Editor's Log 011
Nick Knight discourse, Christmas markets as cultural sites, and Resident Advisor canonising my taste.
Hi all,
Welcome back to the Editor’s Log, your weekly digest of what mattered, what didn’t, and what I got weirdly invested in anyway. This week was genuinely insane. As always, feel free to reply to this email or DM me on Instagram if you’ve got thoughts. Now, let’s dive in.
Monday
EE72 announced their new covers on Instagram, shot by Nick Knight. The last cover was pretty poor, so poor that Boring Not Com labelled it one of the worst of the year. I’m a big Nick Knight fan, but even then, these aren’t great cover images. Still, a step up.
Tuesday
Amy Leung announced her own Nike collaboration. Literally insane. She’s ridiculously talented, so this is amazing to see. Available at Nike Shepherd’s Bush while stocks last.
I also updated my Songs of the Year list. I’ve been moving a bit slowly, but now school’s finished I’ll be fully on it.
Wednesday
Resident Advisor released a list of the best electronic tracks from 2000–2025. It’s a really strong, well-researched list. Some personal highlights: ‘Anti War Dub,’ ‘Hyph Mngo,’ ‘Faith in Strangers,’ ‘Skeng,’ and Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Brand New Day.’ Also worth noting that they didn’t shy away from mentioning Dizzee’s assault conviction, good on them.
Petra Fagerström was interviewed by The Face. A really insightful look into her practice, she’s one of the next Paul Smith Foundation residents and absolutely worth paying attention to. Big fan of the flower hats too.
Mike Skinner hosted Christmas Dinner with Skinner. Looked great, but I’m still trying to work out how CASISDEAD eats with the mask on.
Crack released their Tracks and Albums of the Year lists, and I contributed some words on Jawnino (No. 12) and Fakemink (No. 3) for Tracks of the Year. Massive thanks to Louise for asking me to be involved.
Thursday
First-year CSM students put on the annual White Show. My personal favourite look was by Yasu Huang.
Resident Advisor also dropped their Best Albums of 2000–2025 list, featuring plenty of my favourites - ‘Brat,’ ‘Wookie,’ ‘Skream!,’ and, naturally, ‘Untrue’ at number one.
Jayahadadream, one of my favourite MCs, won Breakthrough MC of the Year at the DJ Mag Awards. Massive congrats!
In the evening, I went to the Paul Smith Foundation Christmas Market opening reception. Yaku was selling the Sik hat (sadly renamed the Dragon hat). I finally met Eden Tan and Petra Fagerström, both super lovely, as well as Traiceline Pratt, who’s one of my favourite designers working right now.
Friday
The O2 Arena announced a new donation scheme, pledging to donate to the Music Venue Trust every time they host a first-time headliner. A good step, hopefully it helps slow indie venue closures, and ideally other major venues follow suit.
I also had a very exciting meeting with my favourite record label. Hopefully more on that soon!
Then I went to Charlie Constantinou’s drinks at Machine A. He’s killing it right now, so I can’t wait to see what he does next!
Saturday
Finally bought some Maxime Black!
Then headed to Ellen Poppy Hill’s open studio. The music was great, the company even better. Ellen also made a tiramisu, the first one I’ve ever liked. Also, aren’t these dresses amazing.
Afterwards, I went to the Kindred Christmas party. Lovely catching up with the Kindred crew and chatting to people I hadn’t seen in a while.
Sunday
DaMetalMessiah dropped an updated version of his post on Rebound X’s Rhythm & Gash. Timeless classic, President T might have my favourite vocal on it.
Niall Smith interviewed Kano. I’m quietly jealous, but if anyone deserves it, it’s Niall. He’s one of the most knowledgeable writers around and consistently excellent.
I went back to the Paul Smith Christmas fair, got a T-shirt customised, and came very close to buying the Eden Tan multitool - just a touch too expensive.
Until next week,
Sik
P.S. I have absolutely no idea what to buy people for Christmas, so please send suggestions.