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Neil Kulkarni

Neil Kulkarni

From 1994 until his death in 2024, Neil Kulkarni wrote about pop in a career characterised by an unerring determination to make his writing the very best on the planet. Starting at Melody Maker in 1994, Kulkarni was one of the few print-dissidents to the mainstream in the Britpop era, a ferocious champion of extreme music and hip-hop for nigh-on 20 years through publications as diverse as DJ, Bizarre, Uncut, Terrorizer, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Bang, Plan B, Careless Talk Costs Lives, Loose Lips Sink Ships and the Quietus website.

Hugely influential on a whole generation of new critics, Neil inspired fear in his peers, awe in his readers and divided opinion wherever his words dropped. After spells as a DJ and broadcaster, he became a lecturer in media and music at a college in his beloved home town of Coventry. He died in January 2024.

(drawing of Neil by Public Enemy's Chuck D)

104 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Letter Of The Week: The Beauty of Words

Readers' Letters by Neil Kulkarni, Cathi Unsworth, Melody Maker, 9 October 1993

Letter of the Week ...

Cop Shoot Cop, Gunshot, Therapy?: Therapy?, Cop Shoot Cop, Gunshot: Coventry University

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 January 1994

SHAKEN BUT NOT STIRRED ...

Fun-Da-Mental: Moseley Dance Centre, Birmingham

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 21 May 1994

BRUM RUSH THE SHOW! ...

Ice Cube / Gravediggaz: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 10 September 1994

TRY AND tie down hip-hop with yer baggage and it always finds a way to bust loose. Never mind asking "Has Rap Gone Too Far", ...

Downset, Pantera: Pantera, Downset: Apollo, Manchester

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 24 September 1994

VISIBLE PANTERA LINE ...

Method Man, Redman: Redman: Dare Iz A Darkside/Method Man: Tical (Def Jam/Island)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 14 January 1995

REDMAN'S Whut? Thee Album came out around the first Cypress Hill's and for those that investigated it was even more blunted to the bone, streaked ...

Slick Rick: NO CELL OUT! Slick Rick: Behind Bars (Def Jam/lsland 523 847-2/11 tks/40 mins/FP)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 25 March 1995

'The greatest living American poet bar none'? 'Hot-kniving the shit of God'? Oh, we know what you're thinking, children. Just another bleedin' baaad-boy banged up ...

Babes In Toyland: The Boardwalk, Manchester

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 27 May 1995

I MISS Ligament cos (I was gonna come up with an excuse as contrived as my mate, who was late for school one day cos ...

Foo Fighters: Foo Do You Love: Foo Fighters: Foo Fighters (Roswell/Capitol)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 24 June 1995

Nirvana may have been heroes to many but they never meant shit to some. And, overburdened though it is by the weight of recent history, ...

Mobb Deep: The Infamous... (BMG/RCA 07863664882 16 tks/67 mins/FP)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 1 July 1995

I WASN'T expecting this. ...

Ned's Atomic Dustbin: Brainbloodvolume (Furtive 478330 11 tks/41 mins/FP)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 July 1995

TRASHED! We asked NEIL KULKARNI to review the new NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN LP. Instead, he's written one very long sentence, and one very short one. Well, ...

Public Enemy: The Greatest Rap Band In The World... Ever!

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 July 1995

PUBLIC ENEMY are still the fastest, fiercest, radicalest hip hop act on the planet, still trying to right wrongs, fight the power and change the ...

Wu-Tang Clan: The Island, Ilford

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 12 August 1995

SHAME ON THE NUH! ...

Ash: Better Cremate Than Ever?: Ash: LA2, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 2 September 1995

IT'S POURING OFF ME. Pure f***ing rage. See, the enemy isn't hoary rockers. It isn't Britpoppers, soul-sincerity dullards or synthetic chart popsters, although they all ...

Stereolab: Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2) (Duophonic D-UHF-CD09 13tks/65mins/FP)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 September 1995

WEIRD SCIENCE: By now, Stereolab's Marxis elevator music ('Ping Pong') and francophone Krautrock should have flirted with your consciousness. So here's your chance to catch up with their ultra-sexy ...

Cypress Hill, Ice Cube: Cypress Hill: Do Believe The Hype

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 16 September 1995

CYPRESS HILL's self-titled debut album changed the face of hip hop. Their second, Black Sunday, was the rap crossover LP of the early Nineties. But ...

Mobb Deep, Redman: Redman/Mobb Deep: Digbeth Institute, Birmingham

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 30 September 1995

TWO GIGS separated by a fortnight, linked by a common grievance. As illustrations of the two ways a hip hop gig can go, they're pretty ...

