What would Andrew Weatherall do? 13 tales of the Guv'nor's infinite wisdom

Daniel Dylan Wray

13 fans, friends and collaborators of the late great Andrew Weatherall reflect on a single thing he gave them - from records and dancefloor memories to advice and inspiration -- that they cherish to this day.

Addded Feb 17, 2025

music

The Guardian

‘The way they’ve been exploited is obscene’: the untold story of forgotten UK reggae heroes Cimarons

Daniel Dylan Wray

They were the UK’s first reggae band and played with everyone from Bob Marley to Paul McCartney. So how have such an influential group been so overlooked?

Addded Jun 18, 2024

music

DJ Mag

ESG’s infinite influence: how the South Bronx sisters shaped hip-hop and house

Daniel Dylan Wray

Ahead of their set at Melting Pot & Optimo's Queen's Park Spring Weekender, ESG's Renee Scroggins catches up with Daniel Dylan Wray.

Addded May 2, 2024

music

The Guardian

‘The working class can’t afford it’: the shocking truth about the money bands make on tour

Daniel Dylan Wray

As Taylor Swift tops $1bn in tour revenue, musicians playing smaller venues are facing pitiful fees and frequent losses. Should the state step in to save our live music scene?

Addded Apr 28, 2024

music

Mixmag

'WipEout': The story of the world's first rave-inspired video game

Daniel Dylan Wray

Inspired by dance music, living room after parties, and futuristic design, "wipE′out" changed the perception of video games forever. Speaking to the people who made it, Daniel Dylan Wray delves into its legacy.

Addded Apr 2, 2024

media music

The Guardian

‘We were once paid $50 to quit’: new wave heroes Devo on boos, Bowie and retiring after 50 years

Daniel Dylan Wray

For half a century, the Ohio band have confounded audiences, collaborated with A-listers and continued to reinvent themselves. They explain why now is the time to finally call it a day.

Addded Aug 22, 2023

music

The Guardian

‘I’ve played for 60 years. That’s long enough’: guitar hero Vini Reilly on PTSD, life on the streets and the little girl who saved him

Daniel Dylan Wray

In his first interview in a decade, the Durutti Column’s hermit-like leader, once described as ‘the best guitarist in the world’, relives his extraordinary life from Manchester gangs to Factory Records.

Addded Jul 23, 2023

music

The Guardian

‘This is so creepy!’: the Taylor Swift vinyl haunted by Britain’s weirdest musicians

Daniel Dylan Wray

A bizarre pressing error has resulted in some vinyl copies of Swift’s latest re-recorded album carrying maverick UK electronica, leaving fans bewildered.

Addded Jul 13, 2023

music

The Guardian

Bleep it out! The bowel-quaking dance music of late-80s Yorkshire

Daniel Dylan Wray

Books and compilations are reanimating the overlooked sound of bleep: a speaker-smashing strain of DIY techno born out of breakdance rivalries and heavy industry.

Addded May 3, 2023

music

The Guardian

‘I was decadent, I was stupid, I was a fool’: the dark days of Donna Summer

Daniel Dylan Wray

In public she oozed glamour, but in private the disco star battled depression, self-loathing and suicidal thoughts. Her daughter speaks about the film she made to understand Summer’s silent struggle.

Addded Apr 28, 2023

music

The Guardian

‘Were we cursed?’: how 'Weekender' by Flowered Up encapsulated the drug-fuelled rave era

Daniel Dylan Wray

The band’s prime movers went out every night for two years, wrote a 13-minute anthem about it, then celebrated its release with a wild illegal party that lasted a week - though they would finally be overcome by tragedy.

Addded Mar 8, 2023

music

The Guardian

‘It was nuts what we got away with’: remembering the 00s UK indie explosion

Daniel Dylan Wray

As the film "Meet Me in the Bathroom" relives the glory days of the Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, fans and musicians recall the sweat, swagger and skinny jeans that made the British scene they inspired even wilder.

Addded Mar 3, 2023

music

Loud And Quiet

Just what is an 'industry plant' anyway?

