
Reading the comments on Ariana Grande’s new song ‘yes, and?’, you’re met with a lot of effusive praise. Stan culture, as we know, is a mixture of blind devotion (where would pop music be without it?) and preemptively hitting out at imagined critics. One such comment says: “stanning ariana grande isn’t just a hobby, it’s…

Ennio Morricone is one of the masters when it comes to movie soundtracks, effectively inventing the sound of the modern Western. If you hear a tremolo guitar and think of mean-eyed cowboys and desperados, then it’s Ennio you have to thank. With that in mind, if you’re looking to start your Morricone collection on vinyl,…

Stereolab fans, rejoice! That’s because Laetitia Sadier is doing some stuff, and while it’s not a reformation of your fave French Library record enthusiasts, it’ll do for now, right? Because obviously, she’s not gone Death Metal or anything. It sounds enough like Stereolab to scratch that itch you have for them. She’s got an LP…

The hipster’s faves A24 are doing something. They’re doing something with the hipster’s faves, Talking Heads. And it involves Paramore too. Man, people are probably doing social media posts saying ‘I’M SCREAMING’ and ‘ACTUALLY SOBBING’ and all that jarring bullshit, aren’t they? Not to say that this won’t be a heap of fun, mind you.…

It’s really great when you can hear how much ambition there is in a song. We’re not talking about tedious effort, but rather, someone really really trying to make something fantastic. And that’s exactly what we’re feeling about the new one from Sheer Mag, which is a massive pop-indie stomper. It’s called ‘Moonstruck’ and honestly,…

Right now, we’ve never had so many gay and queer people in the world. Think of the past – it was outlawed, then we had people dying of AIDS, and rampant homophobia saw that when gay people weren’t hiding, they were dying. Society has progressed however, and now we’re afforded the beautiful site of openly…

Look, most bands put a song out to let you know new things are coming, but not 2nd Grade. The power poppers from Philadelphia have chucked THREE whole songs at our ears and mercifully, they’re all really fun and filled with skuzzy pop hooks and jangly guitars. The revival of power pop is very welcome…

Today is John Lennon’s birthday – he would have been 84 – and to celebrate this, we’ve been treated to something rather surprising. While a lot of repackaged music from musicians can feel a little exploitative at times, churning out old stuff without much new going on, that’s not the case with this latest Lennon…

The excellent GULP are having a party for the 8th instalment of their broadsheet counter-culture magazine, which features all the wonderful words, tidbits, diatribes and cool design we’ve come to expect from them now. The issue drops on Friday 11th October and you can get down in person at The New Cross in Manchester’s Northern…

In another week, this would have been an album review – and maybe it still will – but sometimes you don’t want to read someone’s thoughts about what makes music work and how great a song is. Maybe you just want to listen to some tracks and make your own mind up? How are we…
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