The (Next) Week in Pop Culture

In the first of our weekly pop culture guides, we recommend a couple of season finales, an under-the-radar album release and a peek at the next generation of football stars.

Mad Men & Veep

Don at the start of season six

While the overbearing Bob Benson and Megan Draper-as-Sharon Tate conspiracy theories can finally be put to bed, season six of Matthew Weiner's award-winning brainchild still has plenty of questions to answer during its last hour, chief among them - how low can Don Draper go? And what of Peggy's infatuation with the hot-and-cold (and awesome) Ted? Set against the backdrop of civil unrest and high profile assassinations during the late-'60s, the 12 episodes so far have been dark, depressing and unequivocally brilliant. One thing's for sure: Things are about to get a whole lot worse. 
   The decidedly more popular Mad Men is not the only TV show coming to a season's end this week. Veep, starring an inspired Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the bumbling Vice President of the United States Selina Meyer, has delivered plenty of solid laughs and stinging satire in its second season, and we can expect more of the same when Selina and her ragtag staff go into crisis management mode in the aftermath of her decision to run for President. 
Sun, 10pm on AMC and HBO respectively.

Light Heat - s/t
Quentin Stoltzfus has some tough acts to follow. Over the past week, Canadian dark-wave outfit Austra came out of nowhere to dazzle on the gorgeous Olympia, while Sigur Ros's latest effort Kveikur was another beauty to add to the Icelanders' already impressive back catalogue. But judging by some of the George Harrison circa 'What is Life' sounds from single 'And The Birds..', Mazarin mainstay Stoltzfus's new project Light Heat promises to be a welcome addition to a '60s psych-pop revival instigated by Tame Impala and Foxygen in recent years.  
Out Jun 25 on Ribbon Music.

Under-20 World Cup

Jese and Gerard Deulofeu

Sure, there's the Confederations Cup in Brazil, which has so far proven to be great value for entertainment (Italy's dramatic 4-3 victory over a spirited Japanese side comes to mind); however, we can't help but be compelled by the raw talent on show at Turkey's Under-20 World Cup. The opening round of matches on Friday saw sterling performances by the Real Madrid-Barcelona dynamic duo of Jese and Gerard Deulofeu in Spain's 4-1 drubbing of the United States as well as Arsenal-bound Yaya Sanogo in France's convincing 3-1 win over 2009 winners Ghana. More of the same from a tournament that unearthed Luis Figo and Lionel Messi in the past, please?
Until Jul 13.