
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…

Most of us are well aware of the amazing comp/boxset etc ‘Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968′, first out in ’72 and basically (alongside a little help from Lester Bangs’ writing) invented garage punk as a genre. The compilation was put together by Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith’s cohort) and it is rightly…
Paul Hillery’s mixes over on Mixcloud are the stuff of legend if you love groovy and witchy psychedelic folk. His selections switch from dreamlike, to super chuggers, to sometimes evil sounding and such. He’s one of the best and he even did the holy grail of getting a compilation out (vinyl here, if you’re already…

T-Pain is brilliant. He’s always been brilliant. He can turn his hand to almost anything and yet, there’s foolish people out there who still think he can’t sing and that autotune does all the work. T-Pain has always had the vocal chops and anyone who has seen his Tiny Desk show knows how fantastic and…

It’s kinda hideous to liken anyone to any of the flag-bearers of Neo Soul, but it is handy when you’re trying to convey that we’re dealing with a modern artist that is able to both look forward with their music, but also use all the rich musical past that exists, especially in soul music. So…
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.
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