The Pop Corporation

WORDS ABOUT MUSIC + POP CULTURE

  • NICO IN PRESTON

    We’re not arsed if you already knew about this, because some of us didn’t. Below is a video of Nico (Velvet Underground/Warhol) playing in Preston, and that’s exciting. Nico’s time with the Velvets is well documented, but ever the Bohemian, she moved from romantic partner to country and was generally a nomad going where the…

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  • BARRETT STRONG RIP

    It really is hard to imagine the shape of pop and soul music without Barrett Strong. While he may not have been the household name that many of his peers were, where would popular music be without his hugely influential and soulful powerhouse that is ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’? There’s more too – he…

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  • Imagine for a second, you’re driving past Abbey Road, and you nearly hit a pedestrian on that famous crossing. Imagine some more, that the pedestrian in question is Paul McCartney. The car in question is a Prius, so it’s kinda funny that he nearly got offed by a green motor. Also, let’s go with the…

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  • GULP YOURSELF DAFT

    We all need cool stuff to read. Finding it in the soup of the algorithm can be tricky, with a bunch of former broadsheet sorts going solo, and trying to flog subscription content on their mailers and whatnot. No harm, no foul – but these things tend to skew toward the po-faced and overly earnest.…

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  • CAROLINE POLACHEK 2023?

    Caroline Polacheck’s is an adventurous pop star, and that’s always a good thing. She’s recently hit out at lazy comparisons to Bjork and Kate Bush, preferring to make music under her own steam, which is fair enough. She’s got a big voice and likes to be mildly awkward, which we say as a compliment of…

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  • ROB MAZUREK FUTURE SHAMAN

    Hey! Do you like new music and, not just new music, but slightly difficult music that’s fun? Well, you should check outy Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra newbie, ‘Future Shaman’. Apply here if you like wonky jazz and post-rock. It’s discordant, good stuff. Mazurek is a composer/trumpeter and the Exploding Star Orchestra features Damon Locks…

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  • SAM SMITH VERSUS SAUCEPAN

    We like a popstar making bold choices, and Sam Smith has been doing exactly that lately. It doesn’t matter whether you like the tunes or not, we should absolutely support a commercial artist when they lean into the experimental and off-kilter. Did you see them on SNL, with Sharon Stone draping themselves all over the…

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  • BJORK’S DAUGHTER RELEASES MUSIC

    It feels kinda shitty referring to a new artist as ‘Bjork’s daughter’, but needs must. Isadora Bjarkardottir Barney is her name, and she’s released her debut solo work as part of a comp showcasing Icelandic music. The comp is called ‘DRULLUMALL 4’ and Isadora’s track – ‘bergmál’ – is really good, you’ll be glad to…

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  • NEW PET SHOP BOYS DUE

    The mighty Pet Shop Boys are all set to share some previously unreleased songs in April. It’s all part of a new thing they’re doing and that new thing is a book called ‘Annually’. The 2023 edition of the yearly release (hence the name) will be a 64-page hardback affair, containing journals, photos from their…

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  • INNER CITY WERE GREAT

    You can try and be as clever as you want, deep diving on this, that, and the other… but sometimes it’s just worth reminding yourself how great a band were. From Detroit, America’s greatest music city, Inner City was the brainchild of the great Kevin Saunderson and Paris Grey. Saunderson of course, was one of…

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STOP HOARDING TUNES


  • VIDEO ESSAY: WIPEOUT’S RAVE SOUNDTRACK

    Wipeout was a behemoth of a video game, which saw gamers racing anti-gravity vehicles at breakneck speed on the PlayStation. That’s fun and all but that’s not the whole story. See, anyone who remembers it and liked to have their weekends chemically altered, they knew that Wipeout had one of the most banging soundtracks of…

  • CELEBRATE THE FRENCH FASH FAILURE WITH THIS MR OIZO SET

    Any excuse to share a banger of a set (and in places, utterly undefinable and gonzo) from one of the finest Frenchmen to ever live, Mr Oizo. There’s big 4/4s, disco, pop, broken electronics, fierce edits and super crunchy synths galore. Fuckin’ magnifique!

  • IS THERE NOT ENOUGH ROCK FOR GLASTONBURY?

    Are you one of those people who thinks of festivals as things that belong to rock music still? Well, times have changed. From the ’90s onward, Glastonbury embraced dance music, hip hop and increasingly erred on the side of pop music. Of course, glancing at the line-up for the 2024 show, it’s not like rock…

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