
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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

You know what it’s like – you finally get into a new band and think ‘I’d quite like that on vinyl’, only to stumble over the fact that everyone else has been into them for ages and now there’s no LPs left. Well Frank Ocean fans new and old, it has been confirmed that ‘Blonde’…

Obviously, Gruff Rhys is a legend. A really pleasant legend at that. Whether he’s with the Super Furry Animals (easily one of the most underrated bands who ever lived) or solo, Gruff has an uncanny knack for a sugary melody, but always cut with something psychedelic and unusual. There’s no-one quite like him. And now,…

Rochelle Jordan started out way back when, making great but somewhat typical R&B. It was all hot boxes and day ones tackle – however, she burrowed away and emerged with a truly sensational LP called ‘Play With Them Changes’. While most of R&B is concerned with being exactly the type of hot stuff that could…

Pretty exciting news for fans of Cosmic American music and Gram Parsons – there’s some new music on the horizon! It’s not often you get to say something like that – good news indeed! So what’s the craic? Well, if you’re not in the mood for reading, you can just press play on the video…
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