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Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
From fragile gifts for children to party inflations, early hot air expeditions to the plight of dirigible blimps and zeppelins, balloons offer a profound literal and metaphorical set of emotions to fill the lungs of song
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… you’re in for a big surprise …
Aliens to unexpected identity, unusual sounds to strange artistic combinations as well as the lyrical subject itself, guest Marco den Ouden brings a box of brilliant surprises in response to our Big 10th Birthday Topic
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Our birthday celebrations are going with a bang
Suddenly, out of nowhere we are 10 years old! A big celebration then, and a theme that’s surprising (or is it?) with lyrically with narrative twists, or unpredictable turns of phrase, bizarre sounds, odd instruments, strange key changes, or structures made to take the listener by surprise
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Sidney Bechet
Across all the genres it's time for a tootle on the old liquorice stick. Versatile in sound, from a smooth, pure voice, to a dirty growl, a gradual glissando to a noisy blast of so-called blarinet, from resonant, lovely soloist to a voluminous harmonised group
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Vivian and the crew …
In words or notes, from dark parody to the plain old silly, it’s time to celebrate comedic songs, those written specifically to tickle, to amuse, to make you smile and laugh. If they do that, then they count
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The two-faced Roman god Janus, the inspiration for this month’s name
It’s a month of mixed feelings and perspectives, and can bring optimism as well as anguish. Songs about January, or set during it, so let’s see what settings, stories and emotions it inspires and produces …
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Poison pen? Luvcat has a thing for Dr John Cooper Clarke
Love is strange. It can manifest in many forms - from individual physical and behavioural obsessions, even to non-human attraction - robots and animals. Guest playlister ShivSidecar expertly explores these Agony Aunt questions, inspired by last week’s topic
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Edward Lear’s classic odd couple, The Owl and the Pussycat
This week we celebrate not the usual or generalised soft-focus cliches about beauty and romance, but songs which describe uniquely odd and different detail, appearance or behaviour that stirs an individual’s tastes, from alternative sex drives, emotions and attraction
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Dave began to wonder if it might be more than just forgetting to shave today …
New Year? It’s time for some big changes around here - that is with some profound physical shapeshifting or behavioural transformation, and even reincarnation itself, all in song from, provided with great expertise and taste by guest Uncleben from last week’s topic
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Monarch butterfly metamorphosis
It’s time for not temporary or partial, but radical change - here reflected in lyrics from lifestyle to career, to triggering experiences, love and relationships, fortune or tragedy, a sudden huge idea or even spiritual revelation, sudden or gradual
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Things go a little Gaga over Xmas …
Share your music and thoughts about the year. It’s a time of Christmas baubles but also bigger social patterns. While we can see our own reflection in them, are they so controlled by AI that we don't know what other bubbles exist?
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Reflections on candle music …
With metaphors for the fragility of life, relationships and more, and inspired by last week’s topic nominations, guest of the week Marco den Ouden lights a bright and beautifully illuminating selection on this festive and glowing theme
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An illuminated memorial concert to the late Ryuichi Sakamoto in 2023
They were our only source of light for thousand of years, and burn in the imaginations many meanings and emotions - mutability, time’s remorseless melt, a fragile beauty, time passing, life, hope and sharing. How are they used in song lyrics?
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Some blissful solitary listening …
Among the many joys of solitude is being able to do exactly what you like. Guest playlister DiscoMonster does exactly that, throwing a personal party in splendid isolation, inspired by last week’s topic nominations, which we can all enjoy on our own too
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Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel (1932)
The opposite to loneliness, this week songs are all about seeking, finding or enjoying being solitary in a happy, meditative, creative, or restorative state from the practical to blissful
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Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with Lee Morgan on trumpet
From fanfares to fantastic technical feats and emotional melodies, the trumpet’s bold, bright but versatile sound is captured from classical to jazz, pop and beyond in perfect playlists picked by Loud Atlas from last week’s topic
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Miles Davis, 1973
Across the centuries and the genres, it’s been a loud, distinct and expressive instrument sounding events as well as many emotions. This week, from classical to jazz, pop and beyond, what does a great solo bring to song? Suggest your examples …
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A purr-fect day for comfort songs …
After last week's blast of Antarctica, it’s time to come in from the cold, with a lyrical and musical mood theme, focusing on anything - objects, clothing, food, drink or stories - that expresses feelings associated with cosiness and comfort
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Just us and the penguins …
Beautiful, bleak and poetic, it’s a vast wilderness full of stories of life on the extreme. A hazardous journey becomes a musical adventure as guest Captain Shiv Sidecar returns triumphant from this voyage with fabulous playlists inspired by last week’s topic
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Emperor penguins have quite a few stories to tell …
A place of brutal remote beauty, its icy vastness packed with extraordinary stories of exploration, endurance, bravery, tragedy, cruelty and irony, a cornerstone of scientific research, and of course of the hardiest survivors of the natural world – penguins and more. But what of song inspired by it?
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