Electronic - late at night, 1999

"Late at Night" is a rock song by the English band Electronic. It was written and produced by its members Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, and co-produced with Arthur Baker. "Late at Night" was taken from their third album Twisted Tenderness and was their last single."

Fait-divers on AI

Computers have created their own secret language and are probably talking about us right now.

Fait-divers on Trump

 - When Trump warns about undocumented Hispanic immigrants who bring rape and murder to America, I guess he doesn't mean Christopher Columbus.

 - Of course not. Columbus was Italian. Columbus went back where he came. This is about the people who came after him. Trump ancestors.

Club 8 - promises we never meant to keep, 2015

"The song’s tone is bittersweet, blending nostalgia with a forward-looking sadness. It’s not just about romantic failure but also about the human tendency to overpromise in the pursuit of connection, only to face the consequences later. Karolina Komstedt’s delicate, airy vocals add to the song’s ethereal quality, making the emotional stakes feel both personal and universal."

The Durutti Column - tomorrow, 1986

"I love Tomorrow but the real gem is the b side here. All that love and maths can do is a gorgeous space, dappled with electric guitar and viola. Just stunning."

Cole Crawford - jewel, 2023

"Cole Crawford is a fantastic musical talent a ray of sunshine if you have never seen one. He makes the music that holds those summertime nostalgic moments in poetic form. The music itself is easy listening but its the impact that really drew me in. Something about the soothing sounds that bring back those memories of driving in your car with the windows down, campfires and marshmallows. But I think it goes a lot deeper than just summertime stereotypes. His sound is something like a signature."

Bonnie Prince Billy - jolly one two fifteen, 2016

"Maybe it’s just me, but I think Will Oldham is best when he is at his most morose and laden with doom. Sometimes the figure that he cuts is so mournful it’s harrowing to listen to. The power of his lonesome balladry is often overwhelming. Other times it is as though he is singing his laments to himself; looking deep into his soul. The finger-picked acoustic arrangement of ‘Stable Will’ embodies all of these things perfectly. But there are other, jollier tunes; ‘Jolly One (2-15)’ and ‘Jolly Five, nominally at least. And ‘Arise Therefore’ sounds more hopeful, buoyant and polished than its original Palace incarnation."

New Order - all the way, 1989

"Technique was the group's most striking production job, with the single "Fine Time" proving a close runner-up to "Blue Monday" as the most extroverted dance track in the band's catalog. Opening the record, it was a portrait of a group unrecognizable from its origins, delivering lascivious and extroverted come-ons amid pounding beats. It appeared that dance had fully taken over from rock, with the guitars and bass only brought in for a quick solo or bridge. But while pure dance was the case for the singles "Fine Time" and "Round & Round," elsewhere New Order were still delivering some of the best alternative pop around, plaintive and affecting songs"

Stars - what i'm trying to say, 2004

"The song features a verse-chorus structure with a driving beat and layered instrumentation. It opens with a synth-pop intro, followed by Torquil Campbell’s and Amy Millan’s alternating vocals, which create a dialogue-like feel."

The Mary Onettes - bricks, 2009

"Bricks" is one of the standout tracks on Islands, the second studio album by the Swedish dream pop band The Mary Onettes. Released in 2009, the song encapsulates the band's signature style: ethereal melodies, reverb-heavy guitars, and a blend of melancholy and nostalgia. The track is characterized by its dreamy, atmospheric production, which draws heavily from 80s post-punk and shoegaze influences, while maintaining a modern indie pop sensibility."

The Radio Dept - the new improved hypocrisy, 2010

"Any day is a good day for a new song from Swedish indie-pop act the Radio Dept., and that day is today. According to the band, "The New Improved Hypocrisy" is their second specifically political song (the first, "Freddie and the Trojan Horse", surfaced in 2008); the song is meant to commemorate the Swedish elections that are being held on Sunday and is about "the present government".

Cat Stevens - oh very young, 1974

"Its lyric is a gentle response to Don McLean's hit "American Pie" released two years previously. Like McLean, he stops short of mentioning Buddy Holly directly, but questions the ill-fated songwriter's "Not Fade Away" (the last song Holly performed) lyric "a love to last more than one day, a lover's love, not fade away" with Stevens' own "denim blue, fading up to the sky, and though you want him to last forever you know he never will, and the patches make the goodbye harder still". Stevens then mentions the young American's mould-breaking work "Words Of Love" in the line "will you carry the words of love with you, will you ride the great white bird into heaven, and though you want to last forever you know you never will, and the goodbye makes the journey harder still."

The Lemonheads - mrs robinson cover, 1992

"And then everything comes to the horrible “Mrs. Robinson” thing, which we did for the reissue of the movie. Someone bought the rights to the video cassette, it was the 25th Anniversary, to get the kids into The Graduate, and they released it as a single. I never would have done that song. I hate that song. I hate Paul Simon."