Sleeper: Digbeth Institute, Birmingham

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 21 October 1995

INDIE IS IN Birmingham. Indie goes down a rapturous storm. Indie makes everyone happy tonight. Indie is lovely. Indie is the fleetfooted reduced to leadboot ...

East 17: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 23 December 1995

WE FOUR KINGS OF ORIENT ARE… "a joy-bomb doused in every single conceivable bodily fluid in the rainbow". ...

Ride: Eight-legged Snooze Machine: Ride: Tarantula (Creation)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 March 1996

Who will mourn RIDE, now gone the way of all flesh? Not NEIL 'Bites Yer Legs' KULKARNI, that's for sure ...

The Fugees: Fugees: Subterania, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 March 1996

BLUNTED BY SUCCESS ...

Foo Fighters: Have We Got Foos For You

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 6 April 1996

Foo Fighters are back with a new single, 'Big Me', and a fresh determination to not let adulation force them into a Nirvana–type corner. Melody ...

Nas: Written Out — Nas: It Was Written (Columbia 14tks/59mins)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 13 July 1996

NAS is one of rap's supreme lyricists and vocal stylists. A pity, then, that his new album isn't worthy of his talents ...

Slayer: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 July 1996

THRILL KILLER CULT ...

Kula Shaker: K (Parlophone)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 14 September 1996

I'VE JUST BEEN informed by that porridge-faced wanker, Simon Mayo, that Kula Shaker are "the next Oasis". Of course, the obvious questions don't even get ...

Soundgarden: Apollo, Manchester

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 28 September 1996

PERFECT. AS only the superficial can be. ...

Screaming Trees: Riverside, Newcastle

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 16 November 1996

FOR A gig you might've expected to be a pissed–up, beery slop, all bum–notes and chaos, it's all in the subtleties of feel. This is ...

Dr. Dre: The Dre Today: Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath (Interscope/MCA)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 30 November 1996

Don't be fooled by his past, DR DRE is a one-man Motown, a pop perfectionist for the 21st Century ...

Suede: Royal Court, Liverpool

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 7 December 1996

STARSPOTTING. Robbie Fowler. Good. Hollyoaks cast. Bad. After the gig, back at the hotel, I get in the lift. Brett Anderson's pressing the button for ...

The Roots: Illadelph Halflife (Geffen)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 1 February 1997

HIP HOP RULE NUMBER 4080: "live" instrumentation and hip hop don't mix. Hip hop rule Number 4081: except for The Roots. The exception, the exceptional, ...

Wu-Tang Clan: Clan-destined: Wu-Tang Clan: The Rocket, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 3 May 1997

OK, YA WANNA KNOW what the new LP sounds like, right? Oh, man, oh Jesus, it's the bomb, baby. It's incredible. It's the LP that's ...

Mogwai: Ten Rapid (Jetset 9tks/33 mins)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 10 May 1997

MONSTER CRAZY! ...

Smog: Pea Super! Smog: Red Apple Falls (Domino 9 tks/43 mins)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 17 May 1997

You might not want him living next door to you, but Bill Callahan, aka SMOG, is surprisingly fine company... ...

Supergrass: Apollo, Manchester

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 17 May 1997

LIFE'S A SNITCH? ...

Ghostface Killah, Method Man, RZA, Wu-Tang Clan: Wu-Tang Clan: Martial Lore

Special Feature by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 24 May 1997

Public Enemy's fall from grace left hip hop without a heroic focus. Enter WU-TANG CLAN, a crew from Staten Island whose ever-changing line-up has produced ...

Marilyn Manson: Freak Showmanship: Marilyn Manson, Brixton Academy: London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 31 May 1997

YOUNG BOYS. HALF-NEKKID. COVERED IN MAKE-UP. GULP. It's heaving in here and I can't tell if it's down to a pilgrimage of worship or just ...

Wu-Tang Clan: Forever (Loud/RCA 28tks/120mins)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 31 May 1997

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY Have the WU-TANG CLAN just made the greatest hip hop album of all time? ...

Body Count: Astoria, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 7 June 1997

ICE AND A SLICE ...

The Jungle Brothers: Jungle Brothers: Raw Deluxe (Gee Street 11tks/52 mins)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 7 June 1997

SEVEN YEARS is an eternity in hip hop. Cliché. Seven years is nothing in hip hop. Truth. It doesn't feel like it's been seven years ...

Portishead: Roseland Ballroom, New York NY

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 16 August 1997

'HEAD OVER HEELS ...

