Simon Coates
@simonjcoates
writer @observer | @discogs | @service95 | @thewiremagazine | @artukdotorg & more | artist | curator 🦋 @simonjcoates.bsky.social
Line-up for this year's London Jazz Festival shaping up nicely. Nov 14 - 23, various venues. Website here > efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk
John Gerrard's 'Western Flag' artwork depicts the site of the Lucas Gusher - the world's first major oil find - in Spindletop, Texas in 1901. It's from 2017 but has taken on all manner of other meanings since...
A cast member at London's Royal Opera House unfurled a Palestinian flag on stage last night standard.co.uk/news/cast-memb…
🔊 I compiled an online playlist (with words) to accompany the profile I wrote about the Manila underground and experimental music scene for the latest issue of @thewiremagazine magazine. Read and listen here ➡️ thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/g…
Clipse Tiny Desk concert is pure 🔥🔥🔥 youtube.com/watch?v=f7gIBB…
European arts network Reset! is collecting testimonies from individuals and organisations - from the cultural, media and academic world - who have faced censorship, intimidation or other forms of pressure for expressing support for Palestine. More here > reset-network.eu/call-for-testi…
Drawing is fundamentally important to artists' development - and to society in general. This and more is discussed in my article about the 25th anniversary of London's Royal Drawing School for Art UK. Check it here > artuk.org/discover/stori…
On now until July 20 at Rochdale, UK's RISE Inavate Centre, Shilpa Gupta's 'You are the place' is a new sound installation inspired by - and created with - local communities factoryinternational.org/whats-on/shilp…
Ace 2015 documentary 'The Slits: The First Female Punk Band' is now available to watch for free on YouTube ⤵️ youtube.com/watch?v=qz2zdp…
I had the pleasure of writing about Manila's vital experimental music scene for the latest edition of The Wire magazine. The new issue is in stores now, or you can subscribe to The Wire here > thewire.co.uk/shop/subscript…
New for @discogs, I wrote about the roots of Jamaican ska, its importance in the island's musical history and its lasting influence. Check it here 👇discogs.com/digs/music/ess…
Exhibited in Kyiv, Ukraine, Ai Weiwei's new installation will provide a dialogue on 'war and peace, rationality and irrationality' ocula.com/magazine/art-n…
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We’re very proud to be supporting a brand new call, Echoes for Palestine, a global sonic compilation album in solidarity with and raising vital funds for Palestine 🇵🇸 We’re inviting artists to contribute to an act of listening, resistance & remembrance: citiesandmemory.com/2025/06/echoes…
FINALLY, someone has published a story about something I've been banging on about for years. Glastonbury makes an absolute fortune from getting people to pay to perform, set up stages, themed fields etc.
The uncomfortable truth about pay-to-play Glastonbury independent.co.uk/arts-entertain…
"His brushwork is brisk and gestural and not as fiddly as it first appears. Here is a painter who didn’t mess around." I reviewed the late Mexican artist José María Velasco's exhibition at London’s National Gallery for @observer Read it here ⤵️ observer.com/2025/06/art-ex…
I compiled a playlist showcasing some of the artists featured in my article about Dhaka's experimental music scene for The Wire magazine's Global Ear series. There are a few words, too. Check it all here ⤵️ thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/g…
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Beautiful clip of Brian Wilson and George Martin discussing ‘God Only Knows’. I love Brian’s enthusiasm when he thinks George is making the song better. ‘I can’t believe this is happening!’
First Sly Stone, and now Brian Wilson. What a sad week this is. fox5atlanta.com/news/beach-boy…