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Fine whines: songs about getting older (but not necessarily getting old)

October 16, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Ageing gracefully in nature’s autumn cycle: Japanese maple

Getting older happens at all stages in life. Is it down to perception? And is age just a number? Hopefully yes, a musically number at least, as we invite your song suggestions on this theme …

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In African, avant-garde, blues, bossa nova, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, 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, age, ageing, Soren Kierkegaard, Satchel Paige, Gertrude Stein, Robert Frost, Lord Byron, Jonathan Swift, Abraham Lincoln, Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Bob Hope, George Burns, Joan Collins, Adele, Pablo Picasso, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, JM Barrie, A.A. Milne, Milan Kundera, Yuval Noah Harari, David Cravit, Larry Wolf, CS Lewis, Chuck Palahniuk, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Steven Wright, Charles Bukowski, Hedy Lamarr, Hayao Miyazaki, Quentin Crisp, Norman Wisdom, Harriet Beecher Stowe, George MacDonald, Luis Bunuel, Agatha Christie, Betty Friedan, Emily Dickinson, Goethe, Carl Jung, George Bernard Shaw, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, David Fincher, F. Scott Fitzgerald
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29 February? A rare leap ... at songs about jumping

February 29, 2024 Peter Kimpton

One giant leap: Bob Beamon’s long jump record at the Mexico City 1968 Olympics stood for at an unusually lengthy 23 years

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 …

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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, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, jumping, leap years, Olympic Games, athletics, sport, Bob Beamon, Pablo Picasso, Emily Dickinson, Michael McClure, Neil Armstrong, Louis Jordan, Kurt Cobain, Wayne Shorter, Quincy Jones, Charlotte Bronte, WH Auden, Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, calendars, Gioachino Rossini, Jimmy Dorsey, Saul Williams, marriage, relationships, Amy Adams, Ireland, France, Finland, Greece, women's rights, geology, Tori Amos, Julia Margaret Cameron, David Lloyd George, Evel Knievel, Margaret Mead, Gustave Flaubert, Ray Bradbury, Nadia Comaneci, basketball, Nikki Sixx, Eddie the Eagle, Henry Miller
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Cántame una canción! It's time for songs in Spanish

August 31, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Reina de las Rancheras… Rocío Dúrcal

From Spain itself to the Americas – Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Argentina, Puerto Rico and more – to the US and beyond, it’s the second most spoken native language in the world. From soothing, passionate, poetic beauty to the gritty and guttural, let’s gather some of the most melodious examples …

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In classical, dance, disco, electronica, experimental, folk, indie, metal, music, musicals, playlists, pop, psychedelia, punk, rock, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, Spain, Spanish, Miguel de Cervantes, Gabriel García Marquez, Azorin (aka José Augusto Ruiz), Charles V, Gabriel Zaid, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, languages, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Chile, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Federico García Lorca, Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa, Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Juan Ramón Lodares, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Joan Miró, Carlos Almaraz, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Sebastián, Luis Buñuel, Pedro Almodóvar, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francisco Tárrega, Consuelo Velázquez, Yma Sumac, Rocío Dúrcal, Gipsy Kings, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Shakira, Rosalía
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Think different: songs about using your imagination

February 23, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Vladmir Kush’s African Sonata

From practical life problems, work, relationships, craft or crisis, to all sorts of creative problems, or even channelling dreams, it’s time to access the right hemisphere and see how the imagination can be used, as expressed in song lyrics. Read on for more stimulation …

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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, psychology, the brain, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Albert Einstein, Michelangelo, Pablo Picasso, John Keats, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Norman Vincent Peale, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Waits, Taylor Swift, Dr Seuss, Dolly Parton, Brian Eno, Ada Lovelace, Hedy Lamarr, Doris Day, Suzi Quatro, Hilary Mantel, Neil Gaiman, Vladimir Nabokov, Simone Weil, Frank Lloyd Wright, GK Chesterton, Bryan Cranston, Christian Bale, Malcolm Gladwell, evolution, animals
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Happening now: songs about tomorrow

November 18, 2021 Peter Kimpton

Tomorrow’s World - 1970s science TV programme from the past about the future

It’s linked to today and yesterday, but the anticipation or idea of tomorrow is the focus, and in this theme, not just word that appears somewhere in lyrics, but plays a central or prominent role or within it, expresses in many ways

