Stars - fluorescent light, 2017

"De facto title track “Fluorescent Light” is upbeat and huge in tone even as it talks about a failing relationship. Singer Torquil Campbell starts the song with lyrics about the night and yellow taxis waiting for a party to end. He sings over sparse, warm piano chords and intermittent snare drum rolls. The building music comes to a halt when Amy Millan comes in, a wash of keyboards putting everything else on pause when she sings."

Saint Etienne - penlop, 2021

"The song is off their forthcoming release I’ve Been Trying To Tell You, available September 10, 2021 via Heavenly Recordings. The LP has spawned remixes by Daniel Avery, Jane Weaver and Vince Clarke. A live tour follows in November with a limited edition box set in the works. Thirty years on from their groundbreaking debut Foxbase Alpha, I’ve Been Trying To Tell You was made largely from samples and sounds drawn from the years 1997-2001, a period that was topped and tailed by Labour’s election victory and the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. Was the optimism of that era a lost golden age, or was it a period of naïvety, delusion and folly? The collective folk memory of any period differs from the lived reality. I’ve Been Trying To Tell You is an album about memory, how it works, how it tricks you and creates a dream-like state. It also taps into the way we think of our youth, a sense of place, and where we come from."

Dido - all you want, 1999

"All You Want" is a song by English singer-songwriter Dido, released as the fourth and final single from her debut album, No Angel (1999)."

Coldplay - lost+ ft jay-z live, 2008

"Lost+" features a rap section by Jay-Z, with whom the band recorded the reworked track in New York. This version was premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 16 October 2008. "Lost+" was released as the lead track from "Lost!"'s digital EP release, and was included on the Prospekt's March EP. Jay-Z's rap was based on a freestyle he performed on Funkmaster Flex's show on the Hot 97 radio station. This took place on 31 October 2008, while Jay-Z was promoting his Kingdom Come album."

The Moody Blues - eternity road, 1969

"I was born in 1941 and during the war I was taken down the air raid shelter. There was our family and two other families who were our neighbours. Sometimes the Luftwaffe were all over us before even the sirens came off. Every night my grandmother would go "Hark" and her friend Mrs Ackland, next-door, would go "Listen". Mrs James lived on the other side would then go "Here he comes." So they became known as "Hark", "Listen" and "Here he comes." So that stuck in my head so that’s how I started "Eternity Road".

James - crash, 1999

"Although similar in style and taste with previous efforts while still sounding contemporary, James managed to include a new twist on a familiar model. In fact the first four songs are fabulously James, yet refreshingly unfamiliar. And as with all James’ records they managed to mix in a few tracks with decidedly ambient inclinations and ethereal moods amongst the rockers. Standout tracks such as “Crash,” “Just Like Fred Astaire,” and “Shooting My Mouth Off” show off their majestic amalgamation of anthemic stadium rock and alternative pop hooks while slow cookers “Hello,” “We’re Going to Miss You,” and “Vervaceous” are more effusive as they flirt with more ambient, experimental sounds."

Moby - at least we tried, 2002

“At Least We Tried” also makes me think of 1970s soul with the arrangement of the percussion and keyboard. Lyrically and musically, this song is bit redundant, and I think the song probably would’ve been stronger if it was a little shorter."

Sufjan Stevens - john wayne gacy jr live, 2015

"Buried Dreams brings to vivid life the real John Wayne Gacy—his complex personality, compulsions, inadequacies, and torments—often in the murderer’s own words."

Agnes Obel - broken sleep, 2020

"the architect of eerie, otherworldy music that straddles neo-classical, jazz and chamber pop".

Genesis - follow you follow me, 1978

"Like much of the rest of the album, the slower, sentimental "Follow You Follow Me" was a departure from most of their previous work as a progressive rock band, featuring a simple melody, romantic lyrics and a verse-chorus structure. Although previous albums contained love ballads, such as Selling England by the Pound's "More Fool Me" and "Your Own Special Way" from Wind & Wuthering (1976), "Follow You Follow Me" was the first worldwide pop success by the group. The band felt that their music was attracting mainly male audiences, so this song was written specifically to redress the imbalance."

