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 moreJust count on this: songs with unusual time signatures
Hard to beat? Not necessarily. While most songs are in 4/4 time, and others in 3/4 waltz, there are many fascinating variants that push the boundaries, often in a catchy way. It’s not necessary here to name the numbers, just how it feels when you count …
Read morePlaylists: songs about tyranny and dictatorship
Coercion, violence and suppression, it’s a recurring cycle through history. Spanning the globe with philosophy and genre, guest playlister Marco den Ouden examines the big questions about autocracy and anarchy, picked from last week’s topic nominations
Read morePlaylists: songs with conditional phrases
Where will it all lead? What are the conditions? Are they zero, first or second? All the ifs and thens are revealed in these wittily entertaining lists compiled by guest Severin, inspired by songs nominated in last week’s opening topic of 2024
Read morePlaylists: songs with psychedelic sounds
LSD, mushrooms and more, after a truly epic session of song suggestions from last week’s topic, It’s time to take a trip in playlist form, carefully prepared by guest of the week MussoliniHeadkick. Hold on to your ears and let the audio hallucinations commence …
Read moreMind-bending: songs with psychedelic sounds
Delay, fuzz, distortion, flanger, echo, sitars, and mind-altering drugs? It’s a style chiefly associated with the late-60s but what are it’s key characteristics and where else do they come up in the world of music? Let’s go on a journey through time and space …
Read morePlaylists: songs and pieces featuring the cello
Classical to classic pop, rock, folk, African, jazz and beyond, the instrument provides an unmistakably rich, powerful, emotional voice. Inspired by a beautiful, broad scope of nominations from last week’s topic, guest Loud Atlas presents out some equally wonderful playlists
Read moreVocal, warm and mellow? Songs and pieces featuring the cello
With its beautiful, versatile vocal sound, this baroque instrument features not classical pieces but genres of all kinds. But where does it play a strong, influential and essential part? And perhaps alongside the sound, where it might also feature in lyrics?
Read morePlaylists: songs about the id, ego and superego
Will with the conscious and subconscious play out? Inspired by the theories of Freud, but mostly by all the nominations from last week’s topic, guest picker Loud Atlas presents an engaging inner dialogue explaining his excellent choices
Read morePlaylists: songs about immaturity
Life’s SO unfair! NOBODY understands! After a huge outpouring of song suggestions on this angst-ridden subject, guest of the week Olive Butler picks out two wonderfully entertaining playlists that really reach for the inner child
Read moreRevealed! Lesser-known original songs more famously covered or reworked
This week it’s time to dig deep for those original songs overshadowed by hit or well-known covers. We can also include remixes and other reworkings, as well as lesser known songs so heavily sampled they make a prominent core more famous version
Read morePlaylists: songs about famous or notable duos and couples
Biblical brothers to medieval lovers, abandoned siblings to fictional detectives, inspired by last week’s topic, this week we get double the fun as guest playlister Uncleben brilliantly flies through time to interview notable pairs about their lives and attributed songs
Read moreTwo for the show: songs about famous duos and couples
What’s their chemistry? Creative or romantic, adventurous or anarchic, real or fictional, who gets a prominent lyrical or titular appearance in a song, ideally where they are the primary focus rather just a passing mention?
Read morePlaylists: songs with notable outros and codas
From the seamlessly beautiful to the outrageously expansive, the gently whispered to the incendiary solo freakout, where do you start with great outros? From the beginning to the end (of the end), AmyLee picks a blistering selection from last week’s topic nominations
Read moreHow does it end? Songs with notable outros and codas
The end has to come, but how, in an outro or coda, does a song or piece offer something different, original, unusual or memorable, musically or even lyrical form, a twist, a mood change, upbeat, downbeat or even a sense of unresolved mystery?
Read morePlaylists: songs about orgasms
Yes! Yes! Yes! After days of non-stop, multiple orgasmic musical nominations, it’s time to have a cigarette, sit back and relax as guest of the week magicman presents more than pleasurable playlists that reach even more climaxes …
Read moreSpend it wisely: songs about tax and wealth distribution
During a time of fiscal crisis, while policy helps the wealthy avoid paying what’s due, here at Song Bar we’re open and pennywise with our playlists. So what contribution might you have on this taxing subject of social justice? Spend your time wisely …
Read morePlaylist: songs with pick-up lines and marriage proposals
Whether it’s in bars, stores, or even takeaway restaurants, these songs include opening gambits might get a quick date or even lead to marriage. Guest playlister tincanman picks a seductive set of songs to attract your ears
Read moreWet legs: songs about swimming, bathing and showering
It’s time to dip into your music collections and then immerse more deeply. From bubbling tub soaks to cold water swims, Turkish baths to rubber ducks, hot springs to icy adventures, let’s soak up this topic in lyrics and sounds
Read morePlaylists: songs about bees
So what’s buzz? Literal or metaphor, and collecting nectar from a wide range of sources from last week’s topic, guest musical beekeeper Alaric gives takes on a world of the bluesy, folky and much more as his playlists fully bloom
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