The Lightning Seeds - pussyfoot reprise, 1999

"Until now, the Lightning Seeds have been a byword for pristine, crystalline pop. Here, Broudie scratches the music's frictionless surface with distortion, hard dance beats, faster, more active drumming - courtesy of Ringo Starr's son - and some of his strongest, most affecting melodies"

Laetitia Sadier - une autre attente, 2023

"Lætitia Sadier (born 6 May 1968), also known as Seaya Sadier, is a French musician best known as a founding member of the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab."

Alvvays - dreams tonite live, 2017

"Dreams Tonite" forms the basis of the album's "fantasy breakup arc," with the protagonist questioning whether or not they would still be attracted to their significant other if meeting in the present, rather than the past. The song first became a part of the group's live setlist in early 2016. The band debuted the song online as a pre-release single for Antisocialites on July 25, 2017. The band promoted the song with a performance on CBS Sunday Morning in the U.S. "Dreams Tonite" became one of the band's most popular tunes; as of September 2024, the song has over 105 million streams on Spotify."

Coldplay - wotwpotp, 2019

"That atmospheric angle comes back several times throughout the album such as on WOTW/POTP which is an acoustic instrumental track about the confusion of the modern world and the track mixes in what sounds like natural sounds like birds chirping and the sound of water flowing. It’s a very calming and ambient track and has this 60s feel to it which is really different and while only about a minute and 15 seconds the track does work for what it is. It also contrasts nicely with the following song on the album Arabesque which opens with sounds of a city and people."

Bee Gees - massachusetts, 1968

"There are two different memories, Robin remembers us doing it in a boat going around New York City. And I remember us checking in at the St. Regis with Robert, going to the suite, and while the bags were being brought in we were so high on being in New York, that's how 'Massachusetts' began. I think we were strumming basically the whole thing, and then I think we went on a boat round New York. I don't know if we finished it, but I think that's where the memories collide. Everybody wrote it. All three of us were there when the song was born."

The Radio Dept - the video dept, 2010

"I'm a big fan of indie music for these past years and this album fits like a glove for me "The Video Dept." is one of my favourite songs of the year because its catchy and fun tune I can enjoy, same goes for songs like "David" and "This Time Around".

Belle And Sebastian - beautiful, 1997

"The most beloved indie pop band since The Smiths"

Darksoft - less is more, 2023

"I’m using a lot of “thought-terminating cliches,” or beige phrases as I’ve come to call them,” says Darksoft, a singer/songwriter/producer/polymath from Portland, Maine, when asked about the title on his excellent new LP, Beigeification. ” These overused phrases have the effect of ending a conversation, because they are vague, universal truths. What’s also interesting is that grammatically they say absolutely nothing, and they lack uniqueness, but they can carry a lot of weight in context.” Simple statements conveying complex thoughts and emotions – it’s a tidy metaphor for Darksoft”s distinctive blend of shoegaze-/dream pop-infused bedroom pop."

Supertramp - hide in your shell, 1974

"I was 23 when I wrote Hide in Your Shell. I was confused about life and like a lot of people are at that age, I was very shy and tried to hide my insecurities. I’ve always been able to express my innermost feelings more openly in song and Hide in Your Shell came to me at a time when I was feeling very lonely – both in life and within the band – with no one who shared my spiritual yearnings. It’s a song that speaks to that place in all of us that feels alone or misunderstood, that place where we just want to hide from the world, that longs for connection yet doesn’t feel safe to reach out for help."

Alvvays - pharmacist live, 2023

"It feels like so many similar "guitar-dream-pop" artists end up just going "pop" before long, so I appreciate Alvvays sticking to their noisy, shoegazey guns, at least on this track."

Temples - slow days, 2023

"Slow Days" quickly emerged as my favorite track. It calls to mind an alt-country tune you might have discovered while scrolling through the radio dial in the late Seventies. Incorporating a pedal steel reverb effect adds a melancholy reverie."

Neil Young - lotta love live, 1979

"Nicolette Larson had kept a tape of some of the material from when she and Neil first met and sang together at her friend Linda Ronstadt’s house. When the phone call came from Nashville, she was ready. Young barely had to show her the songs before they were singing the duets that appear on the album. The Gone with the Wind Orchestra, as the entire conglomeration of twenty-two musicians was called, lasted throughout the album and for one live performance, on Young’s thirty-second birthday, at an outdoor benefit for children’s hospitals in the Miami Beach area."

