From inner London’s famous sites to the suburbs, its a melting pot of people, culture and music, of fame and fortune, fires, pioneers and history’s rebuilding. It’s time to go metropolitan and capture this great city in song

Indian classical to the ‘67 Summer of Love, psychedelia and into the beyond, this beguiling instrument has coloured eastern and western music for decades. Guest playlister Nicko plucks out many magical sounds from last week’s theme

What’s that sound? It is most associated with a master of Indian classical, but this week we also explore how the sitar has crossed into western and other genres, including electric and electronic recreations

Is it your lifetime ambition to visit them all? But what about those of the Ancient World, not longer around? Inspired by last week’s topic, guest playlister ShivSidecar takes us on a wonderful musical journey through time and geography …

Ancient or modern, long gone or still standing, man-made or even natural, these sites are monuments that inspire universal awe and imagination, and bring us together. But how are they captured in song?

New album: A stylishly fun, funky, eccentric electronica, indie and hip-hop creative concoction by the South Korean collective known as “alternative K-pop”, who perform partly in English with a madcap second LP, this time a concept around “the narrative of ‘Gongbu Korea,’ a fictional research institute where experimental technologies are used to observe and document human dreams and the unconscious

New album: An evocative, stirring, atmospheric and moving sixth album of desert blues and rock by the Malian Kel Tamasheq (Touareg) band whose name means ‘connection’ or ‘union’ in Tamasheq and this title pointing to ‘voyage’ to chart their two-decade journey

New album: This eclectic, experimental second LP by the Minneapolis-based Sudanese-American non-binary singer and actor features Bon Iver (aka Justin Vernon) on three tracks, and plays with deconstructions of indie, R&B, electronic pop dance, baile funk and Sudanese folk, themed around home, identity and difficult relationship in the shadow of climate change and AI’s advancement

New album: Superbly striking and stylish, eclectic third album by the Australian-Ghanaian artist Kofi Owusu-Ansah with punchy, political and social critique surge of hip-hop, punk, synth-pop, funk and dance music, he takes no prisoners with articulate anger at many ongoing subjects from billionaires to ignorance and racism

New album: The Iranian-American singer-songwriter, star producer and Vampire Weekend co-founder Rostam Batmanglij’s third solo LP mixes Americana with Persian sounds in a mellow, beautiful reflection of love songs also inspired by challenging, changing times

Song of the Day: Quirky, droll, entertaining, cleverly rhythmic, lo-fi experimental indie rock by the London trio and a song about personal improvement, heralding their debut album Role Model Hermit out on 3 July via AMF Records

Song of the Day: Catchy, wry, upbeat, perky whistle-along songwriting with lyrics about passive jealousy with echoes of classic Kinks come in this solo single by the Blur guitarist, heralding his upcoming album Castle Park out 19 June via Transgressive Records

Song of the Day: Darkly witty, humorous and catchy, and described as “a sort of disco-metal incantation” and themed around mental and physical health struggles but also love, this welcome return from Scotland’s Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat, heralds their upcoming new album, Half-Told Tales, out on September 4, via Rock Action Records

Song of the Day: A beautiful, fragile, quietly defiant new lo-fi folk number about vulnerability in an uneasy world by the revered Portland, Oregon singer-songwriter heralding her upcoming new albumTemple Songs, out on 14 August via her label Raven Marching Band Records

Song of the Day: Stylish, voluminous, experimental hip-hop and electropunk by the London band led by Marco Pini and Felix Bayley-Higgins who, with just a few singles out, have supported influences LCD Soundsystem and Fcukers