Coldcut: Let Us Play (Ninja Tune 13 tks/77 mins)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 13 September 1997

Coldcut have come up trumps with a new album full of kitsch delights — and it's bloody good fun too... ...

Marilyn Manson: Alternative Cult Star

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 September 1997

He's seven-foot tall and rips his stomach to shreds with a half-broken bottle on stage. But, heh, he's still little Brian to his mum. We ...

Catatonia: Tipsy Narco: Catatonia: Warwick University, Coventry

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 8 November 1997

YOU LEAVE more alive than you came. You leave with your secrets not just repeated but monumentalised. You never wanna leave. Catatonia are better. ...

Daft Punk: The Astoria, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 November 1997

UNDERGROUND/OVERGROUND, spectacle/black-out, in-yer-face/faceless, pop/music. Dance has to make its choices. Either it believes in its own unique power, rejecting stages, identification, authenticity and the audience/artist ...

DJ Shadow, Radiohead, Teenage Fanclub: Radiohead, DJ Shadow, Teenage Fanclub: International Arena, Cardiff

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 22 November 1997

TO DAI FOR! ...

Rakim: The 18th Letter (Universal 17 tks/58 mins)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 22 November 1997

HE IS the resurrection. From 1987 to 1992, Rakim was every hip hopper's MC choice, the rapper's rapper, responsible (forget Eric B — the man ...

The Prodigy: Prodigy: G-MEX, Manchester

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 13 December 1997

YOUR MUSICAL memory of tonight is reversed; I walked backwards as they got worse. To pin the Prod down, pin down why they still offer ...

Faith No More: 33 Gleibe Freiheit, Hamburg

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Vox, January 1998

The Fifth Element ...

Metallica: Re-Load (Vertigo)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, January 1998

Heavy metal muthas in peak form shock ...

Kristin Hersh: 12 Bar Club, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 24 January 1998

KRIST ALMIGHTY! ...

Catatonia: International Velvet (blanco y negro 12 tks/45 mins)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 7 February 1998

POP SMART! In just 45 minutes, CATATONIA prove why The Maker stuck its neck out and gave them their first national cover... ...

Janet Jackson: Fondle With Care: Janet Jackson: Ahoy, Rotterdam

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 25 April 1998

IT'S WHEN THE camera catches the screen and doubles her back to infinity. It's when she's frozen silent by the spotlight, in the teeth of ...

The Chemical Brothers, Cornershop, Beth Orton, Primal Scream, Finley Quaye, Run-DMC, Roni Size and Reprazent: Run DMC, Chemical Brothers, Roni Size et al: Creamfields, Winchester

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 May 1998

It's a Cream come true! We join the madness that's CREAMFIELDS in Winchester with Primal Scream! Cornershop! Roni Size! Run DMC! The full bloody monty! ...

Symposium: On The Outside (Infectious) *

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 16 May 1998

DEAD AND BURIED? ...

Dana International: Eurovision: Hanging Out at the Euro Shenanigans

Report by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 23 May 1998

WE WUZ robbed. Christ, not the UK, I mean Belgium. Did you hear the gorgeous Melanie Cohl's gasping sigh of Saint Etienne-style cine-pop, 'Dis Oui' ...

Tricky: Angels With Dirty Faces (Island)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 23 May 1998

Cherub Thumping! ...

Kenickie: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 20 June 1998

HEY, LITTLE rich girl, where did you go wrong? The 'Nick should never have moved to London. Left home, met all these glittery chuckleheads, built ...

Wild Style: Hip Hop Don't Stop

Retrospective by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, July 1998

Re-released this month after 15 years, WILD STYLE isregarded as the seminal rap movie. Director Charlie Ahearn puts needle to the groove with Neil Kulkarni ...

Jurassic 5: ULU, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 12 September 1998

PREHISTORY IN THE MAKING ...

Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Paid In Full: Platinum Edition (Island) *****

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 31 October 1998

IN THE LATE EIGHTIES, Eric B & Rakim were, simply, the coolest sonic and lyrical innovators hip hop had ever seen: street-level poets and musical ...

Radiohead: Meeting People Is Easy

Film/DVD/TV Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 14 November 1998

...

Elliott Smith: ULU, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 2 January 1999

CRITICS AND musicians love him. He can do no wrong. And that's when you get suspicious. That's when you start to wonder if something so ...

Marilyn Manson: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 2 January 1999

"GIG OF '98" isn't speaking the same language. A "happening" leaves you when it's over. No, this, this trip, this frenzy, is a national event. ...

Prince Paul, The Roots: Prince Paul: A Prince Among Thieves (Tommy Boy); The Roots: Things Fall Apart (MCA)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Spin, March 1999

WHAT'S SO satisfying about the new offerings from Prince Paul and the Roots is how cut-off they seem from both indie-rap's 12-inch fetishism and pop-rap's ...

