Stewart Smith
@drstewartsmith.bsky.social
Writer: jazz, improvised, experimental, Scotland & the avant-garde @ The Wire, Bandcamp, The Quietus, We Jazz, Guardian. Associate lecturer Newcastle University. Musician. He/him. 🇵🇸
Reposted by Stewart Smith
essay i mentioned previously on how independent music gives you the basic tools for organizing even if you didn’t realize you were building those skills, and how great it’s been to watch people hit the ground running
TODAY: @supremenothing.myatproto.social shares the good news from indie music: "People from all over, regardless of scene or genre, are really showing up. This isn’t just a punk thing; this isn’t about protest songs, or music that’s always been explicitly political." flaminghydra.com/issue-497/?a...
Wisdom of the crowd / Star power
jj skolnik on underground organizing; Laurie Woolever talks with culinary superstars in Mexico City
flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:31 PM
essay i mentioned previously on how independent music gives you the basic tools for organizing even if you didn’t realize you were building those skills, and how great it’s been to watch people hit the ground running
Reposted by Stewart Smith
🔴 BREAKING: Labour Together paid controversial PR firm £30k to investigate journalists who were digging into how its undeclared funding
Reporters from Sunday Times, Guardian and other outlets targetted
*And* Morgan McSweeney knew about it
Full story:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...
Reporters from Sunday Times, Guardian and other outlets targetted
*And* Morgan McSweeney knew about it
Full story:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...
BREAKING: McSweeney’s think tank paid PR firm to investigate journalists
Labour Together put private investigators onto journalists writing about its funding. Starmer's right-hand man knew.
democracyforsale.substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 8:01 PM
🔴 BREAKING: Labour Together paid controversial PR firm £30k to investigate journalists who were digging into how its undeclared funding
Reporters from Sunday Times, Guardian and other outlets targetted
*And* Morgan McSweeney knew about it
Full story:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...
Reporters from Sunday Times, Guardian and other outlets targetted
*And* Morgan McSweeney knew about it
Full story:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Wes Streeting wants people to forget. Never let him forget.
February 5, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Wes Streeting wants people to forget. Never let him forget.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Pleased to see the jury make this decision.
We need to have eyes wide open this is exactly why the Government wants to abolish juries.
People protesting against a genocide are not the criminals here - it's the politicians who continue to provide cover.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
We need to have eyes wide open this is exactly why the Government wants to abolish juries.
People protesting against a genocide are not the criminals here - it's the politicians who continue to provide cover.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Palestine Action protesters not guilty of defence firm burglary
The group are cleared of aggravated burglary over the alleged raid at an Elbit Systems warehouse.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 4, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Pleased to see the jury make this decision.
We need to have eyes wide open this is exactly why the Government wants to abolish juries.
People protesting against a genocide are not the criminals here - it's the politicians who continue to provide cover.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
We need to have eyes wide open this is exactly why the Government wants to abolish juries.
People protesting against a genocide are not the criminals here - it's the politicians who continue to provide cover.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Promentalshitbackwash-psychosis enema squad (the doo-doo chasers) (Funkadelic)
You Ain’t Gonna Know Me Cos You Think You Know Me (Louis Moholo-Moholo)
You Ain’t Gonna Know Me Cos You Think You Know Me (Louis Moholo-Moholo)
Deleted a post about “what’s your least favorite song” because the vibes are bad enough already.
Instead: what’s your favorite song that has a long title, say at least 6 words long?
Mine: “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” (Pearl Jam)
Instead: what’s your favorite song that has a long title, say at least 6 words long?
Mine: “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” (Pearl Jam)
February 4, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Promentalshitbackwash-psychosis enema squad (the doo-doo chasers) (Funkadelic)
You Ain’t Gonna Know Me Cos You Think You Know Me (Louis Moholo-Moholo)
You Ain’t Gonna Know Me Cos You Think You Know Me (Louis Moholo-Moholo)
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Thanks to @drstewartsmith.bsky.social for the excellent review of Diego Caicedo's Eidos Daemonium and Ivo Perelman & Nate Wooley's Polarity 4 in the latest issue of @thewiremagazine.bsky.social!
