To the POmpous and OPinionated: You POOPin this year? If you’re getting one of these for the first time, POOP is our annual exercise in self-importance wherein we compile “Best Of 2017′ lists, to be published in a quaint ol’ print edition as well as online. This year will be our 31st annual exercise in swillification. A refresher about the rules and deadlines is in order: Limit yourself to what would be 2 sides of 8×11 paper. Leave a slight margin so your swill does not get lost in the binding of the hard copy. Any layout format that works…

Dave Allen (Gang of Four) wades in to the Emily White / Dave Lowery fracas with a considered piece defending White. The question of Free Culture’s approach to the current (and past) music industry is yielding some of the most interesting discussions and thinking about the venn diagram of internet, culture and law. The Internet could not care less about your mediocre band. (Dave Allen, North)

Interesting look at how a song retreats and advances in the cultural consciousness: The Talking Heads song that explains Talking Heads – " This Must Be The Place" The New Yorker.

Yup, It’s pretty damn cool. There’s the great man’s home studio! You can click on various items to find various resources. But the thing most of us will go for first is the record box. When you click the record box you are taken to his record collection. From the blog about the site: After some deliberation we decided that the best way to start the process was to release the details of the first 100 albums, listed alphabetically, from each letter of the alphabet each week. So on 1st May we will release the first 100 A’s, on 8th…

Zip’s Ziggurat presents another Huge! Insane! Music Yard Sale 10,000s of LPs , CDs, 45s +12”s rock, pop, hip hop, country, dance, world, folk, reggae, soul, alt.rock, jazz, funk, punk, r+b, metal, classical, techno, new wave, house, old-timey, breaks, spoken, 80’s, electro, blues, promos, DVDs (music + features), tons more Insultingly low prices As low as $0.50 (hey, some are even “cheaper than free”) Listen before you buy Free refreshments too! Memorial Day Weekend Saturday + Sunday + Monday 10am – 5pm May 29 to 31 All covered, so it’s RAIN OR SHINE Osnas Lane Near Rt 212 + Glasco…

And would the Shop Assistants have gone further had they been produced by Richard Gottehrer?

Thanks to Will for the tip

Recently published photos of Steve McQueen reveal the “King of Cool” to be a vicious vinyl-abusing fan of shag carpeting. Leaving aside the issue of the carpeting, for which he perhaps cannot be blamed, let us dive headlong into the horror. In one particularly gruesome shot (above) McQueen straddles a graveyard of records strewn on the carpet while he looms over his next victim. The experienced music fan will recognize this as a virulent strain of the vinyl-abuser’s sickness; the massacre of innocent vinyl in search of the perfect song (or “side”) to match the mood. Is it so hard…

The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock And Roll Charlie Gillett’s master work. As this post goes to press you could get it used from $4.76 Highly recommended.

We don’t post too many RIPs here, but on trawling the net the other day we came across this oddity from 1996. Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughan and Alan Vega get together for some true spookiness. Hadn’t really occurred to us to post it, but the news of Alex Chilton’s death prompted me to go back to it, It’s a very different sound for him, far removed from the sweet harmonies and jangle we usually associate with him.

Uffie feat. Mr Oizo – MCs Can Kiss Annie Mac played it the other day and the context made it sound good enough to listen to again. On my fifth listen I am still conflicted. Her attitude is great, but the beat isn’t. Her lyrics are stupid/fun but the flow ain’t fine. The hook is sharp but …. Oh I give up. Perhaps this is the natural end product of the “poptimist” critical approach. BTW: Starkey did a remix – and for once it is not too good.