No Tags

We're back with the second part of our conversation with GG Albuquerque , our expert guide to the new-new wave of Brazilian funk. This time we find out about how bailes operate inside the favelas, Brazil’s love-hate relationship with funk, oppressive policing, grime connections, regional DJ cultures and more. We also carve out the minimum possible amount of time to discuss Brat , once again, and G...

We’re witnessing a breakthrough moment (again) for Brazil's funk scene, an ever-expanding universe of bone-shaking low-end, CDJ theatrics, synesthetic drug cocktails, barking MCs, extreme production choices and a fuckton of wraparound sunglasses. It's incredible music, but it's not always easy to keep up with what's going on, so in this episode – the first of a two-part interview – we speak to GG...

Some say that algorithmic content has fragmented our social media feeds to the point that we no longer exist in a shared culture. Others say, ‘Has anybody else noticed that bald dude in a dressing gown all over Instagram suddenly?’ We think you know who we mean, but either way, let us introduce you to the one-man DJ phenomenon that is Fish56Octagon. Who is the Fish? What does he want? And what can...

As if we hadn’t gorged enough on lore last week , this time we welcome one of electronic music’s boldest world-builders, Iglooghost. Iglooghost’s new album Tidal Memory Exo takes place in a punk-dystopian vision of a British seaside town that’s been cut off from the rest of society. It even comes accompanied by an online forum where users debate the politics and micro-genres of the local “tidal sc...

We’re still reeling from last week’s Reynoldsmania , but in the wake of our conversation with the great music scribe about the past and future of electronic music, this time we’re firmly in the present. First, Chal puts forward a thesis about the genre trend of the moment – a movement that brings together Taylor Swift, Disney Adults, A. G. Cook and Warhammer freaks. Welcome to the lorecore era. Ne...

For millennial music journos like us, Simon Reynolds is one of the Goats.  He’s a writer best known for his era-defining book on dance music, Energy Flash and the ultimate history of post-punk, Rip It Up And Start Again . But there’s barely a genre that Simon hasn’t touched, from hip-hop, shoegaze and glam rock to pivotal essays on Auto-Tune, “conceptronica” and the hardcore continuum. Reynolds’ n...

No Tags is going weekly! Since launching last year we’ve managed to stick to an episode every fortnight, but the time feels right to try and make things more frequent. So in that spirit, we’re going to be recording more regular Tom-and-Chal-only episodes. Anything you particularly want us to tackle in these? Email, comment or DM us. This week: we tackle Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee and the revelati...

Without Jamaican sound system culture, much of the electronic music we love wouldn't even exist. So why is it so often underrepresented when we talk about dance music history? To tackle this and more, we brought in author Marvin Sparks, one of the UK’s preeminent experts on reggae and dancehall. We also had topical news to cover: Vybz Kartel, currently serving a life sentence in prison, had his mu...

It’s a question that crops up a lot: how do musicians move into video game soundtracking? Lena Raine is one of the most respected game composers on the circuit, capturing the imagination of millions with her work for Minecraft and Celeste, one of the key indie games of the last decade. Often with No Tags, we try to focus on people who haven’t had their story adequately told. That’s not the case wi...

Dr Robin James is a philosopher of sound studies whose Twitter presence and blog, It’s Her Factory , are reliable sources of galaxy-brain takes on the discourse, from Taylor Swift Studies to “Brexit techno”. We asked Robin to share some of her latest thinking on the forces that are changing how we listen to music, from vibes-based listening and the secrets of the Spotify algorithm to the connectio...

Look – chances are you’ve never heard of Gavin Douglas. But if you’ve had even one ear to what’s been going on in UK radio over the last decade, you’ve definitely felt his impact – as a curator, radio programmer, trainer and mentor. Snoochie Shy, Jeremiah Asiamah, Jamz Supernova, Tash LC, JK & Bempah, Reece Parkinson and CassKid are just a handful of the country’s prominent radio hosts that he’s h...

Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson has had a monumental impact on the last decade of dance music, first by disrupting a male-dominated industry through the agency Discwoman, and then by creating a new, dedicated zone for Black artists with Dweller, an annual festival that takes place across various venues in New York each February. And all without ever lowering herself to the status of a DJ. With the peak...

The Large is a perfect example of the sort of figure we want to talk about on No Tags. She’s been a savvy behind-the-scenes operator for over 15 years, coming of age in London’s late ‘00s DIY clubbing era as a promoter, DJ, radio host and blogger. It was in the early part of the next decade, however, that she came into her own at Mixpak, the New York-based label that did more than any to connect t...

It’s been a bad week for music journalists. Anna Wintour kept her sunglasses on to inform Pitchfork staff of their absorption into men’s magazine GQ, while FACT Magazine – alma mater of both yours truly – quietly announced the end of an era, with the mix series closing down and editorial scaling back. Nothing lasts forever, but we were still jolted by FACT’s announcement (especially when it got co...

Jeff Weiss is probably the best music writer we’ve got. We admire him not only for his radiant and voluminous prose – 8,000 words on the Grateful Dead, anyone? – but his willingness to put gumshoe to pavement in order to dig up the real story. That investigative instinct has placed him at the forefront of American rap scenes for the best part of two decades, from exposing the white devilry of Post...

Are end of year lists over? This year it felt like end of year season came and went with minimal impact and minimal consensus. So why was that? Falling in the middle of a global crisis obviously doesn’t help, but even outside of the news context — and frankly that’s never stopped musicians tooting their own horns before — 2023’s parade of end of year lists really did feel like a damp squib.  We al...

A true DJ’s DJ, CCL is typical of the kind of artist we both admire: someone with reassuringly broad taste, a lifelong affinity with the underground and a winningly self-deprecating sense of humour. After obsessing over their recorded mixes for ages we realised we knew almost nothing about Ceci the person. Turns out, there’s much to tell – with past lives in Moscow, Rome, Bristol and Seattle, thei...

For the second episode of No Tags, Chal & Tom meet Nick Boyd and Tony G, the duo behind one of the underground’s best dance labels. We talked about why a record label in 2023 needs to do more than just release good record, the increasing corporatisation of the underground, acid epiphanies, Boiler Room, the music press and this episode’s main theme: the network of underground dance music in North A...

For the first episode of No Tags, Chal and Tom meet JK & Bempah, hosts of NTS's go-to rap show and true scholars of street music. Early champions of everyone from Pop Smoke to Jim Legxacy, their weekly radio show is a must for anyone with even a passing interest in rap music from either side of the Atlantic. We spoke about their story so far, the Met Police’s treatment of drill artists, whether Ce...