The Postmarks - go jetsetter, 2009

"If the Postmarks' delightful, weather-obsessed, self-titled 2007 debut didn't quite catch fire, blame the times. As bands of musicologist types fronted by fetching lady singers go, the Miami trio doesn't quite have the cosmopolitan chic of seductive NYC labelmates Ivy nor London's dance culture-conscious Saint Etienne."

James - we're going to miss you, 1999

"It was a "strange, unpredictable and at times perplexing" album, which is why "it might just be the best album James have ever made."

Mika - any other world, 2006

"There is a little spoken introduction that many people may miss. It's about a family friend of mine who lost her eye during the war in Lebanon and I realized in everyone's life their comes one point, or several points where something happens and you have to completely change the way you have lived your life because of one event. And it really makes you readjust and rethink and rejudge parts of your life all over again. That happens to some people in a dramatic way like Rafa who lost both her eye and her husband within 6 months. Or it can be in a much quieter way like when you are 22-years-old and you finally leave university after being in education all your life or when you lose your job. I wanted to put that in the song, because when you're 68 or 14, it's still the same feeling and it's still just as hard. I wanted to try to capture that quite difficult period that people have to go through at least once in their life."

Pet Shop Boys - closer to heaven, 1999

"this song revolves around the age-old "so close and yet so far" conundrum—the common, almost paradoxical human experience of being in one sense extremely close to something highly desirable, while at the same time, in another sense, being as far away from it as ever."

Etienne Daho - sunday morning cover, 1987

DJ Young Pioneer · Etienne Daho - Sunday Morning (The Velvet Underground Cover)

"The song "Last Ride" on Beach House's 2018 album 7 "was inspired by" Nico, according to lead singer Victoria Legrand."

America - hideaway part one, 1976

"Hideaway is the sixth studio album by American folk rock trio America, released by Warner Bros. Records in April 1976. The album was produced by George Martin, the third of six consecutive albums he produced with America."

Soft Cell - torch, 1981

"Torch" is a song by English synth-pop duo Soft Cell. It was released as a single in 1982, and in mid-June peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, ranking 45 for the year. It also reached number 31 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, number 12 in the Netherlands and number 6 in the Flemish Ultratop 50. Singer Marc Almond duets towards the end of the song with Cindy Ecstasy, an American clubgoer the band had met at the after-hours bar Club Berlin in New York the year previously. The single was originally intended to be double A-sided, coupled with the eventual B-side song "Insecure Me"; as such, both songs were included in the band's 2018 singles compilation Keychains & Snowstorms: The Singles. "Torch" ranked 49 in the New Musical Express critics' list of the year's 50 best singles."

James - english beefcake, 2001

“English Beefcake” has a somber low pulse and prominently features Saul Davies’ maudlin violin before completely switching gears midway through the song and becoming an almost triumphant chant."

The Waterboys - church not made with hands, 1984

"From the outset there would be something spiritual about all things Waterboys without a doubt influenced by their main man Mike Scott’s mother, an English teacher, reading him CS Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles when he was a child."

The Postmarks - no one said this would be easy, 2009

"the intrigue of a Spaghetti Western soundtrack"

The Alan Parsons Project - don't answer me, 1984

"Instead of the art rock and progressive rock sounds for which Alan Parsons was well-known, Parsons crafted "Don't Answer Me" in the style of Phil Spector and his Wall of Sound technique. Eric Woolfson, the co-writer, handled lead vocals on the single, with Mel Collins providing a saxophone solo with a "soothing yet destitute wail".

The Waterboys - don't bang the drum, 1985

"The trumpet in the song's intro was performed by Roddy Lorimer, which Scott described as being a "luminous high flying freeform trumpet solo in the style of 'Sketches of Spain' by Miles Davis, set against a dark 12 string guitar and piano landscape"

Keane - day will come, 2012

"this is a good Keane song. It’s got optimistic lyrics, it’s got a catchy beat. It’s definitely one of Keane’s happier songs, which is always nice to hear"

New Order - sub-culture album version, 1985

"Sub-culture" is the tenth single by English rock band New Order. It was released as the second and final single from their third studio album, Low-Life (1985) on 28 October 1985 by Factory Records."

Air - cherry blossom girl, 2003

"Cherry Blossom Girl" is a song by French electronic music duo Air. It was released in February 2004 by Virgin Records as the first single for their third studio album, Talkie Walkie (2004)."

Monaco - under the stars, 1997

"When New Order went on hiatus after 1993's Republic, bassist Peter Hook took the group's sound and spirit with him. After his previous side project Revenge was shredded by critics and snubbed by record buyers, Hook returned to the New Order formula - one he helped shape - when he collaborated with David Potts (guitar, vocals) as Monaco in 1996."

Saint Etienne - been so long, 1998

"The album was a departure for the group, who had been associated with the indie dance genre. Tiger Bay, their previous album, had added many acoustic and orchestral elements but still belonged to the synth-pop and dance genres, while Good Humor is more acoustic, having more in common musically with their 1993 hit single "You're in a Bad Way". Good Humor was demoed in the UK using synths and drum machines, but was recorded in Sweden under the guidance of Tore Johansson, who augmented their sound with a full band and a horn section."

Aimee Mann - little bombs, 2005

"‘Little Bombs’ was the first song from this album to leap out at me and it remains one of my favorites. I love how it’s quite busy musically — with layers of atmospheric percussion, a propulsive acoustic guitar and the piano and electric guitar trading off accent notes — but somehow feels achingly intimate. And I love the metaphor of a person’s life as an unexploded shell."

Liquido - wake me up, 1999

"Liquido was a German alternative rock band formed in Sinsheim, Germany in 1996 by four friends: Wolle Maier (drums), Wolfgang Schrödl (vocals, guitar, piano), Stefan Schulte-Holthaus (bass) and Tim Eiermann (vocals, guitar). Their only notable international hit, "Narcotic", was first released on a demo in 1996 and sold over 700,000 units when Virgin re-released it in 1998. Since then, Liquido hasn't been able to repeat this success, which led to a split from Virgin after two unsuccessful albums. 2005 saw the release of an equally ill-fated album on the new label Nuclear Blast."

Monaco - happy jack, 1997

"Released on June 9, 1997, on Polydor Records, Music for Pleasure may be regarded as the pinnacle of Hook’s songwriting prowess outside of his former bands, Joy Division and New Order; but, of course, not discounting the equally important contributions of Hook’s effective co-songwriter in Monaco, David Potts (drums, guitar, keyboards, vocals, bass). It also inadvertently gave away a hint of which New Order songs were borne primarily of Hook’s ideas or, at the least, his preferred musical direction, considering the almost purely Electronic Dance Music excursion of his New Order bandmates: Bernard Sumner, in his own side project in the same period; as well as that of The Other Two, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert."