Using common words or proper names of people, places, animals or more, this week we celebrate the echo in a phrase, where words are repeated, not just over and over, but to create an integrated new phrase where repetition is integral
Read morePlaylists: songs featuring superlatives
Sweetest, biggest, baddest, punniest, funniest, spinniest, dreamiest, wooziest? Many more most ‘ests’ feature this week in the very best of superlative selections by guest playlister Uncleben, taking the very best shot from last week’s many nominations
Read moreRecord makers or breakers? Songs about superlatives
We’re not exaggerating, from most beautiful to the fastest, craziest hottest or worst, this week it’s songs centrally featuring that adjective or adverb that expresses that the thing or person described has possessing more of that particular quality than anything or anyone else of that type
Read morePlaylists: songs using collective nouns
Congregations to murders, vaquejada to izinyoni, Scotland to England and Spain, Africa to Brazil and beyond, collective nouns add vivd poetry to song lyrics. Guest playlister Maki picks out some collective colour from last week’s theme
Read moreGroup wisdom? Songs using colourful collective nouns
Parliaments of owls to pedants or ptarmigans? Orchestras of crickets? A quaver of coloraturas, a chime of wrens? It’s time to use the hive mind and the choir of collectivism to find vivid examples of these kinds of nouns in lyrics. Join the gang here with lots of inspiration examples …
Read morePlaylists: songs featuring crooners
How do you demonstrate the craft of crooning? It brings a broader range than you imagine. After the many nominations springing from last week’s topic, defining as all about style and using the microphone, guest playlister ParaMhor brings some perfect performance picks …
Read moreMicrophone closeness? Songs featuring crooners
This week it’s time to to get close to the microphone explore the evolution of crooning in the full range, the style, the technique, the good, bad and ugly, emotive, intimate and excellent, the creative, the cosy, and the cringeworthy, the sensitive and sentimental
Read morePlaylists: songs about lighthouses and guiding lights
Nautical life-saving stories to metaphorical naval-gazing declarations of love, this topic sheds light on different contexts, and across a range of genres, inspired by last week’s nominations, is a bright star in the hands of guest keeper Nicko and his playlists
Read moreBeckoning beacons: songs about lighthouses and guiding lights
They attract attention, may beckon, but also warn away. Lighthouses, beacons and other illuminated guides, as well perhaps representative ideas, people, or metaphors, all illuminate this week’s topic, as well as tales of keepers and shipwrecks. Lyrically and musically, it’s time to shine …
Read morePlaylists: songs about physical gestures
Pointing, clapping, nodding, waving, thumbs up, thumbs down, high fives and much more, there’s no end to the lyrical gesticulation on offer signalled from last week’s topic by guest playlister Loud Atlas, whose presentation and choices should attract a salute and long applause
Read moreSign-wave: songs about physical gestures
OK to high-five, thumbs up to devil’s horns, greetings, pointing, praying or applauding, this week it’s all about the physical lexicon, conscious communication that’s different to subconscious body language. But how does it come up in song lyrics?
Read morePlaylists: Gaelic songs
What’s the craic? Our recent St Patrick’s Day special was focused on songs in the Irish language, but with a generous distillation process, brought forth also some good cheer in other Gaelic identities, all served up with great taste by guest Marco den Ouden
Read moreSt Patrick's Day special: So what's the craic? Gaelic-influenced songs
On the eve of Saint Patrick’s Day, it’s time to celebrate all things Irish with an ear for the original language, not merely with songs that use it in lyrics, but also those that express or are influenced by the Irish character and culture, across many musical genres
Read morePlaylists: music without percussion
Jazz, classical, acoustic rock to neo-folk, gentle pop and soul to ambient electronica, there’s a whole texture of sounds audible when the bang of drums and other struck percussion are absent. Inspired by last week’s topic, guest Nilpferd brilliantly guides us through a more delicate, nuanced musical experience
Read moreYou can't beat it: band songs without percussion
It’s a mainstay backbone or backline of so much music, but this week all forms of percussion, from drums to cymbals, xylophones. to bells are simply out, and this topic also excludes soloists or duos. But will there be more space, or different styles? Let’s explore all kinds of genres and cultures …
Read morePlaylists: songs about jumping
There are many reasons to leave the ground spontaneously, such as for dancing, sex and relationships, but also more darkly - suicide. But inspired by the many leap of musical imagination from last week’s topic, guest pejepeine’s playlists will have you jumping for joy
Read more29 February? A rare leap ... at songs about jumping
A Thursday on 29 February rarely happens, so let’s not skip it: Songs about jumps, leaps, bounds, hurdles, vaults of all kinds, literal and metaphorical, no t random occurrence of a related words, but where the leap in question is central to to the song's theme. Get inspired by many varied contexts and guests in the Bar …
Read morePlaylists: itchy and scratchy songs
Got that tingle but don’t know how to reach it? Found the right spot but scratching makes it itchier? Inspired by last week’s topic, guest playlister EnglishOutlaw has a variety of melodious ointment to express and find musical relief
Read moreAye, there's the rub: itchy 'n' scratchy songs
Let’s satisfy the itch across many musical surfaces with a multi-pronged backscratcher, not just on lyrical flesh, but also the tight skin of drums, wires, guitar strings, resonant idiophones or the hollow or solid wooden bodies of stringed instruments, and of course, using vinyl turntables …
Read morePlaylist: songs about blessings and curses
Mysterious places, songs and secrets. This week’s wonderfully vivid playlist, inspired by last week’s topic, sets an intriguing narrative in a mysterious establishment run by a shady figure. But will it take a dark or a light path? Guest writer Maki sets the scene …
Read more