Belle And Sebastian - dog on wheels, 1997

"Dog on Wheels is the debut EP by Belle & Sebastian, released in 1997 on Jeepster Records. The four recordings on the EP actually pre-date the band's début album Tigermilk, produced whilst bandmembers Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David were on the Beatbox music course at Stow College, Glasgow. Murdoch, David and Mick Cooke are the only long-term members to play on the songs, though Cooke only appears on the title track."

Pat Metheny - red sky, 1995

"The band uses "contemporary" pop rhythms on many of their selections but in creative ways and without watering down the popular group's musical identity. In addition Metheny for the first time in his recording career sounds a bit like his early influence Wes Montgomery on a few of the songs."

The Cranberries - analyse, 2001

"Analyse" is a song by Irish rock band the Cranberries. It was the first single released from their fifth studio album, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001), on 27 August 2001."

Saint Etienne - urban clearway, 1994

“Urban Clearway”, the opening salvo of London trio Saint Etienne’s third album suggests that it will be a very different beast from the first two. Granted, Fox Base Alpha and So Tough had their share of atmospheric, pulsating electronic instrumentals, but they were hidden behind simpler pleasures like a dance cover of a Neil Young song or a neighborhood café narrative that unambiguously invited listeners into its world. Tiger Bay, on the other hand, introduces itself via a barrage of mechanical rhythms straight out of the Kraftwerk songbook (or Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”).

Enya - orinoco flow, 1988

"In a 2015 interview with The Irish Times, Enya said: “Longevity is all any artist dreams of”, rather than to dwell on how her songs are remembered. She credits "Orinoco Flow" for some of her cross-generational appeal, saying: "people who used to like Orinoco Flow are now playing my music to their children". In another interview, when asked whether people bring up "Orinoco Flow", she responded: "people say 'sail away' to me or whistle bits of it back to me. I think it’s wonderful—I never tire of it."

Scorpions - when the smoke is going down, 1982

"His work is concerned primarily with psychological and sociological anxiety, historical issues and political topics. His subject matter is the human condition. The metaphor for his art is dominated by the image of the child, particularly the wounded child, scarred physically and emotionally from within."

Pet Shop Boys - did you see me coming, 2009

"The song opens with Johnny Marr's strummed guitar, which quickly gets overwhelmed by other instruments while still providing the song's rhythmic underpinning."

The Moody Blues - never comes the day, 1969

"Never Comes the Day" is a 1969 single by the progressive rock band the Moody Blues. It was written by band member Justin Hayward, and was the only single released from their 1969 album On the Threshold of a Dream."

Sambassadeur - falling in love, 2007

"I found Sambassadeur a few weeks ago only after searching for some post rock Swedish bands that aren’t just The Mary Onettes and The Radio Dept. They have a Cranberries/The Sundays feel, this was the only track I picked up but after a few listens I definitely want more."

Fleet Foxes - drops in the river, 2008

"Drops in the River possesses an intriguingly blunt concision, as though Fleet Foxes have no time for the luxury of long, slow crescendos or meandering jams."

Bruce Springsteen - the river, 1980

"The 2012 biography Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin includes an interview with Springsteen's sister Ginny, in which she plainly states that the song is a precise description of her early life with her husband Mickey, to whom she is still married. In his 2016 autobiography Springsteen confirmed that he wrote the song as a tribute to his sister and his brother-in-law."

The Cure - plainsong, 1989

"It took me years to finally understand the complex beauty in The Cure’s Disintegration. I always felt from the opening “Plainsong” that Disintegration was an evocative funeral procession for someone who was already contemplated eternal sleep. But in 1989, I was a scared, confused and lonely teenager who avoided anything I believed had to do with death. What I didn’t realize is that within the dark seas of Disintegration lay pools of illumination, radiating truths of fear and premonition that appear from time to time in our ever changing lives. Boy did I misread the magic of Disintegration as Robert Smith explained when he said, “The essence of this album is the disgust concerning the loss of the ability to feel profound feelings when you grow older. That’s the disintegration I mean. I’m concerned about it, just as about everybody else I know of my age.”

Etienne Daho - week-end à rome live, 1992

"Last year, at the age of 44, I visited Paris for the very first time. Quite how it took me so long to get there is frankly inexplicable, but the problem with leaving it until middle age is that your entire vision of a place is composed entirely of all the famous good bits and you run the risk of being hugely disappointed."

Stars - sleep tonight, 2004

"this song is so beautiful that you should never listen to it while going through a breakup. it will just break your heart."

Marillion - white feather, 1985

"The superstition goes that a white feather plucked from a game cock and placed in the clothing of a person marked a poor or cowardly fighter. This is because a pure-bred gamecock wouldn't have white tail feathers. This term was first used in the eighteenth century."

Enya - only if, 1997

"Only If" is as peaceful and memorably melodic as any other of her inspirational, soul-purifying songs, which traditionally are etched with a unique combination of background voices with drums and violin lines. It's a combination that makes all her songs seem antique, almost, if not angelic."

Aimee Mann - video, 2005

"Aimee Mann has been at this rock and roll game a long, long time. She got a big profile boost at the turn of the century when her soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia lead to an Oscar nomination for her song Save Me. She might not be a superstar, but Mann seems to have carved out a solid and manageable level of fame and success."

AC Newman - encyclopedia of classic takedowns, 2012

"Encyclopedia of Classic Takedowns is the song where I’m talking about how self-conscious I am and how being in a band just seems absurd. When I sing the big chorus, “I didn’t mean to live that many lies,” I think that’s what I’m talking about."

Pet Shop Boys - dreaming of the queen, 1993

"This song of course references two real-life figures: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her one-time daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, who was popularly known as "Lady Di." It was of course recorded and released several years before the latter's untimely accidental death—an event that has since lent the song even greater poignancy. It's worth noting in the context of the song that Diana was known for her support for AIDS-related charities; she was, in fact, one of the first high-profile U.K. public figures outside the entertainment industry to be actively involved in the fight against AIDS."

Saint Etienne - lightning strikes twice, 2005

"In the vast world of music, certain songs have the power to captivate us, leaving us wondering about their deeper meaning and significance. One such song is “Lightning Strikes Twice”