iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

#KimDeal is releasing a live album and concert film, Live At The Barbican You can watch the seven-minute trailer here: @4ad.com buff.ly/JOoAeQz

Colour still of Kim Deal performing, with a reddish orange tint to the image.

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Feared and monitored by the British establishment, tailed across East Germany by the Stasi, sponsored by the condemned Greater London Council and regularly hosted by British Rail... The Strange World Of… Test Dept #ThePortal: Your Weekly Quietus Archive Dive buff.ly/Sc0W5am

Black and white photograph of Test Department performing.

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'What I imagine Gio Escobar’s band Standing On The Corner might sound like were he from Wisconsin, owing as much to, say, Guided by Voices as SoTC might to Dipset.' Gash - At Least You Know What You’re Laughing At buff.ly/rENXjOr

Gash - At Least You Know What You’re Laughing At album cover. Colour photograph of a grubby looking bathroom with a small black rectangle pasted over part of the window.

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'Having spent the previous decade lauded as rock & roll’s most compelling survivor, Iggy Pop found himself, improbably, with a hit album on his hands...' Many Happy Returns to Iggy Pop's Blah Blah Blah, which turns 40 today! buff.ly/grTTcfL

Iggy Pop's Blah Blah Blah album cover. Iggy posing in jeans and a black t-shirt against a white background with the album title written in light great and also teal blue.

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David McKenna considers the relationship between regionalism and nationalism, and reviews essential new records, from a mutant club masterpiece to a brilliant prog pop swansong, via Sourdure, Brama and more Rockfort! #FrenchMusic for September buff.ly/2qaF2Q3

Colour photograph of the band Brama against an orange backdrop.

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'There’s an enjoyable Whack-A-Mole-ish quality to the arrangements on Cooked, where instruments surface then vanish: fitful double bass takes the place of twelve-string guitar, hushed ambient textures replace jazz skronk.' Oren Ambarchi - Cooked buff.ly/BE4MJUv

Oren Ambarchi - Cooked album cover. Sequin-covered, toy animal head with large round eyes, overlaid by bold white title "COOKED", and artist name at the top.

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'Jane’s Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies, Flaming Lips and the Lemonheads all had roots that stretched way back before 1991 but were awarded a seat at the top commercial table after Nirvana opened it up.' 1991 and how Grunge Forced Metal to Grow up buff.ly/riq2nbQ

The Flaming Lips – Oh My Gawd!!!...The Flaming Lips album cover. Trippy montage of skulls, part of the Earth, crucifixes, flowers etc.

Pixies - Come On Pilgrim EP cover. Rear view of a bald man with a very hairy back.

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“It was dusk when he was awoken by a fearful scream. He had never heard such unnatural sounds, such howling, wailing, grinding, tears..." Anna Mahtani on how modernist culture revolutionised Silent Hill 2 and gaming buff.ly/fCxyJF3

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'While others find in it astonishing range, a gamut of styles and emotions which saw both Prince and Elton John rate it as the greatest album ever made, it’s also an inconsistent, puzzling flawed album...' #StevieWonder's Songs In The Key Of Life turns 50 today buff.ly/zD17vVM

Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key of Life album cover with concentric orange-to-yellow torn-paper rings drawing the eye to a small sketched, sunglasses-wearing face at the centre. Japanese Obi strip version.

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'The Road‘s man is weak and vulnerable. His body is failing, his mind is wracked with doubt; he is overwhelmed by his emotions, bursting into tears of anguish and anger. He sees no future. We know him well...' Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and the Tradition of Apocalypse buff.ly/ttDnAgx

Cormac McCarthy - The Road, Folio Society edition hardback with black and red illustration of a wrecked landscape across the front and back.

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Ahead of their appearance at Decolonise Fest, fiercely DIY punk Hang Linton tells Emily Wilson about distrust of a gangster-infested music industry and the double-edged sword of building a social media fanbase An Interview with Hang Linton buff.ly/v1Ml7ad

Colour photograph of Hang Linton, stood in a field of flowers, holding a freshly picked bunch.

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'In 2022, it became apparent that a larger facility was needed to handle the influx of visitors to the memorial stone, and a full Cliff Burton Museum was opened. There is no equivalent museum for heavy metal’s other lost heroes...' The Legacy of #CliffBurton buff.ly/EGRd3ix

Inside The Cliff Burton Museum, by Tom Johansson.

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'Wonder was 26 when Songs In The Key Of Life was released—at that point, he was absolutely on top of the world, the greatest soulman on earth whose magnificence overshadowed even rock and pop' Many Happy Returns to #StevieWonder's Songs In The Key Of Life, which turns 50 today! buff.ly/zD17vVM

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'The UK producer's soundtrack to an imaginary video game is a euphoric, emotionally resonant record, despite occasional forays into over-reverence toward the pop pioneers it draws from.' Tiiva - This Could Be A Start @bluetapes.bsky.social buff.ly/xrIqHRv

Tiiva - This Could Be A Start album cover. Blue photograph of a cloud that appears to have been applied with wide brush marks at the top.