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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, punk, rock, reggae, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, time, tomorrow, Tomorrow's World, television, science, technlogy, science fiction, Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, ee cummings, Edward Young, James Joyce, Ivan Turgenev, Dr Seuss, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Vivian Leigh, Film, Bill Murray, Groundhog Day, Kraftwerk, John Dankworth, television themes, Richard Denton, Martin Cook, The Tomorrow People, Dudley Simpson Orchestra, Bob Marley, Rex Harrison, Sia, Gloria Estefan, Pablo Picasso, Chuck Close, Joan Rivers, Amy Winehouse, Marc Bolan, Mahatma Gandhi, Margaret Fuller, Malala Yousafzai, John Dryden, Martin Luther, Joan of Arc, Franz Kafka, Walter Payton, Hunter S. Thompson, Mary Webb, Gore Vidal, George MacDonald, Leo Buscaglia, Winston Churchill, Gracie Allen, Martin Luther King, Lewis Carroll
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Public exposure: songs about museums, galleries and exhibitions

July 8, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Some of the Horniman Museum’s many musical instruments

Some of the Horniman Museum’s many musical instruments

It’s time to show off your best and most collectible nominations about venues of art and artefacts, whether that is the building, the people, or the interacting with the items within, from grand palaces to tiny garages

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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, prog, punk, rock, reggae, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, museums, art, exhibitions, art galleries, Horniman Museum, Orhan Pamuk, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Bjorn Ulvaus, Abba, Jerry Salz, Thelma Golden, Edmond de Concourt, Michael Dirda, Museum of Broken Relationships, Museum of Youth Culture, Victoria and Albert Museum, Serpentine Gallery, Tilda Swinton, David Bowie, William Boyd, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, architecture, Thomas Heatherwick, Museum of Modern Art, Viktor Wynd Museum, The British Museum, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Derwent Pencil Museum, Lawnmower Museum, Ramones Museum Berlin, Soane Museum, Phallological Museum Iceland, Iceland, MUSA Cancun Underwater Museum, Museum of Bad Art (MOBA), Guggenheim Museum, Frank Gehry, New Zealand
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Sound and vision: songs about eyes

July 16, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Something to reflect on …

Something to reflect on …

Lens me your ears! This week we take more than a passing glance at eyes in song lyrics, whether as metaphor, as objects of beauty, as windows to the soul, and especially in the mystery of how what they see differs from how they are seen

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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, postpunk, pop, playlists, musicals, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, eyes, biology, evolution, animals, William Shakespeare, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Groucho Marx, Martin Buber, Pete Townshend, The Who, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Thomas Carlyle, Virginia Woolf, Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, George Herbert, James Turrell, Samuel Richardson, Allen Ginsberg, Cicero, Charlotte Bronte, Leonardo Da Vinci, photography, Audrey Hepburn, ee cummings, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sophia Loren, David Bowie
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Lockdown relief: songs about spring cleaning and household chores

April 9, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Gratuitous gif of Freddie and Roger from a song that is nothing to do with this topic

Gratuitous gif of Freddie and Roger from a song that is nothing to do with this topic

It’s time for some lockdown relief. While doing them, let’s also think up and sometimes dance to some numbers about those chores we all must now face, not just cleaning or sorting, but also the psychological cleanse and clear out

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In African, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, metal, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, traditional, soundtracks Tags songs, playlists, spring clean, spring, cleaning, household chores, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Phyllis Diller, A.A. Milne, Erma Bombeck, Joan Rivers, Simone De Beauvoir, Quentin Crisp, PJ O'Rourke, Mario Buatta, Shirley Conran, Agatha Christie, Bette Midler, Margaret Atwood, Peggy Lee, Katherine Whitehorn, Japanese chindogu, robots, Bob Dylan, Pablo Picasso, Mary Poppins
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Beep, rattle and wail: songs featuring alarm and alert sounds

January 23, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Plenty of alarms and surprises in store this week …

Plenty of alarms and surprises in store this week …

Sound effects or samples in songs that cover alerts and alarms and of all types are what could sound out this week’s creativity cacophony, from car and fire alarms to clocks and klaxons, and no doubt plenty of horns, bells or whistles

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In avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, gospel, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, sound effects, alarms, Georges Danton, Pablo Picasso, Ursula K. Le Guin, Bob Monkhouse, Quentin Tarantino, Ironside, television, Film, film soundtrack, Peter Kay, Phoenix Nights, Too Many Zooz, Bill Bailey, Metallica, The Simpsons
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Vote labour: choose songs about different jobs

November 14, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Panda nanny, anyone? Hours may be long …

Panda nanny, anyone? Hours may be long …

Habitual to unusual, the professional or the manual, the skilled or the basic, gig economy to obscure and hidden, this week we look at a variety of job titles and what they all entail, all evoked through song