Sufjan Stevens - blue bucket of gold live, 2017

“Blue Bucket of Gold” is a piano-led lamentation that finds Sufjan reaching out to friends, family, and God for support. The song ends with a meditative swirl of electronics that overwhelms the senses and commandeers the track. Of this song, Sufjan explained in an interview: “I didn’t know (my mom) well in a lot of ways, and I didn’t know how to say goodbye on the last track with articulation. So I quit playing piano and vocals and just stopped. I wanted to surrender her to the beyond with noises that sound bigger than just me.”

Sambassadeur - sandy dunes, 2010

"a defiant track that sees British Sea Power meeting Phil Spector in the confines of a chilly corridor. Though lyrically imperfect, and lacking that big enthralling rapturous chorus, the track summarizes the Achilles heel of a Sambassadeur song, in that there is always something missing, that extra ounce of melody that turns a decent song into a memorable life affirming one."

Tame Impala - patience live, 2019

"Patience" is a song by Australian psychedelic music project Tame Impala. It was released as a single on 22 March 2019 through Modular Recordings. It was written and produced by Kevin Parker, and was his first single since "The Less I Know the Better" in 2015."

Alvvays - in undertow live, 2017

"I was wobbling along a shore picking up stained glass, which is just something I really love. I have many glass bottles of it in my apartment of all different colors and I kind of just came up with the melody."

The Lightning Seeds - sugar coated iceberg, 1996

"Quite a metaphor, that, uncertain which is the dominant force, whether it is sugar sweetening the destructive power of an iceberg, or a the gulp of realisation following a swallow of something not quite so sweet after all. I am sure the lyric explains but I prefer the uncertainty, tending more towards the tune and the presentation. Both of which this band had, here and in general, in spades. And I notice they have some gigs lined up for next year, this late return surely worth a shout, pinned as it is on the back of the 25th anniversary of their third album, 'Jollification'."

Pet Shop Boys - bet she's not your girlfriend, 1990

"This fast-paced track was originally inspired, as the Boys have put it, by seeing a newspaper photo of George Michael with a woman (Chris: "We can say that now"). But then Neil turned it into a song about his close relationship as a teenager with an absolutely gorgeous young woman named Krysia, a longtime friend who eventually ended up running the early PSB Fan Club. But back in Neil's pre-fame days, friends and acquaintances couldn't figure out what Krysia saw in him, who was—as his own lyrics put it—"kind of shy and dry and verging on ugly." https://sintrabloguecintia.blogspot.com/2024/01/voyage-from-east-to-west-1977.html

Moby - slipping away, 2005

"Slipping Away" is a song by American electronic musician Moby. It was released as the sixth and final single from his seventh studio album Hotel on January 23, 2006. It served as the fourth single from Hotel in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 53 on the UK Singles Chart, and as the sixth international single from the album. The single version features British singer-songwriter Alison Moyet on backing vocals."

Cocteau Twins - seekers who are lovers, 1995

"Milk and Kisses, and therefore, the Cocteau Twins recording career, ends with Seekers Who Are Lovers. As the last song in a long and glorious career, you feel yourself willing Guthrie, Raymond and Fraser to produce a musical masterpiece out of the bag. This you want to be their Ulysses moment. They don’t disappoint. Out goes the wall of sound, in comes a much more subdued and temperate performance from Guthrie and Raymond. They hold themselves back, Fraser steps forward, and produces a performance that is brilliant. She sings the song with passion and feeling, as if knowing this is the end of their career. Not only is it one of her best performances on the album, but one the best in her career. Her voice soars, gracefully, its ethereal beauty apparent and transparent. It has a classical quality, a sweetness, a grace."

Saint Etienne - action, 2002

"I was reading a lot about the situationists and psychogeography at the time, which also fed into the film Finisterre."

Dido - slide, 1999

"Dido wrote this song to help reconcile her depression. It was the mid-'90s and she was in a panic over her management and publishing contracts she signed that she came to regret. Feeling trapped, she stayed in the house and ran through her conundrum over and over in her head."

REM - leaving new york live, 2005

"In early live performances of the song (September 2004), the band would play Michael Stipe's "It's pulling me apart. Change." album backing vocal during the chorus and bridge of live performances. As early as February 2005, however, as evidenced on the R.E.M. Live disc, the band worked up an alternative whereby the backing vocals would be shared amongst Mike Mills, Scott McCaughey and Ken Stringfellow in order to make the song flow more smoothly."

R Missing - heavens lower, 2023

"Heavens Lower, marked by its moody and melancholic allure. Despite the somber undertones, the song exudes an astounding vibrancy, characterized by soft, wistful vocals and a rich, atmospheric production. The synthpop track uniformly combines danceable qualities with a contemporary dreampop sensibility. The glimmering tone of the track sets it apart, creating a type of ambiance that captures both introspection and vitality."

