We had no idea if we were going to be able to make any more issues of Loud And Quiet, or if coronavirus would be the end of us altogether. So I’m extremely pleased to announce our first magazine post-lockdown, available to order now, and going out to all of our members this Friday.

It’s a thicker-than-usual issue, as will be the case for all future editions, as we switch from 9 issues per year to 6. We’ve got some new regular features that we’ll be publishing from now on, too, and a lot more member’s exclusives for everyone that’s supported us over the past few months by signing up to our new member’s scheme.

Inside issue 142, we have Australian rapper Tkay Maidza, whose new record, Last Year Was Weird Vol 2, has banged us through the crisis. Other new music discoveries include Moonchild Sanelly, East Man, Emma-Jean Thackray and Working Men’s Club.

Nubya Garcia took on our feature The Rates, Jessy Lanza revisited being 16 for our Sweet 16 column, Samuel T. Herring of Future Islands obliged us for a Zoom special of our My Place interview, and I asked James Acaster what he made of our 2016 end-of-year list – an obsession of his.

I’ve also chronicled the Loud And Quiet story of COVID-19, which attempts to explain how we as an independent publisher working in music ended up in this mess alongside everyone else, and Luke delivered on the happier task of an excellent and thorough exploration into the enduring appeal of vaporwave, 10 years on from its emergence.

There’s a lot more of course (reviews, columns, Party Wolf, announcements), and the best way to get your copy – if you can afford to – is by becoming a Loud And Quiet Member here. Alternatively, you can order this issue on its own here.

A special thanks needs to go out to everyone who’s worked on this issue of the magazine through these circumstances, but especially to Greg and Luke, and Lee and his design team at B.A.M..

I hope you enjoy the issue. We’ll get started on the next one now.

Stu