The reissue and revision of Martin James’ State of Bass: The Origins of Jungle/Drum & Bass (Velocity Press, 2020) examines the origins and progression of British Junglism in the 1990s.
Rave culture’s clashes with UK government and police drove the scene into a dark space, but jungle/drum & bass emerged to capture a new audience of youth, creating what James ... Show More
May 7
Mary Lucia, " What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Weirder and Harder to Relate To" (U Minnesota Press, 2025)
In What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Weirder and Harder to Relate To (U Minnesota Press, 2025) an iconic rock DJ of the Twin Cities tells her harrowing story of being stalked while living her very public life What's it like to be in the public spotlight when it just might get you kil ... Show More
46m 38s
May 3
Nicholas Tochka, "The Musical Lives of Charles Manson: The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Invention of the Sixties" (Bloomsbury, 2026)
Nicholas Tochka analyzes the role of rock music in the life of Charles Manson, the Family, and the August 1969 Tate-LaBianca killings, which also gives larger insight into Sixties counterculture. Failed singer-songwriter. Devious cult leader. A rock Pied Piper. The product of a s ... Show More
3m 45s
Aug 2024
George Musgrave, "The England No One Cares About: Lyrics from Suburbia" (Goldsmiths Press, 2023)
An exploration of the much-derided English suburbs through rap music.
There are many different Englands. From the much-romanticized rolling countryside, to the cosmopolitanism of the inner cities (embraced by some as progressive, multicultural enlightenment and derided by others ... Show More
1h 28m
Jul 2024
James Graham: The playwright with the Midas touch
James Graham is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter for TV and film. His plays include Ink, This House and Dear England, about the struggles and successes of England’s former football manager Gareth Southgate. His acclaimed TV dramas include Quiz and Sherwood, set in the ... Show More
1h 8m
Aug 2025
Molière: Satire, Scandal & the Stage
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Professor Jan Clarke to explore the life, legend, and legacy of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin — better known as Molière. From his audacious rejection of bourgeois expectations to his controversial plays that rattled the Catholic Church and deligh ... Show More
49m 38s
Jul 2024
Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings
Marlon James answers readers' questions about his award-winning novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings. The novel, which is narrated by multiple characters, opens in Jamaica in the run-up to the 1976 election. Kingston is riven by violence as competing gangs, some supported by ... Show More
27m 39s
Dec 2020
Laurent Fintoni, "Bedroom Beats & B-Sides: Instrumental Hip-Hop & Electronic Music at the Turn of the Century" (Velocity Press, 2020)
In Bedroom Beats & B-Sides: Instrumental Hip-Hop & Electronic Music at the Turn of the Century (Velocity Press, 2020), Laurent Fintoni explores the rise of a new generation of bedroom producers at the turn of the century through the stories of various instrumental hip-hop and ele ... Show More
53m 50s