Britney Spears: Baby One More Time (Jive)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 6 March 1999

I WOULDN'T, actually. Jailbait. Pastels. Popsox. Mall rat. Sure, all the obvious jokes cover up the fact that this is a document of pure venality. ...

Eminem: Subterania, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 10 April 1999

20 Minute Party People ...

Marc Almond: Open All Night (Blue Star)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 1 May 1999

OK, LET'S GET this straight: Nick Cave is a respected ex-Goth with no hit singles. Marc Almond has had five hit singles, was responsible for ...

Super Furry Animals: Guerrilla (Creation)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 5 June 1999

A MAXIMUM HIGH ...

GZA/Genius: Beneath The Surface (MCA)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 17 July 1999

YOU'VE BEEN WU-TANGOED ...

Limp Bizkit: Is This Metal's Answer To Puff Daddy?

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 9 October 1999

The Maker gets rapping with LIMP BIZKIT's Fred Durst, the ex-tattooist who has become the most powerful man in metal and a big name in ...

Royal Trux: Flapper & Firkin, Birmingham

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 1 December 1999

F***, F***, f***, f***. Try and get hold of the feeling, try and lash it down in blood and spunk just why this did what ...

Graham Coxon: The Leadmill, Sheffield

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 11 July 2000

MAYBE THE whys and wherefores don't matter. Maybe it's pointless trying to figure out the real reasons for people coming here. Nobody could really have ...

Dilated Peoples: 'Hip-Hop Culture Has Suffered. We Want To Reverse That'

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 4 October 2000

IT'S NOT JUST PUNK AND METAL THAT ARE KICKING OFF STATESIDE — SO IS HIP-HOP AS DILATED PEOPLES TELL US ...

Clinic: Smells Like Surgical Spirit

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 25 October 2000

CLINIC TELL US WHY THEIR RUMBLING, AVANT-GARDE INDIE CONTRIBUTION TO THE NEW LEVI'S AD IS NOT SELLING OUT... ...

Dr. Dre, Eminem, N.W.A: Dr. Dre: 10 Reasons Not To Forget About Dre

Comment by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 November 2000

THOUGHT DR DRE HAD SLIPPED OUR MINDS, DID YA? NOPE — US MUTHAF***AS WERE JUST ACTING LIKE WE HADN'T REMEMBERED THE HIP-HOP POWERHOUSE. HERE'S WHY ...

OutKast: This week's best new band is… Outkast

Profile and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 6 December 2000

INCENDIARY HIP-HOP MISCHIEF ...

The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Director's Cut: Nick Broomfield on Biggie & Tupac

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, June 2002

THE DIRECTOR OF KURT & COURTNEY ON HIS BRILLIANT NEW DOCUMENTARY INVESTIGATING THE MURDERS OF RAP SUPERSTARS TUPAC SHAKUR AND BIGGIE SMALLS. ...

The Deftones: Deftones (Maverick)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Bang, June 2003

FOR ALL THE horseshit rock bands come out with about "maturity", "creative steam" and "progression", the true measure of whether or not their freshest opus ...

Radiohead: Alarms and Surprises

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Bang, July 2003

With the albums Kid A and Amnesiac, Radiohead achieved the seemingly impossible and brought uncompromisingly experimental music to the arena-going masses. However, their latest, Hail ...

Blonde Redhead: The Social, Nottingham

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, June 2004

I LET MY daughter do my make-up tonight. She has a delicate touch, combined with an innate understanding of excessive face paint and its ability ...

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus

Review by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, September 2004

HEY, LOOK, I believed once. I realised I was buying well-read misogyny, suckered into being controlled by a perfect simulacrum of anarchy. ...

Edan

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, April 2005

"BOREDOM IS SO PRODUCTIVE. It makes you want to please yourself and no one else. I'm just hopeful that other people can dig what I'm ...

Hood: The Great Outdoors

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, April 2005

ASK HOOD whether their new album, Outside Closer, is a break with or continuation of their past work, and this is how much they're willing ...

Infinite Livez

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Plan B, April 2007

WHAT ARE you playing at? "Not what you think" whispers Infinite Livez, Big Dada's most wayward emissary and co–creator (alongside Swedish electrojazz–duo Stade) of a ...

Aidonia, Mavado: This Month In... Dancehall: Why Only Jamaicans Should Use Autotune 


Overview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 3 March 2010

Neil Kulkarni delivers a swingeing blow to the whingers. Imagine a glitter and blood encrusted Doc Marten stamping on the face of autotune for all ...

