Topic · across the network

Spirits

Distillation, and the tax regimes it produced.

12: briefs
2: subjects
9:07: average
109 min: in total

Abstraction 407 Absurdism 137 Acoustics 220 Acting 65 Adaptation 372 Addiction 95 Adolescence 202 Advertising 77 Age of exploration 14 Ageing 113 Agriculture 100 Algorithms 114 Ambition 46 Anarchism 38 Ancient Egypt 17 Ancient Greece 38 Ancient Rome 30 Animals 172 Anthropology 23 Apartheid 12 Architecture 165 Archives 32 Argentina 10 Art Deco 26 Artificial intelligence 78 Astronomy 81 Attention 42 Australia 32 Automation 73 Avant-garde 164 Aviation 79 Banking 72 Banned works 40 Bauhaus 12 Beer 5 Behavioural economics 22 Berlin 16 Big tech 6 Biodiversity 136 Biography 86 Birds 41 Black holes 20 Blockchain 12 Boxing 14 Branding 77 Brazil 43 Bread 29 Britain 131 Brutalism 4 Bubbles 3 Buddhism 28 Byzantium 10 California 17 Canada 18 Capitalism 94 Cars 468 Celebrity 59 Censorship 110 Cheese 24 Chefs 9 Chemistry 104 Chess 2 Childhood 87 China 109 Chocolate 8 Christianity 49 Cinematography 343 Cities 90 Class 485 Climate change 107 Club culture 100 Cocktails 2 Coffee 11 Cognitive bias 14 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Forests 31 Forgery 7 France 163 Fraud 15 Free will 13 Freedom 16 French literature 15 Friendship 24 Furniture 36 Gambling 14 Gender 63 Generations 28 Genetics 87 Geology 96 Germany 66 Globalisation 74 Gothic 32 Greece 5 Grief 126 Habits 6 Happiness 2 Hardware 709 Haute couture 22 Headphones 8 Hi-fi 12 Hinduism 12 Hoaxes 1 Human history 23 Human nature 41 Identity 138 Illustration 8 Impressionism 6 Improvisation 249 India 89 Indonesia 15 Industrial design 342 Inequality 13 Inflation 4 Information 34 Infrastructure 280 Insects 29 Intelligence 8 Interiors 31 Internet culture 88 Invention 329 Iran 41 Islam 40 Islands 17 Israel 9 Italy 52 Jamaica 10 Japan 114 Jewellery 5 Journalism 34 Judaism 13 Justice 42 Korea 41 Language 70 Law 90 Leadership 20 Learning 6 Liberalism 1 Libraries 6 Literary criticism 26 London 12 Loneliness 61 Los Angeles 62 Lost works 9 Love 67 Luxury 55 Machine learning 15 Management 10 Maps 5 Marketing 21 Markets 51 Mars 6 Marxism 26 Masculinity 46 Materials 138 Mathematics 79 Meaning 6 Medicine 124 Memory 82 Mental health 70 Mesopotamia 4 Mexico 38 Migration 95 Minimalism 68 Mining 30 Misinformation 9 Modernism 63 Money 24 Monopoly 32 Mortality 61 Motivation 2 Mountains 16 Museums 27 Mysticism 11 Mythology 60 Nationalism 40 Neuroscience 23 New York 36 Nigeria 7 Nihilism 10 Noise 31 Nostalgia 33 Nuclear 29 Nutrition 17 Oceans 48 Oil 42 Open source 45 Painting 18 Palaeontology 29 Parenting 14 Paris 18 