Neil Young - old man, 1972

"About that time when I wrote ("Heart of Gold"), and I was touring, I had also — just, you know, being a rich hippie for the first time — I had purchased a ranch, and I still live there today. And there was a couple living on it that were the caretakers, an old gentleman named Louis Avila and his wife Clara. And there was this old blue Jeep there, and Louis took me for a ride in this blue Jeep. He gets me up there on the top side of the place, and there's this lake up there that fed all the pastures, and he says, "Well, tell me, how does a young man like yourself have enough money to buy a place like this?" And I said, "Well, just lucky, Louis, just real lucky." And he said, "Well, that's the darnedest thing I ever heard." And I wrote this song for him."

The Mary Onettes - the companion, 2007

"The Mary Onettes, a guitars-and-keyboards band from Sweden, don't make any excuses about sounding awfully 80s, and their indie-romantic touchstones aren't so different from any other new-wavers': This debut album includes broad, obvious borrows from both New Order and the Cure, and fainter echoes of plenty of other stars from that constellation."

The Radio Dept - what you sell, 2006

"The song explores themes of consumerism, identity, and superficiality. The lyrics are cryptic yet poetic, typical of The Radio Dept.’s approach, often leaving room for listener interpretation."

Death Cab For Cutie - when we drive, 2018

"there’s a noticeable electronic focus to a number of tracks, not least the FM-ready ‘When We Drive’, which groans under the weight of sine waves and metronomic rhythms."

REM - überlin, 2011

"Überlin" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. that was released as the third single from their fifteenth and final studio album Collapse into Now on January 25, 2011. The title is a portmanteau of Über and Berlin."

Yot Club - priorities, 2022

"Priorities" is a track by Yot Club, the musical project of Ryan Kaiser, an American bedroom pop artist from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The song was released on June 10, 2022, and is part of his album "off the grid." The lyrics reflect themes of balancing personal relationships with individual responsibilities and productivity, as seen in lines like "And it's all just motivation for vague productivity / I'm just concentrated more on priorities."

Stars - elevator love letter, 2003

"Stars songs tend to unfold more slowly, from the brilliant retro-futuristic "Death to Death" to the disco-lite Pet Shop Boys-styled "The Vanishing." Amy Millan's gorgeous voice is the group's greatest strength - on the bouncy, propulsive "Elevator Love Letter," for example. It's not surprising that Millan has contributed to movie soundtracks - the entire album would sit most comfortably as the decidedly outsider accompaniment to an appropriately indie "Romantic Comedy" (incidentally also the title of one of the record's most beautifully simple and sunny songs)."

Glorious - notre père, 2015

"Glorious is a French Christian (Catholic) rock and worship music group, originally from Valence, Drôme, and based in Lyon, France. It was formed in 2000, following the World Youth Day, by three brothers from Valence."

Slowdive - alison live, 2017

“Alison” is the one track that I can honestly say that I’ve always loved from the album. As an opener, it was a hard one to move past and I rarely did. The guitars jangle and waver, a shimmering of light highlighting millions of tiny specks of dust, lifted and disrupted ever so gently by a passing breeze, the same that caused flutters in the gossamer curtains of sound. Drums are far off in the distance and deep down in the mix, like a harrowing memory. The reverb is like a third person in the room, pushing together the lilting voices of Halstead and Goswell, even as it as ripping them apart. “Alison” could be anyone who’s ever broken your heart, a smoker’s cough and an ashtray overflowing with butts, a hangover and a dozen empty merlot bottles."

Seapony - nobody knows, 2011

"Formed in 2010, Seapony is bassist Ian Brewer and core songwriting duo — and longtime couple — Jen Weidl (guitars, vocals, lyrics) and Danny Rowland (guitar, lyrics), who met in Ohio in the early 2000s. Their coastal relocation has served them well; their debut LP Go With Me was rife with humbly infectious shoreside ebullience."

The Beatles - we can work it out, 1965

"We Can Work It Out" is a comparatively rare example of a Lennon–McCartney collaboration from this period in the Beatles' career, in that the two songwriters worked together as they had when writing the group's early hit singles of 1963. "A Day in the Life", "Baby, You're a Rich Man", and "I've Got a Feeling", are among the other notable exceptions to this trend from the group's later career."

The Radio Dept - closing scene, 2008

"Love this song. You are my favorite band and have been for so long."

The Lightning Seeds - life's too short, 1999

"Originally conceived as a one-off experiment for respected longtime producer Ian Broudie, his expertise in the studio and sugary voice made for easy hit-making, so Lightning Seeds took on a life of its own. Ten years later, we now have his fifth effort, and the magic is still there. Broudie has an uncanny flair for pure pop, and Tilt is no exception. He seems to be trying to attract a younger audience with the club-anthem sound of the “Life’s Too Short” single, which sounds a bit campy, but it’s forgivable."

