Articles by Julian Marszalek

Julian Marszalek is the former Reviews Editor of The Blues Magazine. He has written about music for Music365, Yahoo! Music, The Quietus, The Guardian, NME and Shindig! among many others. As the Deputy Online News Editor at Xfm he revealed exclusively that Nick Cave’s second novel was on the way. During his two-decade career, he’s interviewed the likes of Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Ozzy Osbourne, and has been ranted at by John Lydon. He’s also in the select group of music journalists to have actually got on with Lou Reed. Marszalek taught music journalism at Middlesex University and co-ran the genre-fluid Stow Festival in Walthamstow for six years.

Articles by: Julian Marszalek

“People have brains. They should use them instead of becoming like the machines they’re trying to play”: From experience, Hawkwind’s Dave Brock is against AI. Surprisingly, he’s also against the prevalence of legalised drugs

By Julian Marszalek published 29 April 25

Even though a lost account password threatened production, 2023 concept album The Future Never Waits is a death-to-life analysis of why humans keep corrupting everything

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra 50th anniversary edition

“The unreleased material is every bit the equal of what made the final cut, confirming its brilliance”: Tangerine Dream’s 50th anniversary edition of Phaedra

By Julian Marszalek published 25 April 25

Six-disc box set, including their UK debut concert and Steven Wilson remixes, shines new light on the creation of an electronic landmark

“There are two sides to him – It was totally alien… I learned a lot of things about my voice and how to use it”: What happened when The Struts’ Luke Spiller worked with Mike Oldfield

By Julian Marszalek published 11 April 25

Luke Spiller and Mike Oldfield collaborated on 2014 album Man On The Rocks, giving the Struts singer a new appreciation for the Tubular Bells mastermind

“An album misinterpreted by lesser talents”: What do Syd Barrett, Kevin Ayers, Peter Hammill and Robert Fripp have to do with Britpop? See Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish for details

By Julian Marszalek published 12 March 25

Okay, it’s not all-out prog – but the band’s second record contains the spirit of the genre, with its English eccentricities, non-linear approach to playing and rule-breaking flair

“I heard it in a hip-hop song and thought, ‘No way did Nas write that!’” How Wendy James fell in love with an Iron Butterfly track she’d never be drunk enough to write

By Julian Marszalek published 10 March 25

Won over by the psych-prog outfit, ex Transvision Vamp singer used a clip from In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in one of her own songs

“She fell in love with Pink Floyd, The Beatles and David Bowie and combined them all in her neoclassical way”: Even though Kate Bush refused to produce Gavin Friday’s Virgin Prunes, he still loves her

By Julian Marszalek published 10 February 25

Composer, actor and painter explains why her work is high art in the style of influential writer James Joyce

Hawkwind – Live At The Royal Albert Hall

“Emphatically proves that the current line-up is the band’s best since their mid-70s heyday”: Hawkwind’s Live At The Royal Albert Hall is much more than just another live album

By Julian Marszalek published 27 December 24

Triple-disc set captures the space rock veterans’ sonic destruction at celebratory event, which shows how well their latest music sits with their early work – and inspires thoughts of music yet to come

Gary Marx co-founded the Sister Of Mercy: Now he's released a Slade-worshipping, Bowie-loving glam rock album - and he wears a papier-mâché elephant head

By Julian Marszalek published 17 December 24

Co-founder of Sisters Of Mercy and Ghost Dance, influential goth guitarist Gary Marx has returned to his glam roots

“They didn’t do the posing rock thing – that attitude has stuck with me ever since”: Ruts DC drummer David Ruffy explains why Edgar Broughton Band are his prog heroes

By Julian Marszalek published 8 December 24

He hails their punk ethic, their experiments with electronica, and their way of writing songs about real people

“An album drenched in musical innovation that proves quality is not defined by quantity”: The Clash used the musical language of prog to make the statement that is Combat Rock

By Julian Marszalek published 2 December 24

Even as they began spiralling out of control, the cut-down double album delivered 46 minutes of creativity, complexity and power

Number one in a field of one: Every album by The Cramps ranked, from worst to best

By Julian Marszalek published 31 October 24

Celebrating the finest in American trash and kitsch culture, The Cramps played rock'n'roll at its delinquent, b-movie best

