Author: Paris365

  • BETTER IN THE DARK: AN INTERVIEW WITH YAEL NAIM ABOUT HER NEW ALBUM NIGHTSONGS

    BETTER IN THE DARK: AN INTERVIEW WITH YAEL NAIM ABOUT HER NEW ALBUM NIGHTSONGS

    interview by Michael McCarthy I was recently blessed with the opportunity to hear Franco-Israeli singer/songwriter Yael Naïm’s fifth studio album Nightsongs, which will be released via Believe Music on March 20, 2020. Although her songs have largely been introspective throughout her career, I was moved by just how much more personal the tracks on Nightsongs…

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  • #songoftheday / #amlistening = BIF NAKED: “JIM”

    Bursting with layers and layers of guitars atop sonorous drum beats, “Jim” tunnels its way deep into your head and runs circles around whatever song you had stuck in there before it.

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  • VINYL DESTINATION: AN INTERVIEW WITH RECORD STORE OWNER DAVE PERRY

    VINYL DESTINATION: AN INTERVIEW WITH RECORD STORE OWNER DAVE PERRY

    interview by Michael McCarthy I remember back in the winter of 2013 – 2014 at some point when my artist and photographer friend Josh Bernard first took me to Mill No. 5 at 250 Jackson Street in Downtown, Lowell, Massachusetts. The fourth floor of the mill was being developed into a mall of sorts, an…

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  • #songoftheday / #amlistening = POLLY SCATTERGOOD: “RED”

    Spoiler alert: the above video for Polly Scattergood’s seven-minute+ new single, “Red,” is part two of a five-part short film she’ll be releasing this Spring. We’ve included part one here as well.

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  • #songoftheday / #amlistening = ADAM JENSEN: “INMATE 8576”

    “Lost my head inside this cell / I’m all alone / This place is hell,” sings alt-pop/electro-pop singer/songwriter Adam Jensen on his powerful new single, “Inmate 8576.” It’s the first new song we’ve heard from Mr. Jensen in quite some time and it turns out he has a good excuse for not releasing anything new…

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  • #songoftheday / #amlistening = POPPY: “ANYTHING LIKE ME”

    “You shouldn’t be anything like me,” pop star turned heavy metal kid Poppy sings insistently on her ferocious new single, “Anything Like Me,” which finds her sounding not unlike a female Marilyn Manson. “I’m sorry for what I’ve become / Because I’m becoming someone,” goes part of the first verse of the take no prisoners…

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  • #songoftheday / #amlistening = Yael Naim – “How Will I Know” (Live at Studios Ferber)

    There’s a strong foreboding feeling to French-Israeli singer/songwriter Yael Naïm’s new single, “How Will I Know,” for which she’s just released a devastating live video recorded at Studios Ferber.

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  • FIRST IMPRESSION REVIEW: HALSEY’S MANIC

    FIRST IMPRESSION REVIEW: HALSEY’S MANIC

    by Michael McCarthy Today, the 17th of January 2020, marks the release of alternative pop singer/songwriter Halsey’s highly-anticipated third album, Manic. The first single from the LP, “Without Me,” was released back in October 2018, so to say this album was a long time coming is an understatement. Granted, at the time “Without Me” was…

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  • YOUR BRAVE BOTANICALS: AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN BUSH

    YOUR BRAVE BOTANICALS: AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN BUSH

    interview by Michael McCarthy Late last year I posted something on Facebook about wanting to replace some of my prescription medications with natural alternatives and a few of my friends commented and asked if I’d tried kratom, something I wasn’t particularly familiar with. I had seen it before, however, at a local convenience store where…

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  • #songoftheday / #amlistening = ROBBIE WILLIAMS: “TIME FOR CHANGE” + ALBUM REVIEW

    This year Robbie Williams finally did something I’ve been waiting for him to do for over 20 years: he released a Christmas album, appropriately entitled The Christmas Present. Not only that, it’s a double album. If you get the deluxe edition, which comes with four bonus tracks, it comes to 28 tracks total.

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  • It’s a #premiere! It’s a #songoftheday! It’s “The Stones” by Ismay!

    Today we are pleased to exclusively premiere Ismay’s delightful and ethereal musings about very rare, glow in the dark stones that a friend once showed them. As they discuss in our interview below, they were a new type of stone, unlike anything they’d ever seen before. Suffice to say, they made such a strong impression…

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  • #songoftheday / #amlistening = BAR BRUTAL BAND: “SPECIAL TERMS” DEMO

    Bar Brutal Band, has just released a spot on new single, albeit in demo form, called “Special Terms,” which I simply had to share with you. It’s just too good for me not to.

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  • ROLLING ON: AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANKIE BANALI OF QUIET RIOT

    ROLLING ON: AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANKIE BANALI OF QUIET RIOT

    interview by Michael McCarthy The following interview with Quiet Riot drummer, songwriter and bandleader Frankie Banali was conducted on October 22nd, 2019, the day after he made the following announcement via metal podcaster Mitch Lafon’s Facebook page: <<I just want to let all of my friends and fans know what’s going on with me and…

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  • INTERMISSION (WE SHALL RETURN)

    INTERMISSION (WE SHALL RETURN)

    Hey there! In case you haven’t noticed, I’m taking the month of October off from Love is Pop. I sent out an alert on social media, but I admittedly forgot to post something here on the site. There are two big reasons for the break. 1: I need this time to work on Book of…

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  • DISCOVER A SUPERSTAR IN THE MAKING: AN INTERVIEW WITH MICKY JAMES

    DISCOVER A SUPERSTAR IN THE MAKING: AN INTERVIEW WITH MICKY JAMES

    interview by Michael McCarthy When I went to see Phantom Planet at The Sinclair in Cambridge, Massachusetts on the 19th of September, I couldn’t have cared less about whoever was going to open the show. I’d been a big fan of Phantom Planet for around 15 years and had never seen them live so they…

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