Pop – Page 5 – Rocknerd

What you need to know about Yasutaka Nakata and Capsule.

13 June, 201615 September, 2021 Pop 0

Yasutaka Nakata, of the band Capsule, is a Japanese pop producer. Connoiseurs of producer disco need to hit the Nakata. He’s all but unknown outside Japan, and that’s just wrong. See also Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Perfume.

Scott Walker and the freedom to go seriously weird.

9 June, 201625 August, 2016 Esoterica, Pop 0

Listened to Scott Walker’s 1984 comeback Climate of Hunter again recently. It’s a strange record, but Scott went strange pretty much as soon as he could. After his early pop hits with the Walker Brothers, he took the chance to make his individual vision obvious by the time of Scott 3 and Scott 4 in the late 1960s. He tried consciously mainstream records in the early ’70s that nobody bought, followed by an abortive Walker Brothers reunion, so Climate of Hunter has that “fuck it” that so often signals something good.

Pat & Mick: Use It Up And Wear It Out (1990).

1 June, 201616 August, 2017 Pop, Record 0

This record is … way better than it has any right to be.

The return of the Blobby nightmare.

28 May, 201612 May, 2017 Drugs, Pop 2

“It has been named as one of the worst songs ever recorded.”

Art of Noise play “Close To The Edit” live, 2004.

27 May, 201625 August, 2016 Musician, Pop 0

Nobody ever thinks of Trevor Horn as a shit-hot bass player.

Records that have not stood the test of time: Models: Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight (1985).

13 March, 201611 February, 2018 Pop, Record 0

This album, which I played a few days ago for the first time in thirty years, is what the kids these days describe as a “hot mess”. A pile of good ideas mashed in with a pile of terrible ones; the result desperately pretends to work.

I don’t want to shock you or anything, but pop music is an industry.

30 November, 20153 November, 2016 Pop, Writing 0

The Atlantic is perturbed and depressed that pop music is created by an industrial process and wants you to be too.

Metroland: Triadic Ballet (2015).

20 April, 201528 August, 2016 Industrial, Pop, Record 1

Metroland is a Belgian electronic duo. Their publicity says “Kraftwerk” a whole lot, though my first thought was “the Kraftwerky end of Severed Heads”.

Petition to reform TISM to represent Australia at Eurovision.

11 February, 201528 August, 2016 Pop, Theatre 0

So Australia won the wildcard for Eurovision 2015. And there’s a petition for TISM to reform and play it. Go sign now. Because you

Why every mainstream record sounds the same, step by step.

12 January, 20154 January, 2017 Country, Pop 0

Tom Whitwell has just reposted his 2008 Word article on the recording process for mainstream radio-targeted music: how to record music literally targeted at

I bet you thought the record industry actually wanted people to buy their records.

12 December, 201428 August, 2016 Industry, Pop 2

The estimable PopBitch details how UK labels refuse to actually make songs with massive demand available for purchase — deliberately missing the Christmas binge

Forget “Paul is dead”: the Beatles NEVER EXISTED. Apparently.

7 December, 201424 August, 2016 Links, Pop 1

Sure, there were these four character names, but they were played by different people over the course of the band’s existence. (Look at the

Links links links.

3 November, 201428 August, 2016 Classical, Esoterica, Links, Pop 0

My daughter just started learning viola. She could, of course, be the next Jimi Hendrix. There’s a whole genre of 9/11 Truther songs, and

Today’s links.

17 September, 201428 August, 2016 Industry, Links, Pop 0

The inventor of karaoke tells his story. “To bear the awful singing of ordinary citizens, and enjoy it anyway.” “99 Red Balloons” played on

Links, links, tra la la.

14 September, 201428 August, 2016 Links, mp3, Pop 0

The Napster of the 1930s: bootleg lyric sheets. Dads at a One Direction concert. David Bowie, Brian Eno and Tony Visconti record “Warszawa.”

Midge Ure, Melbourne, 19 April 2013.

22 April, 201329 March, 2017 Live, Pop 0

Midge Ure is a musician who shouldn’t require much of an introduction. He’s travelled from from the Rich Kids in the 1970s, to Visage,

An evil mob princess with really good hair.

14 January, 20136 May, 2017 Pop 0

Meet Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan president Islam Karimov, attempting to make a name for herself as aspiring pop diva Googoosha. Ex-Soviet dictatorships and

The impending death of the album.

9 July, 20123 May, 2017 Industry, Opinion, Pop, Record 2

It’s doomed, along with the CD in general. But then, albums have always sorta sucked.

Hell’s basement.

12 February, 201226 August, 2016 Pop 0

Chalga is possibly the worst pop genre ever, and that’s a subject I have considerable expertise in. Bulgaria could take over the world. “What’s

Quite possibly the most horrible record of 2011.

8 March, 20119 January, 2017 Pop 0

George Michael doing a laid back MOR version of “True Faith” by New Order. Through a vocoder. While wrapped around a lamp post.

Tears for Fears, Spandau Ballet: Melbourne, 21 April 2010

24 April, 20105 May, 2017 Live, Pop 0

I originally picked up a Rocknerd account so I could review international acts from non-crap bands that made it to the great southern lands.

Music critic oppressed by The Man.

27 March, 201027 March, 2010 Pop 0

Bulgarian Alexander Alexandrov has been most unfairly sentenced to 16 years’ prison merely for killing his neighbour, who played “Angels” by Robbie Williams two

James Blunt tops decade charts, pop declared dead.

3 January, 2010 Pop 0

PUBLIC ENEMA, The Hit Parade, Thursday (N! News) — James Blunt’s Back To Bedlam was the UK’s biggest-selling album of the 2000s, objectively establishing

The occult symbolism of the Video Music Awards.

27 December, 200927 December, 2009 Pop 0

From unexpected drama to shocking performances, MTV’s 2009 Video Music Awards managed once again to raise eyebrows and get people talking. What most people

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ legacy to benefit lupus.

16 December, 200916 December, 2009 Pop 0

Julian Lennon and co-songwriter James Scott Cook will donate a percentage of profits from a song on Lennon’s new EP to the Lupus Foundation

Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No. 1

5 December, 200927 March, 2010 Pop 2

There is a social networking campaign to stop Simon Cowell achieving another Christmas no. 1 spot this year with one of his overblown ersatz

Never gonna run around or desert you.

12 September, 200830 April, 2017 Pop 0

Rick Astley takes us through his finest Rickrolls. I had someone Rickroll me by phone a couple of months ago.

The Wall of Hair.

22 August, 20083 January, 2013 Pop 0

From the same company that brought you the Black Velvet Wesley Crusher.

Such a terrible thing to happen to such a talented young lady

14 March, 200223 August, 2016 Pop 5

It’s one thing to read the horrifying tale and shake your head in dismay at the unspeakable traumas our modern pop youth are forced to work through.

It’s quite another to have actual pictures of the incident.

Burt Fucking Whoopee

22 September, 200128 April, 2017 Opinion, Pop 3

After a few glasses of water to clear the slightly hung over feeling, I realised something that had been bothering me from last night. This is stupid, but I feel I have to respond to certain assertions made in the TISM song “BFW”. It has primarily to do with the idea of the artist vs producer divide which has emerged in the last twenty years. (Hey, the URL says Rock Nerd – you can’t have the rock without the nerd.)