Magazine
The History of Gorge from Tokyo to the Mountains (and Back)
There is a non-genre of music called Gorge that has animated many nights in Tokyo’s underground nightclubs, but it has much more to do with the outdoors—mountain climbing, hiking, and spelunking—than with city life.
Written by Francesco Birsa Alessandri
The “Cucina Economica”
The Cucina Economica of Testaccio, at 37 Via Mastro Giorgio, is one of three “affordable kitchens” operated by the Circolo San Pietro in Rome. Open since 1890, it serves over 40,000 lunches a year to those in need through a voucher system managed by local parishes.
Written by Nicola Gerundino
Okrika but Make It Fancy
The story of thrifting’s glamourisation in the Nigerian coastal city, from the dark logistics of the “bend down select” clothes trade to the emergence of independent alté brands and the global success of alté styling.
Written by Vincent Desmond
Music for the Stadium
San Siro is widely known as the Italian Temple of Football. However, its iconic role in the Italian music industry is rarely acknowledged. Performing in that stadium means being elevated to undisputed celebrity status.
Written by Federico Corona
Hyperlocal Presents at Triennale Milano Three New Magazines on Victoria Island (Lagos), Umberto I (La Spezia), and Buahbatu (Bandung)
At the 24th International Exhibition of Triennale Milano, “Inequalities / Cities”, Hyperlocal will unveil three abridged versions of its Billboard-Magazine and two Live Clubs, dedicated respectively to the Alté scene of Victoria Island in Lagos, the Dominican Kitipó culture of Umberto I in La Spezia, and the extreme, anti-authoritarian DIY community of Buahbatu in Bandung.
Written by Piergiorgio Caserini
“The Man of the Last Two Rounds” and “The Cyclone”: The Boxing Era at San Siro
San Siro isn’t just the Scala of Football—it’s a Cathedral of Sport, where only the greats play. In the golden age of Italian boxing, when names like Carnera, Loi, and Mazzinghi drew tens of thousands, this was the arena where legends were made while the legs trembled beneath the roar.
Written by Piergiorgio Caserini
The Political Kitchen
This is the story of Rome’s first self-managed trattoria, founded in the 1970s in the Testaccio neighborhood. A group of eighteen young men and women came together with the idea of creating an alternative kind of business—one free from bosses and the alienation of conventional jobs.
Written by Marco Cinque
Experimental Sounds and Postcodes in Croydon: The Dubstep of CR0
A “naive” 140 bpm experiment that gave rise to a true cultural movement which, in the years to come, would first change the sound of London and then the world, inventing a genre as dark as the outskirts it came from.
Written by Tommaso Monteanni
My yellow-and-red Table
It’s hard to imagine a more Roman reaction than this. Just like it’s hard to imagine a neighbourhood more Roman than Testaccio. And finding one that’s more Romanista is absolutely impossible. Roma Club Testaccio embodies all this: being a Roman and a Romanista for generations is an essential identity trait.
Written by Giulio Pecci
The Electronic Hybridisation of Lusophone African Music and Sonic Globalisation in the Batida of Quinta do Mocho in Lisbon
Born in Lisbon’s suburbs in the early 2000s, Batida blends electronic music with the cultural and sociopolitical roots of the Lusophone diaspora. Reversing the usual flow of influence, it reclaims kuduro’s legacy, asserting identity through the diaspora’s cultural and sonic heritage.
Written by Matilde Manicardi
Angels on the Dancefloor
How Fiorucci, the infamous brand and store in the Centre of Milan, established a visual bridge between its legacy—inseparably tied to the American disco scene—and the rising wave of English acid house.
Written by Francesco Fusaro
The Sacrament of the Stadium
The stadium is a temple of the sacrament: there is the game, with all its officiants and devotees, and God, always present, somewhere just out of sight. San Siro is sacred to Milan in the most literal sense: since 1983, it has been the gathering place for Milanese confirmation candidates.
Written by Federico Corona
The Story of Ultra Culture is the Story of Globalisation
From the aesthetic, rules and songs of the Milanese Ultra Movement to the aesthetic of the revolution in Cairo: how the highest form of fan support in the world took on a revolutionary zeal.
Written by James Piotr Montague
From the roots of Jamaican sound systems in Bristol and the St Pauls Carnival, blending reggae and dub, to the evolution of drum & bass, dubstep, and hip-hop
The sonic legacy of the Caribbean diasporic community through sound system culture: seventy years of city history shaped by low frequencies, improvised clubs, blues dances, and constant genre blending.
Written by Oli Warwick
The “Scala” of Football
San Siro is the symbol of the city of Milan: the way of living it, of dressing, of the derby’s “almost friendly” rivalry, of the city’s urbanistic outburst.
Written by Federico Corona
The AfroGreeks: Hyphenated living and community weaving in Kypseli
From the introduction of the Greek Afro-descendant community to the construction of an artistic and militant community project: The AfroGreeks attempts an archive of self-determination, affirmation, and resistance across Patission Avenue.
Written by Angeliki Tzortzakaki
The World’s Kitchen
Immigrants take action against marginalization and misinformation. The Borsa spaces of the Ex Mattatoio in Testaccio has been occupied. The multiracial centre Villaggio Globale is born.
Written by Nicola Gerundino
Landscape, Mobility, and Sonic Monumentality: The Kitipo Technique of Dominicans in the Community of La Spezia
The largest Dominican community in Europe is in the Umberto I neighborhood of La Spezia. Amidst picca pollo and béisbol, car sound system gatherings take place, where the one with the highest dB wins.
Written by Simone Bertuzzi / Palm Wine
The Third Tier
In 1990, the San Siro Stadium underwent its final renovation: the Third Tier and the iconic helical staircases were constructed. Renowned photographer Vincenzo Castella documented the entire year of the pharaonic construction site—a steel city that would foreshadow Milan’s evolving identity as a “machine of entertainment.”
Written by Piergiorgio Caserini
An “authentically local scene” born in the isolation of London’s East End: Grime, the sound of collective resilience
Grime’s history goes beyond music: it’s rooted in economic disparity, racialization, and urban oppression. Faced with state antagonism, marginalized communities turned to music as an act of resilience, carving out space and voice amid the suffocating pressures of city life.
Written by Tommaso Monteanni