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Ìxtahuele: Eden Ahbez's Dharmaland

June 12, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Ìxtahuele: Eden Ahbez's Dharmaland

Ìxtahuele: Eden Ahbez's Dharmaland

Album review: Serene, strange, magical a wonderful collection performed by the Swedish experimental band of newly discovered sheet music of instrumentals and songs by the composer best known for Nature Boy, written for Nat King Cole

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In albums, classical, experimental, jazz, traditional, soundtracks Tags Ìxtahuele, Eden Ahbez, Subliminal Sounds
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Loraine James: Reflection

June 9, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Loraine James’s third album, Reflection.

Loraine James’s third album, Reflection.

Album review: Restlessly imaginative, with arrhythmic oddness, jittery beats, sounds and disembodied voices, spoken word and trap-hop, this experimental electronica album by the London producer by is an candid expression of the mind in 2020 lockdown

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In albums, ambient, electronica, experimental, hip hop, trip-hop, spoken word Tags albums, new releases, Loraine James, Eden Samara, Xzavier Stone, Le3 bLACK, Hyperdub
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Greentea Peng: Man Made

June 7, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Greentea Peng’s debut LP Man Made

Greentea Peng’s debut LP Man Made

Album review: The debut album by the south Londoner is has woozy, easy, hazy, lazy summer feel, a mix of languid hip hop, reggae, jazz, and soul with a dash of dub, a dribble of drum’n’bass and even psych with a hippie sprinkle

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In albums, dub, experimental, hip hop, jazz, reggae, spoken word, trip-hop, soul Tags albums, new releases, Greentea Peng, Universal Music, AMF
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Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee

June 6, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee

Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee

Song of the Day: This third album by the American alt-pop singer-songwriter Michelle Zauner is full of tasty textures and ethereal melodies, inspired by the likes of Bjork, with songs, as she says “about recalling the optimism of youth and applying it to adulthood”

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In albums, experimental, pop Tags albums, new releases, Japanese Breakfast, Michelle Zauner
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Lord Huron: Long Lost

June 1, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Beautiful and strange: Long Lost by Lord Huron

Beautiful and strange: Long Lost by Lord Huron

Album review: Serene, dreamy, beautifully melodic alt-country-folk by the Michigan-bred, LA-based group, their fourth and perhaps best yet album is awash with road imagery, rich cinematic inserts and classic retro guitar sounds

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In albums, country, folk, pop, experimental Tags albums, new releases, Lord Huron, Whispering Pines Studios
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black midi: Cavalcade

May 30, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Black Midi’s Cavalcade album cover looks as it sounds

Black Midi’s Cavalcade album cover looks as it sounds

Album review: The British quartet’s second album after 2019’s Schlagenheim continues their boundary-pushing direction of frenetic, eclectic mix of the avant garde – jazz, funk, prog in a skilled delirium of wonderful compositions

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In albums, experimental, jazz, prog-rock, post-punk, psychedelia Tags albums, new releases, black midi, Rough Trade
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Gruff Rhys: Seeking New Gods

May 21, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Gruff Rhys – Seeking New Gods

Gruff Rhys – Seeking New Gods

Album review: This seventh solo album by the Super Furry Animals frontman set out as conceptual biography of East Asian active mountain volcano Mount Paektu, but this piano-led set of songs with a 70s psych-pop grandeur also has personal elements, and is produced by Beastie Boys producer Mario C

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In albums, electronica, experimental, pop, psychedelia Tags albums, new releases, Gruff Rhys, Mario C, Rough Trade
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Dodie: Build A Problem

May 12, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Dodie’s debut album Build A Problem

Dodie’s debut album Build A Problem

Album review: Intimate, delicate, often whispered and candid, the debut album from the 25-year-old Essex singer-songwriter and YouTube star Dodie Clark magically minimal through subtle cinematic arrangements of strings, piano guitar and clarinet

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In albums, experimental, folk Tags albums, new releases, Dodie
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Sophia Kennedy: Monsters

May 10, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Sophia Kennedy’s Monsters - impossible to control or define

Sophia Kennedy’s Monsters - impossible to control or define

Album review: An unholy, beguiling and at times mischievously brilliant mixture of pop, Tin Pan Alley, vintage showtunes, hip hop, abstract electronica and horror film culture, the Baltimore-born, Hamburg-bred artist is just as impossible to define as to not enjoy