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In avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, soul, songs, soundtracks, traditional, ska Tags songs, song titles, jobs, work, careers, Lena Horne, Neil Young, Kathy Skaggs, Charles Bukowski, Jimmy Webb, Glen Campbell, Al De Lory, Ken Loach, Richard Dawson, Pablo Picasso, Mehmet Murat ildan, Michelle Obama, Jessie Belle Rittenhouse, Frederick Herzberg, David Graeber, Ken Poirot, Mokokoma Mokhonoana, Terry Pratchett, Studs Terkel, service industry, poetry, art, books
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We'll always have ... songs about Paris

February 7, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Café culture

Café culture

Romance and glamour, café culture, perfume, protest, or grit and gangs? Paris means all things to all people, but if one thing unites these things, it is inspiration. This week the Bar Du Chanson, we try to capture its essence in song

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In blues, classical, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, Paris, France, Victor Hugo, Ernest Hemingway, Angela Carter, George Orwell, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, fashion, art, books, Samantha Schutz, Gertrude Stein, EY Harburg, Friedrich Nietzsche, Wes Anderson, Susan Cahill, Julian Barnes, Vincent Van Gogh, Patti Smith, Pablo Picasso, Pete Townshend, Malcolm McLaren, protest, Jean Cocteau, Emile Zola, Anna Wintour, Grace Jones, Toulouse-Lautrec, Edith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Klemens von Metternich, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac, Charles Laughton, Lon Chaney, Patrick Süskind, Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Marlon Brando, Maria Scheider, Mathieu Kassovitz, Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart
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Not merely playing it: songs about innocence

October 12, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Lamb. Obviously.

Lamb. Obviously.

Innocence lost or regained, from childhood to animals, in fact or fantasy, lyrics or style, this week we enter less cynical world, one of wide-eyed wonderment and promise, all in the form of songs and more

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Tags Songs, innocence, experience, William Blake, Philip Larkin, animals, animal behaviour, childhood, Top of the Pops, David Bowie, Tom Waits, Robert Fripp, Pablo Picasso, Jim Henson, The Muppets, Jeffrey Lewis, Bat For Lashes, Natasha Khan, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Morrissey, The Smiths, Brian Wilson, Tom Petty, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, film, Federico Fellini, Clint Eastwood, Shirley Temple, Tony Curtis, Nicolas Roeg, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, The Kinks, Ray Davies, Tony Rivers, television, sitcoms, comedy, Jeanette Winterson, books, JG Ballard, Mark Haddon, autism, Michael Bond, Paddington Bear, Jean Baudrillard, Germaine Greer, internet, Chris O'Dowd, Edith Wharton, Pamela Meyer, Jeri Ryan, Star Trek, Bjork, Iceland, First World War, second world war, AE Houseman, Donald Trump, Tom HIddleston, Anita Sheve, Malcolm Turnbull, Australia, Anne Frank, Holocaust, Noam Chomsky, law, John Grisham, Harper Lee
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Picture this: songs about painters, painting and drawing

June 22, 2017 Peter Kimpton
1) Keith Richards by Ronnie Wood

1) Keith Richards by Ronnie Wood

This week the Bar becomes a special gallery  filled with music stars' work! Peruse the paintings and name their famous creators, and suggest songs inspired by art and artists from any period or genre

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Tags songs, art, painting, John Constable, Dick Dale, Vincent Van Gogh, Brian Eno, Joni Mitchell, Nat Tate, forgery, David Byrne, The Clash, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Jarvis Cocker, Pulp, Chuck D, Freddie Mercury, Pete Townshend, The Who, Queen, Mobb Deep, Michael Stipe, REM, Keith Richards, Ice Cube, Florence Welch, Florence and the Machine, Kanye West, Captain Beefheart, Jeffrey Lewis, Patti Smith, Robert Hughes, Conor Oberst, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Cher, Grimes, Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, The Kills, Alison Mosshart, Tony Bennett, Buffy Sainte-Marie, John Williams, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead, Pharrell Williams, Frida Kahlo, Nick Cave, Wolfgang Puck, Marilyn Manson, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Jefferson Airplane, Impressionism, pop art, Frederic Chopin, Wassily Kandinsky, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood
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Peaceful presents: spiritual and sacred songs

December 22, 2016 Peter Kimpton
A place to reflect …

A place to reflect …

You don't have to be religious to enjoy the glory of gospel, soul, carols or any other music that expresses divinity, spirituality or the sacred. This week we delve into its culture, to find musical tranquility

