Cabane - now winter comes, 2020

"Cabane is the work of Belgian songwriter Thomas Jean Henri, a potent individual who continually reaches outwards. An eager collaborator, he's able to fuse his own, distinctly original work with the voices of others around him. There's a full album incoming, and it exemplifies the exacting way he approaches music, constantly seeking out something fresh. Take new song 'Now, Winter Comes'. Superbly well-timed for these dark days, it began as a melody, one that suggested another artist."

Guillemots - trains to brazil, 2006

"It was weird, I wrote in 2002 and was sort of thinking about the whole Twin Towers thing, but then a couple of months before the London bombings we decided to drag this song out and do it as a single, and then all that stuff happened. On my birthday, as fate would have it – 7 July. Very odd. But yes, it's also just a song about appreciating life, I guess."

The New Pornographers - brill bruisers, 2014

"While greatly indebted to pop movements of the past—from ’60s psychedelia to ’70s glam to ’80s new wave—the New Pornographers have never felt like a purely retro exercise, their best songs too jacked-up and exuberant to lapse into studious classicism. But Brill Bruisers feels like their most contemporary recording to date, and a great deal of credit for that lies with the person who, historically, has been the one least likely to be mentioned in a New Pornographers review— Blaine Thurier—and fellow keyboardist Kathryn Calder. In contrast to Together’s cello-dramatic sound, Brill Bruisers foregrounds their playing, not to opportunistically recast the band as au courant synth-pop, but to restore the forward momentum that was in scarcer supply on recent records, from the starbursts that propel Case’s daydreamy turn on “Champions of Red Wine” to the zippy oscillations that power Bejar’s triumphant “War on the East Coast” to the meaty tones that lend the authoritative march of “Backstairs” (the band’s most imposing rocker to date) a little extra spring in its goosestep."

Prefab Sprout - we let the stars go, 1990

"The first five tracks on the album are straightforward pop songs with no deliberate linking theme. "Looking for Atlantis" is based around McAloon's nylon string Ibanez guitar and atypically uses only two chords. McAloon has summarised the song's sentiment as "stop wasting time, find someone and fall in love with them". McAloon considered the hip hop-influenced "Wild Horses" to be one of the album's best songs. Lyrically, it is written from the point of view of "the older man longing for the younger girl, without it being seedy". He initially contemplated sending the song for Daryl Hall's consideration. The actress Jenny Agutter recorded the spoken words that accompany the song's instrumental section."

Fleet Foxes - white winter hymnal, 2008

"In seasonal terms pop music tends to focus on summer with its array of scantily clad girls, cruising cars and sensual sunshine. While the timing of this single release from Seattle band Fleet Foxes might seem premature, their paean to the beauty of winter is a welcome break. It may not be strictly pop recalling as it does 60’s folk outfits like Fairport Convention as well as Welsh mail voice choirs and the Romantic poets, but with its soaring choral harmonies and stirring drums, White Winter Hymnal is a wondrous moment of cool reflection in the midst of summer’s heat."

Billy Bragg And Michael Stipe And Natalie Merchant - hello in there cover live, 1990

"This live performance of John Prine's "Hello in There" is a must-see if you're a fan of Prine, Michael Stipe, Natalie Merchant, or Billy Bragg. I happen to be a huge fan of all of them, so seeing Stipe, Merchant, and Bragg performing one of my favorite Prine songs is a great pleasure—I hope you enjoy it too! According to Natalie Merchant's YouTube site, which uploaded the video, it was recorded in 1990, in Glasgow, Scotland – "a first concert stop before heading to the former Soviet Bloc just after the collapse of the Berlin Wall."

Johnny Marr - european me, 2013

“It’s about realising that you’re a target for (...) insane materialism but instead of complaining about it, it’s me saying: I’m aware of this, sticking two fingers up to it saying ‘you ain’t going to get me because I’m aware you’re trying to get me’. I may be a target but I know I’m a target”.

The The - love is stronger than death, 1993

"Love Is Stronger Than Death" is a song from The The's album Dusk. It was written by Matt Johnson, the only constant member of The The. Johnson wrote this song following the death of his brother. In his depression, he found that writing this song was therapeutic for him. The title is a paraphrase of a biblical quote: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." (Song of Solomon 8:6).

Coldplay - the hardest part, 2005

"In the Entertainment Weekly review of the album, music contributor David Browne wrote that the song "is imbued with the sense of regret and letting go that we've heard from the band before, but with added musical muscle."

Morrissey - spent the day in bed, 2017

"Backed by chirpy organ and strummed guitars, it’s a typically existentialist, Eeyoreish song from the former Smiths singer, in which he rejects the “emasculation” and “castration” of the rat race, instead recommending that you stay in bed and ignore the news, “because the news contrives to frighten you / to make you feel small and alone / to make you feel that your mind isn’t your own”."

Saint Etienne - her winter coat, 2021

“We love Christmas, as you probably know, and it feels like it’s been a while since our last really Christmassy Christmas record. But I think Pete has done a properly beautiful, icy, frosted, festive job on ‘Her Winter Coat’.”

Slowdive - star roving live, 2017

"In “Star Roving,” they have the luxury of being able to pick and choose from their own ghosts, and summon them into the present. The song bears the hallmarks of their more rugged work, but the streaks of noise and layers of out-of-reach-murmurs is sensitive to their later experimentation. This allows Slowdive to bask in the benefit of all their hindsight. Their recorded return not only follows a younger generation of shoegaze-indebted bands, but also comebacks from their peers: My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and the Jesus and Mary Chain. Slowdive, by distilling elements of their prior selves in a way that recalls without recycling, have stayed true to incandescent form."

The Cure - just like heaven, 1987

"According to Smith, "The song is about hyperventilating — kissing and fainting to the floor." The lyrics were inspired by a trip with his then-girlfriend (and later wife) Mary Poole to Beachy Head in southern England. Smith said the opening line of the song ("Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick") refers to his childhood memories of mastering magic tricks, but added "on another [level], it's about a seduction trick, from much later in my life".

Pink Floyd - fearless, 1971

"Fearless" is the third track on the 1971 album Meddle by Pink Floyd. It is a slow acoustic guitar-driven song written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, and includes audio of football fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone". It was also released as the B-side of the single along with "One of These Days", and was praised by critics as one of the better songs from Meddle."

Death Cab For Cutie - summer years, 2018

"This song has an amazing blend of elements that have been introduced into their songs in the past decade. There is this ambience to the song that is always there providing background noise. Also, there is the use of synths in the song which I think work very very well. At the end of the song once the guitar with effects, bass, drum, vocals, and synth are playing it's almost perfect."

Sea Power - waving flags, 2008

"Waving Flags is a celebration of unity and human kindness against all opposing forces and since these themes are as important today as they’ve been back in 2008 (maybe even more, actually) it’s fair to revisit this BRITISH SEA POWER classic today in the words of the band’s Yan Scott Wilkinson."

The Blue Nile - tinseltown in the rain, 1984

"Tinseltown is a metaphor. It’s whatever your dream is, whatever your Tinseltown was, whatever you lost. And I think in our minds what was interesting to us was the kind of universal nature of cities… Glasgow’s obviously not the same scale as New York, but if you just shrunk it down to a corner, it could be. It could be anywhere."

Allo Darlin - the letter live, 2012

"the best new group in recent years from a pop tradition that attempts to counter what its members might perceive as the market-corroded fantasy of corporate pop and the detached insularity of many underground records. Led by Australian-born Elizabeth Morris, who previously played with ex-Talulah Gosh frontwoman Amelia Fletcher in Tender Trap, the London foursome established themselves as worthy heirs to Belle and Sebastian, Camera Obscura, and the Sarah Records roster with their 2010 self-titled debut, all hummable melodies, clap-along rhythms, and poignantly turned phrases. Europe maintains these qualities and improves upon its predecessor in almost every way."

Fleet Foxes - grown ocean, 2011

"Dreams are encrypted deposits from which we mine our own value. We dig and dig and dig within ourselves to find who we truly are, but Robin realizes that his child self is the purest form that he will ever be in. Free of doubt, free of regret, free of self-loathing. He finally understands that you don’t necessarily get wiser as you get older, your vision becomes clouded with the world’s poison. The reason we have to dig so deep for our purpose as we age is because we’re so bloated with bullshit that we feel like we have to dig for miles before we see any true meaning in ourselves. For me, the closing statement of the album is this: children aren’t dumb and ignorant, they’re actually smarter than the rest of us."

The Style Council - shout to the top, 1988

"The country is sliding swiftly from crisis to chaos... the politics of Britain will be frozen in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between contestants unable to break each other's will." And it was this month that Shout To The Top was released by The Style Council. Although musically it was miles away from The Jam, its lyrics were not. It was an angry shout about the state of the country, the pervasive feeling of despair and a longing to see change at the top of power; a rallying cry from and for the Left."