
Caroline Polacheck’s is an adventurous pop star, and that’s always a good thing. She’s recently hit out at lazy comparisons to Bjork and Kate Bush, preferring to make music under her own steam, which is fair enough. She’s got a big voice and likes to be mildly awkward, which we say as a compliment of…

Hey! Do you like new music and, not just new music, but slightly difficult music that’s fun? Well, you should check outy Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra newbie, ‘Future Shaman’. Apply here if you like wonky jazz and post-rock. It’s discordant, good stuff. Mazurek is a composer/trumpeter and the Exploding Star Orchestra features Damon Locks…

We like a popstar making bold choices, and Sam Smith has been doing exactly that lately. It doesn’t matter whether you like the tunes or not, we should absolutely support a commercial artist when they lean into the experimental and off-kilter. Did you see them on SNL, with Sharon Stone draping themselves all over the…

It feels kinda shitty referring to a new artist as ‘Bjork’s daughter’, but needs must. Isadora Bjarkardottir Barney is her name, and she’s released her debut solo work as part of a comp showcasing Icelandic music. The comp is called ‘DRULLUMALL 4’ and Isadora’s track – ‘bergmál’ – is really good, you’ll be glad to…

The mighty Pet Shop Boys are all set to share some previously unreleased songs in April. It’s all part of a new thing they’re doing and that new thing is a book called ‘Annually’. The 2023 edition of the yearly release (hence the name) will be a 64-page hardback affair, containing journals, photos from their…

You can try and be as clever as you want, deep diving on this, that, and the other… but sometimes it’s just worth reminding yourself how great a band were. From Detroit, America’s greatest music city, Inner City was the brainchild of the great Kevin Saunderson and Paris Grey. Saunderson of course, was one of…

Light In The Attic have been doing a wonderful job giving Lee Hazelwood’s back catalogue a spring clean, and they’re at it again, this time with ‘Nancy & Lee Again’, now available to pre-order on vinyl and, even better, 8-track! It’ll be streaming too, if you’re not in the habit of buying stuff. It’ll be…

Some people are already all over this, some are not – but Eddie Chacon was in Charles & Eddie (‘Would I Lie To You?’ ohyeah!) and he’s been releasing really, really brilliant music lately. Like, utterly fantastic AOR/Future Soul/NuYacht brilliance on Stones Throw Records. No lie. With the 2020 album ‘Pleasure, Joy And Happiness’, he…

We’re like everyone when we say we’re interested in things that are genuinely horrible. Not ironically; no humour — just a fascination in how things can go so badly wrong… or weird. If you’re not into upsetting things, this is your warning to stop reading right now. Of course, a lot of people enjoy reading…

Fall Out Boy have covered Billy Joel and they’ve updated the lyrics. WAIT WHAT! HOW DARE THEY etc etc. Listen, we geddit. And we’re no fans of Fall Out Boy per se, but wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. This is kinda daft fun, and you need to hear Pete Wentz out…

You may have read that headline and thought we were poking fun at the Teenage Fanclub, but rest assured, if everything makes all feel well in the world, it’s the Teenage Fanclub making Teenage Fanclubby music. They have a new song out called ‘Tired Of Being Alone’ and it’s got Teenage Fanclub guitars, Teenage Fanclub…

To many, King Curtis is the emotional saxophone at the start of Withnail & I, as his take on ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ drifts over the two unfortunate souls in ’60s London. To others, he’s the blistering sound that made Aretha’s ‘Respect’ pop so hard, as well as ‘Yakety Yak’ by The Coasters and…

Elliott Smith has basically become something of an American Nick Drake – gone too soon and a voice for sensitive and introverted around the world’s bedrooms. Of course, there’s joy in both of their music and so much to love, but it’s the downer, depressed element that made both artists so enigmatic. And when you…
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.
CONTACT: HOWDYPOPCORPSATGMAILDOTCOM