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In albums, electronica, experimental, hip hop, indie, jazz, musical theatre, R&B, soul, trip-hop Tags albums, new releases, Sophia Kennedy, City Slang
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Squid: Bright Green Field

May 8, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Squid’s full debut LP Bright Green Field

Squid’s full debut LP Bright Green Field

Album review: A bold, expansive, experimental and exciting full debut by the postpunk Brighton five-piece, with songs full of musical adventure and dynamic changes, combining krautrock, prog and even a dash of jazz

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In albums, experimental, indie, post-punk, prog-rock Tags albums, new releases, Squid, Dan Carey, Warp Records
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Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis: She Walks In Beauty

May 1, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Poetic ends: friends Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis

Poetic ends: friends Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis

Album review: Alongside music by the Australian composer and musician, the iconic singer recites well-known poems from Coleridge, Keats, Wordsmith and more, with addition sounds by friends Nick Cave, Brian Eno and cellist Vincent Ségal

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In albums, ambient, electronica, experimental, poetry, spoken word Tags albums, new releases, Marianne Faithfull, Warren Elllis, Nick Cave, Brian Eno
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Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley: Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflective

April 14, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley

Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley

Album review: This first collaborative release between the Virginia songwriter, producer, and founder of Spacebomb Records and the Alabama sculptor is an experimental fusion of jazz, funk, electronica and exclamatory spoken-word observation

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In albums, experimental, electronica, funk, jazz Tags Songs, albums, new releases, Matthew E. White, Lonnie Holley, Jagjaguwar, Spacebomb Records, city life, social media
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Ben Howard: Collections From The Whiteout

April 6, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Ben Howard’s fourth LP Collections From The Whiteout

Ben Howard’s fourth LP Collections From The Whiteout

Album review: After 2018’s Noonday Dream, the British singer-songwriter returns with a collaborative LP with guitarist Aaron Dessner of the National adding other talents that help stretches his styles beyond folk into electronica and beyond

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In albums, experimental, folk Tags albums, new releases, Ben Howard, Aaron Desner, Island Records
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Godspeed You! Black Emperor: G_d’s Pee AT STATE'S END!

April 5, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: G_d’s Pee AT STATE'S END!,

Godspeed You! Black Emperor: G_d’s Pee AT STATE'S END!,

Album review: The Montreal post-rockers return with their seventh and among their best to date, expressing the all the doom and the defiance of recent times, using field recordings, atmospheric orchestration, drone sounds, swingtime crescendos, and rich layers towers of distorted clarion sound

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In albums, post-punk, experimental Tags Godspeed You! Black Emperor, albums, new releases, instrumentals, post-rock
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Ryley Walker: Course In Fable

April 4, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Ryley Walker’s Course in Fable

Ryley Walker’s Course in Fable

Album review: A 10th album of seven highly agile, experimental prog-jazz acoustic guitar-based numbers deftly performed by the Illinois-born, New York-based singer-songwriter and produced by Tortoise's John McEntire

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In albums, experimental, jazz, indie, prog-rock Tags albums, new releases, Ryley Walker, Tortoise, John McEntire, Husky Pants Records
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Xiu Xiu: OH NO

March 31, 2021 Peter Kimpton
OH NO …

OH NO …

Album review: This 12th album by the Californian experimental electro-pop, postpunk band led by Jaime Stewart may be the most unusual of year, an oddball set of diverse duets with many guests that sometimes has the melodramatic quality of later Scott Walker

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In albums, experimental, electronica, post-punk, pop Tags albums, new releases, Xiu Xiu, Sharon Van Etten, Liars, Susanne Sachsee, Greg Saunier, Shearwater, Twin Shadow, Owen Pallett, Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo, Jaime Stewart, Chelsea Wolfe, Alice Bag
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Tune-Yards: Sketchy.

March 27, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Sketchy: Tune-Yards

Sketchy: Tune-Yards

Album review: Rhythmically complex, and restlessly clever, the latest release by California’s Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner wrestles with a variety of issues from gentrification to gender privilege and climate disaster

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In albums, electronica, experimental, indie Tags Songs, albums, new releases, tUnE-yArDs, Merrill Garbus, 4AD
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Hannah Peel: Fir Wave

March 27, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Circularities and patterns in nature: Hannah Peel’s Fir Wave

Circularities and patterns in nature: Hannah Peel’s Fir Wave

Album review: The electronic music composer’s mesmeric LP is inspired by the cyclical and fractal patterns of nature with access to and reinterpretations of the original music of the celebrated 1972 KPM 1000 series: Electrosonic, the music of Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

