The Pop Corporation

WORDS ABOUT MUSIC + POP CULTURE

  • BARRETT STRONG RIP

    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…

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  • 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…

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  • GULP YOURSELF DAFT

    We all need cool stuff to read. Finding it in the soup of the algorithm can be tricky, with a bunch of former broadsheet sorts going solo, and trying to flog subscription content on their mailers and whatnot. No harm, no foul – but these things tend to skew toward the po-faced and overly earnest.…

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  • CAROLINE POLACHEK 2023?

    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…

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  • ROB MAZUREK FUTURE SHAMAN

    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…

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  • SAM SMITH VERSUS SAUCEPAN

    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…

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  • BJORK’S DAUGHTER RELEASES MUSIC

    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…

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  • NEW PET SHOP BOYS DUE

    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…

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  • INNER CITY WERE GREAT

    You can try and be as clever as you want, deep diving on this, that, and the other… but sometimes it’s just worth reminding yourself how great a band were. From Detroit, America’s greatest music city, Inner City was the brainchild of the great Kevin Saunderson and Paris Grey. Saunderson of course, was one of…

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  • DANIEL JOHNSTON DEBUT ON VINYL FOR FIRST TIME

    If you’re a fan of vinyl and Daniel Johnston – good news! His debut ‘Songs of Pain’ is going to appear on record for the first time and you can get your hands on it some time in March. There’s probably some pre-orders knocking around if you have a look. Originally, ‘Songs of Pain’ was…

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STOP HOARDING TUNES


  • MORE THAN A SURF BAND / THE BEACH BOYS

    There’s been so many beautiful words written about the Beach Boys since the passing of Brian Wilson, that it feels partially redundant to add more here. However, for all the virtues of these tributes, there’s still a nagging sense of reducing the group to a ‘mere’ surf group, when clearly, they were so much more.…

  • DID THE FRENCH INVENT ELECTRO?

    There’s a lot to be said for the fanciful things said by politicians and generally, you can’t trust them as far as you can throw them. They take credit for all manner of stuff while they had their fingers up their bums, so nothing should surprise us. However, we had to have a little sit…

  • TCHOTCHKE BRING THE BOOGIE

    We’ve been waiting for a new LP from Tchotchke, and now we know there’s one is coming, what with a brace of new songs. The latest new track has a fun glam-boogie beat and is the usual great bubblegum rock that we love so much from the girls. It’s called ‘Poor Girl’ and press play…

  • AMAARAE COOL BOP

    The influence of African music on pop culture is obvious, but it really feels like it has been roundly overlooked in full discourse. Either way, the influence is evident on the new track from Ghanaian/American singer, Amaarae’s new single. Melding R&B, dance, afrobeats, pop and more, Amaarae has been turning heads with forward thinking music,…

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