
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…

Hauntology is such a grimly hip phrase at the minute, but sometimes, it just fits so nicely when you’re listening to something that gives you the good willies. With Honey Gentry, it’s the sound of lilting country balladry, delivered via a ouija board. Not to say it’s menacing music, but rather, spectral and otherworldly and…

If you’ve been looking for that melodramatic, overwrought joy that you’d get from, say, Talk Talk and even Tears For Fears, then you won’t go far wrong here. There’s a track we’re particularly fond of called ‘Miss Yesterday’ (and ‘The Edge‘ is definitely worth your time as well) which is the dreamiest of pop, and…

Hey Tom Waits fans! Newly remastered bits from the gravel voiced master and the whole thing has been personally overseen by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, according to the press release we’re copying from. We’re looking at the period between ’83 and ’93, which contains some real hot stuff. They’ll be reissued on vinyl, and…

Pharoah Sanders’ 1977 album ‘Pharoah’ is getting a reissue in a box set from Luaka Bop, which is cool and all, but the real rub is that there’s going to be previously unreleased music, which is great news! It’ll end up on streaming services if you’re not earning box set money, don’t worry. September 15th…
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