Sambassadeur - small parade cover, 2010

"Small Parade is a cover song present on Sambassadeur's album European. The original song was written by Tobin Sprout (ex-Guided by Voices) and released in the What's Up Matador compilation."

Belle And Sebastian - piazza new york catcher, 2003

"I was almost instantly drawn to Piazza. That’s the thing about him; he was a talisman wherever he went. He was the kind of player people tended to follow, and we thought he was a good guy."

El Perro Del Mar - do not despair, 2008

"Assbring handles the production chores with a gentle and caring touch, mostly forsaking the chamber pop sound she previously utilized for a sparser, more delicate sound, though she can still create miniature symphonies with ease when the song calls for it. With the production, the songs, and above all her amazing vocal persona, Assbring and El Perro del Mar create a world of their own here. It's not a world for everyone - you need a hearty soul to survive - but if you can hack it, From the Valley to the Stars is a fairly magical trip to the center of heartache."

Soft Cell - say hello wave goodbye, 1981

"Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" is a song from the album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by English synth-pop duo Soft Cell that was released as a single in January 1982 and reached number three on the UK Singles Chart."

Saint Etienne - sugarhouse lane, 2006

"There is history aplenty in the Lower Lea Valley, for all the neglect and decay that now characterises the landscape. The street names alone are steeped in it: Pudding Mill Lane, Sugarhouse Lane and Waterworks River. The building that housed the Bryant and May match factory, where the match girls famously went on strike and begat the Labour Movement, still stands in nearby Bow. Around the corner on Wallis Road, a tiny plaque stuck absurdly high on a brick wall announces with little fanfare that plastic was invented here. As Bob Stanley puts it: 'Right here, in Hackney Wick, they invented the future.' Elsewhere, nature has started to take over again, with algae and moss creeping over concrete and steel."

Beirut - august holland, 2015

"No No No is a world away from its predecessor. That album shared some common ground with the rest of the Beirut catalogue in that at its heart was genuine, ramshackle charm; this new record, though, is an exercise in elegance and poise. Given the bleak personal circumstances that frame its gestation, it is remarkably mellow - chirpy, almost, on the likes of ‘Perth’, a song named after the town in which Condon reached his nadir in 2013, and ‘Gibraltar’. The tracks sound low-key, but in fact, they’re cleverly taut compositions - the album runs just short of 30 minutes, and not a second goes to waste."

Mike Oldfield - our father, 2005

"Well, the human mind – consciousness – is a very complicated thing. We don't begin to understand it. So if you're a creative person, "everything that happens to you must come out in what you do."

Electronic - for you, 1996

"For You" is a song by English band Electronic, comprising Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, with guesting co-writer Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk, released as the second single from their second album Raise the Pressure. "For You" reached #16 on the UK Singles Chart."

The National - heavenfaced, 2013

"The National has a knack for songs that make me feel like I’m gently resting just underneath the water, away from everything, and the emotions are still there but they’re distant. Heavenfaced is one of those songs."

The Moody Blues - king and queen, 1977

"This is one of the greatest bands ever, better than Pink Floyd but vastly underrated. I loved the Search for the Lost Chord, did not think the psychedelic songs forced in the least. All amazing talents. Why did they not make an Odds and Sods type album of unreleased material (King and Queen, What Am I doing Here, The Dreamer etc) I will never know. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will forever be diminished by not electing the Mooodies until after Ray Thomas died. A top ten of all time band"

Laurent Voulzy - rockollection belle-île-en-mer mille neuf cent soixante-dix-sept - mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-huit, 1977

"Locomotion, A Hard Day's Night, I Get Around, Gloria, Satisfaction"

Fanfarlo - cell song, 2014

"This one song on the record, ‘Cell Song,’ you could sort of listen to it and it could be a love song. And that’s fine. But what it’s actually about is coming from a place of thinking of the billions of cells in your body. In a sense, each cell is an organism. It’s just that that organism has adapted to other organisms in a slightly fascist structure where you will do what you’re told, otherwise you will die”

Vaya Con Dios - at the parallel live, 2017

"I used to sing that song written by Geert Kliphuis long before Vaya Con Dios existed. Geert wrote beautiful songs and I produced one of his albums he recorded under the name Jay Conrad, called ‘A Penniless Gentleman’. I love his songs."

Coldplay - speed of sound, 2005

"the song was written in mid-2004 and was inspired by Martin's daughter, Apple, and English alternative rock singer Kate Bush: "That's a song where we were listening to a lot of Kate Bush last summer, and we wanted a song which had a lot of tom-toms in it. I just had my daughter up also, and was kind of feeling in a sense of awe and wonderment, so the song is kind of a Kate Bush song about miracles." The drumbeat of the song was inspired by Bush's 1985 song "Running Up that Hill". In a separate interview, bassist Guy Berryman said: "We were really trying to recreate the drums on that song for this song, and the chords. Some bands are reluctant to admit that they take things from other artists and bands that they listen to and we're shameless in that respect, we don't mind telling."

Saint Etienne - the clothes show sad refrain, 1999

"'Built On Sand’, originally pressed on CD only and mailed to members of the Saint Etienne fan club for Christmas 1999, ‘Built On Sand’ gathered together 14 previously unreleased nuggets. Highlights include Suburban Autumn Lieutenant, recorded by Etienne Daho as Le Baiser Francais; a pitch for a new theme to BBC TV's The Clothes Show; Tomorrow Never Dies, another pitch, this time for a Bond theme; and the minimal techno-pop Keep Nothing. There are also outtakes from Good Humor and Sound Of Water, unavailable anywhere else."

Moby - love theme, 1997

"in the afternoon, I clean, which, weirdly, I love. When I was growing up, my mum cleaned people’s houses to make extra money and I would help. If the music doesn’t work out, I can always go back to that."

Stars - walls, 2012

"the closing track “Walls” is a gorgeous duet between Campbell and Millan that is, again, a bit of a return to form, with drum machines overlaid with throbbing bass and various percussive sounds and ambiance. Their voices weave in and out of each other’s melody, creating a type of harmony that is neither traditional nor trivial. It divulges the intense heartfelt-ness of this band, that is the cornerstone of exactly what Stars as a group is– sometimes excessive, but never without sincerity, profundity and the type of passionate enthusiasm that few bands possess."

Grant McLennan - horsebreaker star, 1994

"I wanted it to be the kind of record that could be played by anyone, but not too obvious. You know, the London Symphony Orchestra doesn't have to do the ballads, Johnny Cash doesn't have to do the country songs. I don't like to be that predictable. I like surprises"

Keane - bedshaped, 2004

"It's a sad and angry song, but also full of hope. I think I'm right in saying that in hospital when someone is ill and has to spend a lot of time in bed they can become 'bedshaped'."

The Cranberries - dying in the sun, 1999

“I was looking back at the negative me, that kind of sad period I went through and I was kinda say I never want to go back to that, now I’m moving forward and I’m becoming a happy person like I used to be always.“