Special Issue Publication Announcement 💥📢 An Ozzy Osbourne special issue Edited by Asya Draganova + Benjamin Torrens This special edited issue of Riffs aims to explore the legacies – both positive and problematic – of the music and the man Read on our website – riffsjournal.org/special-issu...

In perfect timing, York St John (UK) are hosting the Grunge Included 2026 conference and have a live call for presentation abstracts – www.yorksj.ac.uk/events/upcom...

Call for full contributions! Vol 9 Issue 2: Puget Sound Stories Editors Amalia Kozloff + Sharon Kong-Perring (Museum of Pop Culture) invite papers, photo essays, narrative pieces (poetry/prose), archival projects, creative explorations Deadline: 1st August 2026 CfP: riffsjournal.org/news-latest-...

Dominic Deane reviews Sounds Northern: Popular Music, Culture and Place in England’s North (2018), identifying the contribution that this book makes to the study of the North (moving scholarly focus away from London) and the limitations of the book's inclusions: riffsjournal.org/book-review-...

Ed McKeon introduces 'Pop! Art School Reunions' in his Editorial for our newest issue of Riffs. riffsjournal.org/2026/02/13/e... Image credit: Ian Davies Photo

NEW ISSUE: Riffs 9.1: Pop! Art School Reunions Edited by Ed McKeon The pieces in this issues of Riffs reflect on the relationships between pop music, pop art, art school, and experimental music and performance. Available to read Open Access: riffsjournal.org/volume-9-iss...

NEW PUBLICATION – In a newly published piece for Riffs|OPEN, Tom Astley examines the importance of memory (and forgetting), the paradox of immutability + malleability, + the confluence of past and future in both experimental improvisation + cassette tape aesthetics. riffsjournal.org/tom-astley-a...

Thank you to everyone who made our latest issue of Riffs 8.2 possible! Special thanks to editors Nicholas Gebhardt and Asya Draganova. Front cover design by Adam Williams with photo by Ian Davies. And thank you to Iain A. Taylor for design throughout the issue! riffsjournal.org/volume-8-iss...

Check out Naomi Taylor’s “I Swear I Heard This… An otherworldly presence” in the newest issue of Riffs. “I swear I heard this creaking sound on the roof — at first I thought it was just the wind… there was such a gale blowing outside… but when the music…” riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/n...

Check out Sam Riley’s “I Swear I Heard This… Noise Floor” in the new issue of Riffs. “I kept hearing it. At first it was welcome. The harsh amplitudes of full sonic spectrum overloaded the speakers in the hall.” riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/s... #RiffsJournal #PopularMusicStudies #NoiseFloor

Check out Uttaran Das Gupta’s “I Swear I Heard This… FOMO and conspicuous consumption at music events in India” in the new issue of Riffs! “On a sunny day in December last year, I was late for a string quartet performance in the western Indian city of Panaji.” riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/u...

New from Riffs: Volume 8, Issue 2 — Check out Craig Hamilton’s “I Swear I Heard This…” “I remember exactly where I was, and what I was doing. I was in the kitchen, washing up.” 
riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/c... #RiffsJournal #PopularMusicStudies

Check out Asya Draganova’s “I Swear I Heard This… Inspired by ‘Dark Windows’ by Rupert Hine” in the new issue of Riffs! ““I swear I heard this – the sound of thunder, the abrupt arrival of torrential rain, the picture of a day becoming dark as night...” riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/a...

Check out Chris Mapp’s “I Swear I Heard This… I dream of Kelly” in the new issue of Riffs! “I swear I heard this unbelievable version of the song I Will Always Love You, the one written by Dolly Parton and covered by Whitney Houston for The Bodyguard.” riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/c...

Check out Nicholas Gebhardt’s “I Swear I Heard This… Blow, Motherfucker, Blow!” in the new issue of Riffs! "There was so much noise in the club. More people than I’d ever seen before, all perched on chairs, tables, hanging off the window ledges..." riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/n...

New from Riffs: Juliane Deil’s I Swear I Heard This… The Annual Reunion “I swear I heard this favourite band of mine perform in a tiny music venue in Brooklyn, New York, while the event that was actually going on was the annual reunion of all Welsh New Yorkers! ” riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/j...

New from Riffs: Volume 8, Issue 2 Sharonne Specker’s “I Swear I Heard This… ping pong duet” "It was a ping pong duet, I told them. They laughed. No really. I heard them, the ping pong balls. They were talking, singing a song." riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/s... #RiffsJournal #SoundStudies

New from Riffs: I Swear I Heard This… Swear I Hear This Ghost. Like, For Real. Saxophonist, promoter, and researcher, Lee Griffiths revisits Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath! riffsjournal.org/2025/08/15/l... #RiffsJournal #PopularMusicStudies #ChrisMcGregor #BrotherhoodofBreath

New from Riffs Journal Vol. 8, Issue 2 ✨ I Swear I Heard This… Discord Brag ✨
by Ed McKeon “@433 #IswearIheardthis exhibition. no, it was a gig… the floor was vibrating, the sound system was lit… the whole space was buzzing.” riffsjournal.org/2025/08/18/e... #RiffsJournal #PopularMusicStudies

New from Riffs: I Swear I Heard This Benjamin Torrens takes us into a Kingston jam session: “So, I’m at this jam session, right? It happens every Thursday evening at this restaurant in Liguanea, kinda uptown. Not far from campus. I got to know the organisers a bit.” riffsjournal.org/2025/08/18/b...

NEW ISSUE: Riffs 8.2: I Swear I Heard This Written one afternoon in Birmingham, these short pieces began with the prompt “I swear I heard this…”, recounting a musical event or encounter that might invite disbelief from someone when they hear you talk about it. riffsjournal.org/volume-8-iss...

New from Riffs: Zine Your Thesis! This zine brings together seven PhD researchers from universities across Scotland to reflect upon not only the difficulties of doctoral research but also on wider global issues. riffsjournal.org/special-issu... #ZineYourThesis #AcademicZine #PhDResearch

New on Riffs Open 
🎸From Extension of Self to National Treasure: The Transformative Materiality of Rory Gallagher’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster
by Lauren Alex O’Hagan and Steve Clarke 📷: Lauren Alex O’Hagan riffsjournal.org/lauren-alex-... #MusicStudies #CulturalMemory #MaterialCulture #OpenAccess

Neither Factory Records nor Madchester: Rethinking Manchester’s Musical and Subcultural Histories 19-20 June, Manchester (UK) Two-day conference at MMU. Day tickets + reduced rate conference tickets available. Full schedule can be viewed here: mmu.estore.flywire.com/products/nei...

New in Riffs | OPEN 🎸 "Some Strings, Many Affordances: An Autoethnographic Reflection on Being an Electric Bass Guitarist" by Dominic Kingsford-Ross 🔗 Read the full article:
riffsjournal.org/dominic-king... #RiffsJournal #RiffsOPEN #ElectricBass #Autoethnography #PopularMusicStudies

Check out Riff's latest CFP: POP! Art School Reunions. 🗓️ Deadline: June 16, 2025 📩 Email submissions + bio to: [email protected] 🔗 Full CFP: riffsjournal.org/news-latest-cfp #CallForPapers #PopArt #PopMusic #ArtSchool #RiffsJournal #ExperimentalWriting

For our followers in Birmingham – join us for a free Riffs event at the School of Art on Tuesday 25th March (from 5.30pm) as part of our Pop! Art School Reunions special issue. More info: riffsjournal.org/pop-art-scho...

Ordinary lives, Everyday People? Young people, social change and popular cultures, 1930-2000 10-11 April 2025, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK Graduate Conference Full programme and registration available here: www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-c...

Call for abstracts (in English, Spanish and Portuguese): diversidadaudiovisual.org/eventos/musi... MusicLab: Music Scenes, culture and media will be hosted by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Deadline for abstracts: 14th March. Conference dates: 24th April.

Everyone is welcome to our next online only event on 19th Feb (5.30-7pm) exploring the afterlives of Section 28 on LGBTQ+ lives in the south west of England. Sign up for your free event here www.history.ac.uk/events/it-wa...

Pop! Art School Reunions, edited by Ed McKeon. Pop Music, Pop Art, + Art Schools have long and entangled histories. This special issue of Riffs calls for a reunion of these elements, but with an added ingredient: experimental music + performance. More info: riffsjournal.org/news-latest-...

The Derek Keene London Lecture 2025 is now open for booking! Join us on 16 July to hear Prof Matthew Worley on #PUNK... This free event is part of our @ihr.bsky.social #London #SummerSchool, this year on the theme of #Rebels (info: www.history.ac.uk/ihr-london-r...) www.history.ac.uk/events/keene...

Jazz Futures (Rhythm Changes 2025, Amsterdam) invites abstracts! Themes: Jazz Moves; Jazz Geographies; Untold Stories + Alternate Takes; Jazz + (De)Colonisation; From Jazz to JAIzz. Keynotes to be announced. Deadline for abstracts: 28 Feb 2025. Full call: rhythmchanges.net/ninth-rhythm...

Our latest issue of Riffs is now available to read + download! Guest edited by Sharon Kong-Perring + Mathieu Berbiguier on Asian Pop, it includes pieces on K-Pop, Japanese Punk, the Indian music industry + more! Cover artist: Ning-Ning Li (by Ian Davies Photo) riffsjournal.org/volume-8-iss...