The Go-Betweens - surfing magazines, 2000

"Forster is still reliving that summer feeling in his sixties. Audiences still join in the wistful wordless chorus. And old folk smile in their cars and hum along while zipping past Australian farmhouses on forty degree days, wondering what happened to their fourteen year old selves."

Elton John - japanese hands, 1988

"I’ve been wanting to write about this song – Japanese Hands – for a while. It is one of my favorites from Reg Strikes Back. And given the tragic events of the last few days, I felt compelled to write about it tonight. The song exemplifies the beauty and grace of Japan in a way that (I think) so many westerners perceive it. (Is that too broad of a generalization)? As I see the images of destruction and devastation, my heart is broken – as I’m sure everyone’s is."

The Triffids - the seabirds, 1986

"Born Sandy has possibly the best opening moment of any record I've heard as Dave's vocal comes straight in on the first lines of The Seabirds - No foreign pair of dark sunglasses could ever shield you from/ the light that pierces your eyelids the screaming of the gulls... This is no ordinary song and this is so because Dave took a stand against the ordinary. He didn't care that we were recording a song that couldn't be easily reproduced on stage, he didn't care that it took him six months or more to write the defining couplet in the song - She said what's the matter now lover boy has the cat run off with your tongue Are you drinking to get maudlin or are you drinking to get numb? He didn't care that that couplet kept him awake at nights, but he cared that, once it was in place, he had an extraordinary song to open an extraordinary record."

The Lightning Seeds - the nearly man, 1990

"a reality where dreams are both tempting and frustrating"

Moby - lift me up, 2005

"the song is about the dangerous and disturbing global rise of intolerance and fundamentalism"

Club 8 - cold hearts, 2003

"Cold Hearts" is a track by the Swedish indie pop duo Club 8, consisting of Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergård. It appears on their album Strangely Beautiful, which was released in 2003. The song is known for its melancholic yet catchy indie pop sound, with lyrics that explore themes of emotional distance, pride, and the struggle to connect."

The House Of Love - hannah, 1990

"During the slow and argumentative recording process, The House of Love's rhythm section Chris Groothuizen and Pete Evans would moonlight as members of a separate band, My White Bedroom.[citation needed] More seriously affected was lead guitarist Terry Bickers, an introverted character who was already unhappy with the implications of the band's deal with Fontana. Bickers would retreat into manic depression as his relationship with Chadwick deteriorated into a non-speaking one in which the two were more likely to communicate by post rather than have a face-to-face conversation. Following the completion of the album, Bickers would acrimoniously quit The House of Love during the early days of the sixty-date promotional tour. A couple of years later he would comment "I just found at the time that I didn't have the same aspirations as the rest of the band. I was more into exploring music than exploring the exploitation of markets around the globe. They were really into crusading. And winning. I wasn't."

The Radio Dept - you stopped making sense, 2010

“You forgot all about us” I think he means both their relationship and the human nature at the same time. It makes so much sense. I love this song"

Kaoma - lambada, 1989

"Lambada", also known as "Chorando Se Foi (Lambada)", or "Llorando Se Fue (Lambada)" (both meaning "crying, he/she went away" in Portuguese and Spanish, respectively), is a song by French-Brazilian pop group Kaoma. It features guest vocals by Brazilian vocalist Loalwa Braz and was released as the first single from Kaoma's 1989 debut album, Worldbeat."

The Go-Betweens - poison in the walls, 2003

"Where Rachel Worth sounded like an experiment gone right, Bright Yellow exudes confidence. It doesn’t hurt that the songs are uniformly solid. On “Caroline and I,” Forster muses about being “born in the very same year” as Monaco’s Princess Caroline, with typically witty, intriguing results: “It gave me something small that I could feel.” McLennan provides two further highlights in the wistful “Poison in the Walls” and the inspiring “Old Mexico,” which takes a jaunty verse and pours it into a beautiful chorus in which McLennan encourages the subject to “turn the lights off…you’ll be blinded.” Bright Yellow features some of the barbed guitar lines that punctuated the Go-Betweens’ first few albums, while an occasional organ adds color to the clean, uncluttered production. More than conclusive proof that McLennan’s and Forster’s reunion was a good idea, the album is a career high-point for both men."

Etienne Daho - la mémoire vive, 2000

"Etienne Daho follows the steps of his favorite artist in picturesque central Soho. And how not embrace minds and make up stories in the adored Bacon’s bar, the French House? I am not sure about what is really French in this bar, except for the Sans Culotte signs."

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - too late, 1996

"I'd abandoned techno/house; it was like an old man dying his hair jet-black: ridiculous. I decided to follow the current trend of getting more acoustic, using real drums and bass."

Coldplay - paradise, 2011

"another slice of hug-warm ecstasy"

Oh Wonder - better now, 2019

"‘Better Now’ is an emotional track that reflects on the band hearing the sad news of a family member going through an incredibly tough and emotional first birth of their child. With a lot of complications involved, there was a lot of emotional trauma that the duo wanted to dissect and turn into a song of hope and understanding."

Saint Etienne - last days of disco beat connection remix, 2012

"The album refers to the “strange magic” of pop. About the special alchemy that transforms even the most mundane of experiences – walking home with the headphones on at night, sitting in a bedroom with your friends in the day, getting ready to go out on the weekend – into a lingering moment of seamless enchantment, one that resonates for the rest of your life. It is about how music affects your life. How it defines the way you see the world as a child, how it can get you through bad times in unexpected ways, and how songs you’ve known all your life can suddenly develop a new attachment, and hurt every time you hear them. More than how it affects and reflects your life though, the album is about believing in music, living your life by its rules."

Sparks - the girl is crying in her latte, 2023

"AI could never replicate the unique balance between deranged imagination and supreme sanity that is the mark of a great Sparks record like this"

The National - brainy, 2007

"That song has a lot of weird details like keeping fingerprints in folders as though you’re collecting information about someone. But not just about someone in an investigative sense."

Stars - one more night, 2004

"The band make no effort to avoid the inevitable charges of over-sentimentality; in fact, they indulge the calls: "The cold is a vindictive bride," reads their website bio, "she'll trap you between her thighs and turn your heart to ice if you're not careful." Despite overblown romanticism run rampant, Stars somehow remain understated. It's the "Soft Revolution", as the terrific penultimate track declaims. Hop aboard."

Franz Ferdinand - well that was easy, 2005

"A really good sound that compliment the desperate nature of the lyrics."

Genesis - the lady lies, 1978

"The Lady Lies" is the tenth track on the Genesis 1978 album …And Then There Were Three…, with music and lyrics written by Tony Banks. The lyrics tell the story of a man who rescues a woman from the mouth of a monster, but is later seduced by the woman, or as the band refer to her during the song, a demon, and led into an unknown fate."