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Playlists: songs about trucks and trucking

March 26, 2025 Peter Kimpton

The art of trucking …

It’s a subject dominated by the country & western style, but this nomadic road freight culture is also soundtracked by other styles. Inspired by last week’s topic, Big Wheeled Marco den Ouden takes us on an international truck trip

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In blues, comedy, country, dance, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, metal, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, trucks, trucking, motor vehciles, film soundtrack, CW McCall, Dave Dudley, The Dandy Warhols, Hoodoo Gurus, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, George Thorogood, Henry Allen, Linda Ronstadt, Junior Brown, Ned & Chris LeDoux, Taj Mahal, Black Uhuru, Not The Nine O'Clock News, Rowan Atkinson, The Wurzels, Denim, Mark Knopfler, Kohei Otomo, Lucky Star, Slim Dusty, Cold Chisel, The Black Sorrows, Slim Newton, Henk Wijngaard, Fred Eaglesmith, Pharis, Jason Romero, Corb Lund, Jonathan Byrd, Commander Cody, The Byrds, Johnny Cash, Mary Gauthier, bread, Blind Boy Fuller, Tom Waits, Jerry Reed, Lil Johnson, Alabama, Red Simpson, Sammy Johns, Merle Haggard, Kathy Mattea, Kip Moore, Hank Snow, The Little Willies, Stompin' Tom Connors, Blondie, Red Sorvine, Marco den Ouden
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Big 10-4, Rubber Ducky: songs about trucks and trucking

March 20, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Ready to roll? A Peterbilt 389

They’re a great, sometimes romantic, sometimes tragic vehicle for human stories, and have nomadic culture of their own. This week we musically celebrate this freight transport, with all sorts of payloads and other services. Where better to listen to music?

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In African, blues, avant-garde, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, gospel, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, reggae, punk, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, trucks, lorries, trucking, Finn Murphy, Jerry Reed, Steve Earle, Joanna Dunham, Amy E. Butcher, books, Film, film soundtrack, George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, Stanley Baker, Patrick McGoohan, Sean Connery, William Hartnell, Sid James, David McCallum, Steven Spielberg, Richard Matheson, Dennis Weaver, Burt Reynolds, CB radio, slang, language, Sam Peckinpah, Kris Kristofferson, George Miller, Chloé Zhao, Frances McDormand, Henri-Georges Clouzot
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Playlists: songs about decluttering, reducing, purging and tidying

March 18, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Neat neat neat …

Spring cleaning season is in full swing - tidying, cleaning or paring back, from belongings to unwanted relationships, guest of the week Severin clears the bar with some very neat work inspired by last week’s topic

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In blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, lounge, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags decluttering, tidying, reducing, purging, Biteback, Mitski, Joss Stone, Sparks, Youssou N'Dour, Carmen McRae, Tapper Zukie, The Average White Band, The Beatles, The Wombles, Furry Lewis, Eminem, Joanna Newsom, The Spaniels, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Billie Holiday, Teenage Fanclub, Peggy Lee, Maxine Nightingale, Half Man Half Biscuit, Sammy Kershaw, Gala, Nina Simone, The Go-Betweens, Deco*27, Hatsune Miku, Jane Jarvis, Tindersticks, Neil Young, Femi Kuti, Abbey Lincoln, Vivian Stanshall, severin, Severin
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Less is more? Songs about decluttering, reducing, purging and tidying

March 13, 2025 Peter Kimpton

How my living room does not look

With spring cleaning possibly on the to-do list, practical and creative decluttering, not merely in the house, but all kinds of editing out, paring back, chiselling, sifting, trimming, shaving, scaling or downsizing, all expressed in song. Check out some experts’ tidy tips too…

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In African, avant-garde, blues, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, tidying, decluttering, editing, reducing, William Morris, Nathan W. Morris, Socrates, Henry David Thoreau, Film, Ernest Hemingway, William Carlos Williams, poetry, Jules Verne, hoarding, Samuel Beckett, Francine Jay, Joshua Becker, Marie Kondō
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Playlists: songs about absurdity and absurdism

March 11, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Players enter. But where’s the Wurlitzer …?

