Annabel Ross

The Juan MacLean on Money, Medicine, and Meaning From DFA to the jungle, the veteran DJ and producer reflects on the cost of integrity and the pull of healing

Great interview by @annabel-ross.bsky.social with good-guy and great DJ, John (Juan) MacLean

open.substack.com/pub/politics...

The Juan MacLean on Money, Medicine, and Meaning From DFA to the jungle, the veteran DJ and producer reflects on the cost of integrity and the pull of healing

Had one of my favourite-ever conversations for the newsletter with one of the nicest guys in music, The Juan MacLean politicsdancingxyz.substack.com/p/the-juan-m...

"I need the audience to be a muse, the muse, and I need to love them, or I can’t find it in me.” she commented in an interview this week. She's currently creating a new audience-as-muse composed of terfs...very curious to see the kind of music this produces

All the conversation around puberty blockers and questionable data re: the rate of trans-identifying youth is more often than not a smokescreen or a springboard for what morphs into generalised transphobia and bigotry. See her recent, "I've left the cult, get over it" comment.

The truth about Róisín's legacy Save for some unlikely redemption arc, she's torched it

My main point in this Róisín Murphy piece, which many people (terfs) seem to have missed, is that whether or not you agree with them her comments are extremely hurtful to trans people, an already vulnerable community politicsdancingxyz.substack.com/p/the-truth-...

From breakdown to breakthrough In their new book, P.E. Moskowitz envisions a new world through drugs

Two weeks ago I interviewed @pempem.bsky.social about their brilliant new book Breaking Awake, in which their nervous breakdown and attempt to recover with the help of prescribed and illicit drugs sparked much bigger questions about what is making us depressed and anxious

Right?! 🥴

The truth about Róisín's legacy Save for some unlikely redemption arc, she's torched it

This week's newsletter is about the avant-pop icon who blocked me (and many others) this week. No one's out to get you, Róisín. We just want you to stop acting like a c*nt politicsdancingxyz.substack.com/p/the-truth-...

the politics of dancing is evolving ✨ A new chapter for the newsletter, plus a reader feedback survey

A new chapter for the newsletter, plus a reader feedback survey. I’d be so grateful for your input ♥️

Monday musings Dissecting the discourse of the past week

Featuring Jimmy Kimmel, Karen Attiah, Ezra Klein, Netanyahu at the UN, the pathetic Australian Prime Minister, Kamala Harris’ new book, Resident Advisor and The Great Regression, Najla Said (daughter of Edward) and purity politics, Roi Perez, and the statement that “PLUR is inherently g3noc1d@l.”

I don't want my art to be up for interpretation estoc on the importance of making your position loud and clear

Chatted with brilliant Philly-based DJ/producer estoc abt the problem with political raves, trying to make a living while staying true to your values, why longform content is an essential tool in beating fascism and the importance of engaging with the past to better understand the present & future.

In today's newsletter we talked about the challenges of fitting in in a scene not known for its inclusivity, how her experiences growing up shaped the person and artist she is today, the disillusionment that can come with meeting your idols, and why she thinks she's yet to make a banger (!)

to fit neatly into any single genre, with releases on labels as varied as Kapsela, Mau5trap, XL Recordings, Critical Music and FabricLive. I first spoke to Li last year about an incident that will be explored in more detail in the newsletter in coming weeks.

"The idea of belonging is a big chip on my shoulder" Gyrofield on wanting to fit in when she can't help but stand out

Since her breakthrough EP Evaluate Me was released in 2019, Gyrofield aka Kiana Li has made a name for herself as one of the most exciting new talents in drum & bass. Over the past few years, however, the 22-year-old has demonstrated that her sound is far too broad, inventive and confounding

This is a response to Shawn Reynaldo’s “Electronic Music Has A Scab Problem” newsletter published last week on the topic of artists crossing picket lines to play boycotted venues and events, and within, I name a few names.

In defence of naming names We should all be holding each other accountable in a time of genocide

I’m not trying to encourage social media pile-ons, but in the face of a live-streamed ethnic cleansing, I think it’s reasonable to publicly challenge influential figures in dance music (and everywhere). politicsdancingxyz.substack.com/p/in-defence...

"I've come to accept that I don't need everybody to like me" Russell E.L. Butler on staying true and knowing your worth

Spoke with the wonderful producer/live performer/DJ/writer Russell E.L. Butler on their uncompromising sound and values, how DJing too frequently dilutes what should be a sacred experience, why they don't fuck with Berghain, online cancelling, and how marginality can create its own kind of freedom.

My point is that he hasn’t said shit about Gaza and I’m so sick of Libs who talk about everything but Palestine

Now do Israel

This is a really special one. Amir is such a thoughtful, gracious person and it was such a pleasure to speak with him. All new subscription income this week will go to the Ghassan Abu Sittah Children's Fund providing holistic, multidisciplinary treatment & care for children affected by the genocide

were born here. My great great grandparents were born here also. I don't feel any connection to any other place. I always think of Edward Said, who said, “the whole world is a hotel and Jerusalem is my home.” Palestine is my home. I really feel like this is where I belong.”

in Iqrit where they would regularly camp out and host lectures, workshops and festivals, enacting their own right to return and defying the Israeli authorities who would regularly destroy what they had built. Amir says, “I love Palestine, I love the country. I was born here. My grandparents

The winery was reestablished in nearby Kufur Yasif in 2010 by Amir's father, Nemi, whose "object in life is to have a publicly recognized and legally secured way of returning to Iqrit” and rebuilding the winery there. As teenagers, Amir and his friends set up a semi-permanent autonomous zone

In 2024, Amir gave a talk at Waking Life festival with Yahav Erez on "why festivals should be a more political space." His family's vineyard, Ashkar, was in the Palestinian Christian village of Iqrit for generations until the territory was seized by Israel in 1948 and the villagers were displaced.

I'm scared to speak, but even more scared of remaining silent Palestinian winemaker, activist and philosopher Amir Ashkar on a lifetime of resistance

just published: Amir Ashkar is a Palestinian winemaker and PhD student of philosophy who has written a yet to be published book called Fragments of a Man During Genocide. He is about to commence writing his dissertation on festivals as a counter movement to nihilism.

This is tiresome, I’m out ✋

You’re ignoring the red line part. I can’t vote here. If I could I would’ve voted for Stein (I live in New York). No one’s saying Trump isn’t worse, but you can’t blame people for being unable to support Holocaust Harris is all I’m saying