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50: Jeff Weiss is still waiting for Britney Spears
Who’s on your Mount Rushmore of pop?That’s the question of the week. After welcoming Jeff Weiss back to London for a live show about his tremendous novel-slash-memoir, Waiting For Britney Spears, we got to thinking about our own pop album percies. 2007’s Blackout is certainly up there – ‘a lost weekend of one-more-gram indulgence’ that ‘embodied the hedonistic sleaze of the late Bush years,’ as Jeff sums it up in the book.Waiting For Britney… is a celebrity biography like no other – a gonzo account of Jeff’s time as a rookie in the world of Hollywood gossip rags, back when celebrities still had mystique and Brit still had a full head of hair. There is scandal and there are laughs, but never at the expense of its stricken central character. The words ‘leave Britney alone!’ never sounded more reasonable.At the end of June, Jeff blessed us with his presence at Young Space in East London, where we talked to him about paparazzi, poptimism, fedoras, K-Fed, and the chaotic energy of LA in the early 2000s, the era that feminism forgot. Plus, a working theory: why Britney, Kanye and Trump are the quintessential 21st century Americans. If you like what we’re doing on No Tags, please forward this email to someone else who’d like it, subscribe on your podcast app of choice – or better yet, leave us a nice review. And if you’re really into what we’re doing, please consider subscribing to our paid tier for £5 per month. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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49: When does a simulation become a dystopia?
It’s Glastonbury weekend, and we’re back with the Big Questions.Not a sentence we expected to be saying on No Tags, but we kick off by talking about Will Smith – specifically his recent appearance with London streamer du jour DJ AG. The Fresh Prince is in the middle of a generationally cringe promo run and we’ve been wanting to discuss AG’s streams for a while now, so these two forces colliding over a dubstep remix of the Men in Black theme felt like the perfect opportunity.If you’re looking for something more high-brow, well, you still have to get through Tom’s full review of the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll – aka Final Destination: Cotswolds. Once we’re through that, it’s onto higher ground, debriefing recent experiences at Polyphonic Eating with Yu Su, Warp Records’ ‘happening’ at The Barbican and a No Tags night out at Corsica for Hodge and Peverelist. Music writers who still go to clubs? Perish the thought!We always say it, but if you like what we’re doing on No Tags, please do rate and subscribe on your podcast app of choice – or better yet, leave us a review. This stuff really does help. And if you’re really into what we’re doing, please consider subscribing to our paid tier for £5 per month. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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48: How (not) to run a DIY festival, with Field Maneuvers
We talk about festivals a lot on No Tags, and usually the negative stuff: monopolisation, bad owners, overpriced cheesy chips. But good can still prevail, and are hopes are pinned on Field Maneuvers: an LED beacon of hope in the darkness, and an event that puts the comfort and enjoyment of ravers first. Perish the thought!In this episode, FM organisers Henry, Ele and Leon explain how they’ve just about stayed afloat for 12 years – or is it 13? They can’t quite remember. We talk about building a rave utopia from scratch, the influence of free party culture on FM, adapting to festival life as new parents, and the momentum behind the current boycott of KKR-owned festivals. There’s also a story about duck poo.Before that, Chal and Tom talk about the lack of muckracking journalists in the music industry, following on from the latest First Floor newsletter, and get into a stack of listener emails on side-of-stage access, babushka hoods, Afrohouse and Keinemusik. We’ve had some golden feedback emails lately – please keep them coming!If you’re a fan of No Tags and want to show us some love, please do drop us a like and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Substack. And if you really like what we’re doing, please do consider subscribing to our paid tier, which costs £5 per month. Planning, recording, editing and transcribing these regular podcasts is a pleasure but it’s also a lot of work, and your support truly does make a difference. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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47: Free parties, rave theories and a moment with Grace Sands
What connects Adonis resident Grace Sands, the free party explosion of summer '91, Deleuzian dancefloor philosophy, and the annual Gloucestershire cheese-rolling competition?It's this episode of No Tags, obviously, but the connecting tissue goes much deeper, we promise. The last third of the show contains our recent conversation with Grace Sands – house DJ, free party originator, icon of London's queer underground – live in Sheffield on 9th May. In a compact Q&A before a screening of Free Party: A Folk History hosted by No Tags and local heroes Gut Level, she set out some of the early ideals of a scene which changed the course of British dance music.We talk about our own reactions to the film, a superb documentary charting the UK’s free party movement in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, featuring members of UK soundsystems like Spiral Tribe, Bedlam and Grace's alma mater DiY.Before all that, for the first hour of the show we respond to some excellent listener feedback on recent pod topics, including who exactly goes to see Keinemusik and what makes the perfect night out. Inspired by one Taganista in particular, Chal expands her recent theory of rave with an important third axis from wiggy theorist Gilles Deleuze. Show us another podcast whose listeners write in about Plato and Love Island!As ever, if you want to support what we’re doing on No Tags, please do drop us a like and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Substack. You can also subscribe to our paid tier, which costs £5 per month. Planning, recording, editing and transcribing these regular podcasts is a pleasure but it’s also a lot of work, and your support truly does make a difference. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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46: Paul Woolford is peaking
Rave royalty on No Tags this week as we’re joined by Paul Woolford.We’re both drawn to artists who are driven by a compulsion to put art into the world at all costs – and 25 years into his career, Woolford (AKA Special Request) seems to be more driven than ever. In the last six years he’s released six albums and countless singles and remixes, and he still tours relentlessly – from seasons in Ibiza to grubby late-nighters at the White Hotel.He’s also constantly collaborating – who else can you name who’s worked with Novelist, Diplo, Alison Goldfrapp and MK? And that’s how we introduced him on stage at the British Library earlier this year, where he joined us for a live conversation as part of AVA London.Housekeeping! If you’re into No Tags, you can show your support by liking our posts on Substack. Or why not forward this email to a friend who’d enjoy it? You can also leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or chuck us a like on Spotify. Or if you’re feeling particularly generous (or just flash – we’ll take either), consider subscribing to our paid tier, which costs less than a pint per month and gives us the financial and spiritual fuel to keep planning, recording, editing and transcribing these regular podcasts. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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