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'To both limit the player’s sight, and create a “cinematic feeling” of malaise, Imamura added a “noise-filter” of fog relentlessly crashing into the screen...' Anna Mahtani on how art revolutionised Silent Hill 2 and gaming buff.ly/fCxyJF3

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'L7 made politically-centred music that in its ethic and delivery was the exact opposite of everything that Guns N’ Roses represented. It’s unnerving that the two opposing creative environments were so physically entwined...' 1991 and how Grunge Forced Metal to Grow up buff.ly/riq2nbQ

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SQUARE festival has revealed the first wave of acts playing its 2027 edition in January. Anna Vis’ new ENTER MAR show, Príncipe label affiliate Helviofox, Carme López, CHISARA, Gisela Mabel, Land Whales, TRAVO and IBSXJAUR are all confirmed buff.ly/Do5sglA

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'The longer you stay, the harder it becomes to leave. Its disquieting, slippery shapes slowly reveal themselves as comfortingly familiar. This is alien terrain that starts to feel like somewhere you belong.' Klara Lewis - Opening is a Quietus Album of the Month For September 2026 buff.ly/1irL9KN

Klara Lewis - Opening album cover. Ballet dancer standing en pointe on both feet with legs crossed at the ankles, wearing rolled-up jeans against a cool blue backdrop.

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#JeffMills has released a new set recording via Apple Music, capturing a set that he played at New York’s Knockdown Center in March of this year. You can listen to the first part of Live At Knockdown Center here: buff.ly/GNylP0n

Colour photograph of a close up of Jeff Mills' face.

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The undiminished, deep affection for #Metallica’s late bassist Cliff Burton reveals a lot about the strength of fanhood in the implacable face of tragedy, says Joel McIver on the 40th anniversary of his death Living And Dying, Laughing And Crying: the Legacy of Cliff Burton buff.ly/EGRd3ix

Cliff at his first soundcheck with Metallica at The Stone, San Francisco, 5 March 1983, by Brian Lew. Black and white image.

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'Unfurling soundscapes forged from rampaging drums, wailing saxophone, and corrupted electronic fields with vocals processed into a smear of textural sound.' Sly & The Family Drone - With Love is a Quietus Album of the Month For September 2026 buff.ly/1irL9KN

Sly & The Family Drone - With Love album cover. Vinyl LP and sleeve showing bold pink text WITH LOVE over a textured pink-brown stained background, with a marbled pink record peeking out from a dark-bordered sleeve.

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'The Low End Theory took Tribe to that fabled “next level” hip hop acts always bang on about by performing the trick every authenticity-obsessed artist most dearly wants to execute—they crossed over without selling out.' A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory at 35 buff.ly/cjfeNkV

A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory album cover with Japanese Obi strip.

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'With a haunting score, horrifying scares, and a nightmarish narrative, Konami’s sequel expanded the limits of survival horror and birthed a new gaming genre: psychological horror.' How Silent Hill 2 Changed Horror Gaming For The 21st Century buff.ly/fCxyJF3

Silent Hill 2 original video game soundtrack cover. A solitary man walking down a fog-shrouded road toward a horizon dominated by a pair of ghostly female eyes and cracked, webbed title text.

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'There’s more going on than an attractive recapitulation of earlier themes. The sheer comfort of the sound is what the album is really about, and also, the key to what is going on under its delightful surfaces.' #HaruomiHosono - Yours Sincerely is a Quietus Album of the Month buff.ly/1irL9KN

Haruomi Hosono - Yours Sincerely album cover. Sepia-toned oval portrait of Hosono wearing a cap and sunglasses, centered on an ornate Art Nouveau–style floral border with a gold sun emblem.

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claire rousay and Martyna Basta have released a new collaborative album through Unsound’s in-house label You can listen to it here: buff.ly/2gC0d0l

Colour photograph of claire rousay and Martyna Basta with a house in the background and two fingers in the peace sign at the bottom of the image.

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David McKenna goes deep with hurdy-gurdy powered drone giants France and the La Nòvia collective which has, for over a decade, been responsible for breathing new life into French folk music The Strange World Of… France, La Nòvia & Friends - #ThePortal buff.ly/dXJvqdx

France – Do Den Haag Church (2014) CD-R cover. Spiderwebs and an impossibly stretched human head repeating ears, mouth and nose. All in black against a white background.

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'The Road is a twinning of two immortal tales: parenthood and the end of the world. The uncompromising starkness of their juxtaposition gives the book its power.' Cormac McCarthy’s The Road turns 20 today! @picadorbooks.bsky.social buff.ly/ttDnAgx

Detail from the Picador edition of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, with the image of the father and son picked out in black, red and grey that suggests flame, skeletal trees and charcoal.

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'Trav is an intense reading experience. Intense with neutral valence, for the book is by turns frosty and searing. Harrowing and life affirming. Exciting. Stimulating? yes. Pleasant? Joyful? on occasion. Such is life.' Animals, Burns and Barns: Trav by Taylor Burns buff.ly/Sa2N1sN

Black and white photograph of the author Taylor Burns, wearing a striped shirt and bearded, looking towards the right hand side.