Strange goings on and off occur this week as the curtain opens for a theatrical absurdity featuring cast of random characters including this week’s guest guru, Loud Atlas, inspired by last week’s topic and Samuel Beckett. Fish. Wurlitzer. Balloon.

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In avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, disco, dance, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, 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, theatre, Samuel Beckett, Albert Camus, Frank Zappa, Dicky Doo and The Don'ts, Norm Burns, The Burning Hell, Ivor Cutler, Bob Dylan, Sparks, Family Fodder, Erutan, Bodo Wartke, Marti Fischer, The Kinks, Serge Gainsbourg, The Deep Freeze Mice, Mono No Aware, Laibach, Bing Crosby, William Bendix, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Momus, Mr Scruff, Barnes & Barnes, Roger Miller, The Beatles, Chad Morgan, John Hiatt, Yello, Les Fleur De Lys, They Might Be Giants, Luan Luis Guerra 4.40, Manfred Mann, Scooter, Blind Blake, Comedian Harmonists, The Cure, Andrew Bird, Klaatu, Motion City Soundtrack, Loud Atlas
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Stop making sense: songs about absurdity and absurdism

March 6, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Playtime: Jacques Tati’s masterpiece about modern life (1967)

Strange, surreal, ironic, absurdity very much part of life, and absurdism is all about embracing the freedom with its meaninglessness. Exploring influences from Camus to Tati, Milligan to Python to Lynch, how is it expressed in music?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, absurdity, absurdism, philosophy, MC Escher, books, art, Film, Miguel de Cervantes, Cervantes, Søren Kierkegaard, Soren Kierkegaard, Cicero, Albert Camus, Bertrand Russell, Karl Marx, Steven Wright, Spike Milligan, Franz Kafka, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Jean-Paul Sartre, second world war, Myth of Sisyphus, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jacques Tati, David Lynch, Joseph Heller, Monty Python
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Playlists: songs about the colour grey

March 5, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Assorted greys

Darker or lighter, a broad wave of moods, emotions, contexts, and objects come into focus with this insiightful selections as guest of the week ajostu examines this colour in lyrics, from a slate of suggestions in last week’s topic

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, comedy, colours, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, metal, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, colours, grey, Tomas Tranströmer, Rufus Wainwright, Leadbelly, Paranoid Visions, Kathryn Williams, Neill MacColl, Saint Etienne, New Young Pony Club, Felt, Stella Donnelly, Lior, U2, Soccer Mommy, Richard Thompson, XTC, Charlotte Hatherlay, Moderate Rebels, YMO, Abyssanctum, VNV Nation, LCD Soundsystem, When, Spirit, Tokiko Kato, Kiyoshi Hasegawa, Kenshi Yonezu, Masaki Suda, Ichiko Aoba, Jan Garbarek, ajostu
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A shade more interesting: songs about the colour grey

February 27, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Dappled greys on a misty morning …

An unheralded hue between black and white, it’s the shade of ambiguity, subtlety, diplomacy and poetry. Dove, slate, mountain, pewter, flint, pebble, dawn, snail trail, bark, granite, graphite, bone, frost, smoke, mist, also in many animals and metaphors, so how does it work in culture and song?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, colours, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, colours, grey, gray, Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, George RR Martin, animals, minerals, Oscar Wilde, George Clooney, El Greco, Rembrandt, Anthony Van Dyke, art, William Gibson, David Bowie, Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, pigeons, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, Edwin Morgan, poetry
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Playlists: songs about the number 9

February 26, 2025 Peter Kimpton

The Number 9’s getting up a head of steam this week …

Let us count the ways … distance, temperature, dates, states of being mind and muse, trains, rockets and other transports of delight all come in this wonderful cloud nine presentation by guest Nicko inspired by last week’s Song Bar Ninth Birthday topic

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags nine, numbers, Sun Ra, Linda Thompson, Albert Hammond, Suzanne Vega, Texas Gladden, Sisters of Mercy, Patti Smith, The Damned, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Wilson Pickett, Tarheel Slim, Pam Grier, Alt-J, Henry Cow, RIta Hayworth, Anita Ellis, Esperanza Spalding, Caetano Veloso, Nguyên Lê, Einstürzende Neubauten, REM, Moldy Peaches, The Now, The Robins, Woody Guthrie, Dickey Lee, Roxy Music, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band, 3rd Line Butterfly, Gwen McCrae, The Seeds, Metá Metá, Edgar, Heliocentrics, Julius Daniel, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Monroe Brothers, Joe Simon, Nicko
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We’re up to the nines: songs about the number IX

