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Luke Turner

Luke Turner

Luke Turner is a co-founder of the online music magazine The Quietus. As a freelance journalist he has also written for the NME, The Guardian, Dazed & Confused and The Stool Pigeon.

58 articles

List of articles in the library

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Arctic Monkeys: Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 11 May 2018

Do not adjust your sets: our Luke Turner is a big fan of the new LP by Alex Turner & co. Here's why. ...

Azari & III: Heaven, London

Live Review by Luke Turner, New Musical Express, 18 February 2012

Filthy, fabulous and downright f… f… f...freezing, the sexy foursome realise dreams of disco utopia ...

Bloc Party: Intimacy

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 20 August 2008

BLOC PARTY have always made themselves a frustratingly difficult band to like. Alright, so if you're a 17 year old kid from Haywards Heath with ...

Blue Roses, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Fever Ray, I Like Trains, Joe Gideon & The Shark, Grace Jones, of Montreal, Pet Shop Boys, Tricky, Wild Beasts, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Patrick Wolf, The xx, Thom Yorke: Latitude Festival Review: The Quietus Gets Saucy In Southwold

Live Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 24 July 2009

The Quietus bored by Yorke but tentage to Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at the driest wet festival ...

Blur, Elastica, Oasis, Pulp, Suede: Modern Life Isn't Rubbish: The Trouble With Britpop Nostalgia

Comment by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 10 April 2014

The mainstream media are currently engaged in a collective misty-eyed throwback to the 'glory days' of the mid 90s. Luke Turner, who was a teenager ...

(British) Sea Power: British Sea Power: From The Sea To The Land Beyond

Film/DVD/TV Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 11 December 2013

BRITISH SEA POWER'S rather schizophrenic identity has arguably been their commercial undoing. On one hand there's the indie group capable of writing songs with rousing ...

Can: Tago Mago – 40th Anniversary Edition

Review by Luke Turner, bbc.co.uk, November 2011

The blueprint for much of the leftfield music of the past 40 years. ...

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Push The Sky Away

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 10 February 2013

RECENT YEARS have seen messageboards, pop gossip sites and magazines alike indulging in the pursuit of Brighton-based Nick Cave spotting. Nick Cave spotted waving a ...

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Brighton Dome

Live Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 28 October 2013

Nick Cave gets behind the piano for some slower songs from the Bad Seeds back catalogue at the Brighton Dome, but even that can't stop ...

Chris & Cosey: From Death Factory To Fenland

Interview by Luke Turner, The Stool Pigeon, May 2011

At home with electronic and industrial music pioneers Chris & Cosey ...

Chris & Cosey, Nico, Throbbing Gristle: Chris & Cosey Talk Plans To Finish TG's Desertshore

Report and Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 19 April 2011

LATE LAST WEEK, observant souls on the internet had a look at Chris & Cosey's website and noticed that their Event Horizon page of planned ...

Jarvis Cocker Interview: Talking Further Complications 


Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 21 May 2009

Luke Turner talks to Jarvis Cocker about Albini, the male psyche, Sunn O))), living in the moment, and how it feels to be accused of ...

The Cribs, Johnny Marr, The Smiths: The Cribs

Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 11 September 2009

In a revealing interview, Johnny Marr and The Cribs discuss what went wrong with indie, why LA destroys creative thought, the curse of the lad, ...

Current 93: Nature Unveiled

Review by Luke Turner, bbc.co.uk, 2012

Their dark echoes are still to be heard resonating through music's further reaches. ...

Depeche Mode: Delta Machine

Preview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 7 March 2013

DEPECHE MODE are back with their 13th album, and Luke Turner sits down with it for an instant, track-by-track appraisal ...

Beth Ditto: Winning The Fame Game With No Regrets

Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 1 March 2011

As she prepares to release her new EP with Simian Mobile Disco, Luke Turner sits down with Beth Ditto and finds that, a million record ...

Editors: In This Light And On This Evening

Review by Luke Turner, New Musical Express, 10 October 2009

Mild beasts: Neither Tesco angst fish nor dark art fowl ...

Esben And The Witch: Madame JoJo's, London

Live Review by Luke Turner, New Musical Express, 12 January 2010

THE MERCURY might be heading towards zero and the radio crackling with dire warnings of apocalyptic snowfall, but in the heart of Soho the pimps ...

FKA Twigs: LP1

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 15 August 2014

LEGION AND LAMENTABLE are the reviews of female artists written by male music critics in which their hands appear to have drifted away from the ...

Fleet Foxes: Why Is Our Radical Folk Heritage Ignored?

Comment by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 14 November 2008

Modern British music is so in thrall to Americana that our own treasure trove of radical traditional folk is in danger of being forgotten ...

Diamanda Galás: Devil Woman

Interview by Luke Turner, Dazed & Confused, March 2008

Diamanda Galás has been shouting down society's hypocritical moralists for over 30 years. Here, she explains how HIV/Aids, Catholicism and injustice inspired a lifelong crusade ...

Hot Chip, Thurston Moore, This Heat: This Is Not This Heat: Cafe Oto, London

Live Review by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 14 February 2016

Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore joined the experimental lineup for a night of fresh and focussed sounds ...

Grace Jones: Hurricane

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 7 November 2008

IN THE YEARS SINCE Grace Jones' last foray into recorded music, female artistes have increasingly been forced into major label-defined sonic and aesthetic roles, be ...

Heather Leigh: Glory Days

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 15 July 2020

Not your bog standard lockdown project, Heather Leigh's Glory Days feels like a new lease of life, finds Luke Turner ...

Leila: U&I

Review by Luke Turner, bbc.co.uk, 23 January 2012

A batty, compelling, smart and unusual fourth LP from the Iranian artist. ...

Leila: U&I

Review by Luke Turner, bbc.co.uk, 23 January 2012

A batty, compelling, smart and unusual fourth LP from the Iranian artist. ...

Liars: "To dive into yourself is scary": the anxiety and awesome alt-rock of Liars

Interview by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 10 August 2021

FOR 20 YEARS, Angus Andrew has made Liars one of rock's most interesting, slippery acts — and by microdosing drugs to help understand his fears, ...

Liars: Sisterworld

Review by Luke Turner, New Musical Express, 5 March 2010

YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A UNIVERSE you've never before been to. Be prepared... ...

Liars: WIXIW

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 30 May 2012

OF ALL THE ARTISTS navigating the potentials of the great fracture that has occurred in musical culture over the past decade, it's arguably Liars who ...

Nine Inch Nails: Scala, London — Still Dirty On The Inside

Live Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 21 August 2013

On the evidence of last night's Scala show, Nine Inch Nails have recharged their batteries in spectacular style, writes Luke Turner, highlighting the subtle undercurrents ...

Nitzer Ebb: The return of pop perverts Nitzer Ebb

Retrospective and Interview by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 3 January 2019

Loud, rude and flirting with fascistic imagery, Nitzer Ebb took synth-pop and sexual deviance to working class Essex. Three decades on, they're back – now ...

Pete Doherty: Peter Doherty: Grace/Wastelands (EMI)

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 17 March 2009

IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE, someone has taken Pete Doherty's cultural obsessions and musical touchpoints and made beguiling music that explores Englishness in a subtle, intelligent ...

Pet Shop Boys: Animal Instinct

Interview by Luke Turner, The Stool Pigeon, May 2009

Pet Shops Boys done good these last three decades, and they're still playing cat-and-mouse with expectation. ...

Primal Scream: More Light

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 13 May 2013

PRIMAL SCREAM have always been a hard band to really love. Their lurching from jangling dreamers (Sonic Flower Groove) to drug-touched genre benders (Screamadelica) to ...

Public Service Broadcasting: Every Valley

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 6 July 2017

The nostalgia merchants remember the miners with turgid, insipid, bizarrely misjudged pap. Luke Turner is righteously appalled. ...

Daniel Patrick Quinn: Acting The Rubber Pig

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 25 July 2014

WHERE HAVE ALL the awkward bastards gone, the square pegs in round holes, those who wilfully follow difficult paths, to their own detriment, in a ...

Chris Rea: Santo Spirito Blues

Review by Luke Turner, bbc.co.uk, September 2011

As blues homage this can't be faulted, but Rea doesn't allow his great voice to shine. ...

Regis: Let the Night Return

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 29 January 2021

A recorded live performance by Karl 'Regis' O'Connor makes for a unique and delightfully daft visual album, finds Luke Turner ...

The Residents — American dreams turned to grotesque nightmares

Live Review by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 5 February 2019

The anonymous, long-serving denizens of the post-hippy underground are joined by Mother Teresa and John Wayne for a bizarre take on vaudeville ...

Savages: Silence Yourself

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 3 May 2013

INSPIRATION, NOT innovation, is what I look for in Savages. One Quietus reader insists, every time we write about them, on commenting "post punk karaoke", ...

Savages: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 22 February 2013

SO JUST A YEAR after their first gig down in a manky former theatre in Brighton, Savages are here in the Electric Ballroom for an NME awards ...

Sleaford Mods: 
Divide And Exit

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 2 May 2014

SLEAFORD MODS snap at you, lumber at you, insult you, your friends, probably some of your family too. They're a force of nature, of testosterone ...

Sleaford Mods: Eton Alive

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 27 February 2019

Sleaford Mods new album is a huge leap forward and a welcome exploration of the nuances of masculine identity, says Luke Turner ...

Sonic Youth: A Rude Awakening

Interview by Luke Turner, The Stool Pigeon, May 2009

Luke Turner feels the pall in the mall as he accompanies a pre-boogie woogie jam Sonic Youth on a shopping trip. ...

Soundgarden: King Animal

Review by Luke Turner, bbc.co.uk, 12 November 2012

A superb comeback, 16 years after their last studio LP, from the big-riffed Seattle band. ...

Spiritualized: Songs In A&E

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 16 May 2008

SPIRITUALIZED reached their commercial zenith a decade ago, when a nation wearying of Britpop and knocked sideways by the insane reaction to the death of ...

Suede: Cheating The "Living Death": Suede Interviewed

Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, March 2013

They triumphed with their live return, and now they're about to release killer new album Bloodsports. Luke Turner speaks to Brett Anderson and Mat Osman ...

Suicide: Live 1977 - 1978 Box Set

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 6 August 2008

IT'S RARE to find live albums from canonical acts that don’t come swathed in mythology or creaking under the weight of their own self importance. ...

Sunn O)))

Interview by Luke Turner, Dazed & Confused, February 2008

"WE FOUND them in the woods," laughs Stephen O'Malley, refusing to divulge where Sunn O))) wove the monastic robes that, along with cranium-crushing waves of ...

Sunn O))): Doom With A View: Sunn O))) Discuss Monoliths And Dimensions

Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 20 May 2009

THE QUIETUS has already stopped taking bets on our album of 2009. It's hard to imagine any other group coming up with a record as ...

These New Puritans: "We're the last cult band"

Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 11 February 2020

As These New Puritans prepare for a major Barbican concert, twin brothers Jack and George Barnett speak to Luke Turner about their grand plans and ...

These New Puritans: Field Of Reeds

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 10 June 2013

FIELD OF REEDS. It's that title that holds the key to These New Puritans' third album. Fields are terra firma, wilderness tamed, human use of ...

Vatican Shadow: Remember Your Black Day

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 11 October 2013

IT WAS INEVITABLE that an event as grand, terrible, momentous and world-changing as the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington would ...

Chris Watson: Wild Tracks

Interview by Luke Turner, Into Magazine (Sound & Music), 30 June 2010

Chris Watson talks to Luke Turner about the connections between his work as a documentary sound recordist, musician and artist, as his latest installation, Whispering ...

X-TG: Desertshore

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 23 November 2012

AT THE LIVE PREVIEW of some of Desertshore at Newcastle's AV Festival in March this year, there was in the room a sense of remembrance ...

The xx: Earthy & Complicated: The xx's Coexist Track By Track

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 21 August 2012

Next month, London trio The xx release their much-anticipated second album Coexist. Luke Turner takes you on a track-by-track guide through its eleven "far more ...

The xx's I See You

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 12 January 2017

In The xx's third full-length effort, Luke Turner finds an album seemingly more geared toward the televisions syncs that catapulted their once affecting minimalism to ...

Zola Jesus: A Zola Jesus Baker's Dozen: 13 LPs By Women Who Inspired Me To Sing

Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 27 August 2013

Zola Jesus (Nika Rosa Danilova) gives us a special Baker's Dozen — 13 albums by female singers who inspired her to find her own voice ...

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