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In albums, ambient, electronica, experimental Tags albums, new releases, Hannah Peel, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Delia Derbyshire, botany, evolution
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For Those I Love: For Those I Love

March 27, 2021 Peter Kimpton
David Balfe

David Balfe

Album review: Moving, passionate, angry, grief-stricken and tender, this mix of beats, samples and striking spoken word lyrics by the Dublin performer and producer David Balfe is a powerful tribute to a lost friend

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In electronica, dance music, experimental, hip hop, poetry, post-punk Tags albums, new releases, For Those I Love, David Balfe, spoken word, dance, Dublin
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William Doyle: Great Spans of Muddy Time

March 24, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Wondrous wallowing: Great Spans of Muddy Time by William Doyle

Wondrous wallowing: Great Spans of Muddy Time by William Doyle

Album review: Inspired by the work of Robert Wyatt, early Eno, Berlin-era Bowie and Syd Barrett, this is intriguingly experimental, challenging but at times beautiful electronica work by the artist previously known as East India Youth

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In ambient, electronica, experimental, albums Tags albums, new releases, electronica, William Doyle, East India Youth, Tough Love
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DRINK OF THE WEEK

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New Albums …

Featured
Favourite Albums of 2025 - Part 3.jpeg
Dec 18, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part Three
Dec 18, 2025

Welcome to the third and final part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also Part One, and Part Two. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Dec 18, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part Two.jpeg
Dec 17, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part Two
Dec 17, 2025

Welcome to the second part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also a first part and a third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Dec 17, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part 1 updated.jpg
Dec 16, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part One
Dec 16, 2025

Welcome to the first part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There will also be a second and third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Dec 16, 2025
Juliana Hatfield.jpeg
Dec 16, 2025
Juliana Hatfield: Lightning Might Strike
Dec 16, 2025

New album: Personal upheaval, grief, powerlessness, trauma, sudden change inform the title and colour the lyrics of this latest LP by the seasoned Boston indie artist but her songs are packed with brutally honest, candid, concise reflections and warm, catchy, stirring riffs and melodies

Dec 16, 2025
Dove Ellis - Blizzard.jpeg
Dec 9, 2025
Dove Ellis: Blizzard
Dec 9, 2025

New album: An extraordinarily mature, passionate, poetic, and outstandingly powerful debut by the Manchester-based Galway-born singer-songwriter, whose soaring delivery has instant echoes of Jeff Buckley and lyrics that go above and beyond

Dec 9, 2025
Spíra by Ólöf Arnalds.jpeg
Dec 5, 2025
Ólöf Arnalds: Spíra
Dec 5, 2025

New album: A gorgeous, delicate, ethereal first release in a decade by the Icelandic singer-songwriter, acoustic instruments and her gentle, high, pure voice, all in her native language, caressing this listening experience like pure waters of some slowly trickling glacial stream

Dec 5, 2025
Melody's Echo Chamber - Unclouded.jpeg
Dec 5, 2025
Melody's Echo Chamber: Unclouded
Dec 5, 2025

New album: A fourth album, here full of delicious uplifting, dreamily chic, psychedelic soul pop by the French musician Melody Prochet, with bright, upbeat, optimistic numbers and a title lifted from a quote by the acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, about achieving equilibrium

Dec 5, 2025
Devotion & The Black Divine by anaiis.jpeg
Dec 2, 2025
anaiis: Devotion & The Black Divine
Dec 2, 2025

New album: Following a summer Song of the Day - Deus Deus, a review of the autumn release and third LP by the London-based French-Senegalese singer-songwriter of resonantly beautiful, dynamic, sensual soul, gospel, R&B and experimental and chamber pop, with themes of new motherhood, uncertainty, religion, self-love and acceptance

Dec 2, 2025
De La Soul - Cabin In The Sky.jpeg
Nov 26, 2025
De La Soul: Cabin In The Sky
Nov 26, 2025

New album: The hip-hop veterans return with their first without, yet including the voice of, and a tribute to, founding member Trugoy the Dove, AKA Dave Jolicoeur who passed away in 2023, alongside many hip-hop luminary guests, with trademark playful skits, and all themed around the afterlife

Nov 26, 2025
The Mountain Goats- Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan.jpeg
Nov 26, 2025
The Mountain Goats: Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan
Nov 26, 2025

New album: An evocative musical journey of a concept album by the indie-folk band from Claremont, California, fronted by singer-songwriter John Darnielle, based on a dream of his in 2023 about a voyage to a fictional island by the titular captain, charting adventure, wonder and tragedy

