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Close your eyes, open your ears: songs about darkness

July 24, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Where would stars be without the dark…?

It’s a vast spectrum of a topic that occupies half of Earth’s rotation, filled with emotions, stories, assocations, and styles. With the recent death of one famous rock figure, what other forms of darkness come to mind in song?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, bossa nova, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, folk, experimental, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, RnB, rock, rocksteady, samba, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, darkness, astronomy, Julia Cameron, Yousuf Karsh, Marshall McLuhan, Lady Gaga, Carl Jung, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Friedrich Nietzsche, Dylan Thomas, Ursula K. Le Guin, Joseph Conrad, William Shakespeare, Thomas Kyd, JRR Tolkien, books, poetry, Ozzy Osbourne, Devil, Arca, Little Richard, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Jens Lekman, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, Francis Bacon, Tory Kennedy Martin, television, drama, Somerset Maugham, Elias Canetti, George RR Martin, Helen Keller, Haruki Murakami, Lord Byron, climate change, colonialism
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Nothing? No, it's only ... songs about 'everything'

June 22, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Hot-dog! Fingers ‘n’ everything …

This week, from a previous idea of nothing, we go to ‘everything’ not literally, but the idea of it, from big promises of love, all-encompassing importance, the the whole shebang, totality, the full caboodle, enchilada, the big ball of wax, all within the prism of song

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags everything, nothing, philosophy, psychology, books, art, Film, religion, Buddhism, Steven Wright, Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Confucius, John Lennon, Thomas Pynchon, Sophia Loren, Stephen Crane, physics, mathematics, science, Michelle Yeoh, Eels, Mark Oliver Everett, multiverse theory, Winston Churchill, Philip K Dick, Carl Sagan, Pablo Neruda, poetry, Cicero, George Bernard Shaw, Haruki Murakami, Alan Watts, Yoko Ono, Woody Allen, Thomas Carlyle, Gustave Flaubert, Anton Chekhov, Thomas Huxley, Isaac Asimov, Oscar Wilde, David Lynch, Goethe, Hermann Hesse, Bob Marley, Napoleon Bonaparte, Dwight Eisenhower, Robert Kennedy, John F Kennedy, Hedy Lamarr, Plato, Gustav Mahler, Henry Rollins, Elton John
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Look here! Songs about searching, seeking and quests

April 13, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Search engines … Monty Python and The Holy Grail. The low-budget classic film was variously funded by among others, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Charisma Records, and possibly Elton John

Love, food, shelter, identity, meaning? Rare vinyl? Most of our existence is about searching for something, but in what ways is this expressed in song lyrics? Here’s some other forms of inspiration and, after all, what is the true holy grail?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags Monty Python, Vincent Van Gogh, Jeanette Winterson, Donovan, Shannon L Adler, Isaac Asimov, Bernard Lovell, Jimmy Buffett, David Bowie, Werner Herzog, David Lowery, Juliette Binoche, Paulo Coelho, Kurt Vonnegut, Haruki Murakami, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Janis Joplin, Norman Cousins, Oscar Wilde, Joseph Rain, Quentin Crisp, lonely hearts ads, Bruce Springsteen, Guns 'n' Roses, Metallica, Pixies, Sparks, Russell Mael, Arvo Pärt, Viv Albertine, Nick Cave, Mary J Blige, television, Film, film soundtrack
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Fancy a flutter? Songs about butterflies and moths

March 9, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Hey, this way. Don’t forget the moths, says the rosy maple

Fragile mutability, intangible beauty, or a hairy horror with collecting obsessives? Metaphor or more, in lyrics or music, with a four-stage life cycle, from egg to pupae, caterpillar to winged wonders, let’s hear it for all these wondrous lepidoptera, with as much for the moths as for the butterflies

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags insects, butterflies, moths, songs, playlists, Robert A Heinlein, Haruki Murakami, Charles Dickens, Bashō, Hadinet Tekie, George Carlin, Richard Buckminster Fuller
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Basement tapes: songs set below the ground floor

April 28, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Go deeper ...

