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A few members of Rome’s classic band lineup
Empires rise and crumble, but few on a scale as that of Ancient Rome. Following last week’s topic, guest playlister Marco den Ouden is inspired to create a musical arc to match Gibbon’s famous historical magnus opus
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All musical roads lead to … Rome
Gladiators to gods, togas to street names, emperors to orgies, invasions to inventions, it’s the empire that arguably has the most lasting effect and resonance with the present, but how is it referenced in song?
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This one is near Minsk, but what colours have been crafted out out from this week’s musical salt mine?
Cooking to chemistry, seafaring to salty tears and a sprinkling of sounds from across the world, from Alabama to Japan to the Middle East and Australia, guest playlister Nicko concocts a truly seasoned and tasty set of selections from last week’s topic
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Guitar licks …
A staple of our diet, contained in the body, but also necessary be restocked for health, sodium chloride has thousands of uses, and has been a human obsession for centuries, seeping in our language, but how is it served up in song?
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Inca Trail, Peru
Timeless travelling, personal and universal, from the minor the major way, this topic less about about passing through, going somewhere, even if that destination may end up being an existential nowhere. It’s the romance of the road, the tantalising tread of the trail, the perception of the path
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Get your AAA passes here to a full musical experience ….
Tickets to travel, alluring invitations to important passes come in all forms, and inspired by last week’s topic nominators, guest inspector Loud Atlas brings you access to all areas of musical enjoyment
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Paper trail or older entrance …
Cultural events to sport, travel, parties or imagined prizes in lotteries, whether as literal or as metaphor in lyrics, it's all about those bits of real or virtual paper allowing access. Where will yours get you?
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Beautifully sad symmetry by Celeste
Mirrored lyrical patterns create an aural symmetry l that appeals to listeners, especially in pop music’s chorus. Inspired by last week’s nominations, guest playlister Maki weighs up the lyric sheets to create a perfect balance
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‘Fearful symmetry’? More to reflect on …
It’s pleasing to ear and eye, verbally, musically and rhythmically, so let’s seek songs with forms of lyrical antimetabole, the repetition of one or more words in successive clauses, but a transposed order
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Descending deeper into the swirling vortex of our over-stimulated minds: Girls In Synthesis
Scratching your head? What makes the inner language and patterns of thought? Is there an art to thinking, of not thinking too much, or even dethinking? Guest writer Uncleben brings clarity and wonderfully crafted playlists inspired by last week’s topic
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Welcome to 2025. It’s time to blow a few lyrical and musical thought bubbles and get the grey matter moving. How is thought expressed in song? Is it an inner speech? Is it through the fingers? All this and more with much to think about, here ….
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Who is it? Bjork, of course, jingling a silvery Alexander McQueen number
They’re sometimes the sound of Christmas, but these resonant instruments can crop up in all sorts of situations and music. Reverberating from last week’s topic, guest VikingChild creates Xmas and non-Xmas selections and are extremely a-pealing. Let them ring out!
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The bells! The bells! Handheld bells ...
They resonate through time, marking beginnings and endings, life and death, and have a host of meanings and contexts. Alone or in harmony, large or small, as instrument or sound effect, what tintinnabulum tickles your fancy in music?
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They call him Mr Tibbs: Sidney Poitier shows Rod Steiger how real detective work is done - In The Heat of The Night (1967)
There’s a body, but what’s the motive, and whodunnit? Gathering a cast of famous detectives and a pile of tracks about them to spin in the Bar, Chief Inspector Marco den Ouden solves the case with musical cues and keys, inspired by last week’s topic
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Hose or hoes, or …?
This week the Song Bar turns into a pop-up store to handle all your musical fixes. Tools, materials, plumbing or wiring, we’ve got it all, and the theme is literal or metaphorical, so please browse and choose …
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Are you watching? The musical and visual chemistry of Breaking Bad
Sometimes the visual and audible become inextricable. From nostalgia to drama, guest of the week Loud Atlas channels nominations from last week’s TV topic into playlists that are must-sees and required listening
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Charlotte Moorman performing Nam June Paik’s TV Cello, New York, 1971
From themes to incidental music, it’s time to tune in for songs inextricably linked, either because it began life written for a TV programme, or later became indelibly associated with something on the box
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Go!: The Go! Team
It’s positive, infectious, subjective yet strangely magical in effect. Spread across the genres and inspired by last week’s topic, ParaMhor brings his superb selection of music that will brighten your day and put a spring in your step
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It's highly subjective, but we're throwing out there what songs, or pieces, give you that big physical or mental boost. So, what music puts a pep in your step? What pushes out the puissance, releases the pizzazz, flows the juice, brings vim, vitality, vigour, zest, zing or the zip?
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Captain Beefheart … of course
Prepare for a journey into the unknown and deeply strange. Whether in lyrics or musical sound or structure, guest playlister severin leads us through canticular caverns of wonder, inspired by last week’s topic
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