Nov 26, 2025
Allie X - Happiness Is Going To Get You.jpeg
Nov 26, 2025
Allie X: Happiness Is Going To Get You
Nov 26, 2025

New album: A hugely entertaining, witty, droll, inventive, chamber and synth-pop fourth LP with a goth twist by the charismatic and theatrical Canadian artist Alexandra Hughes, who brings paradox and dark themes through sounds that include string quartet, harpsichord, classical and pure pop piano with killer lyrics

Nov 26, 2025
Tortoise - Touch.jpeg
Nov 25, 2025
Tortoise: Touch
Nov 25, 2025

New album: A welcome return with a cinematic and mesmeric groove-filled first studio LP in nine years, and the eighth over all by the eclectic Chicago post-rock/jazz/krautrock multi-instrumentalists Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire and Jeff Parker

Nov 25, 2025
What of Our Nature by Haley Heynderickx, Max García Conover.jpeg
Nov 24, 2025
Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover: What of Our Nature
Nov 24, 2025

New album: Beautiful, precise, poignant and poetic new folk numbers inspired by the life and music style of Woody Guthrie as the Portland, Oregon and New Yorker, now Portland, Maine-based singer-songwriters bring a delicious duet album, alternating and sharing songs covering a variety of forever topical social issues

Nov 24, 2025
Tranquilizer by Oneohtrix Point Never.jpeg
Nov 24, 2025
Oneohtrix Point Never: Tranquilizer
Nov 24, 2025

New album: Ambient, otherworldly, cinematic, mesmeric, and at times very odd, the Brooklyn-based electronic artist and producer Daniel Lopatin returns with a new nostalgia-based concept – constructing tracks from lost-then-refound Y2K CDs of 1990s and early 2000s royalty-free sample electronic sounds

Nov 24, 2025

new songs …

Featured
Deadletter - To The Brim.jpeg
Dec 19, 2025
Song of the Day: DEADLETTER - To The Brim
Dec 19, 2025

Song of the Day: A moody, mysterious minute-long intro with gentle bursts of brass and woodwind veils what becomes a punchy new lead single by the Leeds post-punk band heralding their second LP - Existence is Bliss out on 27 February via SO Recordings

Dec 19, 2025
Greentea Peng - Prisoners Round.jpeg
Dec 18, 2025
Song of the Day: Greentea Peng - Prisoners Round
Dec 18, 2025

Song of the Day: Following March 2025’s acclaimed album, Tell Dem It’s Sunny, the south-east London artist (aka Aria Wells) returns with another smoky, dark, track with hues of blues, dub and soul and Portishead-esque trip-hop, focusing on the trappings and challenges of modern life

Dec 18, 2025
Kaitlyn Aurela Smith - I Miss The Way You Swim.jpg
Dec 17, 2025
Song of the Day: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - I Miss the Way You Swim
Dec 17, 2025

Song of the Day: Beautiful modular synths and intermingling orchestral sounds ripple in this work by the American composer, performer and producer in a piece shaped by loss of someone loved, taken from an upcoming instrumental album Thoughts On The Future, out on Nettwerk Music

Dec 17, 2025
The Paper Kites - If You Go There.jpeg
Dec 16, 2025
Song of the Day: The Paper Kites - Change Of The Wind
Dec 16, 2025

Song of the Day: A beautiful, reflective number by the alternative folk-rock band from Melbourne fronted by Sam Bentley, heralding their seventh studio album If You Go There, I Hope You Find It, out on 23 January via Nettwerk Music Group

Dec 16, 2025
Courtney Marie Andrews - Valentine.jpeg
Dec 15, 2025
Song of the Day: Courtney Marie Andrews - Little Picture Of A Butterfly
Dec 15, 2025

Song of the Day: Beautiful, delicate, fluttering, eclectic, heartbreak folk and Americana by the singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona, heralding her forthcoming new album, Valentine, out on 16 January via Loose Future

Dec 15, 2025
Peter Perrett - Proud To Be Self-Hating.jpeg
Dec 12, 2025
Song of the Day: Peter Perrett - PROUD TO BE SELF-HATING (irony and provocation)
Dec 12, 2025

Song of the Day: The veteran British artist, originally frontman of The Only Ones, and now with three solo albums, who actually has Jewish heritage, releases a gently powerful, nuanced, pro-Palestine acoustic number as a response to ongoing genocide by the Israeli government, out on Domino Records

