Category: Features

  • Review and interview by Michael McCarthy Last week fans of Britney Spears were treated to a special release, BARE, an unofficial album containing over a dozen unreleased songs produced by a fan who calls himself Gryves, otherwise known as Dani Alcázar.  More than a compilation of demos, the songs on BARE have been done over…

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  • Today’s #songoftheday is Dua Lipa’s ” scorching hot Be The One.”  You may remember that I wrote about Dua recently when we covered the Shy Luv remix of “Be The One” recently.  Well, I’ve been listening to the original version of “Be The One” for days now and thought it finally deserved the spotlight.  Its 2-Step/UK…

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  • review by Michael McCarthy photos by Joshua Bernard Last night Bostonians were given the opportunity to rock their asses off and rock they did, thanks to one of the best, Brit Award-winning, rock ‘n’ roll bands to ever come out of England, The Darkness. Just before the band hurried out on stage, a huge black…

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  • review by Michael McCarthy photos by Joshua Bernard Yes, indeed, it has been twenty years since Garbage released their self-titled debut album. That’s two fucking decades! Earlier this month they released remastered versions of the record, which included a deluxe edition and a super deluxe edition, the later being a massive 62 tracks long, including…

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  • Doe Paoro is one of the most unique artists I’ve ever come across. When you listen to her spellbinding new album, After, you feel as though you’re listening to music from another world. Or from the future. Probably both. Although familiar instruments make up her sound, you’ve never heard them blended together quite like this.…

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  • Of all the rock bands I’ve come across since starting Love is Pop, Dead Letter Circus is one of the most intellectual. Just pick any song from any of their albums and listen to it and you’ll see what I mean. Frontman Kim Benzie’s lyrics require deep thought to fully comprehend; they’re like riveting poetry…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy Yesterday we ran part one of my interview with Tracii Guns.  If you haven’t read it yet, please READ IT NOW.  In part one, we talked extensively about Tracii’s new band, Devil City Angels, which also features Rudy Sarzo, Rikki Rocket and Brandon Gibbs.  In today’s conclusion we talk about several other…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy When you hear the name of guitarist Tracii Guns you probably think of his most famous band, L.A. Guns. But I did not ask any L.A. Guns questions during this interview. It simply didn’t occur to me. I’d written questions beforehand, of course, but I had so many questions about his…

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  • Review by Michael McCarthy Photos by Joshua Bernard (and may not be used elsewhere without permission) Before I get into my review of Ghost’s show at the House of Blues in Boston this past Monday on September 28th, I must praise their opening act, a band called Purson, who hail from London, England.  I’d looked…

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  • Dirty Bangs opened the festival on Sunday, but I missed them because the trains from Lowell to Boston only run every two hours on the weekend.  (You’d think they would at least run as often as weekdays with people going into Boston for sporting events, concerts, and other leisure activities on the weekends, but, nope.)  I…

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  • Looking around at Boston Calling on Saturday, I found myself in awe of how much work goes into making the festival happen.  Never mind hiring the artists and determining who’ll play which slots, just erecting the two stages and everything else that has to be assembled to turn City Hall Plaza from a wide open…

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  • Boston Calling kicked off its sixth edition of the three day, 23 artists festival last night at City Hall Plaza and it was spectacular.  People were calling it “folk night,” since the line up consisted of Gregory Alan Isakov, Of Monsters and Men, who performed at the inaugural BC during May 2013, and The Avett Brothers, who…

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  • To quote the song itself, “Red alert – it’s contagious!” If ever a song summed itself up perfectly, it’s half Dutch, half Indian singer/songwriter Nathassia’s ultra-hot new single, “Contagious,” which we are very excited to be premiering on Love is Pop! It starts off with dark and seductive Massive Attack-esque trip-hop percussion, Nathassia’s vocals sounding…

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  • Back in 2012 I came across a song called “Karma Debt” by The Mynabirds and instantly fell in love with it. The sound of Laura Burhenn’s vocals alone was bewitching, equal parts velvety smooth and soulful, but her thought-provoking lyrics about war and debt were what really made my brain light up like a Christmas…

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  • Review and all photos by Maia Kennedy When the news broke 7 months ago that the Foo Fighters were coming to Boston, tickets sold out instantly. Several months later, an audible gasp went out worldwide when Foo lead singer Dave Grohl broke his leg on tour in Sweden. It looked likely that they would have to…

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