Daniel Dylan Wray

With a certain kind of 'authenticity' prized above so much else, 'industry plant' is fast becoming the go-to slur for any new artist who blows up ‘too quickly’ for some online communities and conspiracy theorists. But what does it really mean to be an ‘industry plant’, do they even exist, and if they do, does it really matter?

Addded Feb 7, 2023

music

The Guardian

‘It felt like a revolution’: Jive Turkey, the Sheffield club night that blazed a trail for UK house

Daniel Dylan Wray

The pioneering electro, soul and jazz funk night united Black and white kids, bucked superstar DJ culture -- and rivalled the Haçienda.

Addded Jan 17, 2023

music

The Guardian

Angelo Badalamenti was a master composer who created theme music history with 'Twin Peaks'

Daniel Dylan Wray

The composer had an esteemed career working with David Bowie and Nina Simone, but it was his unique partnership with David Lynch that set a benchmark for dramatic scores.

Addded Dec 13, 2022

music

The Quietus

Are You Sitting Comfortably? An Oral History Of Warp's Artificial Intelligence

Daniel Dylan Wray

As Warp reissues its foundational Artificial Intelligence compilation, Daniel Dylan Wray explores the record's making, impact and legacy, plus the complicated legacy of IDM via interviews with artists featured on the album, other key players, journalists and more.

Addded Dec 6, 2022

music

The Guardian

‘Never as popular as pie and peas’: Trevor Beales, Hebden Bridge’s lost musical son

Daniel Dylan Wray

Playing folk blues in West Yorkshire in the 70s, Beales looked to the future long before his hometown became trendy. His talent is now being recognised.

Addded Nov 29, 2022

music

The Guardian

‘Having limits is boring’: experimental survivor Damo Suzuki on Can, cancer and krautrock

Daniel Dylan Wray

Now the subject of a documentary, the Japanese musician persevered with his never-ending world tour while undergoing 40 surgeries for cancer in three years. ‘Music is healing,’ he says.

Addded Oct 31, 2022

music

The Guardian

Kid Congo Powers: ‘Sex was great. Love was dumb. Sleaze was paramount’

Daniel Dylan Wray

As he publishes a new memoir, the guitarist with the Gun Club, Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds looks back on four decades of creative extremism and experimental living.

Addded Oct 19, 2022

music

The Guardian

The Guardian's 100 greatest BBC music performances -- ranked!

As the Beeb celebrates its centenary, we take a look at its most memorable music moments, from the birth of grime to the first sightings of Bob Dylan and Bob Marley, plus TOTP goes Madchester and countless classic Peel sessions.

Addded Oct 6, 2022

music

The Guardian

‘It paved the way for all of us’: the classic garage rock compilation Nuggets at 50

Daniel Dylan Wray

Half a century on from its release, we track down the surviving artists from the hugely influential record and hear how the double LP changed their lives and careers.

Addded Oct 5, 2022

music

The Guardian

‘Music was a lifeline’: the record label helping former offenders thrive after prison

Daniel Dylan Wray

Red Tangent Records is helping ex-prisoners discover their talent and enter the music industry. Three of its artists discuss the label’s impact on their post-prison lives.

Addded Sep 14, 2022

music

The Guardian

Bring that beat back: why are people in their 30s giving up on music?

Daniel Dylan Wray

It would have been unimaginable in our 20s, but these days more and more friends are disengaging from a passion we once shared. Surely this is premature?

Addded Aug 17, 2022

music

The Guardian

Ravers having it large at Castlemorton, 1992: Alan Lodge’s best photograph

Daniel Dylan Wray

‘In 1992, 20,000 people gathered for an illegal rave at Castlemorton Common. It was the thing to dance on speaker stacks or on the top of buses or trucks.’

Addded Aug 10, 2022

music

The Guardian

Karl Bartos: ‘Kraftwerk turned into the dehumanisation of music’

Daniel Dylan Wray

As the band’s drummer he co-created some of history’s greatest albums -- but then the machines took over. As he publishes his memoir he explains how their computer world crashed.

Addded Aug 3, 2022

music

The Guardian

‘We don’t want money going to private landlords’: UK music venues turn to community ownership

Daniel Dylan Wray

As they try to rebuild after Covid, some gig venues are being put into the hands of locals -- and many owners say this speeds up improvements and ensures long-term success.

