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Playlists: songs that reference David Bowie

April 1, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Bowie in reference …

Comedy songs to Major Tom, Ziggy to Thin White Duke, all the way to Blackstar, his sheer inventive influence extends across musical time and space. Inspired by last week’s topic, big Bowie fan Vikingchild takes us on a wonderfully entertaining journey of range and reference

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In avant-garde, blues, comedy, country, disco, easy listening, dance, drone, electronica, experimental, folk, indie, instrumentals, krautrock, metal, music, lounge, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, rock, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags David Bowie, Isabelle Adjani, Built To Spill, Lloyd Cole, Bongwater, Ian Hunter, LCD Soundsystem, Manic Street Preachers, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Elton Motello, Momus, Peter Schilling, Lana Del Rey, Def Leppard, Plastic Bertrand, William Shatner, Barclay James Harvest, Five Star, A Perfect Circle, Flight of the Conchords, Chris Hadfield, Marizane, Pet Shop Boys, Bauhaus, David J, VikingChild
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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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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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Playlists: love songs to specific places

March 8, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Avalon man: Mississippi John Hurt

Avalon to Cádiz, New York City to Paris, Mexico to West Indies, this week’s playlists make up a music journey of poetic proportions, an atlas d’amour perfectly prepared by guest picker Uncleben, jet propelled by last week’s huge topic

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In African, blues, classical, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, ska, songs, soul, traditional Tags The Waterboys, Lucio Dalla, Mississippi John Hurt, Heartless Bastards, Aries Vigoth, Protoje, Chronixx, Gilbert Bécaud, Camaron de la Isla, LCD Soundsystem, Tom Russell, Norwegian Wind Ensemble, Jean Sibelius, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mischief Brew, James Taylor, The Beginning of the End, Lord Creator, The Whitlams, Angèle, Christy Moore, The Bangles, Lorraine Bowen, Florence and the Machine, Cesaria Evora, places, playlists, towns, cities, Uncleben
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Playlists: songs about puppets and puppetry

July 31, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Five … four … playlists are go!

Five … four … playlists are go!

It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights … roll up for a fabulous show, often with no strings attached, about puppets, but also featuring them, skilfully pulled together by guest playlister pejepeine from last week’s topic

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In avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, instrumentals, indie, jazz, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, rock, showtime, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags puppetry, puppets, playlists, songs, The 5th Dimension, The Muppets, Jim Henson, Els Titelles, XTC, Fuzzbox, France Gall, Sandie Shaw, James and Bobby Purify, Tyler The Creator, Gregory and the Hawk, 10, 10000 Maniacs, Punishment of Luxury, Kevin Coyne, Elvis Costello, The Roots, LCD Soundsystem, Robin The Frog, Kermit The Frog, Pinocchio, Disney, Von Trapp Family, Julie Andrews, Torchy the Battery Boy, Levi Stubbs, Tingha & Tucka, Pinky & Perky, Mister Rogers, Spit The Dog & Bob Carogees, Fingerbobs, REM, Kate Person, Sesame Street, Louie Ramirez, Bernd das Bröt, pejepeine, Joan Manuel Serrat
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In full swing: songs and instrumentals from New York City

July 18, 2019 Peter Kimpton
There’s more than one way of having in ball in New York. The 1930s …

There’s more than one way of having in ball in New York. The 1930s …

It’s the city of the world that never sleeps, but this week let’s explore what kind of music, particularly instrumentals, but also lyrics, capture the particular spirit, culture, feel and rhythms of its extraordinary five boroughs

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In avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, experimental, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, musicals, musical hall, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, rock, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags songs, playlists, New York, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Beastie Boys, LCD Soundsystem, Henry Ford, Duke Ellington, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island, David Byrne, Talking Heads, George Gershwin, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Sonny Bono, paul simon, Broadway, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Blondie, The Ramones, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, B-52s, The New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Dee-Lite, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Led Zeppelin, Joe Strummer, The Clash, Television (band), Prince, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Harlem, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Milos Forman, John Updike, Bette Midler, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Film, film soundtrack, Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, gangs, Statue of Liberty
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Elephants and more: songs about the obvious