Frightened Rabbit - holy, 2013

"Songs dedicated to Hutchison released after his death include Coldplay's "Champion of the World", Dan Mangan's "In Your Corner", Spanish Love Songs' "Routine Pain", Mystery Jets' "Watching Yourself Slowly Disappear", Dave Hause's "Bearing Down", Biffy Clyro's "Unknown Male 01", and The Lone Bellow's "August", co-written with Aaron Dessner, who produced Frightened Rabbit's album Painting of a Panic Attack. Dessner also wrote the song "Hutch" from his band's Big Red Machine second album, 2021's How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?. "A Wave Across a Bay", from Frank Turner's 2022 album FTHC, was written after the musician had a dream in which "Scott came into my room with a guitar and showed me a few chords and a few words and some melody". Deacon Blue have dedicated their 2020 track Weight of the World to Hutchison. James Yorkston's 2023 album with Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra, The Great White Sea Eagle, includes a song dedicated to Hutchison titled "A Sweetness in You".

Black Pumas - chronicles of a diamond, 2023

"bursting with colorful experimentation and pure musicianship that showcases a diversity that wasn't present on their debut"

Damien Jurado - in a way probably never, 2023

"he can let his stripped-down acoustic guitar chords mingle and intertwine with lovely orchestrations. That, and the fact that his voice is just the right amount of “understated” while still retaining a mysterious, almost unexplainable allure. That last part is probably why Jurado can get away with crafting shockingly simple tunes from time to time, such as the aforementioned “A Buildings Kind of Building” or a good chunk of “In a Way Probably Never” – the latter of which is quite close to Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” in chord progression and rhythm."

Electronic - the patience of a saint, 1990

"Although Neil has written and recorded a couple other songs with Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner as part of their Electronic project ("Getting Away with It" and "Disappointed," with Neil singing lead on the latter), this cut from the 1991 Electronic album is the only one on which both Neil and Chris are co-writers and performers. As Sumner himself has said of this song, Chris "wrote a lot of the music." Thus it merits inclusion here as a "Pet Shop Boys track." The narrator (or perhaps, as we shall see, narrators) of this song is something of a bastard, set in his carefree ways, who admits that he's difficult to live with."

Pink Floyd - summer sixty-eight, 1970

"a catchy, fast and happy pop tune written and sung by Richard Wright" that's "one of the few songs Wright has ever done for Pink Floyd and it's actually pretty fine."

Club 8 - hush, 2015

"One of the most upbeat songs on the album, “Hush” brings in the second half. Compared to “Jealousy Remains,” the darker song before it, “Hush” is poppy, catchy and undeniably upbeat. The instrumentals in this track are similar to those in “Late Nights,” but the vocals don’t fall to the side in “Hush,” remaining dreamy, but a little more energetic."

Coldplay - don't panic, 2000

"Don't Panic" is a song by the British rock band Coldplay. Originally titled "Panic", the earliest known version of the song existed in 1998, performed live during the band's first gig in the same year. It had a different melody, and was included in the band's second EP, The Blue Room. The track was reproduced by Coldplay and British producer Ken Nelson for the band's debut album, Parachutes."

The Durutti Column - neon, 1990

"A cult artists’ cult artist, he’s not necessarily unknown. Acting as sideman for Morrissey on his solo debut Viva Hate certainly put him on peoples’ radars, and he has the distinction of being Wilson’s first signing to Factory Records, though not really a bellwether of the kind of music they’d be known for. Indeed, one Durutti Column record wasn’t necessarily a bellwether for any subsequent Durutti Column record."

Surf Rock Is Dead - as if, 2017

“New York City can be isolating and all inclusive simultaneously; choosing to jam-out with your band mates rather than making friends is just a small facet of the experience in a world where genuine connections with people are increasingly hard to find.”

Chumbawamba - homophobia live mdk zgorzelec, 1994

"the song remained a regular part of Chumbawamba's live set from its initial release in 1994 up to the band's retirement in 2012. Live recordings of the song are featured on Chumbawamba's two live albums Showbusiness! and Get On with It."

Frazier Chorus - all the air, 1991

"Original names for the band included both Fishing For Clouds and Plop!, but the band eventually settled on Frazier Chorus, a phrase they'd seen on a jacket for the Frazier College football team's cheerleaders in the United States."

Saint Etienne - a good thing, 2005

"We were rather excited when Sarah’s song was picked by Pedro Almodovar for the party scene in Volver."

Such a great song!