February 20, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Nine lives …

It’s a Song Bar Ninth Birthday Special: But where does this number come up in song? It’s idiomatic, it’s an upside-down 6, three thrices, an imperfect, perfectly odd number, associated with inspiration, the surreal, power, wisdom, evil, euphoria, looking your best, and, whether it’s morning or night, for work or rest, always a striking time

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In African, avant-garde, blues, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags numbers, nine, 9, Michel de Montaigne, Jon Bon Jovi, Earl Wilson, Jane Austen, John Rawlett, Greek mythology, Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, India, China, religion, mythology, Norse mythology, Anton LaVey, Inside No. 9, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Thomas Fuller, William Hamilton, Robert Burns, Samuel Fallows
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Playlists: songs about houses

February 18, 2025 Peter Kimpton

What’s down the musical street this week?

Well kept or run down, large or small, opulent or modest, houses and homes come in all shapes and sizes and see all the ups and downs of life. Inspired by last week’s topic, guest writer Barbryn creates playlists that will make you feel right at home

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In African, blues, calypso, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, musicals, music, musical hall, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags houses, songs, playlists, Rosemary Clooney, The Fall, Mark E Smith, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, The Four Tops, Grant Hart, Hubert Porter, George Moxey's Calypso Quintet, Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, Paul Kelly, Katherine Priddy, Tom Waits, Madness, The Pretty Things, LCD Soundsystem, X, Eels, Beach House, The Cinematic Orchestra, Danny Schmidt, Alasdair Roberts, Olivia Chaney, Françoise Hardy, Roberta Flack, I'm From Barcelona, Barbryn
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Something to dwell on: songs about houses

February 13, 2025 Peter Kimpton

How will this play out? Saxophone house

They hold stories and emotions, habits, laughs, lives and deaths, but how are they portrayed in song? From the personal to the political, it’s time see see how our homes will play out when they are foremost in lyrics …

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In African, avant-garde, blues, 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, rock, reggae, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, houses, homes, Karl Pilkington, Le Corbusier, architecture, Jonathan Carroll, David Hockney, Joan Rivers, Zsa Zsa Gabor
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Playlists: songs about the Roman Empire

February 11, 2025 Peter Kimpton

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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In avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, soul, soundtracks, songs, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, Ancient Rome, emperors, Marco den Ouden, Caligula, Claudius, Momus, Angela & Jeff Van Dyck, Miles Davis, Triumvirat, Bob Dylan, spin doctors, The Last Dinner Party, Frances Barber, Groundation, Theatre of Hate, Bastille, Goldblade, Christopher Purves, Monty Python, Eric Idle, Bulat Okudsava, Saul Williams, Zack de la Rocha, Morcheeba, Nova Mob, The Stranglers, Soft Cell, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Inner Circle, Oli Julian, Sam Cooke, Frankie Howerd, Lloyd Jones, Perry Keyes, Terry Callier, Sugar Minott, Current 93, Molly Nilsson, James Reynes, Lisa Gerrard, Hans Zimmer, Matt Pless, Mark Knopfler, The Divine Comedy, Olivia Chaney, Wilfred Joseph, Julius Fucik, Colosseum, Nero & The Gladiators, Jo Jo Bennett, Chris Potter, Bud Powell, The Fleshtones, Land Observations
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Carpe diem: songs about the Roman Empire

February 6, 2025 Peter Kimpton

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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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, colours, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, music, metal, lounge, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, Ancient Rome, Roman Empire, empires, Titus Livius, emperors, Tacitus, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Juvenal, Marcus Aurelius, Claudius, Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes, Edward Gibbon, Donald Trump, Henry Kissinger, Camille Paglia, James Buchan, Emperor Augustus, Hadrian, Commodus, Caligula, Derek Jacobi, George Eliot, Monty Python, Seneca, Publilius Sysru
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Playlists: songs about salt