August 17, 2017 Peter Kimpton
There's something in the room …

There's something in the room …

What, or who is the elephant? Is anything obvious? Is it obvious when we're in love? Who is the right person to be leader? Is winter coming? This week we examine all these questions and more with lyrics and music …

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Tags Songs, obvious, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, George Orwell, Archimedes, science, Isaac Newton, Arthur Koestler, Paul McCartney, The Beatles, Boy George, Culture Club, Neil Hannon, The Divine Comedy, paul simon, Vanessa Paradis, Henry Miller, books, poetry, art, Khalil Gibran, Eric Hoffer, philosophy, Douglas Adams, Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, The Band, Neneh Cherry, David Bowie, The Cure, Robert Smith, Cat Stevens, LCD Soundsystem, Daniel Day-Lewis, Film, Jim Jarmusch, Down By Law, Tom Waits, Richard Linklater, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Billy Wilder, Eric Temple Bell, Roger Penrose, James Gleick, Richard P Feynman, Albert Einstein, nuclear weapons, climate change, Yuval Noah Harari, Bill Bryson
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Sing out, act on CLIMATE CHANGE

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CONDEMN RACISM, EMBRACE EQUALITY


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DRINK OF THE WEEK

cocoa hot toddy


SNACK OF THE WEEK

penguin biscuits


New Albums …

Featured
Austra - Chin Up Buttercup.jpeg
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
Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World.jpeg
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
Stella Donnelly - Love and Fortune 2.jpeg
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
picture-parlour-the-parlour-album.jpeg
Nov 17, 2025
Picture Parlour: The Parlour
Nov 17, 2025

New album: Following last year’s EP Face in the Picture, a fabulously stylish, smart, swaggering glam-rock-pop debut LP by the Manchester-formed, London-based band fronted by the impressively raspy, gritty, vibratro delivery of Liverpudlian vocalist and guitarist Katherine Parlour and distinctive riffs from North Yorkshire-born guitar Ella Risi

Nov 17, 2025
FKA twigs - Eusexua Afterglow.jpeg
Nov 16, 2025
FKA twigs: EUSEXUA Afterglow
Nov 16, 2025

New album: Springing from her much lauded third LP Eusexua, out in January this year, and following a hugely successful and spectacular tour, the innovative British experimental pop artist, dancer and producer extends her palette of ethereal, otherworldly and sensual creations in this new, more carnal, harder, beat-filled parallel release

Nov 16, 2025
Celeste - Woman of Faces.jpg
Nov 15, 2025
Celeste: Woman of Faces
Nov 15, 2025

New album: The outstanding British singer returns, a long four years after her acclaimed debut Not Your Muse, with a classy, passionate set of nine, simmering, smoky, rippling dramatic, timeless numbers in which her vocal prowess is magnificently on show on songs playing on the theme of self and identity

Nov 15, 2025
Clark - Steep Stims.jpeg
Nov 14, 2025
Clark: Steep Stims
Nov 14, 2025

New album: The prolific British experimental electronica artist, Christopher Stephen Clark, who works on film and games music as well as albums, returns with a collection capturing the sprit of making music on old samplers and equipment, whipping up the rising, whooshing wave and piano styles of 90s dance music as well as more intricate sounds

Nov 14, 2025
Danny Brown - Stardust.jpeg
Nov 12, 2025
Danny Brown: Stardust
Nov 12, 2025

New album: The seventh album by the Detroit experimental, eclectic hip-hop and hyper-pop artist pushes the envelope with some extraordinary, dynamic sounds, dance music with warp-speed, slick rapping and multiple guests through an invented “90s-era pop star” persona called Dusty Star

Nov 12, 2025
Hatchie - Liquorice.jpeg
Nov 12, 2025
Hatchie: Liquorice
Nov 12, 2025

