Jens Lekman - friday night at the drive-in bingo, 2007

"I have a new single on its way. It's called 'Friday Night at the Drive-in Bingo' and it sounds a lot like its title. Like the blood red sun in the horizon. Like the best slash worst slash best again night of your life. Like a pair of jeans you love but would never wear in public. Like a coverband playing Walk of Life in someones backyard. Like the point where sheer boredom pushes you into the great unknown. Like the country when the country wasn't cool. Like the peanuts in your coke. It's one of my finest popsongs ever in my opinion, but quite different from the other songs on my forthcoming record. Love it or hate it, regardless you're still welcome to drop by for a glass of applecider."

The Pigeon Detectives - you better not look my way, 2007

"Wait for Me is debut album of Leeds band The Pigeon Detectives. The album was released for CD, 12" and digital download on 28 May 2007 and charted in the UK Albums Chart at number three in its first week of release. The album sold around 227,000 copies in 2007, reaching No. 70 in the end of year chart. It was certified platinum in June 2008. Upon the album's release, it received generally positive reviews from most critics."

Sufjan Stevens - chicago, 2005

"There's so much pedantic subterfuge on this record, and historical two-stepping, cross-referencing, cultural theory, Marxist criticism, and on and on, that I just wanted to give the reader a little bit of comic relief here and there."

Counting Crows - chelsea live, 1997

"I have dissociative mental disorder -- it makes the world seem like it's not really there. You need familiar surroundings: family, friends, girlfriends. They ground you. When you're on tour all the time, it's hard to maintain those things. The tours were bringing me down. I hit rock bottom."

The Mary Onettes - explosions, 2007

"the Golden Age they're conjuring comes back through their melodies and song structures, not just the superficial business of synth settings and production styles"

Charles Bradley - dusty blue, 2013

"Victim of Love is a more optimistic record, from the Motown-inspired catchy pop-soul number “You Put the Flame on It” to the gorgeous “Through the Storm”, a quiet elegy to bury his past traumas. But these fuzzy moments are offset by new forays into more coarse instrumentation."

Scott Matthews - drifter, 2016

"Scott Matthews is launching his career for the second time. When he started out, eight years ago, the Wolverhampton singer-songwriter found himself acclaimed as the most exciting musician from the West Midlands since his admirer Robert Plant, with whom he recorded and toured; and his first single, Elusive, won an Ivor Novello award."

Pet Shop Boys - i didn't get where i am today, 2004

"The track features a sample from an obscure 1967 pop record titled "Father's Name Is Dad" by the band Fire. This explains the authoring co-credit for Dave Lambert, the writer of that song."

Frankie Cosmos - being alive, 2018

"Kline’s vocabulary is anything but limited, which is exactly how her band has built such a solid, sparkling catalog of meta-narratives and self-referencing vignettes. Frankie Cosmos songs are always focused on the spirals and intricacies of language, and “Being Alive,” from their forthcoming album Vessel, is no exception."

Franz Ferdinand - eleanor put your boots on, 2005

"The 'Eleanor' in the title is thought to refer to Eleanor Friedberger, lead singer of indie rock band The Fiery Furnaces who supported Franz Ferdinand during their 2004 tour."

 Such a great song!

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - french press, 2017

"Just as Rolling Blackouts’ music provides an instant sense of comfort through its ’80s indie-pop signifiers, lyrically, they make you feel right at home by dropping you in the middle of intimate scenes populated by first-name-basis characters."

Headlights - love song for buddy, 2009

"Wildlife is the third full-length studio album by the indie rock band Headlights."

Alvvays - dreams tonite, 2017

"For every song that asks the question, “What might have been?” there exists an equally stark reality, of “What wasn’t.” Alvvays’ new song “Dreams Tonite” looks at the liminal space between those two frames of mind, questioning the forces that separate lovers, be they self-made or circumstantial."

Thomas Dybdahl - one day you'll dance for me new york city, 2004

"Thomas Dybdahl grew up in Sandnes, Norway. His musical career started off as the guitarist in the band Quadraphonics."

Charlie Parker - scrapple from the apple, 1947

"Scrapple from the Apple" is a bebop composition by Charlie Parker written in 1947, commonly recognized today as a jazz standard, written in F major. The song borrows its chord progression from "Honeysuckle Rose", a common practice for Parker, as he based many of his successful tunes over already well-known chord changes."

Bright Eyes - at the bottom of everything, 2005

 

"Oberst is a man on a mission, battling with urgency against the cynicism and indifference he sees. The opening song, “At the Bottom of Everything,” underscores his belief in taking a stand on issues of the day: 

We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell.

Set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell.

Into the ear of every anarchist that sleeps but doesn’t dream

We must sing, we must sing, we must sing."

Big Thief - not, 2019

"No song in 2019 felt more searing, more perfect, than "Not." It's a song of anguish. You can hear it in Adrianne Lenker's voice and her words. As the song builds to its climax, she sings a series of denials, circling a description of something essential that remains just out of her grasp"

Boat Club - nowhere, 2007

"Nearly five minutes of Balearic perfection that acts as the unintentional centrepiece on one of the most criminally overlooked records of the past decade."

Saturday Looks Good To Me - until the world stops spinning, 2004

"Over the course of its career, Saturday Looks Good to Me hasn't tampered much with its mix of artful lo-fi haze, winsome melodies, and pithy lyrics. Change comes with Every Night, but fortunately the band doesn't try to fix what wasn't broken in the first place. Most immediately different is the album's sound: although head Saturday honcho Fred Thomas and Warn Defever reteamed on Every Night's production, this time they use a polished approach that sounds as if it's already been remastered."

They Live By Night - endless summer, 2008

"They Live by Night are Christofer Byström, Joel Sjöö and Martin Andersson. The group formed in Gothenburg in late 2004. They were signed by Razzia Records a few months later and released their first recordings as a 5-track Ep. The debut album Art and Wealth was released in 2007. (...) They Live by Night used to be a quartet, until Robin Danielsson left the group in the summer of 2007. Since then They Live by Night have been a trio. They will continue to work in that format as songwriters and producers, but the group will grow bigger on stage."