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52: Will the AI slopwave ruin music for good?
We all know what happened to the sorcerer’s apprentice, right?Mickey Mouse got hold of a spell book before he was smart enough to use it, conjured a broom that just wouldn’t quit, and nearly got sucked into a whirlpool. Yet, tragically, no one can remember what the moral of this story was supposed to be!This week we batten down the hatches in preparation for the #slopwave – at least, that was the plan a couple of months ago when we first started worrying about the volume of mass-produced AI gibberish coming down the pipes. Now it kinda feels too late? Like microplastics in the brain, we’re already compromised.Still, we start by tackling the current wave of AI slop infiltrating country music, the lo-fi beat scene, City Pop and faux-vintage soul before turning to deeper conundrums about AI-generated art. Could an AI music app like Suno ever produce a hit? Is Suno really so much worse than using a loop library like Splice? And will AI ever create anything as meaningful as Mr Blobby? These questions and more on a slopulent edition of No Tags.We’re not pretending to be experts here – just listen to that new No Tags theme song for proof! – so we’d love to hear from people who either work in AI or operate in a field that’s started to feel the slop. If that’s you, drop us an email or a comment. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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51: The best music of 2025 so far
And they said music journalism was dead. It’s list time, losers!When it comes to round-up episodes we like to draft in No Tags’ very own fifth Beatle, Henry Bruce-Jones. Minimal intro required here: we discuss our favourite music of 2025 so far, from the new wave of weird UK rappers to the changing faces of mainstream pop – plus rap oldheads, surveillance electro, minimal techno reboots and more. We didn’t include any of the records already discussed on the pod this year – including aya’s hexed and FKA twigs’ Eusexua – but they’re all still in the running for AOTY, of course.Below is a time-stamped rundown of everything we discussed, so feel free to skip ahead if certain corners aren’t your bag. We like to see No Tags as a conversation between us and you, so let us know your own most loved (and most hated) releases and trends of the year in the comments below, or maybe drop us a reply on Insta or send an email?If you like what we’re doing on No Tags (over 50 episodes deep now!), a really helpful way to support is by leaving us a rating on your podcast app of choice, or leaving us a review over at Apple Podcasts. You can also like or share this post on Substack, which makes a big difference – and if you really love the pod, you can subscribe to our paid tier for £5 per month. Thanks to this month’s new subscribers!Running orderPop Corner (07:40)Rap Corner (38:25)The UK ‘Underground’ (1:05:22)Dance Music Corner (1:27:04)Percies (1:41:42) Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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50: Jeff Weiss is still waiting for Britney Spears
Who’s on your Mount Rushmore of pop?That’s the question of the week. After welcoming Jeff Weiss back to London for a live show about his tremendous novel-slash-memoir, Waiting For Britney Spears, we got to thinking about our own pop album percies. 2007’s Blackout is certainly up there – ‘a lost weekend of one-more-gram indulgence’ that ‘embodied the hedonistic sleaze of the late Bush years,’ as Jeff sums it up in the book.Waiting For Britney… is a celebrity biography like no other – a gonzo account of Jeff’s time as a rookie in the world of Hollywood gossip rags, back when celebrities still had mystique and Brit still had a full head of hair. There is scandal and there are laughs, but never at the expense of its stricken central character. The words ‘leave Britney alone!’ never sounded more reasonable.At the end of June, Jeff blessed us with his presence at Young Space in East London, where we talked to him about paparazzi, poptimism, fedoras, K-Fed, and the chaotic energy of LA in the early 2000s, the era that feminism forgot. Plus, a working theory: why Britney, Kanye and Trump are the quintessential 21st century Americans. If you like what we’re doing on No Tags, please forward this email to someone else who’d like it, subscribe on your podcast app of choice – or better yet, leave us a nice review. And if you’re really into what we’re doing, please consider subscribing to our paid tier for £5 per month. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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49: When does a simulation become a dystopia?
It’s Glastonbury weekend, and we’re back with the Big Questions.Not a sentence we expected to be saying on No Tags, but we kick off by talking about Will Smith – specifically his recent appearance with London streamer du jour DJ AG. The Fresh Prince is in the middle of a generationally cringe promo run and we’ve been wanting to discuss AG’s streams for a while now, so these two forces colliding over a dubstep remix of the Men in Black theme felt like the perfect opportunity.If you’re looking for something more high-brow, well, you still have to get through Tom’s full review of the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll – aka Final Destination: Cotswolds. Once we’re through that, it’s onto higher ground, debriefing recent experiences at Polyphonic Eating with Yu Su, Warp Records’ ‘happening’ at The Barbican and a No Tags night out at Corsica for Hodge and Peverelist. Music writers who still go to clubs? Perish the thought!We always say it, but if you like what we’re doing on No Tags, please do rate and subscribe on your podcast app of choice – or better yet, leave us a review. This stuff really does help. And if you’re really into what we’re doing, please consider subscribing to our paid tier for £5 per month. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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48: How (not) to run a DIY festival, with Field Maneuvers
We talk about festivals a lot on No Tags, and usually the negative stuff: monopolisation, bad owners, overpriced cheesy chips. But good can still prevail, and are hopes are pinned on Field Maneuvers: an LED beacon of hope in the darkness, and an event that puts the comfort and enjoyment of ravers first. Perish the thought!In this episode, FM organisers Henry, Ele and Leon explain how they’ve just about stayed afloat for 12 years – or is it 13? They can’t quite remember. We talk about building a rave utopia from scratch, the influence of free party culture on FM, adapting to festival life as new parents, and the momentum behind the current boycott of KKR-owned festivals. There’s also a story about duck poo.Before that, Chal and Tom talk about the lack of muckracking journalists in the music industry, following on from the latest First Floor newsletter, and get into a stack of listener emails on side-of-stage access, babushka hoods, Afrohouse and Keinemusik. We’ve had some golden feedback emails lately – please keep them coming!If you’re a fan of No Tags and want to show us some love, please do drop us a like and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Substack. And if you really like what we’re doing, please do consider subscribing to our paid tier, which costs £5 per month. Planning, recording, editing and transcribing these regular podcasts is a pleasure but it’s also a lot of work, and your support truly does make a difference. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
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