February 3, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Thanks to @drstewartsmith.bsky.social for the excellent review of Diego Caicedo's Eidos Daemonium and Ivo Perelman & Nate Wooley's Polarity 4 in the latest issue of @thewiremagazine.bsky.social!
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Also I’m bound to point out: yet another issue on which the left were obviously correct, years ago
That this transparently venal and self-seeking individual remained so influential for so long ought to utterly lay waste to what’s left of the Labour Party’s credibility. How could they possibly come back from this.
Starmer believes Mandelson should leave Lords as files suggest he shared government emails with Epstein
Emails released in the Epstein files suggest Lord Mandelson forwarded internal government information to Jeffrey Epstein in 2009.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 2, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Also I’m bound to point out: yet another issue on which the left were obviously correct, years ago
Duncan Williamson coming to my primary school and sharing his stories was a formative experience. What a wonderful resource.
The Scottish Traveller Duncan Williamson (1928–2007) was known for his vast store of traditional tales & for his dynamic storytelling. Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches has over 200 recordings of his stories & songs gathered over a lifetime
#BookWormSat
www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/major-contri...
#BookWormSat
www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/major-contri...
Duncan Williamson
The Scottish Traveller Duncan Williamson is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s greatest tradition bearers. Although primarily known for his vast store of traditional tales and for his dynamic story...
www.tobarandualchais.co.uk
January 31, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Duncan Williamson coming to my primary school and sharing his stories was a formative experience. What a wonderful resource.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
🚨 BREAKING: The CCA is "No longer able to continue operating and is entering liquidation."
Tomorrow we're publishing the inside story of how it all went wrong for the arts organisation - read our first report and sign up below 👇
www.glasgowbell.co.uk/cca-liquidat...
Tomorrow we're publishing the inside story of how it all went wrong for the arts organisation - read our first report and sign up below 👇
www.glasgowbell.co.uk/cca-liquidat...
The CCA goes bust, entering liquidation
All staff are being made redundant and operations are ceasing with “immediate effect”
www.glasgowbell.co.uk
January 30, 2026 at 2:45 PM
🚨 BREAKING: The CCA is "No longer able to continue operating and is entering liquidation."
Tomorrow we're publishing the inside story of how it all went wrong for the arts organisation - read our first report and sign up below 👇
www.glasgowbell.co.uk/cca-liquidat...
Tomorrow we're publishing the inside story of how it all went wrong for the arts organisation - read our first report and sign up below 👇
www.glasgowbell.co.uk/cca-liquidat...
Looks good. Hard to top Robert Mugge's Joyful Noise (1980), but there's some enticing archival footage, and the presence of Fred Moten, Brent Hayes Edwards and others as talking heads suggests they're doing it right.
January 29, 2026 at 12:41 PM
Looks good. Hard to top Robert Mugge's Joyful Noise (1980), but there's some enticing archival footage, and the presence of Fred Moten, Brent Hayes Edwards and others as talking heads suggests they're doing it right.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Dick Gaughan with 'Now Westlin Winds' or 'Song Composed on August' by Robert Burns.
Dick Gaughan - Now Westlin Winds
YouTube video by 76AMD
youtu.be
January 25, 2026 at 8:55 AM
Dick Gaughan with 'Now Westlin Winds' or 'Song Composed on August' by Robert Burns.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
The Cramps @ Emerald City, Cherry Hill, NJ. May 8, 1981 (Full Show) . Shot by the great and wonderful Rich Lustre of Sic Kidz Lights by fab Rick Schmidlin on this tour if not mistaken ! Lux Interior, Poison Ivy, Kid Congo Powers, Nick Knox . What a gas it was! youtu.be/Kx0f_posfFg?...
The Cramps @ Emerald City, Cherry Hill, NJ. May 8, 1981 (Full Show)
YouTube video by rlustre
youtu.be
January 21, 2026 at 8:13 PM
The Cramps @ Emerald City, Cherry Hill, NJ. May 8, 1981 (Full Show) . Shot by the great and wonderful Rich Lustre of Sic Kidz Lights by fab Rick Schmidlin on this tour if not mistaken ! Lux Interior, Poison Ivy, Kid Congo Powers, Nick Knox . What a gas it was! youtu.be/Kx0f_posfFg?...
