
When you’re singing along to a song at the top of your lungs, sometimes you don’t know what you’re singing. Sometimes you can be singing the saddest lyrics imaginable, but you’ve not realised because you’re half-cut on a bottle of rum and some floor-drugs, and it’s Friday night. Ever danced to ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ by…

We’re not arsed if you already knew about this, because some of us didn’t. Below is a video of Nico (Velvet Underground/Warhol) playing in Preston, and that’s exciting. Nico’s time with the Velvets is well documented, but ever the Bohemian, she moved from romantic partner to country and was generally a nomad going where the…

It really is hard to imagine the shape of pop and soul music without Barrett Strong. While he may not have been the household name that many of his peers were, where would popular music be without his hugely influential and soulful powerhouse that is ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’? There’s more too – he…
Imagine for a second, you’re driving past Abbey Road, and you nearly hit a pedestrian on that famous crossing. Imagine some more, that the pedestrian in question is Paul McCartney. The car in question is a Prius, so it’s kinda funny that he nearly got offed by a green motor. Also, let’s go with the…

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…

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…
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