
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…

Sometimes you need a track that just punches you square in the face and runs away cackling like they’ve done you a favour. Handily enough, the new one from Hit Bargain does exactly that. It’s chaotic and loud and dafter than a bag of lit fireworks. The band are made of members of Pains of…

Gary Wright has sadly left the building. Even if you think you don’t know him, you probably do, and if not, you ought to get to know his music now. Wright had been unwell for a while, but let us focus on what he did and a life well lived. He started off his creative…

We’ve been treated to a preview of new music from the brilliant Cheapskate – someone we first became aware of via the magical ‘Un Film Imaginaire’ cassette, which saw the multi-instrumentalist wandering between spy soundtracks, scratchy jazz and glorious, home-hewn pop. It was fun, it was fragile, it was nimble, it bore repeated listens, and…
Don’t know if it’s a case of wilful being-bad-at-an-internet-presence or if we’re just bad at finding a photo of Public Opinion and Rex Tycoon, so we’re not bothering with one. You’ll cope. Anyway, it’s all about the music right? Well, there’s a new song called ‘Bug’ and if you’re into that slacker US indie-schlock sound…
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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