She Drew The Gun – Something For The Pain / Resister

January 13, 2019 Peter Kimpton

Louisa Roach from She Drew The Gun

Song of the Day: A pair of finely crafted and powerful songs addressing pain and ongoing social problems from the Liverpool indie pop band fronted by singer and songwriter Louisa Roach from the 2018 album Revolution of Mind

Hen Ogledd – Problem Child

January 4, 2019 Peter Kimpton

Hen Oggled, featuring Richard Dawson, second from right

Song of the Day: It’s impossible to categorise this brilliant, heady mixture of folk and electronica with thudding bass, and oddball vocals, except it has an echo of late-70s Peter Gabriel about it

Once & Future Band – The Old Brain

December 17, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Once & Future Band

Song of the Day: After the frenzied blood in the brain by Pom Poko, a slower, but rather beautiful number on grey matter by the rock band from Oakland, California fronted by Joel Robinow

Pom Poko – My Blood

December 14, 2018 Peter Kimpton

High hopes: Pom Poko, from Norway

Song of the Day: The next body-aware song comes in a new one from the Norwegian pop-punk quartet – a cartoonish, sugar-rush tribute to the energising red stuff that runs right through us all

Julia Jacklin – Body / Head Alone

December 8, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Julia Jacklin

Song of the Day: “It’s just my body. I guess it’s just my life.” Two of several telling lines from a pair of beautifully powerful songs by the the Australian singer-songwriter from her forthcoming album, Crushing

Mush – Gig Economy

November 23, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Economic gigging: Mush

Song of the Day: Continuing from Bas Jan's songs, a recent number by the indie Leeds-formed quartet that with frantic energy reveals the impossibility of the 21st century model of freelance employment

Bas Jan (Serafina Steer) – Instant Nostalgia / Profile Picture

November 21, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Bas Jan

Song of the Day: “I am not a company but I keep getting these emails.” Continuing the freelance life theme after yesterday’s Toro Y Moi track, two new and witty pop songs from the trio of Serafina Steer, and now Emma Smith, and Rachel Horwood

Toro y Moi – Freelance

November 20, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Save your work: Toro y Moi

Song of the Day: Focusing on the difficulties of creative self-employment, this is in an engagingly funky, eccentric off-the-wall new single by the South Carolina songwriter, record producer and graphic designer from his forthcoming 2019 album Outer Peace

Fatoumata Diawara – Nterini

August 8, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Fatoumata Diawara

Song of the Day: After a series of longer established African stars, a more contemporary one – the Ivory Coast born singer songwriter, from her 2018 album, Fenfo (Something To Say), with a song about mass migration

LUMP (Laura Marling & Mike Lindsay) – Curse of the Contemporary

June 1, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Hair today. Mysterious LUMP dancing.

Song of the Day: Yesterday we highlighted two of Joni MItchell's finest from, and with a California connection, here an English singer-songwriter with a voice that soars with comparable quality, alongside beautiful, otherworldly music from the Tunng frontman and producer

Trembling Bells – I'm Coming / Christ's Entry Into Govan

May 28, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Old and yet new: Trembling Bells album cover for 2018's Dungeness

Song of the Day: Following our previous track by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, new songs from the Scottish-formed folk band who collaborated with him on the 2012 album The Marble Downs, but two here from their new LP Dungeness

Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert (featuring Siobhan Wilson) – Cockcrow

May 15, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert

Song of the Day: After yesterday's duo with Bill Wells. another link to Aidan Moffat alongside two other Scottish artists in a beautiful dialogue song between two ex-lovers talking about past and present

Childish Gambino – This Is America

May 9, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover in a still from the video by Hiro Murai

Song of the Day: Continuing our ongoing edgy theme, this time on a different plain – a super-sharp, ironic cultural commentary with one of the most talked about videos in years by the US rapper, actor and comedian, aka Donald McKinley Glover Jr.

Parquet Courts – Almost Had to Start a Fight / In and Out of Patience

April 29, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Parquet Courts – Wide Awake in 2018

Song of the Day: Yesterday's Bodega song was a cri de coeur against passivity, today's by another great New York band is the opposite - capturing the reactionary side of our fractious times in a two-part number

Bodega – How Did This Happen?

