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Part hidden: one of this week’s artists revealed …
What is revealed? From cloaks of invisibility to unseen superpowers, mysterious animals or scents to the people who are never spotted, guest playlister Noodsy picks some outstanding songs that are truly out of sight but well in earshot
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It’s a fragile thing, but we still drink it in
Sudden or slow-motion tragedy, from breakup to sudden loss of a loved one, or any other of life’s soul-destroying events, this week it’s time to drown all sorrows in the bar and find the most potent selection of heartbreak songs
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Bumblebee: music collected from many sources
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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Bumblebee
Time to get busy! From honey to nectar, pollination to special dance moves, lyrics literal or metaphor, or in sounds, with World Bee Day coming up, it’s time to feel the musical buzz of these inspirational insects in all that they mean to humans, and how we should protect them
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Results are in the air tonight
Applications have been made, papers marked, but from last week’s many entries, which made the grade and will reach graduation to make the playlists? Examiner Marco den Ouden reveals the full results …
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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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The famous Grimm’s edition illustrated by Arthur Rackham
They fuelled the fevered imaginations of our childhoods, and contain many adult themes of love and lust, violence and identity, but how are these characters and narratives used in song? Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin …
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A bigger splash: humpback whale breach
Cetaceans are dolphins, whales and porpoises – familiar yet mysterious, those large, intelligent water mammals that have inspired oceans of songwriters, but in what way? On freedom, tragedy, slaughter, or wondrous, otherworldly sounds?
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Breaking news: who will smash through into this week’s playlists and have a ball?
Breaking: it happens suddenly, slowly, in many forms, and places – hearts, minds, bodies, objects, houses, relationships. Guest guru Uncleben picks up the pieces from last week’s many suggestions and puts them together with cracking results
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Smash hits: Donna Reed as Mary edits the collection in 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life
Hearts, bones, laws, bread, levees, glass, ice, records, lyrically as literal or metaphor, and so much more. It’s time to break new musical ground, from the destructive or creative, darker or lighter contexts of this topic
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Flemish harpsichord
Across all genres, it’s time to revive and bring out the delicate sound of this once popular, plectrum-triggering keyboard instrument – not just the harpsichord, but its smaller relatives – virginal, clavichord, clavicytherium, ottavino, pedal and other variants
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Beautiful hybrid: the speckled nightingale thrush (Catharus maculatus)
They must sing on, and will not stop. From the national bird of Ukraine to a whole variety of vocally dextrous thrushes, this enduring topic, coming from a huge flock of nominations last week, is given full and beautiful playlist flight by guest Severin
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The common nightingale
The inspiration of poets and songwriters for thousands of years, advertising with infinite music invention and energy, it’s also the national bird of Ukraine, defending its territory. So let’s celebrate the nightingale, and thrush cousin, in music and lyrics
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Urban jungle? A growing trend …
Ugly or beautiful, hostile or friendly, boring or dynamic, urban environments are where people live but they are constantly in flux. This week it’s time to get a different sense of place in this potentially vast subject that also can do into tiny detail
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Preface to a translation of Nostradamus’s Prophecies
From Julius Caesar feeling the sharp end in the Roman Senate to Nostradamus and his verse of things to come that will make the world worse. But what predictions will come from this week’s quatrains? Some playlists, for sure …
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The heart-shaped island, Galesnjak, Croatia
Where are we going, exactly? With lyrical or title references as specific and detailed as possible, let’s take a global trip of songs and music giving affection to particular towns, areas, viewpoints, streets, or even smaller nooks and crannies
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Martha, my dear: Rufus Wainwright with his beloved fellow singer sister
Deep affection, solidarity, loyalty, but also a variety of bittersweet melanges, this week, after a tsunami of perceptive suggestions, guest of the week George Boyland picks songs of deep emotion and variety that sing out for the sister
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Evolution’s purest clickbait: kitten in field
Nothing’s ideal, no one’s impeccable, nothing’s completely pure, but this week it’s time to search for the beautifully formed, the perfectly pitched, the adorably flawless and more as the lyrical focus. Or that’s the plan …
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What goes around …
Record players and vinyl, cassettes and stereo systems, 8-tracks, radios and cassettes, this week we’ve got it taped on every format as guest MussoliniHeadkick spins superb playlists inspired by nominations from last week’s topic
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In living Memorex …
Lyrics that refer to listening methods: gramophones to turntables and records, radio, cassettes and reel-to-reels, CDs to MP3s, iPods to the internet cloud and streaming platforms. When it comes to revolutions, there’s always a revival …
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