Dec 12, 2025
Maddie Ashman - Jaded.jpeg
Dec 11, 2025
Song of the Day: Maddie Ashman - Jaded
Dec 11, 2025

Song of the Day: Magical, delicate, eclectic, intricate, experimental microtonal music by the London musician and singer, released alongside a longer track, In Autumn My Heart Breaks

Dec 11, 2025
Ye Vagabonds.jpeg
Dec 10, 2025
Song of the Day: Ye Vagabonds - The Flood
Dec 10, 2025

Song of the Day: Wonderfully warm, rich, lively fiddle-driven Irish folk by the award-winning band fronted by Carlow brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn with a heartbreaking number about the housing crisis, heralding their upcoming new album, All Tied Together, out on Rough Trade’s River Lea Recordings on 30 January

Dec 10, 2025
DBA! band.jpeg
Dec 9, 2025
Song of the Day: DBA! A Poet And A Clown
Dec 9, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy fuzz-guitar indie rock with a swagger by the Liverpool-formed trio of Sam Warren, James Lindberg and Joshua Grant in a song described as “a confessional story of desire tangled with religious guilt”

Dec 9, 2025
Puma Blue - Croak Dream.jpeg
Dec 8, 2025
Song of the Day: Puma Blue - Croak Dream
Dec 8, 2025

Song of the Day: A dark, esoteric, mysterious and stylish title track with a hint of Radiohead and playing with the idea of knowing your future death, from the experimental indie/goth/ambient London artist Jacob Allen’s forthcoming album out on 6 February via Play It Again Sam

Dec 8, 2025
ELIZA - Anyone Else.jpeg
Dec 7, 2025
Song of the Day: ELIZA - Anyone Else
Dec 7, 2025

Song of the Day: Stripped-back, bluesy, fuzzy funk with slight echoes of Prince and alt-R&B are conjured up in this love song by the London-based singer-songwriter Eliza Caird, her first single for two years, now off the mainstream and out on Log Off Records

Dec 7, 2025
SILK SCARF by Tiga & Fcukers.jpg
Dec 6, 2025
Song of the Day: Tiga (featuring Fcukers) - Silk Scarf
Dec 6, 2025

Song of the Day: A fun, sensual, quirkily oddball electronica dance single with a slick, fetish-flirtatious ode to a favourite smooth material by the Montreal musician (Tiga James Sontag) joined here with vocals by the New York band (Shanny Wise and Jackson Walker Lewis), and heralding Tiga’s upcoming album Hotlife, out in April on Secret City Records

Dec 6, 2025

Word of the week

Featured
Hangover.jpeg
Dec 4, 2025
Word of the week: crapulence
Dec 4, 2025

Word of the week: A term that may apply regularly during Xmas party season, from the from the Latin crapula, in turn from the Greek kraipálē meaning "drunkenness" or "headache" pertains to sickness symptoms caused by excess in eating or drinking, or general intemperance and overindulgence

Dec 4, 2025
Running shoes and barefoot.jpeg
Nov 20, 2025
Word of the week: discalceate
Nov 20, 2025

Word of the week: A rarely used, but often practised verb, especially when arriving home, it means to take off your shoes, but is also a slightly more common adjective meaning barefoot or unshod, particularly for certain religious orders that wear sandals instead of shoes. But in what context does this come up in song?

Nov 20, 2025
autumn-red-leaves.jpeg
Nov 6, 2025
Word of the week: erythrophyll
Nov 6, 2025

Word of the week: A seasonally topical word relating to the the red pigment of tree leaves, fruits and flowers, that appears particularly when changing in autumn, as opposed to the green effect of chlorophyll, from the Greek erythros for red, and phyll for leaves. But what of songs about this?

Nov 6, 2025
Fennec fox 2.jpeg
Oct 22, 2025
Word of the week: fennec
Oct 22, 2025

Word of the week: It’s a small pale-fawn nocturnal fox with unusually large, highly sensitive ears, that inhabits from African and Arab deserts areas from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula. But has it ever been seen in a song?

Oct 22, 2025
Narrowboat.jpeg
Oct 9, 2025
Word of the week: gongoozler
Oct 9, 2025

Word of the week: A fabulous old English slang term for someone who tends to stand or sit for long periods staring at the passing of boats on canals, sometimes with a derogatory or at least ironic use for someone who is useless or lazy. But what of songs about this activity and culture?

Oct 9, 2025

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