Partition 6 Patents 71 Patronage 14 Perception 44 Personal style 27 Personality 2 Persuasion 8 Peru 10 Philosophy 77 Photography 37 Physics 206 Plants 26 Platforms 89 Podcasting 1 Poetry 25 Poland 17 Policing 34 Pop Art 16 Populism 2 Portraiture 6 Portugal 18 Postmodernism 23 Power 91 Prehistory 24 Preservation 28 Printmaking 21 Privacy 11 Probability 6 Productivity 1 Programming 54 Prohibition 1 Propaganda 35 Protest 75 Pseudoscience 17 Psychology 80 Publishing 22 Punishment 16 Quantum mechanics 44 Race 145 Radio 30 Railways 35 Rave 17 Realism 47 Record labels 19 Recording 810 Relativity 23 Religion 154 Resilience 15 Restaurants 30 Restoration 2 Retail 94 Revolution 58 Risk 18 Ritual 96 Robotics 26 Romance 96 Russia 58 Salt 9 Sampling 246 Satire 84 Scandinavia 28 Scientific method 186 Screenwriting 26 Sculpture 7 Secularism 2 Self-deception 14 Semiconductors 73 Sexuality 102 Ships 18 Silence 24 Silicon Valley 17 Slavery 35 Sleep 2 Smartphones 27 Sneakers 15 Social media 58 Socialism 9 Software 68 Songwriting 180 Sound design 332 Sound systems 20 South Africa 19 South East Asia 30 Space exploration 84 Spain 18 Special effects 41 Spices 62 Spirits 12 Sport 82 Startups 21 Statistics 10 Status 9 Stoicism 4 Storytelling 68 Strategy 70 Street food 99 Streetwear 16 Studio craft 508 Subcultures 59 Sugar 12 Supply chains 115 Surrealism 53 Surveillance 21 Sustainability 30 Synthesis 232 Tailoring 37 Taxation 14 Tea 24 Textiles 97 Thailand 11 The American Revolution 19 The American South 88 The Arab world 41 The Arctic 19 The Balkans 17 The Belle Epoque 13 The body 29 The brain 26 The Caribbean 28 The civil rights movement 62 The Cold War 160 The eighties 268 The Enlightenment 29 The financial crisis 19 The First World War 39 The food industry 157 The French Revolution 9 The Gilded Age 9 The Great Depression 18 The Holocaust 20 The Industrial Revolution 93 The internet 61 The interwar years 135 The Middle Ages 35 The Moon 4 The music business 169 The Netherlands 10 The nineties 26 The Olympics 10 The pandemic 13 The Reformation 1 The Renaissance 16 The Russian Revolution 19 The Second World War 102 The seventies 58 The sixties 28 The space race 5 The United States 19 The universe 7 The Victorian era 37 Therapy 20 Tokyo 11 Trade 48 Tragedy 22 Translation 5 Trauma 85 Travel 5 True crime 2 Turkey 18 Typography 54 Uniforms 23 Unions 8 Urban planning 66 Utilitarianism 1 Utopia 5 Vaccines 10 Vegetarianism 15 Venture capital 6 Video games 291 Vietnam 12 Vintage 65 Vinyl 6 Virtual reality 11 War 169 Watches 4 Water 11 Weather 29 West Africa 29 Wilderness 10 Wine 3 Work 22 Workwear 19 Worldbuilding 121