New album: With distinct echoes of Cocteau Twins and The Sundays, the third album from Australian indie pop singer-songwriter Harriette Pilbeam is beautifully awash with dream pop guitar effects and her high, sensual breathy vocals, largely co-written with her partner Joe Agius and produced by Jay Som

Nov 12, 2025
Paul Kelly - Seventy.png
Nov 11, 2025
Paul Kelly: Seventy
Nov 11, 2025

New album: The acclaimed, prolific Australian singer-songwriter (and perennial Song Bar playlist favourite) returns with his distinctive, Dylan-esque folk-rock-country with a landmark of age and his 30th studio album, with profound ballad, poetic detail and reflections on age, regrets, lust, love and death

Nov 11, 2025
Midlake - A Bridge To Far.jpeg
Nov 9, 2025
Midlake: A Bridge To Far
Nov 9, 2025

New album: The Denton, Texas band make a welcome return with their distinctively warm, rich, psychedelic folk-rock, marked by close vocal harmonies, acoustic and pedal steel, keyboards and flute, this sixth studio album themed around hope, humility and perseverance, all as a human necessity

Nov 9, 2025
Sorry - COSPLAY.jpeg
Nov 8, 2025
Sorry: COSPLAY
Nov 8, 2025

New album: Consistently excellent singles before and heralding this brilliantly odd, clever third album by the London indie band all cement their reputation for a truly original sound filled with a variety of styles, captured in the experimental title of their third LP following 2022’s Anywhere But Here

Nov 8, 2025
Juana Molina - Doga 2.jpeg
Nov 8, 2025
Juana Molina: DOGA
Nov 8, 2025

New album: A wondrously mesmeric, clever and quirky eighth album of experimental pop by the Argentinian singer, musician and comedian composed largely of analogue synths, originally from improvisations and recorded over several years in her home studio surrounded by her pets

Nov 8, 2025
Rosalía - Lux.png
Nov 7, 2025
ROSALÍA: LUX
Nov 7, 2025

New album: Grandiose, dramatic, passionate, with extraordinary soaring vocals, melodies and string arrangements, multi-lingual lyrics, the London Symphony Orchestra and with guests including Björk, the Catalan superstar’s fourth LP is a fabulous extravaganza, broadly themed around female saints through history, religion, sex and violence

Nov 7, 2025

new songs …

Featured
Hen Ogledd - Scales will fall - video still.png
Nov 20, 2025
Song of the Day: Hen Ogledd - Scales Will Fall
Nov 20, 2025

Song of the Day: A strikingly different, wonderfully odd, eccentric and alternative folk and protest song by the British quartet of Richard Dawson, Dawn Bothwell, Rhodri Davies and Sally Pilkington, heralding their upcoming third album Discombobulated, out on 20 February 2026 on Weird World / Domino Records

Nov 20, 2025
Lisa O'Neill - The Wind Doesn't Blow This Far Right.jpeg
Nov 19, 2025
Song of the Day: Lisa O'Neill - The Wind Doesn't Blow This Far Right (EP)
Nov 19, 2025

Song of the Day: This beautiful title track from the new EP by the Irish folk singer-songwriter from Cavan is a powerful original about man-made, greed-motivated unnatural disasters, joining with five other poignant numbers, including a new version of The Bleak Midwinter, out now on Rough Trade

Nov 19, 2025
contratulations - fought 4 love.jpg
Nov 18, 2025
Song of the Day: congratulations - Fought 4 Love
Nov 18, 2025

Song of the Day: Following This Life, another fun-filled single, here with a floor-stomping glam-style riff, by the Brighton quartet who embrace 80s pop and 90s rock plus a dash of Field Music, Electric 6 and Devo with this stylish anti-love song with entertaining video, heralding their debut LP Join Hands, out on 13 February via Bella Union

Nov 18, 2025
Avalon Emerson & The Charm - Eden.jpeg
Nov 17, 2025
Song of the Day: Avalon Emerson & The Charm - Eden
Nov 17, 2025

Song of the Day: Following a series of tracks collectively titled Perpetual Emotion Machine, this separate new release by the New York artist is a breezy, shimmery indie-pop love song with a funky bassline, and out on Dead Oceans

Nov 17, 2025
Elanor Moss.jpg
Nov 16, 2025
Song of the Day: Elanor Moss - Again, My Love
Nov 16, 2025

Song of the Day: Exquisite, intimate folk with finger-picked guitar and gentle brass accompaniment by the London-based singer-songwriter in this wintry song about how loss and change are necessary for transformation, her first new music for three years, out on Merge Records

Nov 16, 2025
Night Swimming - Submarine.jpeg
Nov 15, 2025
Song of the Day: Night Swimming - Submarine
Nov 15, 2025

Song of the Day: Unfolding with a quiet intensity, layered guitars and restrained urgency, this latest single about loss and shock by the Bath/Bristol indie dream-pop/ shoegaze band is a striking way to announce their recent signing to Venn Records

Nov 15, 2025
The Dears - Life Is Beautiful!.jpeg
Nov 14, 2025
Song of the Day: The Dears - Doom Pays
Nov 14, 2025

Song of the Day: A pulsating new track with a political message and a sound reminiscent of early Roxy Music by the Montreal indie-rock band from their latest album Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! out on Next Door Records

Nov 14, 2025
Bill Callahan 2.jpeg
Nov 13, 2025
Song of the Day: Bill Callahan - The Man I’m Supposed to Be
Nov 13, 2025

Song of the Day: Resonant, poetic, moody, profound, the acclaimed American singer-songwriter returns with a song exploring feelings of a life that was lived and one that's meant to be, heralding his latest album, My Days of 58, out on 27 February 2026 via Drag City Records.

Nov 13, 2025
charl xcx and john cale.jpeg
Nov 12, 2025
Song of the Day: Charli xcx - House (featuring John Cale)
Nov 12, 2025

Song of the Day: A potent, surprise collaboration comes all aswirl in this dark, haunting, gothic, cinematic piece of jagged strings and nightmarish, crashing sounds with a spoken monologue by the Velvet Underground Welsh legend dominating this song by British pop superstar best known for Brat, taken from the soundtrack to director Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming film adaptation of Wuthering Heights

Nov 12, 2025
Pictish Trail - Life Slime.jpeg
Nov 11, 2025
Song of the Day: Pictish Trail - Another Way
Nov 11, 2025

Song of the Day: A mesmeric, slow-build psychedelic-electronica-pop eight-minute number of gradual transformation rising to a krautrock-inspired crescendo by the isle of Eigg-based Scottish musician Johnny Lynch heralding his sixth LP Life Slime, produced by Mike Lindsay of Tunng and LUMP, out on 14 November on Lost Map / Fire Records

Nov 11, 2025
The Twilight Sad - Waiting For The Phone Call.jpeg
Nov 10, 2025
Song of the Day: The Twilight Sad - Waiting for the Phone Call (featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith)
Nov 10, 2025

Song of the Day: The Scottish post-punk/indie rock band return with a powerful new single about grief, love and mental illness, their first in six years, with guest Robert Smith of The Cure on guitar, and out on Rock Action Records

Nov 10, 2025
henry coke.jpg
Nov 9, 2025
Song of the Day: Henry Coke - Out of Time
Nov 9, 2025

Song of the Day: “I’m done with you scaring me.” A striking, self-released single for a Sunday by the London musician and producer, born into a lineage of vicars and church leaders, but here candidly addressing the cause of his drift from Christianity in his own passionate address

Nov 9, 2025

Word of the week

Featured
Running shoes and barefoot.jpeg
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
autumn-red-leaves.jpeg
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
Fennec fox 2.jpeg
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
Narrowboat.jpeg
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
migrating-birds.jpeg
Sep 17, 2025
Word of the week: hiemate
Sep 17, 2025

Word of the week: Pronounced “Hiya Mate”, this is in fact not a friendly informal greeting, but an Old English word, derived from Latin, meaning to spend the winter elsewhere, sounding a bit like hibernate, but different as it requires moving to another place rather than sleeping in the same

Sep 17, 2025

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