
Just the other day, everyone was sharing their Spotify Wrapped graphics and having a giggle and all that, but things were about to get tremendously serious at Spotify HQ. This week, the streaming behemoth announced that they’d be sacking 17% of their staff. That’s around 1,500 people losing their pay just before Christmas. Pretty brutal.

Kiss are no longer real people, and will be forever young as some imaginary thing. See, they’ve announced the ‘end of its physical existence’ because now, they’ll be digital avatars. They’ve copied ABBA obviously, because pop walks so rock can run. Anyway, it all feels a bit weird and this whole scenario is like when

Kenya Grace apparently had a viral smash, but virality is something that passes us by so we’ll just have to accept what’s been said regarding all that. What we do know, however, is that Kenya’s new single ‘Paris’ is a slice of future pop that we like a whole bunch. Writing, producing and performing her

Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band are bringing back the jangle, with Ciao Ciao Bambino! Recorded in West Kirby with Bill Ryder-Jones (him again!), Head says: “’Ciao Ciao Bambino’ came to me one night when I was thinking about the first words I ever heard. It was a song called ‘Ciao Ciao Bambino’ that my

Writing pop music isn’t easy, despite what dopes might say. When you get a slice of baroque, folk-pop, you better not ignore it and we’re super into this new track from def.fo, ‘Autumn Leaves’. If you like some strings with your jangle, get on this. It’s a group that features Tom Powell (Michael Head and

Now ambient music is back, the good folks over at Light In Attic Records have teamed up with Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed’s Archive custodians to give us a vinyl reissue Lou’s ‘Hudson River Wind Meditations’. It’s not been on record before, and as you’d expect, it’s a real fancy package indeed. Out January 12,

Some songs, some albums are beatified by rock critics decade-on-decade, and sure, we should doff our cap to cultural impact and massive sales and all that stuff. But honestly, we’re allowed to just be irritated too. There’s loads of stuff that gets rammed down your craw so hard that the sheer ubiquity of the damned

Euphoric melancholy is one of the true pillars of pop, giving listeners the chance to dance the pain out of their feet and let all the air leave their body while they joyfully singalong with something that might be upsetting. ABBA were the masters of it, and pretty much the whole of soul music. It’s…

The ’00s are pure back, so get out the Mcat and Breezers, because it’s time to ruin your fat laces in your trainers and wear too much eye-liner and dance to the new one where Jamie XX and Robyn have teamed up. And it’s a whole load of fun too, don’t you worry about that.…

Honey Gentry has featured on these pages before and we’re very into the baroque, creeped out pastoral Americana she’s producing. And so to her take on the Queens of the Stone Age song, ‘Go With The Flow’. Bands don’t normally veer too far from the source material (which is a shame), but on this, the…

Aphex Twin and Warp Records were teasing stuff, and eagle-eyed fans spotted pretty quickly that it was something to do with ‘Selected Ambient Works Vol II’, and as it’s the 30th anniversary imminent, it was obvious there was a new version of it coming out. That’s still good news though, for electronic music heads! This…
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.
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