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Matthew Murphy's Post-Wombats Project Sounds a Lot Like the Wombats (And It's a Good Thing)

While UK anxiety-pop auteurs the Wombats are currently hibernating, frontman Matthew "Murph" Murphy goes it alone with a new band, a mess of deprecating new earworms, and revived energy.

                                      
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PopMatters is moving to WordPress. We will publish a few essays daily while we develop the new site. We hope the beta will be up sometime late next week.

While UK anxiety-pop auteurs the Wombats are currently hibernating, frontman Matthew "Murph" Murphy goes it alone with a new band, a mess of deprecating new earworms, and revived energy.

On her self-titled eighth solo album, Melanie C is finally ready to shatter the illusion and to form her true self among the pieces.

David Poe's "Gun for a Mouth" works in a fine tradition of smart, hook-driven American songwriting that lands between Matthew Sweet and Kevin Gilbert.

Gloom Balloon's Patrick Tape Fleming considers what making a music video during a pandemic might involve because, well, he made one. Could Fellini come up with this plot twist?

Brian Cullman's "Someday Miss You" taps into American roots music, carries it across the Atlantic and back for a sound that is both of the past and present.

The first PopMatters Picks Playlist column features searing Americana from Rett Madison, synthpop from Everything and Everybody, the stunning electropop of Jodie Nicholson, the return of post-punk's Folk Devils, and the glammy pop of Baby FuzZ.

The Parson Red Heads' "Turn Around" is a pop tune, but pop as heard through ears more attuned to AM radio's glory days rather than streaming playlists and studio trickery.

Influenced by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Blitzen Trapper's new album Holy Smokes, Future Jokes plumbs the comedic horror of the human condition.

"[Pandemic lockdown] has been a detriment to many people's mental health," notes Nat Puff (aka Left at London) around her incendiary, politically-charged new album, "but goddamn it if I haven't been making some bops here and there!"

Austin's Mobley makes upbeat-sounding, soulful pop-rock songs with a political conscience, as on his latest single, "James Crow".

Southwest London's the Motive concoct catchy, indie-pop earworms with breezy melodies, jangly guitars, and hooky riffs, as on their latest single "You".

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Barenaked Ladies' Maroon, we offer a song by song reflection on why the Canadian group's fifth LP is so triumphant.

Released back in September 2000, Maroon saw Barenaked Ladies confronting adulthood and leaving novelty behind.

Journalist Brian Cullman teams with members of Ollabelle for an LP that serves as a testament to his friendship with the late Jimi Zhivago.

BAERS are a new pop-rock band out of Germany that marry cabaret-esque vocals to funky bass, hook-filled hummable choruses, and a dash of Weimar flair on "Augen Zu".

Yachtclub101's "Leave Me Alone" sparkles with glorious pop melodies, bubbly synths, infectious dance beats, sing-along choruses, and cats.

Badfinger's Joey Molland shares "Rainy Day Man" ahead of a new album. At 73, Molland remains optimistic about the future. "I'm a positive guy and I don't care how dire a situation looks," he says.

"Better Off" highlights alternative pop's Ty Trehern's marriage of dark and light. "There is a difference between wants and needs," he says.

Los Angeles' SHOCKEY goes in for a bit of glam rock mixed with lo-fi, slacker pop on an ode to the joys of being "high".

Nashville glam-rockers, the Blam Blams' Opening Night is a glittery concept album overflowing with skill and melody.

For their eighth studio album, The Game, Queen ushered in the 1980s with a streamlined sound and an instrument they formerly took great pains to avoid.

Forty-five years after Born to Run's release, the breakthrough third LP from American music legend Bruce Springsteen has lost none of its passion and promise.

New Jersey's Creeptones play the type of catchy pop-rock that lodges earworms in your skull forever. "Soul Fire" is just the latest example.

Pleasure Line shows that Video Age clearly have the musical chops to pull off a precise pastiche, but it also shows a band that went too far down that rabbit hole.

Imploding the Mirage marginally reinvents the Killers' sound, but the lyrics problematically redesign archaic ideology, resulting in a regressive album.

The Lemon Twigs' influences and tastes run deep, and Songs for the General Public shows that they can wrap all these ideas into a beautiful, oddly consistent package.

Dreamy bits of sunshine find their way through the clouds of dreams dashed and lives on the brink of despair on "Blue Coast" from soulful rockers the Brevet.

A monster hit for Meredith Brooks in the late 1990s, "Bitch" gets a new lease on life from its co-creator, Shelly Peiken. "It's a bit moodier than the original but it touts the same universal message," she says.

Ryan Hamilton's "Oh No" features guest vocals from Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo, and appears on Nowhere to Go But Everywhere out 18 September.

Once reviled as bloated and pretentious, Elton John's 1976 album Blue Moves, is one of his masterpieces, argues author Matthew Restall in the latest installment of the 33 1/3 series.

Fleetwood Mac are the rare group that feature both a fine discography and a successful series of solo LPs from their many members. Here are ten examples of the latter.

Alanis Morissette's Such Pretty Forks in the Road is an exposition of dolorous truths, revelatory in its unmasking of imperfection.

Help! is the record on which the Beatles really started to investigate just how much they could get away with. The album was released 55 years ago this week, and it's the kick-off to our new "All Things Reconsidered" series.

The upcoming reissue of the Orange Peels' 1997 debut album offers 40 tracks and plenty of insights into the group's creative process. Bandleader Allen Clapp recalls how one stunning song blossomed.

Tedo Stone's Same Old Kid finds him crafting catchy indie pop that's nostalgic without losing a sense of the present.

From massive hits to obscure, experimental pop compositions, Brian Wilson's music is always thoughtful, idiosyncratic, and as thrilling today as it was in the 1960s.

Emerging "surf alternative R&B" trio We the Commas' feel-good, soulful single feels "Custom Made" for summer.