Dig deep: it’s time to go downstairs, take the lift and explore songs in an underground setting - basements or lower, from tube and metro stations from servants in the kitchen, to sewers and pipes, this is often where society is run

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, basements, cellars, underground, MC Escher, Theordore Roosevelt, Haruki Murakami, Bob Dylan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, horror, Film, language, transport, clubbing culture, London Underground, television, history, disco
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Visit this: songs about surprise encounters

March 4, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Brief Encounter …

Brief Encounter …

Songs that capture that moment of a surprise encounter, wherever it is, doorstep or elsewhere, and wherever it might lead – to romance, tragedy, comedy, death, or more, perhaps profoundly life-changing, or brief, and fleeting

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In African, avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags songs, playlists, visits, meetings, encounters, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Guy de Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe, Scott Anderson, JB Priestley, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, The Smiths, Mike Stoller, Jerry Leiber, Hal David, Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, The Beatles, Glenn Gould, Trevor Howard, Celia Johnson, Janet Leigh, Frank Sinatra, Alfred Hitchcock, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Haruki Murakami, Simon Pegg, Arthur Koestler, David Bowie, District 9, aliens, William Burroughs, Heathcote Williams, Steven Spielberg
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Enjoy the view: songs about edges, ledges and thresholds

January 21, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Norway’s popular Pulpit Rock or Preikestolen

Norway’s popular Pulpit Rock or Preikestolen

Actual or metaphorical, from windows to riverbanks, doorways to cliffs, to mental or physical extreme places, this week let’s go to a variety of precipices, stare into the abyss, but also find astonishing new perspectives in song

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, edges, ledges, precipices, thresholds, WH Auden, Martin Luther King, Joseph Conrad, DH Lawrence, Haruki Murakami, William Shakespeare, Leonard Cohen, James Hansen, Sean Lennon, John Cleese, Malcolm Gladwell, Norway, Joan Lindsay, Peter Weir, Film, film soundtrack, MH Boroson, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Carl Jung, Jim Carrey, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Vertigo, The Truman Show, Bob Black, Flat Earth Society, Brazil, Stephen Hawking, Toba Beta, Bertrand Russell, Herman Melville, Winston Churchill, Goethe, Van Morrison, Brad Dourif, Hunter S. Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Haddon, Esther Hicks, Michel de Montaigne, architecture, Brutalist, Evel Knievel, Ada Lovelace, TS Eliot, John Keats, poetry, Josephine Jacobsen., Ricky Gervais, Ingmar Bergman, Rufus Wainwright, Gina Barreca, Steven Wright, Wu-Tang Clan, RZA, Eric B & Rakim
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Gently does it: songs about gentleness

February 13, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Koko and friend

Koko and friend

Soothing words, a light touch; holding baby, stroking an animal; lifting a fragile glass a measured, restrained response to tense moments, rage or violence; the soft caress of a light breeze across the eyelids, let’s gently let it out in song

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, instrumentals, metal, music, playlists, musicals, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, ska, songs, rocksteady, showtime, soul, traditional, soundtracks Tags songs, playlists, human behaviour, animals, animal behaviour, psychology, politics, Koko the gorilla, David Bowie, Dylan Thomas, James Dean, Saint Francis de Sales, William Shakespeare, Mahatma Gandhi, Hermann Hesse, Ian Brown, The Stone Roses, Joe Cocker, John Keats, Morrissey, The Smiths, Graeme Souness, Nick Cave, Aristotle, Coco Chanel, Honore de Balzac, George Herbert, Robert Browning, William Hazlitt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Martin Farquhar Tupper, Charles Lamb, Charles Dickens, Haruki Murakami, Anne 'Ninon' de L'Enclos, Queen Elizabeth I, Judy Garland, Rene Zellweger, Abraham Lincoln, Charlie Chaplin
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Late goals: striking song and album endings

June 14, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Sunset ending? Not every ride goes so smoothly …

Sunset ending? Not every ride goes so smoothly …

No – it’s not the World Cup. This week we’re looking at all kinds of ends of albums and other songs – from surprising, sudden, or summing up, to those that are ambiguous, serious, comical or take us to a new place

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In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, electronica, folk, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musicals, punk, reggae, playlists, pop, postpunk, ska, songs, soundtracks Tags Songs, playlists, endings, albums, Film, books, death, Julian Barnes, Margaret Atwood, Orson Welles, Arthur Miller, Jim Morrison, The Doors, Dylan Thomas, poetry, relationships, Stephen King, George RR Martin, Game of Thrones, Samuel R Delany, Friedrich Nietzsche, Frank R Baum, The Wizard of Oz, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Conrad, Truman Capote, George Orwell, JD Salinger, Haruki Murakami, James Joyce, William Shakespeare, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Blake's 7, The Sopranos, Journey, Casablanca, Alejandro Jodorowsky, John Lennon, Mel Brooks, Blazing Saddles, Buster Keaton
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DRINK OF THE WEEK