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'Some of #Nirvana’s appeal undoubtedly came from the fact that Cobain was so obviously a tortured artist. His lyrics came from a place of pain, not debauchery, like the old glam rock bands: people noticed this and sympathised.' 1991 and how Grunge Forced Metal to Grow up buff.ly/riq2nbQ

Nirvana live in 1991, by Steve Gullick—image of Kurt Cobain at the microphone with guitar.

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Sebadoh’s 1996 album Harmacy is being reissued by @subpop.bsky.social The updated release will feature 16 bonus tracks, including alternate versions, rare B-sides, BBC radio sessions, and live material from the Harmacy era buff.ly/968zNEK

Black and white photograph of Sebadoh by Charles Peterson.

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'You may’ve thought the noise crested on Most Normal; four years on they’re reaching for sonic immortality, and no band from this island has made combustion this articulate since My Bloody Valentine.' Gilla Band - Pugnello is a Quietus Album of the Month for September 2026 buff.ly/1irL9KN

Gilla Band - Pugnello album cover. Layered horizontal paint strokes on a black background—white and blue textured bands capped by a jagged yellow line.

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'A surprisingly thoughtful portrayal of male friendship—in a sea of gross-out comedies that have aged poorly, Dumb & Dumber stands pumpkin-pie haircut and shoulders above the competition.' Jon Buckland on Dumb & Dumber buff.ly/qCqeyjO

Scene from Dumb & Dumber. Two men on a bicycle in a suburban street, both wearing helmets and light jackets.

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'While Orchestra Of Wolves had made its impact by channelling real life when few others would, suddenly they found themselves as unwelcome messengers...' Happy Birthday to Gallows' Orchestra of Wolves, which turns twenty today! buff.ly/SQgWSsO

Gallows - Orchestra of Wolves album cover. Punk-style illustration of snarling, grinning wolves forming a chaotic chorus around a violin and harp, with bold pink accents and black ink splatter.

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Anna Mahtani unravels how the total assault of Silent Hill 2 – and its roots in modernist literature, alternative music, progressive cinema and modern art – birthed a new era of psychological horror for gamers 'Happy Birthday' Silent Hill 2, which turns 25 today! buff.ly/fCxyJF3

Image from Silent Hill 2—close up of a woman's face with a grainy filter.

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'The extreme whiplash from endless heatwaves to a sudden brisk chill has left me in a strange state of mind as we pass the equinox, almost dreamlike. It’s times like this that I find music can have the most impact' Music of the Month: The Best Albums and Tracks of September 2026 buff.ly/1irL9KN

Quietus music of the month graphic, a composite of several different album covers.

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'A pummelling swan song from the legendary industrial metal powerhouse that bears the influence of the new-millennium metal embodied by Neurosis, Isis and other sludge bands, themselves heavily influenced by Godflesh.' Godflesh - Decay buff.ly/bDeniPG

Godflesh - Decay album cover. Rectangular, degraded photo that looks like a statue with its hands to its face, with lettering in white and a large white border.

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'In its 75-year history, rock music never underwent such a profound and massive change as it did in 1991, and the culprits were: ‘Nevermind’, ‘The Black Album' and ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik'' Discover how grunge forced metal to grow up in our latest Extended Play feature: buff.ly/riq2nbQ

Composite image made from three album covers: ‘Nevermind’, ‘The Black Album' and ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik'.

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'This is Space Afrika as ensemble rather than duo. The industrial-noir dubscapes are still there in the bones, but they’ve been given orchestration, given breath, given rooms to echo around in.' Quiet Storm by Space Afrika is tQ's Album of the Week @daisrecords.bsky.social buff.ly/VvWHy5e

Black and white photograph of two men stood with their heads locked together. Photograph credit: Timon Benson.

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Bad Brains are releasing their fabled first demo tape recording for the first time. Are You Ready: The First Studio Recording (Inner Ear – March 1979) drops on 6 November 2026 buff.ly/q40CmRh

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Mick Harris (Scorn / ex Napalm Death) will play 2 sets from different projects, at Iklectik in London TONIGHT, Thursday 24 September. Support from SCALD (members of The Seer, UKAEA, Waterflower, Josh Curtis and Laboranta and ZAMYARSKI Tickets available here: buff.ly/J7ezGfv

Flyer for Mick Harris with support from SCALD at Iklectik this Thursday 24 September.

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Richard Skelton and Lawrence English have teamed up for their first collaborative LP together, titled NOON You can watch a video for lead cut ‘Sprites’ here: @phantomlimb.bsky.social buff.ly/2bdlT9p

Black and white composite photograph of Richard Skelton and Lawrence English, made with clear rips.

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The whole glorious, extravagant, toxic party of 1980s hair metal crashed and burned because of three bands: #Metallica, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and #Nirvana.... Read the full story in our latest Extended Play feature: buff.ly/riq2nbQ

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