The new issue of Loud And Quiet is currently being printed, with a true icon on the cover: Kim Gordon.

From her early experiments in the DIY art scene of 1980s New York, through her crucial work with paradigm-shifting rock band Sonic Youth to her shapeshifting new output as a multi-disciplinary artist, Gordon has always been a total one-off, straddling avant-garde music, haute couture and fine art as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Now, she’s set to release a new solo album, The Collective, a worthy successor to 2019’s incredible No Home Record. To get the inside story on the album and get to know Gordon’s unique perspective on the world in depth, Skye Butchard headed to Paris for our latest cover story; they discuss smartphone addiction, contemporary dance and so much more from a life on the vanguard.

Elsewhere in the issue, we’ve got features with some other big hitters, including grime OG Ghetts, fast-rising Leeds indie band English Teacher and fast-risen Leeds heavyweights Yard Act. There’s a movingly frank conversation with the inimitable Nadine Shah, a chat about underrated artists with Florida UK bass aficionados They Hate Change, and boundary-pushing noise artist Gazelle Twin shows us around her home in a converted rural church. We’ve also got profiles of a load of our favourite new and underground artists, including Nourished By Time, HONESTY, Chanel Beads, Lip Critic, ML Buch and SHEHERAZAAD; Bill Ryder-Jones told us what his favourite song is really, and we tell the story of PRAH, one of the most vital leftfield independent labels of the last decade.

Plus reviews of all the most exciting new records, gigs, books and films, some shit jokes and, for our subscribers, an exclusive flexi disc courtesy of PRAH artist Tony Njoku (details below). Preorder your copy now, or subscribe to the magazine.

Subscriber exclusive flexi disc no. 7: Tony Njoku

Exclusively with this edition of the mag – for existing and new subscribers only – is our seventh limited edition flexi disc, this time from British-Nigerian musicians Tony Njoku, whose music features in issue 163 through a guide to the unique contemporary classical and experimental label PRAH Recordings.

‘The Reset (Revised)’ may sound like a classical demo of the electronic track Njoku released on his EP Our New Bloom, but it is in fact a complete reworking of the song, strips back to a rawer form. It’s released here for the first time on physical format, only with issue 163.

SUBSCRIBE NOW (with the disc) or ORDER A COPY (without the disc)