The Pop Corporation

WORDS ABOUT MUSIC + POP CULTURE

  • FREE RANGE MARCH 2024

    New FREE RANGE radio time! You want the tracklisting so you can read what kind of stuff is on the show before pressing play? Coward! Okay, we’ll play along and give you the goods. Music from all over the world as ever, with new songs and older ones too. On this show, we fawn over…

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  • REVIEW / BEYONCE / COWBOY CARTER

    It’s very interesting that Beyonce has decided to release a country album, in part because it’s a revenge LP after the Country Music Awards committee snubbed her ‘Daddy Issues’ track – hell hath no fury like a wealthy celebrity scorned. It’s also interesting because Beyonce is such a megastar, you have to be curious to…

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  • SAM LEE’S EARTHY FOLK

    Nature is fantastic and everyone knows that, but there is a mild reticence when people tell you to reconnect with it, sounding like awful crusties. Sam Lee is probably worried he comes off a bit like that – he pretty much said as much in a recent feature with MOJO – but he needn’t. He…

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  • THERE’S A BAND CALLED PARSNIP

    We hadn’t heard of Parsnip before now, but on the strength of their new single ‘Behold’, we wish we had. Sugary sweet psychedelic music that remembered to write a song in the process? Yes please! We’re not surprised at all to learn that they’re an Australian band, because at the moment, all the great power…

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  • MUST HEAR 80S DIY FOLK SYNTH

    The amount of incredible music that’s buried by time or happenstance is criminal, and one such LP that deserves all the love you can muster is Planetary Peace’s ‘Synthesis’… but what is it? For fans of modular synths, DIY charm, acid folk and heartbreakingly gorgeous music, this needs to be on your radar. A husband…

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  • BERLIN STILL TRYING TO ROB DETROIT OF IT’S TECHNO

    Reacting to contemporary life in 80s America, referencing Alvin Toffler’s ‘The Third Wave’ book, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May invented techno. They were the Belleville Three. Alongside them, Eddie Fowlkes, Blake Baxter, James Pennington and others were at the forefront of the first flush of Techno. Everyone knows this already. Anyone with even…

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  • ACID GOTH FROM PAUL ORWELL

    Not everything that’s new to our ear is technically new. We stumbled across some hellishly fun psychedelic goth music by a guy called Paul Orwell. It’s quite an ordinary name that, for music that sounds like someone trying to summon something evil out of the floorboards, but that’s okay. He’s got an album out called…

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  • I THINK WE’RE ALONE NOW AND TIES TO THE MOB

    The music biz and the world of entertainment is a murky place and no mistake, but sometimes, the links are tied mega closely to seemingly innocent songs that you love to singalong to. Take the case of ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’. Many people will think of Tiffany, singing her little socks off in US…

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  • STOREFRONT CHURCH – GREAT BAROQUE POP

    We didn’t know anything about Storefront Church, but we recognise a cool band name when we see one. It’s the moniker of Lukas Frank who is on tour with Laetitia Sadier who you’ll know from Stereolab. There’s a new song out we really like called ‘The High Room’, which is a gem of a baroque…

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  • MANCHESTER LAGOS AND ME

    Music documentaries don’t always have to be about hugely famous people – in fact, a number of the best ones are those that teach you something new. With that, there’s a new flick coming out which looks great called ‘See My World: Manchester, Lagos & Me’ which is a short film looking at the “cultural…

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STOP HOARDING TUNES


  • ZOH AMBA’S SPIRITUAL JAZZ

    Jazz never died, but it did feel harder to find since major music publications effectively turned their back on it some time in the ’70s. Jazz is of course, in rude health and as disparate as it ever was. With that, we were super thrilled while listening to baritone sax’er Zoh Amba’s new one, which…

  • COOL ISLAND RECORDS BOOK

    Island Records is one of the most legendary record labels in the history of rock, pop, reggae and more. Especially iconic is the ‘Island pink’ years, where the records sported a gorgeous baby pink label and was home to some of the finest records ever cut on the lathe. With that, following first volume, there’s…

  • CHE NOIR WITH THE NU BOOM BAP

    It certainly seems there’s a quiet revival of boom bap rap in recent years, underlined obviously, by the all-conquering Doechii LP released last year. Of course, she’s not the only one putting a fresh twist on golden era hip hop, and now we look to the new one from prodigious talent Che Noir. Hailing from…

  • JEFF PARKER IVTET TINY DESK

    We wrote a very glowing review of the wonderful album by Tortoise cohort Jeff Parker and his IVtet, being one of the best jazz LPs we’ve bought in years. In case you missed, Parker and his band did a blissfully wonderful and super invigorating set for the always great NPR Tiny Desk. Watch it here.

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