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Tags music, songs, soul, gospel, Beethoven, David Bowie, Prince, religion, art, refugees, Tibet, William Byrd, Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Morris West, Steve Earle, Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Arnold Bennett, Brian Wilson, JS Bach, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, James Turrell, France, cathedrals, architecture, trees, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley
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Don't call me Shirley? Songs featuring male names

August 4, 2016 Peter Kimpton
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin …

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin …

Aaron to Zygmunt, Al to Ziggy, Johnny to Sonny, boys to men, what's in a name? With some inspiration here, suggest songs with male names in title or lyrics and what role they play …

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Tags songs, names, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Songs, Richard Attenborough, Film, Gandhi, etymology, onomatology, social class, longest name, James Bond, Pablo Picasso, religion, Johnny Cash, Leslie Neilson, Airplane, Big Daddy, wrestling, Blackadder, TV, comedy
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DRINK OF THE WEEK

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New Albums …

Featured
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
Iona Zajac - Bang.jpeg
Nov 24, 2025
Iona Zajac: Bang
Nov 24, 2025

New album: A powerful, stirring, passionate and mature debut LP by the 29-year-old Glasgow-based Scottish singer with Polish and Ukrainian heritage who has toured as the new Pogues singer, and whose alternative folk songs capture raw emotions and the experience of modern womanhood, with echoes of PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Aldous Harding and Lankum

Nov 24, 2025
Austra - Chin Up Buttercup.jpeg
Nov 19, 2025
Austra: Chin Up Buttercup
Nov 19, 2025

New album: This fifth studio LP as Austra by the Canadian classically trained vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis brings beautiful electronica-pop and dance music, and has a bittersweet ironic title – a caustically witty reference to societal pressure to keep smiling despite a devastating breakup

Nov 19, 2025
Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World.jpeg
Nov 18, 2025
Mavis Staples: Sad and Beautiful World
Nov 18, 2025

New album: A timelessly classy release by the veteran soul, blues and gospel singer and social activist from the Staples Singers, in a release of wonderfully moving and poignant cover versions, beautifully interpreting works by artists including Tom Waits, Curtis Mayfield, Leonard Cohen, and Gillian Welch

Nov 18, 2025
Stella Donnelly - Love and Fortune 2.jpeg
Nov 18, 2025
Stella Donnelly: Love and Fortune
Nov 18, 2025

New album: Finely crafted, stripped back musical simplicity combined with complex melancholic emotions mark out this beautiful, poetic, and deeply personal third folk-pop LP by the Australian singer-songwriter reflecting on the past and present

Nov 18, 2025
picture-parlour-the-parlour-album.jpeg
Nov 17, 2025
Picture Parlour: The Parlour
Nov 17, 2025

New album: Following last year’s EP Face in the Picture, a fabulously stylish, smart, swaggering glam-rock-pop debut LP by the Manchester-formed, London-based band fronted by the impressively raspy, gritty, vibratro delivery of Liverpudlian vocalist and guitarist Katherine Parlour and distinctive riffs from North Yorkshire-born guitar Ella Risi

Nov 17, 2025
FKA twigs - Eusexua Afterglow.jpeg
Nov 16, 2025
FKA twigs: EUSEXUA Afterglow
Nov 16, 2025

New album: Springing from her much lauded third LP Eusexua, out in January this year, and following a hugely successful and spectacular tour, the innovative British experimental pop artist, dancer and producer extends her palette of ethereal, otherworldly and sensual creations in this new, more carnal, harder, beat-filled parallel release

Nov 16, 2025
Celeste - Woman of Faces.jpg
Nov 15, 2025
Celeste: Woman of Faces
Nov 15, 2025

New album: The outstanding British singer returns, a long four years after her acclaimed debut Not Your Muse, with a classy, passionate set of nine, simmering, smoky, rippling dramatic, timeless numbers in which her vocal prowess is magnificently on show on songs playing on the theme of self and identity

Nov 15, 2025

new songs …

Featured
The Lemon Twigs - I've Got A Broken Heart.jpeg
Dec 4, 2025
Song of the Day: The Lemon Twigs - I've Got A Broken Heart
Dec 4, 2025

Song of the Day: Despite the title, this new double-A single (with Friday I’m Gonna Love You) has a wonderfully uplifting guitar-jangling beauty, with echoes of The Byrds and Stone Roses, but is of course the brilliant 60s and 70s retro sound of the Long Island brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario, out on Captured Tracks