Helladusty - my funny bones, 2023

“My Funny Bones” is a lushly engaging single from Helladusty, the project of Livan Becerra. Nocturnal synth whispers and a steady bass line complement a yearning vocal presence, as guitars and backing glistening bolster an uptick in vocal emotion around the one-minute turn; the stylistic arsenal here reminds fondly of Toro y Moi. The Spanish spoken-word elegance adds further to the hypnotic appeal amidst the jangly guitar tones, with further synth-laden twinkling dazzling as well into the second minute."

The Streets - weak become heroes live, 2018

"Weak Become Heroes" is a song by English rapper and producer Mike Skinner under the music project the Streets. It was released in July 2002 as the third single from their debut studio album, Original Pirate Material."

Dido - closer, 2003

"Life For Rent is no masterpiece, but it has the same kind of sweet, unassuming, girl-next-door charm that made its predecessor such a smash hit"

Bifff - sinking in, 2023

"bifff Nashville, Tennesse"

The Cure - a night like this, 1985

"A Night Like This" contains a saxophone solo by Ron Howe from Fools Dance."

The Moody Blues - eyes of a child part two, 1969

"Unlike part 1, this is a hard rocker, though a bit abbreviated at 1:20. The lyrics for the chorus are the same as part 1, but the music is entirely different."

Beirut - so allowed, 2015

"It’s strange to feel sad about a set of generally happy songs. It’s as if the romanticism of world music alienates Condon now, its faux European twists too reminiscent of a past he knew and has since waved goodbye to because someone else left him with no other choice. The fact that No No No was recorded during New York’s blizzard-filled winter doesn’t help. It’s clear he’s found new love, but it hasn’t taken hold with that adolescent magic. There’s unfinished wanting; “I want to say you’re mine,” Condon repeats come the end of “So Allowed”. He’s smiling the best he can, but the spirit is stifled, tired. Who can blame him? No No No is agreeable front to back, but it’s miles away from the youthful, heartfelt, inspired work of Beirut’s past — a world that may be too washed over with sadness to ever truly pull exuberance from again."

The XX - angels, 2012

"Angels" is a sparsely-produced, gentle ballad about the idea of being in love. It has a measured pace and features slight vocals and whispered cadences by Croft, background baritone bass, subtle drum thuds, and coiling guitar lines. Pitchfork Media's Larry Fitzmaurice observes on the song "lots of hollow space surrounding [that] add[s] intimacy." "Angels" opens with echoey guitar and Romy's vocals, which are at the front of the mix. Eerie snare rolls appear within a minute of the song, but quickly fade away. Arnold Pan of PopMatters writes that, in the context of Coexist, the song has its "own sense of development" and "resolution". Oliver Sim said of this moment of tension in the song, "Early on, Jamie said something about the album being inspired by dance music, so everyone's expecting a house beat to drop halfway through—which is hilarious because this is not a dance record."

Jade Bird - american pie cover, 2022

"On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event became known as "The Day the Music Died" after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song "American Pie".

Genesis - ripples, 1976

"Ripples..." was a combination of a 12-string guitar piece composed by Rutherford and a piano-led middle section written by Banks."

Lush - desire lines, 1994

"Split touches on most forms of emotional turbulence. A legitimizing stunner, the record prevented the band from being lost amidst the bunker of form-over-function dream pop bands. Split shattered every negative aspect of those failed acts with flying colors. A fantastic record within any realm."

Mike Oldfield - incantations live, 1979

"Oldfield had been listening to a greater amount of religious music than before, which he credited to keep him "calm and sane" as he described himself as "very disturbed" during this time. He also examined the styles of music of his previous albums; rock with a classical music format on his debut Tubular Bells, Celtic music on Hergest Ridge, and "more African" styles on Ommadawn. For Incantations, Oldfield wanted to present "some magical things", which influenced his decision to use a string section and flute."

Bummer Daze - spring, 2023

"dream-pop, with elements of warm guitar tones, retro synths, and spacious drums. Lyrics often evoke nostalgic or summery themes"

Cat Stevens - king of a land, 2023

"heartfelt stories such as these show – not tell; King of a Land does so in the last leg, but there's always a nagging wonder of what the record would've been had it done so throughout its entirety"

Louis Armstrong - what a wonderful world, 1967

"It was also the biggest-selling single of 1968 in the UK, where it was among the last pop singles issued by His Master's Voice before it became an exclusively classical music label."

Neil Young - old man live dorothy chandler pavilion, 1971

"Neil sounds more relaxed in a less high-pressure venue. He mumbles casually through song introductions and approaches the tunes playfully, as if pondering the possibilities of his songwriting in real time. At one point he even tells the audience not to waste their energy applauding between every song. "You can just clap real loud at the end, and it'll be cool," he smirks. That laid-back attitude encapsulates the feel of Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, capturing a master songwriter in the middle of an early phase of brilliance, but in a moment where he sounds especially comfortable and at home on-stage. Less obsessive fans might not see the necessity in seeking out more than one live recording from a window of time when a lot of Young's shows were fairly similar."

