Celebrating Iconic Albums: SORT On The Cure

To celebrate the launch of Pitchblack Playback in our Browns East store, we’ve collaborated with SORT zine to create a one-off video celebrating iconic English rock band The Cure and their seminal record Pornography, the first in our series of immersive music experiences instore.

For SORT zine co-founders Matt King and Joseph Delaney, The Cure’s legacy is embedded into both their childhood memories and the creative DNA of SORT zine, a platform that looks at the interconnection of club culture, identity and outsider status. Like so many, Joseph discovered the band in the backseat of his dad’s car whilst growing up in Birmingham, a city known for its roots in the goth movement of the 80s and 90s.

SORT An Ode To The Cure Video Still Pornography

“Goth culture itself is an exploration of gender and sexuality through performance, something that is reflected in The Cure’s work,” says Matt. “Particularly Pornography, as this period set the precedent for their trademark image of black and smudged makeup.”

The film takes its inspiration from a crossover between the band’s sampled dialogue from the TV porn documentary and how pleasure is performed through the works of Peter Hujar and Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. The film mixes goth, the album and its background with a modern club kid aesthetic - one that reflects both The Cure’s legacy and London’s contemporary creative spirit.

Experience The Album

Book your place to listen to Pornography in full at Browns East’s Pitchblack Playback immersive room, available until 8th July.

Coming up next at Pitchblack Playback...

Christine and the Queens, La Vita Nuova (2020) 9th July – 23rd July
Yves Tumor, Heaven To A Tortured Mind (2020) 24th July – 5th August
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Skeleton Tree (2016) 6th August – 19th August

Book Now

Images and video by SORT
Music by Never Worse