music.briefs Music

All 5 in music →

8:39

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel · 1977

Peter Gabriel’s 1977 solo debut is a document of return—not reinvention. It bears the marks of a learning period: piano lessons, songwriting with Martin Hall, demos cut by end-1975. Recorded in Toronto with Bob Ezrin, it launched a series of four untitled albums, all ‘Peter Gabriel’, all Hipgnosis-designed. ‘Solsbury Hill’ anchors the record in place and autobiography—Solsbury Hill in Somerset. The rest floats, unmoored. No rhythm section dominates. No signature texture emerges. It is not cohesive. It is not polished. It is Gabriel, listening to himself again.

11:21

Tea for the Tillerman

Cat Stevens · 1970

Tea for the Tillerman is Cat Stevens’s fourth studio album, recorded between May and July 1970 across three London studios — Morgan, Island, and Olympic — and features contributions from Alun Davies (guitar, backing vocals), Harvey Burns (drums and percussion), John Ryan (double bass), Del Newman (string arrangements), Jack Rothstein (solo violin), and Paul Samwell-Smith (backing vocals), alongside Stevens’s multi-instrumental and vocal performances. The album includes iconic songs such as 'Wild World' and 'Father and Son', and Stevens also created the front cover illustration. A previously unreleased version of 'But I Might Die Tonight' was used in the 1970 film Deep End and later released in 2020. The album has been reissued multiple times, including a 2020 Super Deluxe Edition with remastered and newly mixed versions, and a reimagined version titled Tea for the Tillerman2, released the same year. Critical reception varied contemporaneously but grew more laudatory over time, with retrospective praise for its themes and melodic craftsmanship, and inclusion in numerous 'greatest albums' lists. It was released on 23 November 1970 by Island Records in the UK and A&M in North America. All songs were written by Cat Stevens. The personnel details are adapted from the liner notes of the 2020 CD reissue. Shepard 'Shep' Sherbell provided photography for the album. The album reached the top 10 in the US and top 20 in the UK, and has been certified and referenced widely in popular culture, including films and television shows. The original release included eleven tracks, all written by Stevens, and the Deluxe Edition added demos and live recordings. The Super Deluxe Edition contains five discs, including remasters, new mixes, Tea for the Tillerman2, music videos, live videos, and a 12" vinyl of 1970 Troubadour recordings. In November 2008, a Deluxe Edition was released; in January 2012, a hi-res 24/192 kHz remaster appeared on HDtracks.com. On 28 May 2020, Yusuf announced Tea for the Tillerman2, released 18 September 2020, described as a reimagining of the same eleven songs for a new age with dramatic results. Four songs from the album appeared in Harold and Maude (1971), and 'Father and Son' featured in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and The Boat That Rocked (2009). The album was used as the closing title track of the British sitcom Extras, and its artwork was parodied in a 2014 episode of The Simpsons. The album was included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2006), The Definitive 200 Albums of All Time (2007), and Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (voted number 342). Rolling Stone ranked it number 205 in its 2020 revision of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Robert Christgau found the music monotonous in a contemporary Village Voice review, while Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone noted its resonance despite occasional overuse of dynamics. William Ruhlmann of AllMusic praised its spirituality and melodic craft, calling it a big seller and crediting it with making Stevens a pop star for the second time in four years. Stevens, a former art student, created the cover artwork. The album features songs including 'Where Do the Children Play?', 'Hard Headed Woman', 'Wild World', 'Sad Lisa', 'Into White', and 'Father and Son'.

11:15

All Things Must Pass

George Harrison · 1970

All Things Must Pass is a triple album released by George Harrison in 1970. It features two discs of original songs and a third disc of informal jams titled Apple Jam. The album was co-produced by Phil Spector using his Wall of Sound technique. It includes contributions from Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Gary Wright, Badfinger, Pete Drake, and members of Delaney & Bonnie’s Friends. Most backing tracks were recorded on 8-track tape at EMI Studios in London between late May and mid-June 1970, with overdubbing and mixing continuing through October. The Apple Jam disc contains four improvised instrumentals built around minimal chord changes — or, in the case of 'Out of the Blue', a single-chord riff — and one vocal track, 'It's Johnny's Birthday', performed to the melody of Cliff Richard’s 'Congratulations'. The album was critically acclaimed and widely regarded as Harrison’s best work.

9:40

Spiritual Unity

Albert Ayler Trio · 1965

Spiritual Unity is a radical act of presence — three players, one room, one afternoon, no safety net.

8:22

Tommy

The Who · 1969

Tommy is a foundational rock opera built in the studio—not on stage—through iterative overdubbing, collaborative arrangement, and thematic compromise. Its power lies in texture, not storytelling.

food.briefs Food

All 7 in food →

8:28

Spirits

music.briefs Music

Peter Gabriel

Tea for the Tillerman

All Things Must Pass

Spiritual Unity

Tommy

food.briefs Food

Cognac

Tequila

Rakı

Gin

Ouzo

Vermouth

Whisky