Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2015 album Emotion wasn’t a big seller, but it was critically adored and became a cult favourite, making it a tough act to follow. Alongside Jepsen’s impeccable pop sense, the record featured indie rock textures. Organic instrumentation…
For the next 6 weeks, you’re invited to join a decades quiz – as well as having a weekly winner, I’ll tabulate our scores to find a champion across the different decades of pop (from the 1960s to the current…
Weyes Blood was born Natalie Mering, in California, and grew up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She derived the name Weyes Blood from the Flannery O’Connor novel Wise Blood, and released her first album in 2011, following self released albums as Weyes…
James Murphy always intended to be a drummer or a sound technician, but ended up fronting a dance-rock band New York’s LCD Soundsystem bridge the divide between dance and rock – Murphy’s raw vocals are a great entry point for…
Congratulations to Jim, Rich, Badfinger20, and Tony who all scored perfect marks in last week’s 1970s quiz. This week’s challenge requires you to fill in will, won’t, can, or can’t into song titles. I like how they included both Joy…
Led Zeppelin were the archetypal hard rock band. They streamlined the sound of 1960s rock bands like Cream and The Who; an important innovation was John Bonham’s crisp, groove-based drumming, which contrasted with the busy style of The Who’s Keith…
In 1967, The Rolling Stones followed The Beatles into baroque psychedelia. While the resulting album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, has its admirers, the band were quick to abandon the summer of love, toughening their sound for the blues-rock of 1968’s…
Congratulations to Rich Kamerman and 2loud2old, who both scored 25/25 in last week’s quiz, with Rich scoring the slightly faster time. Maybe this week we should listen to what the Kamerman said? Bruce requested a 1970s quiz this week, so…
Music’s ultimately about the recorded product, but being handsome certainly doesn’t hurt when you’re trying to launch a career in entertainment. While a woman’s attractiveness might keep her from being taken seriously, a man’s handsomeness is nothing but an asset.…
There are b-sides that are of high quality, that should never have been left off their parent albums. And then there is ‘The End of the Affair’, from Prefab Sprout. If forced to choose between the b-side ‘The End of…