If you enjoyed reading my chat with Thurston Moore about Black Woman @thequietus.com, check out this guide to the music of Linda Sharrock I wrote a few years back.
'Its slick 70s soul influences suggest the Sharrocks were aiming for a more commercial sound. But then how commercial can an album full of wordless vocals and unhinged slide guitar be?'
#SonnySharrock And #LindaSharrock – Paradise (Atco, 1975) - The Strange World of Linda Sharrock
buff.ly/vhyxdPA
#SonnySharrock And #LindaSharrock – Paradise (Atco, 1975) - The Strange World of Linda Sharrock
buff.ly/vhyxdPA
January 17, 2026 at 6:37 PM
If you enjoyed reading my chat with Thurston Moore about Black Woman @thequietus.com, check out this guide to the music of Linda Sharrock I wrote a few years back.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
I can't trust politicians who are anti-trans. Not because I'm "only searching for perfection" which is what centrists will be accusing me of for the rest of my life, it's because if you're not pro-trans you'll be garbage on lots of other issues too. Being anti-trans NEVER exists in a vacuum.
January 17, 2026 at 9:42 AM
I can't trust politicians who are anti-trans. Not because I'm "only searching for perfection" which is what centrists will be accusing me of for the rest of my life, it's because if you're not pro-trans you'll be garbage on lots of other issues too. Being anti-trans NEVER exists in a vacuum.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
With a focus on the years between 1960 and 1980, Thurston Moore provides Stewart Smith with ten entry points into the wild world of free music.
Now Jazz Now100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings 1960-80 is out now via Ecstatic Peace
buff.ly/diU2uZn
Now Jazz Now100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings 1960-80 is out now via Ecstatic Peace
buff.ly/diU2uZn
January 15, 2026 at 7:00 PM
With a focus on the years between 1960 and 1980, Thurston Moore provides Stewart Smith with ten entry points into the wild world of free music.
Now Jazz Now100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings 1960-80 is out now via Ecstatic Peace
buff.ly/diU2uZn
Now Jazz Now100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings 1960-80 is out now via Ecstatic Peace
buff.ly/diU2uZn
“Record nerds unite!” Had the pleasure of geeking out with Thurston Moore about classic free music LPs on the release of his, Byron Coley & Mats Gustafsson’s monumental new tome Now Jazz Now. He selects 10 essential recordings to liberate body & mind @thequietus.com thequietus.com/interviews/s...
The Strange World Of... Free Jazz & Improvised Music | The Quietus
Thurston Moore offers us ten points of entry into the wild, massive world of free jazz and improvised music
thequietus.com
January 15, 2026 at 2:37 PM
“Record nerds unite!” Had the pleasure of geeking out with Thurston Moore about classic free music LPs on the release of his, Byron Coley & Mats Gustafsson’s monumental new tome Now Jazz Now. He selects 10 essential recordings to liberate body & mind @thequietus.com thequietus.com/interviews/s...
The dream team of Mariam Rezaei & Bill Orcutt makes their live debut at Brooklyn’s Roulette in March 🔥🔥🔥
We've added a THIRD show to the Palilalia bash at Roulette. It's Sunday March 22. Tickets, they are on sale now!
FRIDAY 3/20: roulette.org/event/bill-o...
SATURDAY 3/21: roulette.org/event/bill-o...
SUNDAY 3/22: roulette.org/event/orcutt...
FRIDAY 3/20: roulette.org/event/bill-o...
SATURDAY 3/21: roulette.org/event/bill-o...
SUNDAY 3/22: roulette.org/event/orcutt...
