Six famous paintings of revelry and contemplation from the 17th to 20th centuries with contrasting moods, scenes and actions all stimulated readers’ lyrical caption and musical accompaniment. Guest playlister Nicko curates the collection with artful endeavour. Drink it all in…

It may be that tricky area no man’s land, of the in-between, and where beginning’s expectation meets reality. Inspired by last week’s nominations, guest Maki gets straight to the pivot point to celebrate this neglected topical territory

As we suddenly approach 21st June again, it’s time to explore concept and imaginative meaning of life's perceived halfway points, from the solstice to geographical centres to middles, the axis mundi, the half moons, to the half-times …

Jigsaws to crosswords, Rubik’s Cubes to riddles, they are not only fun stimulators to our brains, but in song lyrics can also be metaphor for life. Guest playlister Marco den Ouden presents his pick of puzzles from last week’s topic

New album: “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing,” once half-joked Queen’s guitarist Brian May, and as one of Muse’s big muses, the British rock trio take that full galactic maxim to the max in this entertainingly over-the-top 10th LP inspired themes of space and alien life

New album: A mesmerically powerful collection of field recordings and remixes of the Brazilian religious and musical ritual tradition of candomblé, originating in the 19th century among enslaved west Africans who used polyrhythmic drumming and chanting circles to induce possession by spirits

New album: A dazzling debut of diversity and experimentation by the Saudi Arabia-born, Sudan- and London-raised raised Ethiopian–Egyptian artist, producer, and visual creative, who inventively channels her rich musical heritage, with English, Amharic and Arabic lyrics, blending the traditional and modern, and inspired by the diaspora experience

New album: Exquisitely beautiful, vulnerable, raw and sensitively emotional, candid ninth LP in now over three decades by the British singer-songwriter, self-producing again after 2022’s Weather Alive, with a group of highly accomplished, complementary musicians, and lyrical themes of survival and renewal, motherhood and identity, political unease, and deciding to stay - in love, in art, and in the world

New album: Extremely evocative, darkly visceral and elegiac, this folk-based soundtrack by the Sheffield singer-singer and composer captures the deeply unromantic and violent new feature film depicting Hood as a criminal non-hero from writer/director Michael Sarnoski and starring Hugh Jackman, very much stands on its own as album

Song of the Day: An updated indie-rock style as well as optimistic theme by the post-punk band from York fronted by the articulate presence of James Smith, heralding their new album, You’re Gonna Need a Little Music, out on 17 Jul via Island/Universal

Song of the Day: A catchy, wistful, propulsive take on the classic acoustic American road song with a heartfelt singalong chorus from the project of Brooklyn’s Nate Amos (also one half of Water From Your Eyes), heralding his upcoming new album The Singer In My Band, out on 11 September via Matador Records

Song of the Day: The acclaimed British artist returns with an ethereal, pensive, soaring, orchestral-backed number with swelling string arrangements and pulsing synthesiser signals stretching out into the cosmos: icy, ethereal, and pensive, inspired by NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 space probes that launched in 1977, now still transmitting on the move in interstellar space, the single now out on Partisan Records

Song of the Day: Delicately tuneful indie about approaching confrontation, by the Adelaide, Australian four-piece fronted by Venus O’Broin, are heralding their debut album, Mount Zero, on 17 July via Winspear Records

Song of the Day: A strident, stirring, shuffle-rhythm, kaleidoscopic indie-rock meditation on resilience in the face of chaotic instability by the three-times Grammy nominated Kentucky-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and founding member of My Morning Jacket, heralding his new solo album, Wowed Out, due out 28 August via ATO Records