The Party Realigns

Don't call it a comeback - an overdue update on dancing, politics and everything else.

Hello,

So first of all - an apology. It’s been more than a year since I last posted anything on here, for which I’m very sorry indeed.

Getting to write a book like Party Lines is an incredible privilege, but comes with its own challenges, not least financially. After turning in my final draft of the book in early 2023, I got a full-time job outside journalism: a commitment which has inevitably meant much less time for any other writing.

(I think transparency around how writers support themselves is important, but I also don’t want to get too navel-gazey here - if you’re interested, then the interview I did last year for Todd Burn’s excellent Music Journalism Insider goes deeper on that whole subject.)

Over the last few weeks I’ve unexpectedly found myself with new opportunities to focus on doing what I love, namely waffling on at length about music and politics.

So along with several freelance commissions (more on which soon), I’m also dusting off this Substack - now with less of a focus on Party Lines itself, and more updates on the things I’m writing, or things I think you might find interesting.

I’m going to aim to send these out once a month: I guess let’s see how that goes.

Czar tissue

Last week Amy Lamé announced that she was stepping down as London’s Night Czar, after eight years as the capital’s political champion for late-night culture.

It’s fair to say that Amy’s someone who divides opinion, and whose record merits criticism, but who also attracts less savoury attention, often from groups with dubious motives. I wrote this piece for the Guardian on why anyone tempted to toast her resignation should be careful what they wish for.

I also went on the excellent No Tags podcast this week to discuss the wider implications of her resignation, and talk about whether the wider Night Czar concept is still fit for purpose. Give it a listen here.

Keep an eye out for more on this story soon - or for a bit more of the backstory, there’s this DJ Mag piece I wrote in 2021 on the complicated machinations of the “Night Time Economy”.

Bruk steady

If I ever get to go on Scratcha’s NTS show and he asks about my Five Man Jam (for non-listeners, it’s when he quizzes each studio guest on their all-time top tune) then I know exactly what I’m going for: Loose Lips by Seiji, a track whose off-kilter rhythms and acid squelches still feel as fresh, futuristic and irresistible as they did 20 years ago.

Loose Lips is arguably the high water-mark of broken beat (or bruk), a scene which originated in West London in the late 90s / early 2000s: all off-kilter rhythms and heavy sonics, drawing inspiration from house, jazz, techno, jungle and more.

Despite a revival over the last few years, its influence cited by everyone from Touchin’ Bass to Floating Points, and an assortment of absolute fucking bangers both old and new, it still gets way less attention than it deserves. This great overview in Mixmag goes some way to redressing that balance.

Bubble wrapped

I’m not just saying this because they invited me on this week, but you really should give No Tags a listen.

Chal Ravens (v talented writer for The Wire, Pitchfork, RA and countless other places) and Tom Lea (head of the excellent Local Action) are consistently on the money when it comes to dissecting the issues of the day. Great taste in guests too, cough cough.

This episode from a couple of weeks ago, asking why the UK festival bubble has burst, is particularly relevant to anyone who enjoyed the “Business Techno” chapter of Party Lines - digging as it does into the murky world of Live Nation and Sacha Lord, amongst others, and bringing things bang up to date.

Other bits

This RA piece on the collapse of revenue-sharing startup Aslice is righteously angry about the hollowness of so many artists’ pseudo-activist posturing.

The writer and DJ Son Raw pushes back (respectfully) against that very RA article in this polemic dissecting the myth of dance music’s “safe spaces”. I’m not sure I agree with all of it, but that’s part of the fun: it’s deeply passionate, maybe a bit messy, but unquestionably thought-provoking.

This Evening Standard article about Soho’s bouncers is almost a year old now, but I keep finding myself coming back to it: I wish more journalists would try and capture the full experience of late-night culture, rather than focusing primarily on the DJs.

It’s hard to think or write about anything for too long without being brought back to the genocide in Gaza. The very least any of us should be doing is standing in solidarity with those affected, as this powerful interview with DJ Nour by the excellent Annabel Ross makes clear.

Party Lines paperback

Since the last edition of this newsletter, Party Lines has come out in paperback - get a copy here, or from your local bookshop!

Cheers for reading, and see you soon,

Ed.