January 9, 2026 at 2:39 PM
The dream team of Mariam Rezaei & Bill Orcutt makes their live debut at Brooklyn’s Roulette in March 🔥🔥🔥
Reposted by Stewart Smith
good article here on bc daily from a while ago: daily.bandcamp.com/features/dog...
also see our own @drstewartsmith.bsky.social on dawson! daily.bandcamp.com/features/daw...
also see our own @drstewartsmith.bsky.social on dawson! daily.bandcamp.com/features/daw...
The Uncompromising Creative Politics of Dog Faced Hermans
Exploring the history and discography of this singular band, who played a mix of post-punk and free jazz with an eye toward liberation.
daily.bandcamp.com
January 7, 2026 at 4:22 PM
good article here on bc daily from a while ago: daily.bandcamp.com/features/dog...
also see our own @drstewartsmith.bsky.social on dawson! daily.bandcamp.com/features/daw...
also see our own @drstewartsmith.bsky.social on dawson! daily.bandcamp.com/features/daw...
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Again: Starmer is less popular than Truss and Johnson because he was supposed to not be this, he was the lifeline people desperately reached out for. But the job of the Labour right is to say, no, fuck you, whoever you vote for, it's just us again. Be grateful, peasants.
In today's episode of Everything Is America Now, here's Starmer's disgraced ex-director of political strategy blaming Labour's failures on a Brit version of the US Deep State, made up of NGOs, activists, lawyers & regulators.
If this sounds like far rightism à la Cummings, that's because it 100% is
If this sounds like far rightism à la Cummings, that's because it 100% is
January 2, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Again: Starmer is less popular than Truss and Johnson because he was supposed to not be this, he was the lifeline people desperately reached out for. But the job of the Labour right is to say, no, fuck you, whoever you vote for, it's just us again. Be grateful, peasants.
There’s a fair bit of jazz/hip-hop crossover about, some more convincing than others, but the most exciting stuff for me is operating in an open-genre space where it’s more about sound and interplay than a conscious fusion…
Far beyond novelty or experiment, 2025 was the year that crossover projects rejected genre labels for endless sonic possibilities, writes Stewart Smith in The Wire 503/504.
Read the full article here: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...
Read the full article here: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...
Hybrid Vigour - The Wire
Far beyond novelty or experiment, 2025 was the year that crossover projects rejected genre labels for endless sonic possibilities, writes Stewart Smith in The Wire 503/504
www.thewire.co.uk
January 2, 2026 at 12:15 PM
There’s a fair bit of jazz/hip-hop crossover about, some more convincing than others, but the most exciting stuff for me is operating in an open-genre space where it’s more about sound and interplay than a conscious fusion…
Right Said Fred Again
ruin two bands by combining them:
Fugazi Osbourne
Fugazi Osbourne
ruin two bands by combining them:
kornplay
kornplay
December 30, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Right Said Fred Again
Viennese vinyl haul. Top 3 from Alt & Neu (the middle Bley is a record club edition of Tropic Appetites), rest from Substance. Merry improv Christmas!
December 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Viennese vinyl haul. Top 3 from Alt & Neu (the middle Bley is a record club edition of Tropic Appetites), rest from Substance. Merry improv Christmas!
Reposted by Stewart Smith
hello just a reminder you should never work with or buy from last night from glasgow because they are run by transphobes x
December 19, 2025 at 1:27 AM
hello just a reminder you should never work with or buy from last night from glasgow because they are run by transphobes x
Highest possible recommendation!
A third physical edition of [Ahmed]'s landmark Giant Beauty 5CD boxset has now been put into production.
Generally available next March, but you can pre-order already here: ahmedquartet.bandcamp.com/album/giant-...
'Apricot' ribbon for this batch.
Generally available next March, but you can pre-order already here: ahmedquartet.bandcamp.com/album/giant-...
'Apricot' ribbon for this batch.
Giant Beauty, by أحمد [Ahmed]
5 track album
ahmedquartet.bandcamp.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Highest possible recommendation!
Reposted by Stewart Smith
a blessed 84th birthday to the greatest, Wadada Leo Smith 🙏🏾❤️♾️
December 18, 2025 at 2:16 PM
a blessed 84th birthday to the greatest, Wadada Leo Smith 🙏🏾❤️♾️