
Many bands aim for Pet Sounds when they’re trying to make ambitious pop, but a lot of groups miss out on the pure, inventive, playful joy when they’re channelling Brian Wilson, Curt Boettcher & Co. There’s a shed pop, ramshackle feeling to when these things work best, like someone’s tripped over a box of classroom…

A Tory MP has attacked the whole of Drill music, because she thinks it is the reason that young people carry knives. Nickie Aiken says there’s a “direct link” and wants the government to look at record labels that release music that is found “celebrating gang culture.” At the House of Commons, the Cities of…

Never mind Tay Tay announcing a new LP – we can ignored that as everyone has already talked it to death already. We’re more interested in the imminent music from the mighty Kacey Musgraves. She’s been making a slow-melting psychedelic country music since her utterly fabulous ‘Golden Hour’ album (yes, that wasn’t her debut, but…

Look, we were all set to write and long love letter to Fonteyn’s utterly perfect LP ‘Trip The Light Fantastic’, even though it’s not a new release, because it really is one of the most wonderful records you’re likely to hear. The reason we were hesitating is purely selfish, and that was because we didn’t…

We’ve talked about our love for Dina Ögon at length before, and now there’s a new LP to talk about, and that’s the salve we needed to kick off 2024’s first new release review. Again, we find the band in groovy, sophisticated form, melting psychedelic soul, Balearic, dream pop, and something so uniquely their own,…

As the future of being a working musician looks increasingly bleak, collectively we need to work out a way of getting people paid. If we don’t, that means music will only be viable for people who have parents with blue links in their Wikipedia pages and the like. So, with micropayments and subscriptions becoming more…

There’s a new song from STRFKR (hey! That’s a naughty word hidden in there!) called ‘Under Water / In Air’ and it’s a very breezy, poppy bedroom indie song that sounds real nice on a Sunday morning. STRFKR’s Josh Hodges sez: “It was probably one of the most collaborative songs on the record. It started…

Let’s not mess around here – if you’re reading about Fonteyn on these pages, we’re going to go absolutely over the top about her. She’s brilliant. She is making exactly the kind of yearning, swoonsome ’70s pop that makes us tick. Previous outings have shown us the joys of sweet pop, huge soaring hooks and…

Kate Bush is great. What a treasure she is to have around. This was probably meant as an advert for Record Store Day (which is the Valentine’s Day for vinyl lovers, for better or worse), and the reissue of a Kate Bush track, which of course, we’ll talk about – but we’re more interested in…

Everyone’s favourite cosmic cowboys, The Hanging Stars, are coming back with a new LP and that’s always great news. While many Nu Country outfits wander past the gorgeous, ethereal nature of much of country music, not this lot. The new album is called ‘On A Golden Shore’ and you’ll be able to get your hands…

There’s a book coming out real soon that looks super interesting. We’re always in the market for learning something new, because who on earth can possibly know everything when it comes to music? The book looks at the pioneers of electronic music who were Latin American women, and it’s available to pre-order through Contingent Sounds…
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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