Robert Barry
@monsterbobby.bsky.social
Freelance writer (The Wire, Tribune, Art Review, Mubi Notebook, &c.). Musicker (Far Rainbow, The Pipettes). Reviews Editor at The Quietus. Author of The Music of the Future (Repeater, 2017), Object Lessons: Compact Disc (Bloomsbury, 2020). Idiot.
omigod was not prepared for how good the combination of melted raclette and laoganma crispy chilli oil would be. life changing. i shit you not.
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
omigod was not prepared for how good the combination of melted raclette and laoganma crispy chilli oil would be. life changing. i shit you not.
Reposted by Robert Barry
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
beautiful set from rafael toral @cafeotodalston.bsky.social tonight
November 16, 2025 at 11:33 PM
beautiful set from rafael toral @cafeotodalston.bsky.social tonight
wait. are the Griffin Mill played by Bryan Cranston in The Studio and the Griffin Mill played by Tim Robbins in The Player supposed to be the same person?
November 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM
wait. are the Griffin Mill played by Bryan Cranston in The Studio and the Griffin Mill played by Tim Robbins in The Player supposed to be the same person?
Reposted by Robert Barry
Inside The Wire 502: Konrad Smoleński
The Polish artist’s installation works conjure the resonance of Alpine bells, his sculptural instruments include mock missiles and hacked electronics, while post-pandemic he strives to connect art and activism
www.thewire.co.uk/shop/
The Polish artist’s installation works conjure the resonance of Alpine bells, his sculptural instruments include mock missiles and hacked electronics, while post-pandemic he strives to connect art and activism
www.thewire.co.uk/shop/
November 13, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Inside The Wire 502: Konrad Smoleński
The Polish artist’s installation works conjure the resonance of Alpine bells, his sculptural instruments include mock missiles and hacked electronics, while post-pandemic he strives to connect art and activism
www.thewire.co.uk/shop/
The Polish artist’s installation works conjure the resonance of Alpine bells, his sculptural instruments include mock missiles and hacked electronics, while post-pandemic he strives to connect art and activism
www.thewire.co.uk/shop/
would be cool if all these leadership coup rumours resulted in Streeting getting sacked and fucked off to the backbenches, never to be seen or heard of again though, right?
November 12, 2025 at 9:31 AM
would be cool if all these leadership coup rumours resulted in Streeting getting sacked and fucked off to the backbenches, never to be seen or heard of again though, right?
any time you see one of these machines at the hotel breakfast you know you’re going to spend your morning in a series of endless queues.
November 8, 2025 at 7:46 AM
any time you see one of these machines at the hotel breakfast you know you’re going to spend your morning in a series of endless queues.
so who's heading to krakow for sacrum profanum festival?
November 5, 2025 at 6:16 PM
so who's heading to krakow for sacrum profanum festival?
does anyone know a non-flaky, non-racist plumber in south-east london?
November 5, 2025 at 2:34 PM
does anyone know a non-flaky, non-racist plumber in south-east london?
I Interviewed Polish sound artist Konrad Smolenski for the new issue of The Wire www.thewire.co.uk/issues/502
The Wire 502
On the cover: Mulatu Astatke : Deep into his latest tour, the pioneering 81 year old Ethio jazz vibraphonist is finding new ways to be himself. By Francis Gooding; Griot Galaxy : Faruq Z Bey’s enigma...
www.thewire.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 3:26 PM
I Interviewed Polish sound artist Konrad Smolenski for the new issue of The Wire www.thewire.co.uk/issues/502
Reposted by Robert Barry
RIP Alison Knowles…
She made everyday activities both serious & funny in equal measure.
The world would be a different place without her work…
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
She made everyday activities both serious & funny in equal measure.
The world would be a different place without her work…
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
Alison Knowles, Fluxus Artist Who Spun Art from the Everyday, Dies at 92
Alison Knowles, the Fluxus artist behind 'Make a Salad,' has died at 92.
www.artnews.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:09 PM
RIP Alison Knowles…
She made everyday activities both serious & funny in equal measure.
The world would be a different place without her work…
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
She made everyday activities both serious & funny in equal measure.
The world would be a different place without her work…
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
Top tip if you work in book PR: don't email a critic on the day they were due to hand in a review of a book you're working on to say, oh by the way, you can't quote anything from the book.
October 29, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Top tip if you work in book PR: don't email a critic on the day they were due to hand in a review of a book you're working on to say, oh by the way, you can't quote anything from the book.
Would be great to see a version of Jonathan Glazer's excellent Rabbit in Your Headlights video without the horrible whiny music.