Envy, Kelis: Givin' It To The Homegirl: The Trouble With Kelis 


Comment by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 10 June 2010

With Neil Kulkarni finding something rotten in the state of girl-pop, he turns up his nose at Kelis' curdled Milkshake and explains why Brit Envy ...

Pulp: Hyde Park, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 6 July 2011

Neil Kulkarni breaks his no-festival rule and braves the corporate overkill of Wireless to see his Pulp. His verdict? They "now stand mighty amidst the ...

The Enemy:
 Streets In The Sky

Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 17 May 2012

THE NEW Enemy album is finally here. There it sits, being shite, in the noonday sun, attracting flies. Cross over the road my friend, ask ...

Codeine: A New '90s US Edition Part Three: Codeine, A New Kind Of Stillness

Retrospective and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 30 August 2012

Neil Kulkarni continues his secret history of US cult groups of the 1990s, this time speaking to Steven Immerwahr and Chris Brokaw of Codeine. ...

AR Kane: A.R. Kane: The Future Came and Went

Retrospective and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 11 October 2012

Neil Kulkarni speaks to Rudy Tambala, one half of A. R. Kane. ...

Royal Trux: Veterans Of Disorder: Royal Trux Interviewed

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 22 November 2012

With their formative album Accelerator recently reissued, Neil Kulkarni asks Jennifer Herrema to look back over the noise-rock duo's career, taking in junkiedom, spectrum analysers ...

T. Rex: The Slider

Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 6 December 2012

I should declare an infatuation — this album is exactly as old as me and for 25 of its 40 years I have loved it ...

Come: Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zadek: Come On My Shirt, Come In My Ear

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 17 January 2013

I'LL NEVER FORGET. 1994. A cold Wednesday morning in March. The Embassy Hotel, Bayswater. I'm sat down, inside, smoking 'cos you could back then, and ...

Peace: Tiny, Smug and Blissfully Ignorant Minds: New British Indie and Peace's In Love (Columbia)

Special Feature by Neil Kulkarni, fuckyouneilkulkarni.blogspot.co.uk, 30 April 2013

"I. Man's perceptions are not bound by organs of perception; he perceives more than sense (tho' ever so acute) can discover." — William Blake, ...

Black Sky Thinking: White Power And Black Pop: The Real Problem With 1Xtra's Power List 


Comment by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 16 July 2014

Neil Kulkarni dissects the recent BBC 1Xtra Power List which featured three white acts in the top four... ...

Smiley Culture, Peter King, Papa Levi, Maxi Priest, Asher Senator, Tippa Irie: A Wild Feeling: The Vital Legacy Of Saxon Sound 


Retrospective by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 26 August 2014

Commissioned by Kevin Martin as part of our Bug Week, Neil Kulkarni writes about the power, potency and legacy of the UK's premier dancehall sound ...

Storm Bugs: The Tape Beetles

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, October 2015

Cassette culture veterans Storm Bugs look forward to fabricating the past ...

JPEGMAFIA x Freaky: The Second Amendment (Deathbomb Arc)

Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, January 2017

TIME AGAIN for hiphop to look beyond its normal loci of national and international significance and focus on those scenes so cut off from the ...

Betty Davis: Betty: They Say I'm Different (Dir. Phil Cox, Native Voice Films & La Compaigne Des Taxi Brousse)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, March 2018

IN A MUSIC world in which no one disappears, and even the most negligible figures can be persuaded to break their post-fame incommunicado isolation if ...

Little Simz is the uncompromising MC with a raw vision for UK hip-hop

Profile and Interview by Neil Kulkarni, DJ Magazine, 6 March 2019

Grey Area is the most raw and direct record yet from Little Simz. DJ Mag talks to the MC and visionary about being in the ...

Skepta: O2 Academy, Birmingham

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Metro, 28 November 2019

"BIRMINGHAM, I need your energy," hollered grime veteran Skepta from the stage as the hungry crowd moshed in a rampaging circle. ...

June Tyson, Sun Ra: June Tyson: Saturnian Queen Of The Sun Ra Arkestra

Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, June 2020

JUNE TYSON WASN'T just a collaborator with Sun Ra for 25 years, she was an integral Afrofuturist presence in The Arkestra, the only woman in ...

Noga Erez: KIDS

Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 29 March 2021

Tel Aviv's Noga Erez boasts razor sharp beats and a heart of pure pop, finds Neil Kulkarni ...

Saul Williams: Neptune's Lair

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, August 2022

With a visionary new African based film, vocalist, poet and actor Saul Williams has found a place to explore the polyglot power of language and ...

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