February 5, 2025 Peter Kimpton

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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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags Salt, songs, playlists, minerals, Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting, Nancy Kerr, My Friend The Chocolate Cake, The Chills, The Pineapple Thief, Mammút, Karine Polwart, boygenius, Rocío Márquez, Zetetics, Prince Alla, Bedouin Soundclash, Ai Otsuka, Red Foley, Frederick Knight, Pere Ubu, Kate McGarrigle, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Los Falcons, Milton Nascimento, The Triffids, Hope Sandoval, The Decemberists, Julian Lennon, The National, Madrugada, Sweeping Promises, Jack White, Alice Donut, Papa Charlie Jackson, Gino Paoli, Kip Hanrahan, Dinah Washington, T-Bone Walker, Nicko
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Just the right amount of ... songs about salt

January 30, 2025 Peter Kimpton

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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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, experimental, exotica, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, 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, salt, minerals, food, food industry, history, China, Mark Kurlansky, Antonio Tabucchi, Karen Blixen, Ancient Rome, Mahatma Gandhi, India, science, geology, Burls Art, Humphry Davy, chemistry
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Playlists: songs about paths, tracks, trails and roads

January 29, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Follow this musical trail ….

From tiny woodland byways to endless stretching highways, across history and continents, Devon to Scotland, America to Australia, guest playlister Shiv Sidecar takes us on a fabulous musical journey inspired by last week’s topic

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, country, dance, drone, dub, exotica, easy listening, electronica, experimental, folk, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, roads, paths, trails, Nick Drake, Archie Roach, Linkin Park, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Alasdair Roberts, The Aislers Set, Buddy Miles, Mazzy Star, Pavlov's Dog, Show Of Hands, The Move, The Triffids, Dengue Fever, Metric, Ivor Cutler, The Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Midnight Oil, Japanese Breakfast, Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kevin Morby, Jackie Leven, Karine Polwart, Lal Waterson, Robb Johnson, JJ Cale, Bo Diddley, U-Roy, Billy Butler, Shocking Blue, The Factory, David Byrne, Nina Nastasia, Dan Fogelberg, Lightnin' Hopkins, PJ Harvey, Cult Maniax, Lhasa, Ralph MacDonald, Super Furry Animals, trees, The Battered Ornaments, The Gun Club, Plainsong, XTC, ShivSidecar, Sidecar Shiv, Gillian Welch
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Route notes: songs about paths, tracks, trails and roads

January 23, 2025 Peter Kimpton

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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In African, avant-garde, calypso, blues, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, music, paths, trails, tracks, walking, Bruce Chatwin, Aboriginal, Australia, David Lynch, Muriel Strode, Søren Kierkegaard, Soren Kierkegaard, Robert Motherwell, Joy Division, Peter Saville, Africa, South America, South Africa, Himalayas, Nepal, Ireland, Scotland, Ancient Rome, roads, Hawaii, Appalachian Way, Colorado, Werner Herzog, Film, film soundtrack
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Playlists: songs about tickets, passes and invitations

January 22, 2025 Peter Kimpton

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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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, country, comedy, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, tickets, playlists, invitations, passes, Quincy Jones, The Marvelettes, The Beatles, Fanny, TootArd, Olivia Rodrigo, Gene Wilder, Film, film soundtrack, Della Reese, Half Man Half Biscuit, The Chats, paul simon, Aretha Franklin, Joe Cocker, Tyrone Davis, Silver Cooks & The Gondoliers, Wendy Waldman, The Magicians, Beck, The Kills, Passport, passports, Tracy Chapman, Big Star, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Cosmo Sheldrake, The Osmonds, Harry Nilsson, Gladys Knight, English Teacher, Loud Atlas
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Enter with: songs about tickets, passes and invitations

January 16, 2025 Peter Kimpton

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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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, disco, dance, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, tickets, passes, passports, travel, music, music venues, Hunter S. Thompson, George Carlin, Mercedes McCambridge, Douglas Coupland, Oscar Wilde, Al Gore, Mick Jagger, Lady Gaga, The Cure, Robert Smith, Mark E Smith
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New Albums …

Featured
Dove Ellis - Blizzard.jpeg
Dec 9, 2025
Dove Ellis: Blizzard
Dec 9, 2025

New album: An extraordinarily mature, passionate, poetic, and outstandingly powerful debut by the Manchester-based Galway-born singer-songwriter, whose soaring delivery has instant echoes of Jeff Buckley and lyrics that go above and beyond