April 28, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Bodega

Song of the Day: It's a question many ask in the current state of world affairs, but this terrific song by the New York band manages to pose political questions and still be enormously engaging in both music and lyrics

Janelle Monáe – Make Me Feel

March 10, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Janelle Monáe

Song of the Day: It's Saturday, time to get a little bit sexy, and bang up to date with a brand new number that might remind you of someone? Yes Prince did indeed help US singer and rapper Monáe with this before he left us.

Go-Kart Mozart - When You're Depressed / Relative Poverty

February 23, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Go-Kart Mozart's Lawrence, a genius at upbeat-downbeat indie pop

Song of the Day returns with two gloriously upbeat numbers with downbeat titles by Lawrence, formerly of Felt and Denim, from his brand new 17-track album Mozart's Mini Mart

David Byrne – Everybody's Coming to My House / Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime

February 9, 2018 Peter Kimpton

David Byrne

Song of the Day: That's not my beautiful house! Or is it? Today we may find ourselves comparing two sublime songs, two houses, one brand new and a classic from the Talking Heads Remain in Light album of 1980

Ezra Furman – Love You So Bad

February 8, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Ezra Furman never fails to be entertaining on stage

A beautifully upbeat, mischievous, wistful, passionate number from the new album, Transangelic Exodus by the Chicago indie rock singer-songwriter, in which "the past is the past, but the present's nothing without it"

Field Music – Count It Up

February 5, 2018 Peter Kimpton

Field Music's 2018 album Open Here

Song of the Day: How to create a value system for modern life? Just as this is hard to quantify, it is equally difficult to categorise the musical style of the Sunderland band, whose latest, sixth album, Open Here, addresses a variety of contemporary issues

DRINK OF THE WEEK
Beer & Coffee breakfast cocktail

Brooklyn_Brew_Shop_Beer_and_Coffee_Breakfast_Cocktail.jpg

SNACK OF THE WEEK
pancake sausage on a stick

MORE MUSIC …

Featured

Apr 17, 2019

New albums: Fontaines D.C., Anderson Paak, Chemical Brothers, Pom Poko, Labrinth, Sia and Diplo (LSD), The Leisure Society, Sun Kil Moon, Stubbleman, Band of Skulls, Eli 'Paperboy' Reed, Bibio

Apr 17, 2019

Alongside frenetic and fresh punk and postpunk from Fontaines D.C. and Pom Poko, and dance music from Chemical Brothers, this week’s selection also includes a beautiful spread of mellow records from Anderson Paak and others

Apr 17, 2019

Apr 9, 2019

New albums: Weyes Blood, David Bowie, Jess Ribeiro, W.H. Lung, Pozi, Ratso, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Shana Cleveland, Rozi Plain, Priests

Apr 9, 2019

Exquisite vocals and electronica and female vocalists decorate this weeks list, from Weyes Blood to Jess Ribeiro and Shana Cleveland, plus sharp postpunk from Pozi, beautiful songs by Ratso with Nick Cave, and rare, early Bowie

Apr 9, 2019

Apr 3, 2019

New albums: Edwyn Collins, Billie Eilish, White Denim, Beth Gibbons, Unkle, Ohtis, Gerry Cinnamon, Show Me The Body, The Matthew Herbert Big Band

Apr 3, 2019

This week’s selection spans the full range from the quirky pop of Billie Eilish to the triumphant return of Edwyn Collins, masterful prog from White Denim to Beth Gibbons doing Henryk Górecki with a Polish orchestra

Apr 3, 2019

Mar 26, 2019

New albums: Lambchop, Ibibio Sound Machine, These New Puritans, Lucy Rose, Jenny Lewis, The Hare and Hoofe, Olcay Bahir, Jayda G

Mar 26, 2019

This week? New experimentation by Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner, dance-funk from Ibibio Sound Machine, complex melancholy from These New Puritans, hilarious prog rockers Hare and Hoofe, and fabulous female singer-songwriters