Lone Justice: Viva Lone Justice cover art

"Too much effort has been put into reinterpreting other artists' material instead of writing their own": The long wait for a new Lone Justice album may not have been worth it

By Julian Marszalek published 26 October 24

An album of covers makes for underwhelming return for LA country rockers Lone Justice

“It was something we’d never heard before. He was creating it on the spot – you went along with what was happening”: David Blackwell of The Lovely Eggs names Can as his prog heroes, and recalls the time he played with half of them

By Julian Marszalek published 21 October 24

Psych-punk drummer says his duo took inspiration from the krautrock pioneers’ ability to twist pop ditties into heavy drone experiments

Fantastic Negrito: Son Of A Broken Man cover art

"Crunching riffs and monster grooves that evoke the early 1970s": Fantastic Negrito's raw and confessional Son Of A Broken Man is his best work yet

By Julian Marszalek published 18 October 24

Heavy riffing collides with funk and soul for an extraordinary confessional

“I don’t think this is a story of failure… It’s a shame she didn’t make it, but we can all learn so much from what happened”: Why Public Service Broadcasting made an album about air pioneer Amelia Earhart

By Julian Marszalek published 4 October 24

She went missing in 1937 during an attempt to fly round the world – now J Willgoose, Esq has used the material she left behind to bring her story back to life

Pure Reason Revolution – Coming Up To Consciousness

“Raw and confessional – but their musical approach soothes the barbs of the subject matter”: Pure Reason Revolution’s Coming Up To Consciousness

By Julian Marszalek published 13 September 24

Sixth album examines our final destination and demonstrates there’s no rule book for grieving

“Our producer played the intro to Nevermore and I was just blown away”: How U.K. became Witherfall guitarist Jake Dreyer’s prog heroes

By Julian Marszalek published 8 September 24

Astonished by the world of Allan Holdsworth and Bill Bruford in particular, he’s happy to explain how you’ll hear the supergroup in his own band’s material

“People would be like, ‘This again?’ I’d tell them it made my shift easier”: P.O.D.’s Marcos Curiel played Radiohead to survive working in a goth retail store

By Julian Marszalek published 19 August 24

Guitarist explains his love for Thom Yorke’s band and (almost) everything they’ve ever done

“Anticipatory grief just walks with you all the time… that’s why I was trying to search for joy in certain pockets of places”: Jane Weaver’s recent experiences of death lent a “heavy mellow” to her new album

By Julian Marszalek published 12 August 24

Being prepared and embracing deadlines have never been her strong suits – but when she developed a new approach for Love In Constant Spectacle, she was delighted with the results

“Restraint was something other bands did… with little precedent, they were a progressive band to their very core”: Revisiting Cocteau Twins’ Treasure

By Julian Marszalek published 11 August 24

1984 release led the way for countless bands who’d be labelled shoegaze and dream-pop – but trio’s motivation was to find their own direction

“I like to be technical, I like to be fast and I like to do intricate things – but it’s always important to have the passion and the feel”: Why Kris Barras loves Planet X

By Julian Marszalek published 24 July 24

Hard rock band leader explains how Tony MacAlpine influenced him when he wanted to develop his playing and Dream Theater wasn’t doing it for him

“Drugs at our age? You don’t have to take them forever. Once you’ve opened the doors of perception you can see what’s going on; you’ve got the ideas”: Dave Brock on Hawkwind’s late-period purple patch

By Julian Marszalek published 10 July 24

Space rock veteran is happier then ever – and he even found an upside in nearly missing a recent tour over hospital stay

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats: South Of Here cover art

"This collective of musicians breaths new life into established formats": Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats' lineage stretches out on South Of Here

By Julian Marszalek published 1 July 24

Old forms given new life for the modern age on Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats' fourth album

"Hellfire is something that has way more impact with a much wider scope." Are black midi really the 'natural heirs' to King Crimson?

By Julian Marszalek published 28 May 24

Young London modern prog rock trio black midi set out their stall with third album Hellfire

“A plaintive joy throughout, informed by painful experiences… not an album that feels sorry for itself”: Kavus Torabi’s The Banishing

By Julian Marszalek published 4 May 24

Psychedelic polymath draws a line under a recent difficult past with a personal form of ritual exorcism

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Julian Marszalek

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