Dec 4, 2025
Alewya - Night Drive.jpeg
Dec 3, 2025
Song of the Day: Alewya - Night Drive (featuring Dagmawit Ameha)
Dec 3, 2025

Song of the Day: A sensual, stylish, dreamy electro-pop single by the striking British singer-songwriter, producer, multidisciplinary artist and model Alewya Demmisse, musically influenced by her rich Ethiopian-Egyptian heritage and early childhood upbringings in Saudi Arabia and Sudan

Dec 3, 2025
Rule 31 Single Artwork.jpg
Dec 2, 2025
Song of the Day: Radio Free Alice - Rule 31
Dec 2, 2025

Song of the Day: Stirring, passionate indie postpunk by the band based in Melbourne, Australia, with echoes of The Cure’s core sound, new wave, and 90s indie-rock influences, and out on Double Drummer

Dec 2, 2025
Sailor Honeymoon - Armchair.jpeg
Dec 1, 2025
Song of the Day: Sailor Honeymoon - Armchair
Dec 1, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy, punchy, fuzz-guitar indie rock with a droll lyrical delivery and some echoes of Wet Leg come in this new single by the trio from Seoul, South Korea, out on Good Good Records

Dec 1, 2025
Ellie O'Neill.jpeg
Nov 30, 2025
Song of the Day: Ellie O'Neill - Bohemia
Nov 30, 2025

Song of the Day: A beautiful, poetic finger-picking debut folk single with a mystical, distantly stormy twist by the Dublin-based Irish singer-songwriter from County Meath, out now on St Itch Records

Nov 30, 2025
Danalogue.jpeg
Nov 29, 2025
Song of the Day: Danalogue - Sonic Hypnosis
Nov 29, 2025

Song of the Day: A full flavour of future-past with mesmeric, euphoric retro acid house and electronica in this new single by Daniel Leavers, producer and the founding member of The Comet Is Coming and Soccer96, out now on Castles In Space

Nov 29, 2025
Cardinals band.jpeg
Nov 28, 2025
Song of the Day: Cardinals - Barbed Wire
Nov 28, 2025

Song of the Day: Another striking, passionate, punchy, catchy single by the Irish postpunk/indie-folk-rock band from Cork, heralding their upcoming debut album, Masquerade, out on 13 February via So Young Records

Nov 28, 2025
Frank-Popp-Ensemble and Paul Weller.jpeg
Nov 27, 2025
Song of the Day: Frank Popp Ensemble (with Paul Weller) - Right Before My Eyes
Nov 27, 2025

Song of the Day: A strong, soaring, emotive, soulful release by the German artist co-written by British singer and former Jam frontman who here sings and plays guitar, the lyrics about witnessing the increasing injustices and demise of the world, out on Unique Records / Schubert Music Europe

Nov 27, 2025
Tessa Rose Jackson - Fear Bangs The Drum 2.jpeg
Nov 26, 2025
Song of the Day: Tessa Rose Jackson - Fear Bangs The Drum
Nov 26, 2025

Song of the Day: Using a musical metaphor, beautiful, crisply rhythmical, soaring piano and atmospheric indie-pop-folk about facing your fears by the Dutch/British singer-songwriter, heralding her forthcoming new album The Lighthouse, out on 23 January 2026 on Tiny Tiger Records

Nov 26, 2025
Melanie Baker - Sad Clown.jpeg
Nov 25, 2025
Song of the Day: Melanie Baker - Sad Clown
Nov 25, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy, candid, cathartic indie-grunge-pop by the British singer-songwriter from Cumbria in a melancholy but oddly uplifting emotional work-through of depression, love and exhaustion, out now on TAMBOURHINOCEROS

Nov 25, 2025
Holly Humberstone - Die Happy.jpeg
Nov 24, 2025
Song of the Day: Holly Humberstone - Die Happy
Nov 24, 2025

Song of the Day: Luxuriant, breathy, femme-fatale dream pop with a dark, southern gothic, Lana del Rey-inspired, live-fast-die-young theme, and stylish video by the 25-year-old British singer-songwriter from Grantham, out on Polydor/Universal

Nov 24, 2025
These New Puritans brothers.jpg
Nov 23, 2025
Song of the Day: These New Puritans - The Other Side
Nov 23, 2025

Song of the Day: A delicate, tender, and unusually minimalist single, their first since this year’s acclaimed album Crooked Wing, by the Southend-on-Sea-born Barnett twins, here with Jack on improvised piano and George on drums and a soprano register wordless vocal, out on Domino Records

Nov 23, 2025

Word of the week

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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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