Prune juice


SNACK OF THE WEEK

celery sticks in guacamole dip


New Albums …

Featured
Sam Grassie - Where Two Hawks Fly.jpeg
Apr 29, 2026
Sam Grassie: Where Two Hawks Fly
Apr 29, 2026

New album: Beautiful debut LP by the London-based Glaswegian fingerstyle folk guitarist and singer-songwriter, with added saxophone, double bass, flute, clairsach and clarinet in a release of mostly the traditional, covers, sung or instrumental, and supported by the Bert Jansch Foundation

Apr 29, 2026
Irmin Schmidt - Requiem.jpeg
Apr 29, 2026
Irmin Schmidt: Requiem
Apr 29, 2026

New album: A strangely mesmeric, avant-garde and analogue-ambient, field recording-based experimental release by the last surviving founding member of experimental ‘krautrock’ band CAN, who, approaching the age of 89, has also written over 40 TV and film scores

Apr 29, 2026
Gia Margaret - Singing.jpeg
Apr 28, 2026
Gia Margaret: Singing
Apr 28, 2026

New album: Gently profound, and full of wondrous, mesmeric, slow, delicate experimental songs, this simple title has a powerful resonance – it is the Chicago artist’s first vocal album since 2018’s There’s Always Glimmer (there have been two instrumental LPs since), having suffered and recovered from a severe vocal injury, she returns with a delicate, candid, whispery but hauntingly beautiful delivery

Apr 28, 2026
Angel In Plainclothes by Angelo De Augustine.jpeg
Apr 28, 2026
Angelo De Augustine: Angel in Plainclothes
Apr 28, 2026

New album: A beautiful, delicate fifth LP from the Los Angeles singer-songwriter, friend and collaborator with Sufjan Stevens with whom he shares a stylistic resemblance, here with themes on life's fragility, second chances, and picking up the pieces after an undiagnosed illness forced him to re-learn basic abilities

Apr 28, 2026
Carla dal Forno - Confession.jpeg
Apr 28, 2026
Carla dal Forno: Confession
Apr 28, 2026

New album: This lo-fi, darkly minimalist but also oddly candid fourth LP by the Australian, Castlemaine-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist centres on the conflicted, obsessive feelings about “a friendship that became emotionally charged in an unexpected way”, and “an album about closeness that arrives late and unexpectedly. About stability rubbing up against desire.”

Apr 28, 2026
Friko - Something Worth Waiting For album.jpeg
Apr 26, 2026
Friko: Something Worth Waiting For
Apr 26, 2026

New album: Passionate, powerful, dynamic indie rock in this sophomore LP by the Chicago-based quartet that gallops forwards with a driving momentum, some elements of early PJ Harvey and Radiohead, and is produced by John Congleton

Apr 26, 2026
White Denim - 13.jpeg
Apr 26, 2026
White Denim: 13
Apr 26, 2026

New album: This 13th LP in two decades by the Austin, Texas rock band fronted by James Petralli has a particularly mischievous experimentalism, spreading styles far beyond breathlessly paced prog rock, with wrily humorous, surreal, personal and passionate numbers across heavy funk, dub, soul, psyche, country, dirty blues and more, joined by host of outstanding extra musicians

Apr 26, 2026
Asili ya Mama by Hukwe Zawose Foundation.jpeg
Apr 24, 2026
Hukwe Zawose Foundation: Asili ya Mama
Apr 24, 2026

New album: Wonderfully evocative field recordings release of Wagogo, Waluguru and Wasambaa Tanzanian women singing traditional songs in their villages, rarely heard outside of their own circles, the title is translated as The Origin of Mother, rich in stories and capturing the place where song is first learned, first felt, first shared

Apr 24, 2026
They Might Be Giants - The World Is To Dig.jpeg
Apr 23, 2026
They Might Be Giants - The World Is To Dig
Apr 23, 2026

New album: Four decades since their self-titled debut, Brooklyn alternative rockers John Flansburgh and John Linnell return with their 24th LP, packed with of punchy, pacy, wistful, whimsical, clever wordplay and indie rock-pop, buoyantly satirical and also a little world weary at times, they remain oddball, lively commentators on the ongoing absurdity of life

Apr 23, 2026
Eaves Wilder - Little Miss Sunshine.jpeg
Apr 22, 2026
Eaves Wilder: Little Miss Sunshine
Apr 22, 2026

New album: After 2023’s Hookey EP, a strong, passionate indie-dream-pop-shoegaze full debut by the London singer-songwriter, whose breathy voice intertwines with strong, stirring riffs and textured sounds, themed around cycles of nature aiming to explain and celebrate the mercurial nature of human emotional weather

