the laptop and have a night out to sample the brilliance of Angelique Kidjo. It was about witnessing the Nigerian born artist in all her live glory at the Royal Festival Hall where she...
“SEX MONEY FEELINGS DIE” AS THE “BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY” OF 2018
Lykke Li’s latest release, so sad so sexy, offers a similar thesis statement on life as The Verve’s signature single, “Bittersweet Symphony” (1997) in the form of “sex money feelings die.” ***** While it’s difficult to ever...
ANNA BRESOLI-NUDITY LEADING TO DEEPER COMMUNICATION
Nudity, vulnerability and isolation are themes ever present in the work of 39-year old Spanish photographer Anna Bresoli. Indeed, in many ways nudity is ‘us’ as humans in our pure state. Ideas of vulnerability evidently come to the fore but maybe that’s only because...
MIRANDA HOBBES FEMINISM IS WHY WOMEN SO OFTEN GET REDUCED TO A ONE-DIMENSIONAL PORTRAYAL
A strain of what can only be called Miranda Hobbes feminism has invaded the minds of women in New York and beyond, but what they don’t seem to realize is that this puts them in yet another one-dimensional box–the very same one that had so many choosing...
BARBARA DANIELS-MASS PRODUCTION OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM
Born in Galway Ireland, the anthropomorphic images by Barbara Daniels forces us to investigate our relationship with animals. In her black and white pen and ink drawings, roles are reversed and there is a massive power shift. Animals are suddenly clubbing young...
GENDERCIDAL: IN APPRECIATION OF THE FUCKBOY
Though Semtex despises the fuckboy and all he stands for like any last vestige of the romantic, she can also appreciate his purpose in the world. Like a mosquito or a fly, he is both utterly annoying yet somehow utterly essential to the circle of sexual life. **** It...
MADISON WASHINGTON-BAYTRIFIED FEAT JTOTHEC
A little while back we featured the mercurial outfit Madison Washington. At the time they had released their rather tidy album Code Switching. In this juncture we briefly catch up with the vibes of thatmanmonkz (producer) and Malik Crumpler (rapper/writer) on their...
USHAMAMI-RESISTING GENRES AND NORMS FOR AN INDIVIDUAL SOUND
Ushamami is the 22-year old Massachusetts born producer, singer, dj and multi-instrumentalist who captured us. We came across Ushamami and her single Hesitation taken from her debut forthcoming ep Proximity on a midnight music trawl. The hypnotic Hesitation resisted...
INTO THE VAULTS WITH-LARRY HEARD: INTRODUCTION
Our writer Marco takes control of this #IntoTheVaults and looks at the talent of Larry Heard aka Mr Fingers. Unfortunately the talents of the Chicago house producer have been over shadowed (to an extent) by other more well known names from the scene. But that said...
THE LONGEST LINE IN BERLIN (EPISODE 2)
In the second installment of Fahrten Auf Der Autobahn, Frederic our narrator takes us deep into the notorious club Berghain where nights are charged with lines of coke, sex and freedom. While the come down from that hedonism is not far behind-Frederic ultimately finds...
GANGSTER RAP-HEGEMONY CIRCA 1980 PART 3
In the last of his three part exploration of gangster rap, #itchysilk writer Malik Crumpler delves further into the wormhole that is gangsta rap and brings us up to the times with names like, Cardi B. Indeed as she rises through the ranks to rap royalty we have to ask...
DURAN LEVISON-35mm EXPLORATIONS OF HONG KONG
Using his 35mm film camera, South African photographer, Duran Levison takes things back to the basics of photography. At 29-year Duran Levison has forged a name with popular publications hankering for his fashion/documentary images. His commissioned work evidently...
PATRICK BRESNAN- THE RABBIT HUNT AND OTHER OBSERVATIONAL STORIES
In our first itchysilkLIVE interview we talk to the director Patrick Bresnan. Born In New York, Patrick Bresnan’s most recent work is the award winning The Rabbit Hunt. It’s an intriguing, quietly powerful observational short. On a superficial level, Patrick...
DARK RABBAN-EMBRACING MISERABILISM
Here at #itchysilk the 26 year-old photographer Dark Rabban intrigued us with his bleak images. Revelling in grainy black and white images and the occasional flirtation with splashes of colour, Dark Rabban reveals the dark and at times uncomfortable recesses. For us...
KINATURAL-THE SEARCH CONTINUES
We continue our search for the band Kinatural and their trip-hop excellence. While the band fell off the proverbial cliff, with some research we have found some solo ventures. Producer, drummer and pianist, Jermaine Soul dropped several independent projects and...
MARK MILLINGTON-DROPS ANOTHER UNRELEASED TRACK
In our next instalment with sax player Mark Millington, we go with another unreleased number taken from his vinyl release Picture This (2025). Last time it was Boo Boo Mania, this time it’s -Dilly Dally. Actually to be clear this track would have been on the vinyl but...
SEMPER (FOUNDER AND OWNER)
On a late-night drive home, the light bulb moment came: itchysilk. At the time I was a freelance journalist for mags such as Dazed n Confused, Vice magazine, Mixmag, Stamp The Wax, Blues and Soul (and more) but I yearned to create my own publication. Unrestricted by...
MALIK
Malik Ameer Crumpler is a poet, composer, curator, glitch-journalists, editor, producer, and educator whose work spans over 70 albums, symphonic arias, GlitchArt films, artbooks, anthologies, magazines, AI-collaborative creative books, and ten poetry collections. He...
MARK MILLINGTON DROPS UNRELEASED JAZZ MAGIC-BOO BOO MANIA
For well over thirty years, London based jazz saxophonist Mark Millington has been plying his trade-and what a trade. Over the next few weeks look out for information on Mark, his musical history and his views on jazz. In the meantime, Mark has decided to drop...
HANNAH HUTTON-ENSURING JAZZ REPRESENTS THE UK’S DIVERSITY
Hannah Hutton is a Liverpool‑born jazz vocalist and programme manager at Kings Place. Having performed at well-known names like; Barbican, Royal Opera House and Pizza Express Jazz Club (to name but a few) she has lived experience of UK jazz. Co-founding...
ZACK CAHILL
Zack Cahill is a writer and artist born in Dublin, based in the UK. His writing has appeared in publications including Time Out, GQ and Men’s Fitness, as well as his own travel column for OutThere Magazine. He writes about travel, culture, and the peculiarities of...
LEON SUN
Leon Sun is a writer from Beijing, currently based between Paris and Beijing. His work moves across phenomenology, structuralism, linguistic philosophy, and aesthetics, with recurring interests in subjectivity, temporality, desire, visuality, and the production of...
BINYAMIN
Binyamin is a London-born writer and musician. He is drawn to the ways philosophy, mysticism, and music intersect. He explores how this intersection impacts everyday life and well-being.
MIDNIGHT LISTENING SESSION LEADS TO THE MUSICAL GEM KINATURAL
In a late-night doom scrolling session-evidently a terrible thing to do when work beckons like the grim reaper, a hidden musical gem is found. They resemble early Massive Attack in their pomp, The Birmingham based band Kinatural appear after 40 mins of sifting through...