Mar 26, 2019

Featured

Apr 7, 2019

Michael Chapman – It's Too Late / Rainmaker

Apr 7, 2019

Song of the Day: A pair of songs that bookend the remarkable and prolific career of the great, influential folk guitarist-singer from Leeds, from his debut album of 1969, Rainmaker, to his latest in 2019, True North

Apr 7, 2019

Mar 27, 2019

The Beat – I Can't Get Used To Losing You / Mirror In The Bathroom / Whine and Grine / Stand Down Margaret

Mar 27, 2019

Song of the Day: A short musical tribute after the sad loss of Ranking Roger, co-lead singer and MC with the Birmingham ska band that along with Specials became a cornerstone of British and Jamaican music at its best

Mar 27, 2019

Mar 25, 2019

Scott Walker – The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore) / My Death / Brando / The Childhood Of A Leader

Mar 25, 2019

Song of the Day: A short musical tribute to the great and now sadly late American-born British singer and composer with that extraordinary baritone voice, from his Walker Brothers pop era to a solo career of great influence, innovation and experiment

Mar 25, 2019

Mar 18, 2019

Dick Dale – Let's Go Trippin' / Misirlou

Mar 18, 2019

Song of the Day: A tribute to the king of the surf guitar after his recent passing aged 81, hugely influential on Jimi Hendrix and other rock guitarists, the left-hander’s rock guitar style was shaped by his Lebanese background

Mar 18, 2019

Mar 12, 2019

Momus – The Age of Information

Mar 12, 2019

Song of the Day: To mark the 30th anniversary of the world wide web, a very prescient 1997 song about the online world by the prolific Scottish artist also known as Nick Currie from his 11th studio album (of dozens), Ping Pong

Mar 12, 2019

Mar 8, 2019

PJ Harvey – Sheela-Na-Gig (for International Women's Day)

Mar 8, 2019

Song of the Day: Today’s song, in celebration of women, is from the British singer-songwriter from her debut album Dry – a robust defence of and pride in the female body in response to an insulting lover

Mar 8, 2019

Mar 4, 2019

The Prodigy – Breathe

Mar 4, 2019

Song of the Day: Another sudden death of a great performer, and this time a tribute to the Prodigy’s Keith Flint, who began as a dancer for the punk rave band, but who’s magnetic presence turned into a charismatic co-frontman

Mar 4, 2019

Mar 3, 2019

Tippa Irie – Complain Neighbour

Mar 3, 2019

Song of the Day: Returning to the nextdoor dispute theme, a fabulously catchy number the by Brixton reggae artists and DJ, aka Anthony Henry, relating neighbours’ noise clash from his 1986 album Is It Really Happening To Me

Mar 3, 2019

Featured

Apr 16, 2019

Word of the week: zambomba

Apr 16, 2019

Word of the week: The evocative Spanish name for a friction drum, similar to Brazilian samba’s cuíca, it is used around the world in ceremonious or celebratory music, working as a sound box via rubbing with stick, hand or wet cloth

Apr 16, 2019

Apr 2, 2019

Word of the week: aardvark (and aardwolf)

Apr 2, 2019

Word of the week: It’s that appealing, nocturnal, burrowing African mammal with a long snout that lives on ants and termites, but is also slang in parts of the US for an mistake-prone person and even an uncircumcised penis

Apr 2, 2019

Mar 25, 2019

Word of the week: bombast, bombastic, bombastry

Mar 25, 2019

Word of the Week: It describes high-sounding, pretentious, showy language with little meaning used to impress people, and explodes enjoyably when pronounced, but how it is used in lyrics, and does it affect the natures of the song itself?

Mar 25, 2019

Mar 17, 2019

Word of the week: craic (St. Patrick's Day special)

Mar 17, 2019

Word of the week: To celebrate St Patrick’s Day, here’s to that popular term for gossip, chat, fun banter, and entertainment, most commonly used in Ireland but also across the British Isles. But where does it come up in song lyrics?

Mar 17, 2019

Mar 5, 2019

Word of the week: donnybrook

Mar 5, 2019

Word of the Week: It means an uproarious drunken brawl, a scene of heated argument and fighting, and an Irish jig, but takes its name from a longstanding fair in a district of Dublin. So where does this word appear in lyrics?

Mar 5, 2019