Apr 22, 2026
Honey Dijon - The Nightlife.jpeg
Apr 22, 2026
Honey Dijon: The Nightlife
Apr 22, 2026

New album: The irrepressible, prolific and charismatic London-based Chicago DJ, musician, producer and vinyl lover returns with a flamboyantly fun celebration of club and queer culture through the prism of dance music from disco to house, with a wide variety of guest vocalists

Apr 22, 2026
Tiga - HOTLIFE.jpeg
Apr 21, 2026
Tiga: HOTLIFE
Apr 21, 2026

New album: Montreal’s acclaimed electronica/techno/dance artist Tiga Sontag returns with his fourth album - inventively packed with head-nodding, toe-tapping, oddly itchy, infectious grooves, cleverly crafted retro sounds recalling Kraftwerk to acid house and electroclash, insistent bold beats and synth riffs, with lyrics of the existential, droll and surreal

Apr 21, 2026
Tomora - Come Closer.jpg
Apr 20, 2026
TOMORA: Come Closer
Apr 20, 2026

New album: A striking, dynamic collaboration between Norwegian experimental pop sensation Aurora and Tom Rowlands, one of half of Chemical Brothers, with a sensual, otherworldly energetic fusion of mystical, sensual ambience, and block-rocking dance beats

Apr 20, 2026
Jessie Ware - Superbloom.jpeg
Apr 20, 2026
Jessie Ware: Superbloom
Apr 20, 2026

New album: Following 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure? and 2023’s That! Feels Good!, as well as the successful food podcast Table Manners she hosts alongside her mother, the British pop singer continues to ride the 70s disco ball train, catering to the clever, kitsch and catchy with an ironic wink, adding also a luxuriant garden metaphor

Apr 20, 2026

new songs …

Featured
Alewya - Saleh.jpeg
Apr 30, 2026
Song of the Day: Alewya - Selah
Apr 30, 2026

Song of the Day: Striking, stylishly agile electronica and dance with a rich African and Arabian influence by the London-based British singer-songwriter, producer, multidisciplinary artist and model Alewya Demmisse, heralding her upcoming album, Zero, out on 26 June via LDN Records

Apr 30, 2026
metric romanticize-the-dive.jpeg
Apr 29, 2026
Song of the Day: Metric - Crush Forever
Apr 29, 2026

Song of the Day: Uplifting, effervescent electro-disco-pop by the Toronto indie rock band, with a song vocalist/keyboardist Emily Haines describes as “my love letter to strong girls in this world”, taken from their recently released 10th album, Romanticize the Dive, out on Metric Music via Thirty Tigers

Apr 29, 2026
Jim Ghedi - The Hungry Child single.jpeg
Apr 28, 2026
Song of the Day: Jim Ghedi - The Hungry Child
Apr 28, 2026

Song of the Day: Dark, gripping, visceral folk by the Sheffield singer-songwriter, with a striking number based on an early 19th-century German poem about the fatal story of a child pleading for food, and, following last year’s acclaimed album, Wasteland, also out on Basin Rock, it heralds his upcoming soundtrack for the Hugh Jackman film, The Death of Robin Hood.

Apr 28, 2026
holybones with Baxter Dury - SLUGBOY.jpg
Apr 27, 2026
Song of the Day: holybones (with Baxter Dury) - SLUGBOY
Apr 27, 2026

Song of the Day: Dark, unsettling, sleazy and strange, this is arrestingly vivid new collaborative single between the clandestine London electronic collective and the downbeat, deep-voiced poetic Londoner, out on Promised Land Recordings

Apr 27, 2026
Hand Habits - Good Person.jpeg
Apr 26, 2026
Song of the Day: Hand Habits - Good Person
Apr 26, 2026

Song of the Day: Gentle, droll, humorously self-deprecatingly, and also delicately beautiful, this new experimental folk single by the moniker of Los Angeles singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Meg Duffy addresses the love-hate relationship with making music, out on Fat Possum

Apr 26, 2026
Pigeon - Miami.jpeg
Apr 25, 2026
Song of the Day: Pigeon - Miami
Apr 25, 2026

Song of the Day: Catchy, sunny, upbeawt indie synth-pop with an African twist by the Margate band fronted by Falle Nioke, with flavours of William Onyeabor, Hot Chip and New York 70s disco, heralding their upcoming album OUTTANATIONAL, out on 1 May via Memphis Industries

