• #songoftheday = OH LAND: “I MISS ONE WEEK AGO” (#songsforourtimes #3)

    “I Miss One Week Ago” by Danish singer/songwriter/composer and Love is Pop favorite Oh Land is the first COV-19-inspired song we’ve come across. Although it’s somber, it does put things in perspective as she contemplates how a week ago she was stressing about losing her phone and now, well, everything is different.

    Read More

  • #songoftheday = LENKA: “THE END OF THE WORLD”(#songsforourtimes #2)

    Today’s song of the day is Lenka’s “The End Of The World,” which hails from her exquisite sophomore album, Two.

    Read More

  • #songoftheday = GLEN HANSARD: “SONG OF GOOD HOPE” (#songsforourtimes #1)

    As of today, I’m starting something new on Love is Pop. Until the COV-19 virus, otherwise known as the coronavirus, is behind us or we’re at least in a much better position than we’re in right now, I am going to post a song of the day each day that’s relevant to what’s going in…

    Read More

  • FRENCH-AMERICAN STYLE: AN INTERVIEW WITH ARIANE

    FRENCH-AMERICAN STYLE: AN INTERVIEW WITH ARIANE

    interview by Michael McCarthy The following interview with French American singer/songwriter Ariane took place last Thursday on the 12th of March 2020. Not long after many people in the United States had finally started to feel the gravity of the COV-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. I think both she and I felt a little strange doing an…

    Read More

  • CAUGHT UP IN A SPHERE: AN INTERVIEW WITH POLLY SCATTERGOOD

    CAUGHT UP IN A SPHERE: AN INTERVIEW WITH POLLY SCATTERGOOD

    interview by Michael McCarthy On May 1st, Polly Scattergood of solo and onDeadWaves fame will release her breath-taking new solo album, In This Moment. It features 12 tracks that each tell their own story, which one might breathe in like unique snapshots. These scenes portray everything from hospital waiting rooms to Viking sea burials to…

    Read More

  • AN AMERICAN CLASSIC: AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANCESCA LIA BLOCK

    AN AMERICAN CLASSIC: AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANCESCA LIA BLOCK

    interview by Michael McCarthy Have you ever read a book that was so haunting you’ve never been able to get it out of your head? One that stays with you that you can’t stop thinking about? That just randomly pops into your head at the strangest of times and lingers for days whenever it does?…

    Read More

  • 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…

    Read More

  • #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.

    Read More

  • 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…

    Read More

  • #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.

    Read More

  • #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…

    Read More

  • #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…

    Read More

  • #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.

    Read More

  • 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…

    Read More

  • 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…

    Read More

  5. Greetings! I just released my vocal and songwriter debut today called The Kryptonite EP and was reaching out to send…