The Pop Corporation

WORDS ABOUT MUSIC + POP CULTURE

  • VINYL SALES DOWN, VINYL SALES UP!

    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…

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  • DANIEL JOHNSTON REISSUE

    Daniel Johnston’s ‘Artistic Vice’ LP is going to be reissued and it’ll come with some new – or rather, previously unreleased – music attached to it as well, which is cool for fans! The redo will be out on October 18th, and it’s not just a case of one or two alternative versions of songs…

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  • IS IT KINDA OVER FOR AWARD BASHES?

    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…

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  • MIX / THE LOT RADIO WITH SERAHBOO.M / PALESTINE FOREVER

    We haven’t heard a mix as original as this in quite a while. Glitchy electronics, free jazz, soundscapes and loads more. You don’t need us to wax lyrical about this. Press play if you like cool new things.

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  • DOOM ACTION FIGURE AND SPOON

    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,…

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  • THE RETURN OF TUNNG

    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…

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  • 2ND GRADE’S POWER POP REVIVAL!

    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…

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  • AMBIENT LENNON IS SURPRISINGLY GREAT

    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…

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  • GULP ISSUE LAUNCH PARTY

    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…

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  • HAVE YOU HEARD OF NICE BISCUIT?

    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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STOP HOARDING TUNES


  • MIGUEL / SKIN HOOKS / WE WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING ELSE

    Miguel is back – back being the operative word – playing some new stuff from his next LP ‘VISCERA’ and, to grab the headlines, he got his back skin pierced and then suspended from hooks through his bare back. With metal hooks through his flesh, dangling in mid air, he sang “I’m hanging onto nothing…

  • CYBOTRON BACK WITH MORE FUTURE TECHNO

    Cybotron is a pioneer of techno and if you’re at all interested in Detroit club music, you’ll know ‘Clear’ as being one of the most pivotal releases in electronic music’s long and varied history. If you don’t know the track from ’83, then boy, you’re in for a real treat! Well, in thrilling news for…

  • APHEX TWIN LIVE 2023 / WATCH

    Aphex Twin performed at Field Day last weekend and now you can watch the whole set for yourself, filled with ear-bleeding beats, acid basslines, and of course, loads of daft graphics. It’s great fun. We were initially going to just write a garbled string of letters as a little joke, like some of Aphex’s song…

  • SCOOTER BRAUN / WE’RE NOT ONES TO GOSSIP BUT

    There’s a breed of powerful, wealthy man that exists now which tries to offset their billions in wealth with scruffy caps, weird hair sculpting and crying laugh emojis on social media. It’s an unnerving, irritating sight as these blokes pass themselves off visibly as more akin to podcast hosts rather than wildly powerful individuals. The…

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