This week:
- Our latest DiSpatch takes us to Reading Festival
- We contemplate music’s wave of tech rebellion
- Nova Twins are Track Of The Week
- We ask – which songs have defined your summer?
Hiya. In a bit of a change from the usual programming, this is not Sean talking to you right now. This is Emma Wilkes, and I'm thrilled to be able to tell you that I'm Drowned in Sound's new staff writer.
We might have encountered each other already, as I jumped aboard the podcast to take you with me as I explored Glastonbury for the first time back in June. I've been back in a field again over the weekend with Sean, taking in the scenes (and breathing in way too much dust) at what might have just been the most politicised Reading Festival I've been to. Along the way, we had conversations with artists including Cliffords, Enter Shikari, Sofia Isella, Heartworms and The Linda Lindas about everything from grassroots venues to whether rage is the sound of the summer. It was a weekend of joy, fury and righteous noise, a pattern I've observed over many of the festivals I've been to this summer. Frankly, I'm not ready for festival season to be over.
Listen to our Reading DiSpatch
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Speaking of summer, and speaking of rage...
A summer of tech rebellion?
Neil Young and 'sensual chatbots' are two things that should not belong in the same sentence - but alas, the news cycle is stranger than fiction at the best of times. After joining what we might call the X-odus from the decaying wasteland that the site formerly called Twitter has become, he put Facebook in his crosshairs last week over parent company Meta’s policies relating to AI chatbots. According to a report from Reuters, the company’s internal documents outline ways that the chatbots can interact with minors, which can allegedly involve them striking up “romantic or sensual” conversations. (The document is now reportedly being revised). The details, should you find them, are nauseating to say the least. Young thought so too, cutting ties and describing the policies as “unconscionable”.
We know Young is a man with protest in his bones. After all, he removed his music from Spotify for almost two years in protest of Joe Rogan spreading anti-vax misinformation on what was then the platform’s flagship podcast. I find myself joining the dots between this and a wider wave of music-driven tech rebellion at work. Aside from the aforementioned X-odus that many artists have been a part of, Spotify has become the nexus of a new wave of protest. We've talked about this in previous newsletters.
Spotify has been a frenemy to artists for years, giving all-you-can-eat access to music that artists are paid a pittance for, but now the battle lines have been drawn thanks to founder Daniel Ek investing in a company creating AI technology and drones for military operations. "To build a fair and just music industry, we also must dismantle imperialism in all its forms. Daniel Ek is a warmonger who pays artists poverty wages," wrote United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) in response to the news. A Disarm Spotify campaign is gaining traction, with artists removing their labour and sharing their outrage over the streamer's ties to war technology. In recent weeks, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Xiu Xiu and Godspeed You! Black Emperor all joined in. Animal Collective and Deerhoof have become a part of it too.
The poles are moving further apart. On one side, there’s the chasing of TikTok virality and AI slop. On the other, there’s the stirrings of rebellion. The algorithm is less a friend than an enemy, sometimes stifling the reach on artists’ posts altogether, leaving them to bypass it through mailing lists and community building. In a way, I’m wondering if this is inextricable from the last couple of years’ solidarity with Palestine and the uprisings against organisations from the US Army to Barclays to Superstruct/KKR. Music is, more so than ever, a cultural battleground. As a site of rebellion, it’s a huge source of hope. I’m inclined to think it’s the most prolific wave of something greater, representative of the collective yearning for authenticity, real life experience and connection. Better than living a fractured life through increasingly joyless, attention-pruning platforms, eh?
Community Prompt - Your summer playlist
Whether it’s your BBQ playlist or your festival soundtrack, summer is shaped by music. There’s always a hunt for the ‘song of the summer’. In fact, it's often been said that in 2025, there was no song of the summer at all - or, as some have joked, it's the Jet2 holiday jingle that became a meme.
My question to you is - what songs have defined your summer? What’s been on the heavy rotation since June? What songs have you heard live across this summer’s plethora of music events? Which songs in the soundtrack in your life will take you right back to this moment?
I've put a playlist together below of the songs that have defined my summer, whether they're artists I've watched at festivals, or new songs I've fallen in love with as the temperature began rising. But what about you? Tell us on our socials what the soundtrack to your own summer has been; whether it's been defined by an artist, an album or selection of songs.
Track Of The Week - N.O.V.A. by Nova Twins
How about something joyful for this week's Track Of The Week? Nova Twins are one of the brightest homegrown talents we have, and they beautifully epitomise the idea of joy as an act of resistance, fighting from a place of unity rather than flat-out anger. This track showcases that side of them, clearing away the feelings of burnout and anxiety that permeate a couple of their previous singles to celebrate themselves all over again. Their new album Parasites and Butterflies is landing this week, they'll be doing in-store shows shortly after, and heading out on tour across the UK and Europe in October.
Check out and subscribe to our 2025 Favourites playlist on YouTube for more recent tracks of the week.
Hopeful Story Of The Week
You’ve heard the rumblings of a print media renaissance, which Sean wrote about in a recent edition of the newsletter. The best way I saw that epitomised was when I passed a stall in Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross, selling coffee and print media. Two of my favourite things in one space. Wholesome, right?
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Sean Adams