
Any musician who has uploaded their music to Spotify as an independent artist knows how futile it all is, expecting to end up on any of the editorial lists made by the company, which help push songs to millions of people using their front page. The fact is, if you don’t have the connections through…

After his father bought a mine in Tucson, Arizona, Joseph Byrd grew up and found himself drawn to music. Initially, it was vibraphone and accordion in pop groups, he soon branched out into local TV arrangements and college jazz combos. A talented kid, he found himself in a fellowship at Stanford, where he rubbed shoulders…

Orville Peck is one of the leading alt-country voices – thankfully, that means his musical choices, rather than simply branding him as ‘alternative’ because he isn’t a heterosexual man – although you’d be forgiven for thinking that’s the case. He’s got a new EP coming out on November 14th called ‘Appaloosa’ and there’s a song…

We wanted to write something about this Whole Thing with Roisin Murphy, but didn’t get much further than “why can’t some people just shut their mouths about other communities, especially ones who loved them so much?” Well, we just watched a very sensitive and well thought out video essay from The Last Mixed Tape, which…

There’s a certain twang in alternative rock that really works the gears of music nerds. You look at Pavement, Television et al, and you find that the discordant guitars aren’t simply playing out of key, but makes you feel a bit smarter. It’s a cunning trick. Well, we got that feeling from the new song…

Hello there. We remembered that listeners of our related radio show – FREE RANGE – might like to read the tracklisting for the show, instead of just listening to the words being pronounced badly throughout it. It’s the last show of the year before the round-up of 2025’s best music, so the last time where…

We’re hearing a smidge of noirish French ’60s pop in this new one from singer-songwriter Cornelia Murr, which is very welcome and perfect for this time of year, honestly. She’ll have a new album, out in February called ‘Run to the Centre’, and to whet the whistle, you can listen to ‘Meantime’, which is a…

There was a collective feeling that, in the period that was post-girl group, that while the solo singers and artists were all well and good, we were in the mood for a new pop group of some kind. We’ve seen a huge amount of impressive R&B solo stars and soul-adjacent singers, but when you’re listening…

The lovely folks of Saint Etienne have announced details of a new LP called ‘The Night’ and there’s a new song which is borderline ambient called ‘Half Light’ to listen to – it’s genuinely one of the loveliest things you’ll hear all year. The album will land December 13th and is the 12th from the group.…

Kelly Lee Owens has been doing great things lately, and her new LP ‘Dreamstate’ is something that you should absolutely have in rotation. Mixing synthpop with house and tech, she’s collaborated with some big hitters (Daniel Avery, Chemical Brothers, Bjork to name just three) and her own work is genuinely excellent. Have you heard ‘Higher’ yet?…
THERE’S NO MONEY IN THIS GAME ANYMORE, BUT IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SOMETHING FOR THE POP CORPS, YOU ARE WELCOME TO GET IN TOUCH. HAPPY HUNTING.
POP CULTURE IS WORTH TALKING ABOUT.
CONTACT: HOWDYPOPCORPSATGMAILDOTCOM