
After his father bought a mine in Tucson, Arizona, Joseph Byrd grew up and found himself drawn to music. Initially, it was vibraphone and accordion in pop groups, he soon branched out into local TV arrangements and college jazz combos. A talented kid, he found himself in a fellowship at Stanford, where he rubbed shoulders

Orville Peck is one of the leading alt-country voices – thankfully, that means his musical choices, rather than simply branding him as ‘alternative’ because he isn’t a heterosexual man – although you’d be forgiven for thinking that’s the case. He’s got a new EP coming out on November 14th called ‘Appaloosa’ and there’s a song

We wanted to write something about this Whole Thing with Roisin Murphy, but didn’t get much further than “why can’t some people just shut their mouths about other communities, especially ones who loved them so much?” Well, we just watched a very sensitive and well thought out video essay from The Last Mixed Tape, which

There’s a certain twang in alternative rock that really works the gears of music nerds. You look at Pavement, Television et al, and you find that the discordant guitars aren’t simply playing out of key, but makes you feel a bit smarter. It’s a cunning trick. Well, we got that feeling from the new song

Hello there. We remembered that listeners of our related radio show – FREE RANGE – might like to read the tracklisting for the show, instead of just listening to the words being pronounced badly throughout it. It’s the last show of the year before the round-up of 2025’s best music, so the last time where

The wonderful thing about ageing is the acknowledgment of the relentless passing of time. Your knees start hurting. Your sleep is disturbed because you need to get up in the middle of the night to pee. You can end up in a full body brace because your sock was folded slightly oddly in your shoe,…

Cami Layé Okún is one of the finest and funnest DJs around right now. Playing music from Cuba (and elsewhere, but you need a hook, right?) she’s all about that rhythm and sunshine melody! This is not so much a piece where we need to write a great deal – basically, go follow her on…

Hip hop has found itself in a funny place lately. Everyone’s broke. There’s been a pandemic. Energy bills are out of control. Prices are going up. It’s difficult to listen to someone talk about how many millions they’ve got hanging off their wrist. It’s tough to stomach listening to someone complain about how lonely they…

Have you heard of Michael Rault? Well, there’s a good chance he released the finest LP of 2022, if you’re into perfect pop that’s cut with all good things like West Coast 70s music, Paul McCartney’s Wings, ELO (aka Beatles: The Musical), Harry Nilsson etc. If you need more modern recommendations, then file Michael Rault…
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