Apr 25, 2026
Tricky - Out of Place.jpeg
Apr 24, 2026
Song of the Day: Tricky - Out of Place (featuring Marta Złakowska)
Apr 24, 2026

Song of the Day: A pulsating fusion of beats, orchestral strings and the Bristol trip-hop pioneer’s distinctive, deep, croaky voice, with an emotional reference to his daughter Mina Topley-Bird (1995–2019), and heralding his first solo album for six years, Different When It’s Silent, out on 17 June via False Idols

Apr 24, 2026
Beck - Ride Lonsome.jpeg
Apr 23, 2026
Song of the Day: Beck - Ride Lonesome
Apr 23, 2026

Song of the Day: Beautiful, simmering, slow, melancholy and reflective, a surprise single and welcome return by the acclaimed US artist, evoking the haunting, sun-bleached landscapes and musical textures of his 2015 Grammy winning album Morning Phase, out now on Iliad Records/Capitol Records

Apr 23, 2026
Gelli Haha - Klouds.jpeg
Apr 22, 2026
Song of the Day: Gelli Haha - Klouds Will Carry Me To Sleep
Apr 22, 2026

Song of the Day: Described appropriately as somewhere between Studio 42 and Area 51, eccentric, effervescent, spacey, catchy and eclectic disco pop by the Los Angeles artist (aka Angel Abaya, co-written with Sean Guerin) out on Innovative Leisure

Apr 22, 2026
Leenalchi band 2.jpeg
Apr 21, 2026
Song of the Day: LEENALCHI 이날치 - Here Comes That Crow 떴다 저 가마귀
Apr 21, 2026

Song of the Day: Wonderfully catchy, funky, psychedelic and quirky new work by the seven-piece Seoul-based Korean pansori band led by bassist Jang Young Gyu with the title track of their new EP, out on 12 June via Luaka Bop, and heralding a European and North American tour

Apr 21, 2026
Jesca Hoop - Big Storm.jpeg
Apr 20, 2026
Song of the Day: Jesca Hoop - Big Storm
Apr 20, 2026

Song of the Day: Catchy, quirky experimental indie folk-pop by the innovative Manchester-based California artist, featuring a clever video that old footage and Hoop in various vintage guises, heralding her upcoming album Long Wave Home, out on 1 May via Last Laugh / Republic of Music

Apr 20, 2026
Gia Margaret - Singing.jpeg
Apr 19, 2026
Song of the Day: Gia Margaret - Alive Inside
Apr 19, 2026

Song of the Day: Delicate, dream-like, reflective experimental folk-pop by the American singer-songwriter and producer from Chicago, heralding her upcoming fourth album, Singing, out on Jagjaguwar

Apr 19, 2026

Word of the week

Featured
Song thrush 2.jpeg
Apr 23, 2026
Word of the week: throstle
Apr 23, 2026

Word of the week: An archaic, evocative noun with two connected meanings, originally for the song thrush, then later a textiles industrial frame for spinning, twisting and winding machine for cotton, wool, and other fibres simultaneously

Apr 23, 2026
Undine - Novella.jpeg
Apr 9, 2026
Word of the week: undine
Apr 9, 2026

Word of the week: It might sound like the act of abstaining from food, but this noun from derived from undina (Latin unda) meaning wave, refers to mythical, elemental beings associated with water, such as mermaids, and stemming from the alchemical writings of the 16th-century Swiss physician, alchemist and philosopher Paracelsus

Apr 9, 2026
Veena player.jpg
Mar 27, 2026
Word of the week: veena
Mar 27, 2026

Word of the week: This ornate, curvaceous, south Indian classical instrument, the saraswati veena, is a special bowl lute with a rich, resonant tone, has 24 copper frets with four playing strings and three drone strings, and is used for Carnatic music

Mar 27, 2026
Snail on a wall.jpeg
Mar 12, 2026
Word of the week: wallfish
Mar 12, 2026

Word of the week: It sounds like the singing finned picture ornament Big Mouth Billy Bass that became popular in the late 1990s, but this is a much older noun, derived in Somerset, England, pertains to the climbing gastropod that can slowly climb up any surface

Mar 12, 2026
Swordfish.jpg
Feb 25, 2026
Word of the week: xiphias
Feb 25, 2026

Word of the week: Get the point? This is the scientific name for the swordfish, in full Xiphias gladius (from the Greek and Latin for sword), that extraordinary sea creature with the long, pointy bill. But what of it in song?

Feb 25, 2026

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