Peter Bjorn And John - young folks live at sxsw, 2007

"The group performed the song on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on 29 January 2007, and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on 18 May 2007 (the latter with Tonight Show band member Vicki Randle on bongos). On 29 September 2007, the band played "Young Folks", with Victoria Bergsman's vocals, on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC1. When the band performed the song at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Bergsman's vocals were performed by Bebban Stenborg of Shout Out Louds. On Peter Bjorn and John's 2008 Australian tour, Victoria Bergsman's vocals were performed by Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura."

Grant McLennan - easy come easy go, 1991

"Watershed does have moments of glory and McLennan’s excellence in song writing, musicality and storytelling is as sharp as it ever was. The track Haunted House displays McLennan’s ability to create gentle and warm ambience in his music that is unmatched by many of his peers. Stones for You is another sweet ballad that talks of love in a kind and not so saccharine way that McLennan handles well. Black Mule is an odd tale that is slightly long but showcases McLennan’s ability to paint pictures and create worlds. One highlight is Haven’t I Been a Fool which is a more strident song which has a sharp degree of alacrity to it. It’s a poppy number that brings to attention the amalgamation of McLennan’s soft vocals and catchy musical refrains in perfect harmony. His main single Easy Come, Easy Go is another example of this but unlike Haven’t I Been a Fool, there is a sense of trying too hard to make this a hit single rather than just focusing on just making a good song."

The Flaming Lips - waitin for a superman, 1999

"Waitin' for a Superman" (subtitled "Is It Gettin' Heavy??" for the song's U.S. album release) is a song by The Flaming Lips, released as the second single taken from their 1999 album The Soft Bulletin"

Fanfarlo - the walls are coming down, 2009

"these folks know what to do with a trumpet, which is more than can be said for some, and the arrangement on this single is stunning – orchestral and complex yet utterly accessible, with the tinkle of a glockenspiel welcoming all and sundry to the fold."

Keane - the starting line, 2012

"Calming it down does mostly work; the album's tales of growing up in small towns probably would not work quite so well if there was some electronic demon monster all over their boink. With the overarching theme of friends pulling each other out of strife, Rice-Oxley's lyrics are at their most contemplative here, the likes of 'The Starting Line' imploring the protagonist to "ignore the ghosts that make you old before your time"."

Coldplay - life in technicolor ii, 2009

"Life in Technicolor II" (stylised as "Life in Technicolor ii") is a song by British rock band Coldplay released as the first single from the Prospekt's March EP. It is the full-vocal version of the instrumental track "Life in Technicolor", from the band's fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The songs starts with a loop consisting of a santoor accompanied by tabla-like percussion. The loop is then repeated through the verses and part of the chorus."

Saint Etienne - keep nothing, 1999

"Track written as potential B-side for one of the singles off the Tiger Bay album... In retrospect it could have fitted neatly on Continental"

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - strange, 2011

"The album sounds like we're taking away what we were hiding behind before. Lyrically, the first record had a lot of remembered experiences that I was looking back on and trying to make more clever, which can sound contrived. I like the idea of lyrics that don't get beyond themselves but catch you and make an impression. I think that's more emotionally compelling."

Club 8 - saturday night engine, 2003

"Club 8's spring 2003 EP, Saturday Night Engine, is a turning point in the band's young career. This is mostly due to the title track. "Saturday Night Engine" is a song unlike any other Club 8 song committed to record. A pounding drum beat like a Swedish Northern soul stomper, gleefully twisting guitar lines, a fat and funky organ, and Johan Andergard's uncharacteristically excited vocals combine to make this a classic indie pop song. It is the first Club 8 track that makes you want to get up and jump around for joy. It is the first track that transcends their influences (Saint Etienne, the Cardigans) and sounds like a truly inspired band."

REM - losing my religion, 1991

"Losing My Religion" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in February 1991 by Warner Bros. as the first single from their seventh album, Out of Time (1991). It developed from a mandolin riff improvised by the guitarist, Peter Buck, with lyrics about unrequited love. "Losing My Religion" is R.E.M.'s highest-charting hit in the United States, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and expanding their popularity. Its music video, directed by Tarsem Singh, features religious imagery. At the 1992 Grammy Awards, "Losing My Religion" won Best Short Form Music Video and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Its video won awards for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Art Direction, Best Direction, and Best Editing at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2020, "Losing My Religion" became the first R.E.M. video to reach one billion views on YouTube. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017, and Rolling Stone ranked it at number 112 in its 2024 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

The Mary Onettes - unblessed, 2013

"One of the new album’s most stunning tracks is “Unblessed”, led by caressing synth pads and slick bass reverberations. A minimal synth arpeggio creeps in slowly, as is the case in many Italo-disco and Balaeric gems, and Ekstrom’s vocals take off into its usual soaring peaks. “It’s more than just a bad dream,” he sings over enchanting melodies and beach-set ambiance. This is far from a nightmare. Much of Hit the Waves is pure bliss."