October 29, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Would be great to see a version of Jonathan Glazer's excellent Rabbit in Your Headlights video without the horrible whiny music.
what
The Slovak parliament yesterday adopted an amendment to the traffic law that sets a maximum permitted speed on sidewalks in urban areas at 6 kph.
Slovakia adopts speed limit for pedestrians
Power walking will soon be illegal in Slovakia as law changes to prevent sidewalk accidents.
www.politico.eu
October 29, 2025 at 10:40 AM
what
I went to the Venice Music Biennale and watched a lot of very loud, noisy music (and also some pretty quiet music, too) that made me feel buoyant and oddly weightless and it got me wondering whether "heavy" is really the right word… thequietus.com/quietus-revi...
Light Music: Sunn O))), Catherine Christer Hennix & More at Venice Biennale Musica | The Quietus
At the 69th annual International Festival of Contemporary Music in Venice, performances by the Kamigaku Ensemble, Jasmine Morris and Sunn O))) leave Robert Barry pondering what we mean when we call mu...
thequietus.com
October 29, 2025 at 9:00 AM
I went to the Venice Music Biennale and watched a lot of very loud, noisy music (and also some pretty quiet music, too) that made me feel buoyant and oddly weightless and it got me wondering whether "heavy" is really the right word… thequietus.com/quietus-revi...
Reposted by Robert Barry
‘Death to Spotify’ in Stavanger. 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏿
October 29, 2025 at 8:41 AM
‘Death to Spotify’ in Stavanger. 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏿
A fun parlour game might be called The Left Has a Problem With X. Choose at random either The Left or The Right + any random value for X—eg, anti-Cornish sentiment, small towns, errant marsupials, etc. Then everyone has to find 3 social media posts that prove the Left/Right has "a problem" with it.
October 27, 2025 at 11:36 AM
A fun parlour game might be called The Left Has a Problem With X. Choose at random either The Left or The Right + any random value for X—eg, anti-Cornish sentiment, small towns, errant marsupials, etc. Then everyone has to find 3 social media posts that prove the Left/Right has "a problem" with it.
but how funny would it be if the workers building trump’s ballroom did the demolition bit then just… walked away… and left it like that… and the ballroom never got built and the WH just stayed half-demolished for the rest of his administration?
October 22, 2025 at 7:46 PM
but how funny would it be if the workers building trump’s ballroom did the demolition bit then just… walked away… and left it like that… and the ballroom never got built and the WH just stayed half-demolished for the rest of his administration?
so are people quitting this grooming gangs enquiry because they think the government’s motives are too racist or not racist enough?
October 22, 2025 at 7:37 PM
so are people quitting this grooming gangs enquiry because they think the government’s motives are too racist or not racist enough?
Reposted by Robert Barry
No reply to an unsolicited PR email is a reply, sweetie
October 22, 2025 at 12:06 PM
No reply to an unsolicited PR email is a reply, sweetie
getting to the point where it would be novel and exciting to hear about an artist who uses their instrument in such a way that it *does not* warp time and space.
October 20, 2025 at 11:08 AM
getting to the point where it would be novel and exciting to hear about an artist who uses their instrument in such a way that it *does not* warp time and space.
why everyone quoted in this article sound so thick? www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o... did the writer get assigned a brief they knew was bullshit and just decided to rip the shit out their own sources?
‘No one makes money from them’: with MTV channels switching off, is the music video under threat?
Five MTV channels will close at the end of the year in the UK, leaving just one –which mostly plays reality TV. And with budgets pinched, directors say they are struggling
www.theguardian.com
October 18, 2025 at 11:24 PM
why everyone quoted in this article sound so thick? www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o... did the writer get assigned a brief they knew was bullshit and just decided to rip the shit out their own sources?
The last episode of Doctor Who aired in 1989. Everything after that should be considered apocrypha.
Tell me your most unhinged Doctor Who opinion. I mean, if you’re a fan, they’re likely all unhinged anyway.
October 15, 2025 at 11:53 AM
The last episode of Doctor Who aired in 1989. Everything after that should be considered apocrypha.
Reposted by Robert Barry
things bullets say
Almost every time I go thru JFK something weird happens.
October 13, 2025 at 9:31 PM
things bullets say
"I attached my EPK"
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story only someone in your profession would understand
"landowner used an excavator"
"landowner used an excavator"
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story only someone in your profession would understand
“papers in IEEE format”
“papers in IEEE format”
October 13, 2025 at 11:27 AM
"I attached my EPK"