
Blur announced some massive Wembley gigs and that was that, right? Wrong. They have surprised everyone by announcing a new album! It’s called The Ballad of Darren and is out July 21 via Parlophone. Their first since ‘The Magic Whip’. And there’s a new song too, called ‘The Narcissist.’ Damon Albarn: “This is an aftershock record, reflection and…

Donald Trump’s use of ‘YMCA’ (and to a lesser degree, ‘Macho Man’) by the Village People has been a curious thing. For someone who is, and represents everything virulently homophobic and a whole other bunch of phobics in the US, it’s particularly strange that he’d plump for a song that is not only very camp,…

You’ve invariably picked up a Beatle LP, seen that famous green apple, got an emorous sense of well-being, and got on with your day (unless you’re one of those terrible hipsters who think it’s fashionable to hate The Beatles – you do you, boo). Anyway, the famous split apple across two sides of a Beatle…

The late Japanese composer and Yellow Magic Orchestra founder Ryuichi Sakamoto’s management have shared the last playlist compiled by the late, great musician. Calling it ‘Ryuichi’s Last Playlist’, they wrote: “We would like to share the playlist that Ryuichi had been privately compiling to be played at his own funeral to accompany his passing. He…

When SBTRKT were around last time, they were known for their forward thinking dancefloor chuggers, designed for those kids who weren’t necessarily into dance music and a bit frightened of Techno Lads on pills, but still wanted to scuff their sneakers up on the dirty dancefloors. ‘Pharaohs’ and ‘Wildlife’ were solid gold bangers, but in…

Do we care about awards these days? Especially in the music industry, they seem rather quaint and outdated, and great within the industry for sure – but should we care about who wins a BRIT any more than who gets Best New Restaurant at the Leicester City Council Awards? Either way, we’ll do a rundown…

Boney M are brilliant and if you look through their back catalogue, there is a lot of strange gold in there. And a load of gems, obviously. Now, we considered making a running, regular piece on strange or unlikely cover versions (and we still might) but for now, we’ll focus on Boney M. For example,…

What is it with Stevie Nicks? It doesn’t matter what generation you’re from, you either love her or are witnessing everyone else fall head-over-heels for her. In 2023, there’s scores of young women in floaty clothes twirling around on TikTok or wherever, fuelled by the power of Stevie Nicks. Now, of course, Stevie is made…

Frank Ocean is, occasionally, brilliant. Sometimes, you’ll hear glimpses of something approaching genius – ‘Pink & White’ and ‘Thinking Bout You’ are impossibly wonderful – but he can be frustrating. That’s fine. We allow people to be the artists they want to be, right? Provided of course, we’re allowed to be the fans we want…
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