
If you’ve been reading the music press this week, there was some alarm or peevish glee (depending on where you were doing your reading) that vinyl sales had dropped. A Billboard piece stated that vinyl sales dropped by 33%, which is not insignificant. That’s selling 34.9 million units, down to 23.3 million in 2024. Are…

At the country music awards, they didn’t nominate Beyonce for anything despite her all-conquering country LP and while many shrugged, many were irritated by the whole thing. The irritation came from all sides, but more importantly, so did the shrugs – apart from something for the shelf in the spare toilet or a sticker to…

There’s something about golden era rap that just loves a fancy action figure, to place on your shelves next to your collected essays from hip hop journalism, tchotchkes, rap comics and high-end record middles and the like. It’s very wholesome, honestly. Well, Doom’s ‘Mm… Food’ is getting a reissue for its anniversary on November 15th,…

Once upon a time, music retreated away from the bombast of Britpop and US rap-rock, and all over the place, more introspective bedroom producers were making tricky electronic music and singer-songwriters gravitated toward the acid-folk of the ’70s, focusing more on cottage industries and community. Tunng managed to straddle both worlds, with critics dubbing their…

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…

Doechii has called herself a number of things over the years – the one we like best is “the trap Grace Jones” – and if that’s piqued your interest, shall we get onto the lovely business of a new record to listen to? She’s got a new one out called ‘Nissan Altima’, which to the…

It is kinda funny that Charli XCX announced BRAT SUMMER when Confidence Man have been acting up for ages now, sneering and partying like the world might end tomorrow. With that, they’ve got a new song out called ‘SO WHAT’ which is the usual mixture of pouting and hedonism which is difficult to pull off…

After a well advised name-change, The Blessed Madonna has a new track out and it sounds like a weekend banger to us. It is called ‘Godspeed’ and features DJ E-Clyps. Very nice. The Blessed Madonna will be releasing her first full length LP and that’ll drop in October so we’ve a while to wait yet.…

Y’know, it is nice to hear someone who has been there and done it, say that they’re not bothered by a lot of the trappings that comes with being a big ticket road dog. Chrissie Hynde and her Pretenders have forged a very successful career for decades now, so it’s not like she doesn’t know…
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