Dec 9, 2025
Spíra by Ólöf Arnalds.jpeg
Dec 5, 2025
Ólöf Arnalds: Spíra
Dec 5, 2025

New album: A gorgeous, delicate, ethereal first release in a decade by the Icelandic singer-songwriter, acoustic instruments and her gentle, high, pure voice, all in her native language, caressing this listening experience like pure waters of some slowly trickling glacial stream

Dec 5, 2025
Melody's Echo Chamber - Unclouded.jpeg
Dec 5, 2025
Melody's Echo Chamber: Unclouded
Dec 5, 2025

New album: A fourth album, here full of delicious uplifting, dreamily chic, psychedelic soul pop by the French musician Melody Prochet, with bright, upbeat, optimistic numbers and a title lifted from a quote by the acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, about achieving equilibrium

Dec 5, 2025
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
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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
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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
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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
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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

new songs …

Featured
Peter Perrett - Proud To Be Self-Hating.jpeg
Dec 12, 2025
Song of the Day: Peter Perrett - PROUD TO BE SELF-HATING (irony and provocation)
Dec 12, 2025

Song of the Day: The veteran British artist, originally frontman of The Only Ones, and now with three solo albums, who actually has Jewish heritage, releases a gently powerful, nuanced, pro-Palestine acoustic number as a response to ongoing genocide by the Israeli government, out on Domino Records

Dec 12, 2025
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Dec 11, 2025
Song of the Day: Maddie Ashman - Jaded
Dec 11, 2025

Song of the Day: Magical, delicate, eclectic, intricate, experimental microtonal music by the London musician and singer, released alongside a longer track, In Autumn My Heart Breaks

Dec 11, 2025
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Dec 10, 2025
Song of the Day: Ye Vagabonds - The Flood
Dec 10, 2025

Song of the Day: Wonderfully warm, rich, lively fiddle-driven Irish folk by the award-winning band fronted by Carlow brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn with a heartbreaking number about the housing crisis, heralding their upcoming new album, All Tied Together, out on Rough Trade’s River Lea Recordings on 30 January

Dec 10, 2025
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Dec 9, 2025
Song of the Day: DBA! A Poet And A Clown
Dec 9, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy fuzz-guitar indie rock with a swagger by the Liverpool-formed trio of Sam Warren, James Lindberg and Joshua Grant in a song described as “a confessional story of desire tangled with religious guilt”

Dec 9, 2025
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Dec 8, 2025
Song of the Day: Puma Blue - Croak Dream
Dec 8, 2025

Song of the Day: A dark, esoteric, mysterious and stylish title track with a hint of Radiohead and playing with the idea of knowing your future death, from the experimental indie/goth/ambient London artist Jacob Allen’s forthcoming album out on 6 February via Play It Again Sam

Dec 8, 2025
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Dec 7, 2025
Song of the Day: ELIZA - Anyone Else
Dec 7, 2025

Song of the Day: Stripped-back, bluesy, fuzzy funk with slight echoes of Prince and alt-R&B are conjured up in this love song by the London-based singer-songwriter Eliza Caird, her first single for two years, now off the mainstream and out on Log Off Records

Dec 7, 2025
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Dec 6, 2025
Song of the Day: Tiga (featuring Fcukers) - Silk Scarf
Dec 6, 2025

Song of the Day: A fun, sensual, quirkily oddball electronica dance single with a slick, fetish-flirtatious ode to a favourite smooth material by the Montreal musician (Tiga James Sontag) joined here with vocals by the New York band (Shanny Wise and Jackson Walker Lewis), and heralding Tiga’s upcoming album Hotlife, out in April on Secret City Records

Dec 6, 2025
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Dec 5, 2025
Song of the Day: Flea - A Plea
Dec 5, 2025

Song of the Day: A striking, powerful new single by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist (aka Michael Balzary), who brings a fusion of jazz and spoken word with a fabulous band on an impassioned number about the state of the US in a culture of hatred, social and political tensions, out now on Nonesuch Records

Dec 5, 2025
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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
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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
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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

Word of the week

Featured
Hangover.jpeg
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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