Addded Jul 20, 2022

music

Pitchfork

The Discomfort Zone: Exploring the Musical Legacy of David Lynch

Daniel Dylan Wray

The visionary director has not only changed how we see movies across the last four decades, he’s changed how we hear them too. Collaborators including Trent Reznor and composer Angelo Badalamenti—along with the man himself—talk about the secrets to unsettling soundtrack success.

Addded Jul 8, 2022

media music

The Quietus

Holding Court: Toby Amies On The Difficult Business Of Filming King Crimson

Daniel Dylan Wray

Daniel Dylan Wray talks to film director Toby Amies about making a documentary about Robert Fripp and the musicians he works with.

Addded Jul 1, 2022

music

The Guardian

40 years of the Wire magazine: ‘Music deserves intelligent treatment. If that’s elitist, so be it’

Daniel Dylan Wray

From free jazz to doomy drones, outsider artists have always found a home in the Wire. Its creators reflect on upending the orthodoxy, coining genres - and their hatred of big-name rivals.

Addded May 16, 2022

music

The Guardian

DJ Luke Una: ‘With ADHD, life can be torturous. Music stops the noise’

Daniel Dylan Wray

The DJ became a viral star for his music tips and streams of consciousness during lockdown, and has poured 37 years of joyous and painful late nights into a new compilation.

Addded May 11, 2022

music

The Guardian

‘Invention, grace and bloodlust ballet’: post-punk guitarist John McGeoch

Daniel Dylan Wray

McGeoch sent a jolt through the scene with Magazine, Siouxsie Sioux and more. Johnny Marr, James Dean Bradfield and others salute an overlooked musician.

Addded May 4, 2022

music

Bandcamp Daily

Digging for Obscure Gold with Music From Memory

Daniel Dylan Wray

The Amsterdam label has been searching out rare gems with impeccable taste since 2013.

Addded Apr 19, 2022

music

The Guardian

‘On stage is the only time I can stop the worry’: Nik Colk Void on techno and letting go

Daniel Dylan Wray

From her first guitar to hyped post-industrial trio Factory Floor, the musician struggled to find an identity - but wild experimentation and parenthood have helped.

Addded Apr 12, 2022

music

VICE

‘Nothing Will Ever Be Like It Again’: The Oral History of ‘Derry Girls’

Daniel Dylan Wray

As the runaway Channel 4 success prepares to wave goodbye with its new series, we talk to all the key players and cast about its legacy.

Addded Apr 12, 2022

media

The Quietus

Myths Of The Near Past: Why The Indie Sleaze Revival Is A Lie

Daniel Dylan Wray

"Indie sleaze is back back back!" trumpets the NME and scores of other magazines. But how can it be, asks Daniel Dylan Wray -- who was there, or thereabouts -- when it didn't exist in the first place?

Addded Feb 21, 2022

music

The Quietus

A F***ing Nightmare: DIY Artists On Living With Post Brexit EU Rules

Daniel Dylan Wray

Daniel Dylan Wray talks to numerous DIY label bosses, store owners and DIY artists about a specific, career wrecking aspect of Brexit.

Addded Dec 14, 2021

music

VICE

The Story Behind the 'First Ever Ecstasy Song'

Daniel Dylan Wray

Recorded a decade before the explosion of acid house and rooted in NYC's gay clubs, Soft Cell's 'Memorabilia' is an early prelude to rave culture.

Addded Nov 10, 2021

music

VICE

Lads, Gak and Union Jacks: The Oral History of 'Cool Britannia'

Daniel Dylan Wray

"The thing is, so much of it was about bulls***."

Addded Nov 1, 2021

music

The Guardian

‘The cover is supposed to be provocative’: the daunting task of redesigning Nirvana’s 'Nevermind'

Daniel Dylan Wray

With a lawsuit from the famous baby - now 30 years old - prompting the band to consider altering the artwork, five album artists give us their alternative takes on the grunge classic.

Addded Oct 7, 2021

music

Loud And Quiet

Tallinn Music Week: a vision of a progressive European musical future

Daniel Dylan Wray

And a damning indictment of the state of play here in Britain.

Addded Oct 6, 2021

music