Popdose — Certain musical acts come along that are so original, so different, so forward leaning that their arrival brings irrevocable change to the fabric of pop music…even if chart placements and sales figures don’t back it up. The Ramones or Velvet Unde... more info

Guardian Music — Does it matter that pop music is stuck in the same old groove?Like many people of a certain age, the first thing I did upon going to university was to blow my entire student grant on records. Sixties French chansonnières, 30s Greek rembetika, seven-... more info

Guardian Music — Whether knocking on heaven's door or taking the highway to hell, here are your favourite songs about the great beyondPhew. Harold Camping's prediction of a rapture last weekend didn't materialise – though like all good self-publicists, he's doing h... more info

Altsounds — New York's finest and one of the founding fathers of punk music. With The Velvet Underground, Reed and his cohorts broke of mould of underground music, re-fashioning it with his own style and panache. A highly influential and respected musician and c... more info

Totally Fuzzy — Think Nico and Velvet Underground, think early days Patti Smith, think Siouxsie Sioux, think the Jesus and Mary Chain, think Raveonettes, think The Kills, then forget everything you've ever thought and heard before. BBC Tyne Introducing: Retrie... more info

Impose Magazine — Thank Friendship Bracelet for bringing our attention to the new attention being given to founding (if temporary) Velvet Underground member Angus MacLise (1938-1979), and his work in percussive drone, as exemplified in a series of recordings he did wi... more info

Totally Fuzzy — "Most of us know by now that anything that comes by way of Big Scary Monsters is guaranteed to please. For the longest time, the only Tangled Hair tracks to my name were the four I had downloaded sometime last year. And they were getting worn out â... more info

Totally Fuzzy — This is one excellent album, posted almost anonymously on SoundCloud. I had to google to find even the slightest bit of info. Why are these guys underselling themselves like this? I mean it's nice to see them not boasting and bragging like some do, ... more info

Guardian Music — (Papillons Noirs)The debut album from Help Stamp Out Loneliness is packed with tongue-in-cheek pop-culture references: they quote Magnetic Fields lyrics and serenade American pulp model Angelyne; even their name comes from an old country ditty. But ... more info

Topix — Rock and roll without the Velvet Underground or the Stooges is as unimaginable as rock and roll without Chuck Berry . more info