Headlights - words make you tired, 2006

"Tristan Wraight and Brett Sanderson round out the group, accompanying Fein selectively on vocals and developing a sound both mature and well-rounded — a nice feat for a debut album. “Songy Darko” includes a sombre, chamber-like organ and potentially a glokenshpiel. Many songs, like “Owl Eyes”, start out quietly and build throughout to explosive endings. “Lions” and “Words Make You Tired” do not follow that mold. They both start strong and loud and continue as so to the end. “I Love, You Laugh” closes the album on a soft note; a fitting end for a great album."

Slowdive - machine gun, 1994

"I think the reason Souvlaki enjoys such acclaim and reach beyond the confines of the shoegaze canon is that, shit damn, there is such a palpable of emotional gravity here. The album’s background story as an Halstead and Goswell’s breakup record is well-established, and while the shockwaves of this are borderline naked at points (“Here She Comes”, “Dagger”, “40 Days”, “Melon Yellow”) and blearily nostalgic at others (“Altogether”), they add a melancholic undertone to the album’s radiant moments (“When the Sun Hits”, “Machine Gun”, “Souvlaki Space Stations”) and underscore “Alison” being far more depressive opiate bender than sexed-up bedroom glow (no comment on which of the two is more relatable for your average dreamgaze fan). The mood – not just the mood, the scene – here is so richly fleshed out, so much more than the sum of the album’s parts that practically every level of its craft feeds into a deeper basis for connection – and if that isn’t something you appreciate in a classic record, music ain’t for you."

Prefab Sprout - faron young, 1985

"Name dropping can certainly get you places and in music it’s no different; both Madness and Bananarama sang about Michael Caine and Robert De Niro respectively but surely no one drops more names, in song anyway, than Prefab Sprout. They named their 1985 album Steve McQueen and the track that opened that album was named after the country music singer Faron Young."

Saint Etienne - cosy cafe, 2006

"'We realised early on that we couldn't make the same kind of poetic film even if we had wanted to. With Finisterre, we had the whole of London to play with. But the Lea Valley is a bit more, erm, restrictive. There's no real precedent for what we are trying to do.'"

Echo And The Bunnymen - lost and found, 1987

"The band's attempt to reach a wider audience worked out when they splattered the hook-heavy reverb bomb "Lips Like Sugar" all over American college radio, but the backward guitar solo on "Lost and Found" is more representative of the album as a whole. The sunnier production watered the band's sound down a bit, but they still managed to turn out "All in Your Mind", a throbbing beast of a pop song swimming in twitching guitar and aggressive synth bass, and god, that is so obviously Ray Manzarek of The Doors playing organ on "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" that you don't even need the liners to clue you in-- it works almost purely on improbability."+

Stars - the face, 2002

"Face" is a some kind of electronics-tinged homage to Morrissey, or maybe the Wedding Present. Without mentioning another impossibly iconic English group that Stars sound like, let's just settle and say that Dead Child Stars is a nice collectible for Stars fans, and pleasant enough indie music in its own right."

Pet Shop Boys - the end of the world, 1990

"The Virgin spoke in apparitions" – The Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to people at various times and places throughout Christian history, such as at Lourdes, France, in 1858. One of the most famous instances of all—commonly (and controversially) linked to prophecies of the end of the world—involved her reported appearance to several shepherding children at Fátima, Portugal, in 1917. The word "apparition," while often used to refer to any supernatural appearance, is very specifically used in reference to Mary's appearances: so-called "Marian apparitions."

Scott Orr - clear, 2023

"Scott Orr is a captivating American musician and songwriter known for his ethereal whispering vocals and minimalist songwriting style. Often classified within the stomp and flutter genre, Orr's music seamlessly blends haunting melodies with uplifting lyrics that resonate deeply with listeners. His unique ability to evoke emotion through simplistic yet poignant compositions has not only solidified his place in the indie music scene but has also made him a cherished figure in vinyl culture."

Pink Floyd - burning bridges, 1972

"Burning Bridges" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1972 album Obscured by Clouds. It shares a similar tune to the instrumental "Mudmen" on the same album."

The Mary Onettes - blues, 2013

"Maybe read some great Swedish poetry so that people get really serious and maybe sad. And then play our show. And then more poetry."

New order - sugarcane, 2013

"It is the final album featuring bassist Peter Hook, who left the band in 2007 (almost 6 years before the album's release), the final album to featured as a quartet, and the only album by New Order produced from archival recordings."