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Ignored and alone, down in the tube station at midnight
This week it’s time to dig deep and broad for new names that rarely get a mention, certainly never make the charts or win prizes, sell much or get the recognition they deserve. Let’s refresh the synapses of musical hive mind knowledge
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Now they all come together …
They’re big, and fierce, and beautiful; unpredictable, wild and exhilarating. And that’s not just those big, stripy cats. We’re also talking about this amazing ambush of playlists, picked from a wild jungle of brilliant suggestions by guest Severin
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Welcome to the Bar, says the Siberian
As myth or monster, pet or predator, symbol of beauty, death or power, tigers fire the imagination with their looks and behaviour. But how do they spring out of the musical jungle, literally or metaphorically?
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Honey badger: ‘Yeah? And? So what?’
As independent and tough as the honey badger, these playlists rise above any concerns. They don’t care what anyone else thinks. How come? They are brilliantly compiled by guest AmyLee, picked from hundreds of nominations
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How to putt it? Fiddling while Rome burns …?
Whether genuine or feigned, in love, politics or the natural world, it’s as all-pervasive as gravity, and with a pulling power just as immense. So tugging against it, what bigger form of attention-seeking is there than writing and performing a song? But how do songs deal with indifference?
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Low tide on the Welsh coast
From Scottish rocks to smooth Australian shores and right across the globe, from a steadily rising sea of nominations, guest playlister Nicko charts the ebbs and flows, ins and outs, and highs and lows with a set of beautifully flowing choices
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The tide has brought in John Cooper Clarke …
Highs and lows to ebbs and flows, literal, littoral and metaphorical, specific locations, mudflats and estuaries, wildlife, mudlarking, shorelines and coasts, this week it’s all about the movement of water in and out, and what that is all about
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Don’t kid yourself. Secret necking …
Cheatin’ hearts to stray cats, liars and game players, this week it’s all about the drama, dalliances, the deceit, the sexy secrecy and risk, the partial or unfolding perspectives, repression, sacrifice, romance or the full tragic, explosive reveal
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Less is more, or more is more? Goodness. This sort of thing could raise a chap’s temperature somewhat
Knee socks, stockings, Y-fronts and bags of bras, especially red. As with all the best things, a glimpse is far more exciting than baring all, and with these selections guest playlister philipphilip99 is primed in the art of titillation
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Art of suspense … the inimitable Tim Curry from The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Descriptive, metaphorical, sexy, suspenseful, comical, funny, sensible, functional, or filthy, it’s time to rummage though your musical unmentionables, big up the smalls, fill out those bras, slip on those slips, and disc jockey up your shorts …
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You never know who will turn up … Paul Robeson meets a fan or two in Moscow in 1958
You never know who you might encounter on these playlists - lovers, angels, snake oil salesmen, spaceships, ghosts, brigands, the supernatural, the suicidal and the ecstatic - all artfully picked by guest Suzi from a week of nominations
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Brief Encounter …
Songs that capture that moment of a surprise encounter, wherever it is, doorstep or elsewhere, and wherever it might lead – to romance, tragedy, comedy, death, or more, perhaps profoundly life-changing, or brief, and fleeting
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Elvis. Introduced a whole new language of hip …
Involuntary or practised, revealing or hidden, this week from waving to winking, leaning the lying, aggression and domination to love and tenderness, let’s look out for songs that express these gestures in titles or lyrics
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Flesh out the music? Things are getting extra mouthy …
Downright scary, but also popular, are they society’s ills eating itself, or its ills eating society? Spanning the globe, with tasty flavours and takes from the UK to the US, Latin countries, Japan and the Caribbean, guest playlister Marco den Ouden takes a brilliantly big bite
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Vaccine? The latest scramble for gig tickets is getting a little out of hand …
This may well be a subject with bite. Can you put some flesh on it, or strip back to the bone? Zombies, mummys or other horror-film types who are reanimated and have single-minded hunger should have a strong musical appetite
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It’s our Fifth Birthday. Take a slice …
Five years! To celebrate, this special topic is both literal and metaphorical, the mechanism that makes us click, capturing the magic of the coin-operated machine that expresses our bar-based love of music in song choices
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Robert Wyatt is back
Going back for good reasons or bad, heartbreak or sheer habit, by nature or nature, emotional or physical places. Guest guru nosuchzone also returns with perfectly playful and poetic selections that go through all the levels
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The march of progress …
There are different perspectives of looking at the two-steps-forward, one-step-back dance of history. Cul-de-sacs to cowardly reverses, let’s explore songs where going backwards in life can be good, bad, or a mixture
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Long exposure: who is spinning this ferris and other records for the playlists?
Rolling in with a big, beautiful range of rotating artists and contexts, sounds and genres, guest playlister ParaMhor spins a lovely selection of discs picked from a multiple revolutions nominated from last week’s topic
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Billy Mackenzie: a life on the edge
From a thin razor to wide borders on the fringes of the world, from mental thresholds to frenzied fault lines, all inspired by many nominations on last week’s topic guest playlister Maki takes the topic to the musical cutting edge
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