The Pop Corporation

WORDS ABOUT MUSIC + POP CULTURE

  • VINYL SALES DOWN, VINYL SALES UP!

    If you’ve been reading the music press this week, there was some alarm or peevish glee (depending on where you were doing your reading) that vinyl sales had dropped. A Billboard piece stated that vinyl sales dropped by 33%, which is not insignificant. That’s selling 34.9 million units, down to 23.3 million in 2024. Are…

    Read more

  • DANIEL JOHNSTON REISSUE

    Daniel Johnston’s ‘Artistic Vice’ LP is going to be reissued and it’ll come with some new – or rather, previously unreleased – music attached to it as well, which is cool for fans! The redo will be out on October 18th, and it’s not just a case of one or two alternative versions of songs…

    Read more

  • IS IT KINDA OVER FOR AWARD BASHES?

    At the country music awards, they didn’t nominate Beyonce for anything despite her all-conquering country LP and while many shrugged, many were irritated by the whole thing. The irritation came from all sides, but more importantly, so did the shrugs – apart from something for the shelf in the spare toilet or a sticker to…

    Read more

  • MIX / THE LOT RADIO WITH SERAHBOO.M / PALESTINE FOREVER

    We haven’t heard a mix as original as this in quite a while. Glitchy electronics, free jazz, soundscapes and loads more. You don’t need us to wax lyrical about this. Press play if you like cool new things.

    Read more

  • DOOM ACTION FIGURE AND SPOON

    There’s something about golden era rap that just loves a fancy action figure, to place on your shelves next to your collected essays from hip hop journalism, tchotchkes, rap comics and high-end record middles and the like. It’s very wholesome, honestly. Well, Doom’s ‘Mm… Food’ is getting a reissue for its anniversary on November 15th,…

    Read more

  • THE RETURN OF TUNNG

    Once upon a time, music retreated away from the bombast of Britpop and US rap-rock, and all over the place, more introspective bedroom producers were making tricky electronic music and singer-songwriters gravitated toward the acid-folk of the ’70s, focusing more on cottage industries and community. Tunng managed to straddle both worlds, with critics dubbing their…

    Read more

  • 2ND GRADE’S POWER POP REVIVAL!

    Look, most bands put a song out to let you know new things are coming, but not 2nd Grade. The power poppers from Philadelphia have chucked THREE whole songs at our ears and mercifully, they’re all really fun and filled with skuzzy pop hooks and jangly guitars. The revival of power pop is very welcome…

    Read more

  • AMBIENT LENNON IS SURPRISINGLY GREAT

    Today is John Lennon’s birthday – he would have been 84 – and to celebrate this, we’ve been treated to something rather surprising. While a lot of repackaged music from musicians can feel a little exploitative at times, churning out old stuff without much new going on, that’s not the case with this latest Lennon…

    Read more

  • GULP ISSUE LAUNCH PARTY

    The excellent GULP are having a party for the 8th instalment of their broadsheet counter-culture magazine, which features all the wonderful words, tidbits, diatribes and cool design we’ve come to expect from them now. The issue drops on Friday 11th October and you can get down in person at The New Cross in Manchester’s Northern…

    Read more

  • HAVE YOU HEARD OF NICE BISCUIT?

    In another week, this would have been an album review – and maybe it still will – but sometimes you don’t want to read someone’s thoughts about what makes music work and how great a song is. Maybe you just want to listen to some tracks and make your own mind up? How are we…

    Read more




STOP HOARDING TUNES


  • FOGERTY GETS CREEDENCE BACK (AND THIS IS MORE INTERESTING THAN YOU THINK)

    He’s spent half a century fighting of ownership of his songs and finally, at long long last, John Fogerty now has the rights to the Creedence Clearwater Revival discog. Fogerty has bought a majority interest in the global publishing rights from Concord Records who got them after buying out Fantasy Records. The whole thing has…

  • SPOTIFY DOESN’T WORK FOR MUSICIANS – WILL THIS GUY FIX IT?

    Streaming is broken. If you’re a small or independent musician, then Spotify isn’t going to give you a career any time soon. And that’s on purpose. That’s Spotify’s business model. That’s why Spotify are worth more than Paul McCartney, and he’s actually written some of the most enduring songs the world has ever seen, and…

  • GWEN STEFANI IS JAPANESE APPARENTLY

    Ah, the thorny topic of cultural appropriation eh? Where oldheads go ‘WHY CAN’T I JUST LIKE A LOAD OF STUFF IN WHATEVER WAY I WANT?!‘ and youngheads yell ‘YOU’RE USING OTHER RACES AS FANCY DRESS AND WE’VE HISTORICALLY BEEN MEAN TO THOSE PEOPLE SO IT IS GIVING US THE ICK!!‘ Of course, the majority of…

  • RIHANNA SUPERBOWL TEASER

    She’s back. Well, coming back. Rihanna – perhaps the coolest popstar we’ve ever had – hasn’t released any proper music for roughly a million years, since ‘ANTI’ made everyone’s jaws drop. When it was announced that she was going to be the SuperBowl halftime show, everyone got very excited because that possibly means new music!…

Search for a Topic
Categories
Posted Recently
Submissions

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.