5 Articles by:
Stewart Smith is a music and arts journalist and academic, with a particular interest in alternative cultural histories of Scotland. He recently launched Ion Engine, a newsletter dedicated to underground and experimental music from Scotland.
Johan Grimonprez speaks about his innovative, Oscar-nominated documentary, which reveals disturbing truths about the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.
A new biography of bassist and composer William Parker stresses free jazz’s transformative capacities – and details how his music gave expression to radical black, working-class and anti-imperialist politics.
In his centenary year, we salute Edwin Morgan – a Scottish socialist whose modernist poetry covered the distance from Glasgow to Saturn.
Scott Hames discusses the class and cultural politics of Scottish independence – and whether the movement behind it was founded by left-nationalist writers and artists, or more elite interests.
From Situationist provocations to McEwans lager adverts, ‘Big Gold Dreams’ tells the story of how Scottish post-punk sidestepped cultural nationalism to create an independent identity.