Pet Shop Boys - go west cover live, 2007

"Nothing better captures the tone of bittersweet joy and drama that permeates Very than PSB's cover of the Village People nugget, 'Go West'. Covered with thick layers of pillowy synths, the track swaps the male-bonding vibe of the original with a wistful demeanor that's lined with a pensive subtext of loss"

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - dreaming, 1988

"Stewart Mason, in a retrospective review for AllMusic, described the song as "dynamite", and wrote: "['Dreaming'] is easily the group's best single since 1983's 'Telegraph'... It's a near-perfect pop song, perhaps the last great single by an '80s synth-pop band." Classic Pop's Mark Lindores called it a "massively underrated OMD anthem". Conversely, McCluskey named "Dreaming" as a track he wishes OMD had never released, while criticising its lyrical content. The song has nevertheless been ranked among the best of 1988, and of all time."

Del Amitri - as soon as the tide comes in, 1992

"songs like the brilliant ‘As Soon As The Tide Comes In’ still maintained that folky storytelling vibe while ‘Just Like A Man’ introduced a soulful element to the repertoire. If I wasn’t already in love with Justin Currie’s writing then this album cemented the love affair for me – in fact, it is this album that I go back to again and again."

Saint Etienne - girl vii, 1991

"Girl VII proved a showpiece as Cracknell recited a list of the capital's least glamorous places ("Old Ford, Kennington, Dollis Hill") over a flute-filled tune that could have come from a 70s travelogue"

The New Pornographers - adventures in solitude, 2007

"it’s always a tricky balance of wanting lyrics that sound good — just the sound of the words — and then I know what I want the vocals to sound like but then I have to take that and try and create some kind of vague story, or some kind of motif, or a theme that runs through them. And that’s always a tricky balance. A lot of them are kind of cryptic relationship songs or something from my past that I’m writing about or some fictionalized version of the past but always written in so cryptic a way that nobody can tell what I’m writing about."

Electronic - tighten up album version, 1991

"Writing in Melody Maker, Paul Lester described the song as "the devastating marriage of Smiths guitars and New Order technology that nervously excited fans the globe over were anticipating from Electronic. Imagine a sublime splicing of 'Bigmouth Strikes Again' and 'Dream Attack', then multiply by 12". In Vox Keith Cameron wrote: "'Tighten Up' gives Marr a chance to relive The Smiths' halcyon days with an exhilarating semi-acoustic dynamism".

REM - try not to breathe, 1992

"Try Not to Breathe" is a pretty bleak command. And, indeed, the second track from R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People is about death. But the song's title originated with a much more innocuous statement. During the demo stages for the album, which would come out in October 1992, guitarist Peter Buck was recording the groundwork for a possible new tune on acoustic guitar. "We were doing the demo, and I had the mic for my guitar right up against my mouth. I was kind of huffing," Buck told Melody Maker in 1992. "So John [Keane], the engineer, said, 'You're making too much noise.' So I said, 'OK, take two. I'll try not to breathe.' I just meant that I wouldn't breathe during the take. But Michael [Stipe] heard it and said, 'Oh, that’s a nice title.'"

The House Of Love - audience with the mind, 1993

"Audience With the Mind was recorded following the departure of the band’s third successive lead guitarist in three years, Simon Mawby. This resulting in group leader Guy Chadwick recording most of the album’s guitar parts himself (although Sean O'Hagan of The High Llamas provided additional acoustic and slide guitars). As had been the case on the band’s previous album, Babe Rainbow, former band member Andrea Heukamp provided backing vocals."

Pedro Abrunhosa - momento uma espécie de céu, 2002

"His album Momento (2002) was written and composed solely by him. It has the participation of the Helicon String Quartet. Manoel de Oliveira, the famous Portuguese director, directed the short film "Momento", as a video for the first single and title track off the album."

Of Monsters And Men - mountain sound, 2012

"Mountain Sound" is a single by Icelandic indie folk/indie pop band Of Monsters and Men. The song was released as the second single from the international version of their debut studio album, My Head Is an Animal. It was written by Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson; and produced by Jacquire King."