The Durutti Column - requiem for a father, 1980

"When you think of 80s Manchester you tend to imagine the dark post-punk synths of Joy Division and the proto-acid-rave music of the Happy Mondays. Not the instrumental etherealism of The Durutti Column. Largely the project of the composer, guitarist, synthesiser programmer and arranger Vini Reilly, The Durutti Column was one of the first acts signed to Tony Wilson’s Factory Records label in 1978. Recorded over a period of a week, their 1980 debut instrumental album The Return of The Durutti Column is probably the best place to start with their music. After the producer Martin Hannet spent two days doing nothing but creating noise tracks on the synthesiser whilst Vini sat pissed in a chair shouting at Martin and occasionally playing some notes on the guitar, the pair stumbled across the bird noises that form the first twenty seconds of The Return‘s opening track, Sketch for Summer. Probably the band’s most famous song, Sketch for Summer is a winding soundscape that combines Vini’s ambient jazz guitar arpeggios with Martin’s darker electronic synth beats. It’s ridiculously dreamy and the kind of song you want to preserve exclusively for long hazy days in the sun. It also only took two run-throughs and 5 minutes to produce, a monumental and, arguably crazy, feat. Later tracks on the LP liked Requiem for a Father and Conduct are chant-like and transcendental. Conduct in particular continually repeats the same cosmic refrain, slowly introducing an array of percussion instruments until gently petering out after five minutes."

The Radio Dept - going down swinging, 2018

"Swedish indie mainstays the Radio Dept. have gotten political in the last few years, and their new song is no exception. Titled “Going Down Swinging,” the track arrives just before Sweden’s national election and builds on the antifascist undertones of albums like 2016’s Running Out of Love, which was specifically written in protest of Sweden’s far-right Svenskarnas Parti. “The Swedish national election is coming up and that means we’re putting out a new single,” the band shared in a statement. “What else could we do?”. “There are references to church bells in the lyrics, listeners from outside of Sweden might want to know this,” the statement continues. “In May 2014 and on a couple of occasions since, churches in Sweden have been ringing their bells during Nazi marches to warn the public. Before 2014 this hadn’t been done since 1939. Because of the huge problems we have with increasing racism in our country it is a very welcome gesture. Personally we don’t believe in gods but we do believe Nazis and their peers – however they choose to present or disguise themselves – should be dealt with like in World War II”. The song makes it pretty clear just how the band feels about Nazism, even speaking out against other musicians who might disagree with their views. “Nazis should be dealt with like Normandie/ Only inbreds join an alt right parade/ Someone please tell that to Morrissey,” they sing."