Cocteau Twins - pur, 1993

"Four-Calendar Cafe ends with Pur which begins with frantic pounding drums, slow chiming guitars and sweeping synths. Liz Fraser’s voice follows the lead of the guitar and synths and sings really slowly. It’s a a thoughtful, careful vocal. For a while, her voice stays within the same range. Her voice athen quickens, soaring beautifully. Likewise the arrangement gets louder and fuller. The guitars especially become much louder momentarily. By now Liz’s vocal is surrounded by a lovely arrangement, melodic yet fulsome. Since I first heard Pur, I’ve always loved it. What makes it special is the mixture of the power provided by Raymond and Guthrie and Liz’s thoughtful and beautiful vocal."

The Jesus And Mary Chain - girlfriend, 1994

"So here, at the time of writing, are 10 of my favourite songs by The Jesus and Mary Chain. About You, Girlfriend, The Two Of Us and I Love Rock n Roll are other real favourites."

Belle And Sebastian - nobody's empire, 2015

"Murdoch’s book brings this into the light as the basic Christian values of compassion, companionship, communion – plus the added bonus of groovy musical composition. Put simply, faith."

Club 8 - the next step you'll take, 2003

"Much of Strangely Beautiful sounds like what might happen if Abba crawled into bed with the Carpenters and they all took some clean X and strong morphine, and I say that as a positive thing. A touch of a spectral Astrud Gilberto sneaks into the footloose, pop-samba of The Next Step You'll Take, for which Karolina Komstedt's air-brushed voice becomes a small chorus of angels. The following The Beauty of the Way We're Living, will sound strangely familiar to those even casually aquatinted with the genre Club 8 is immersed in, but the hypnotic bit is all there own, and don't think you can call where this band will go next. Just when you think you've got them pegged, numbered and filed, they whip out Saturday Night Engine, which is the best Flaming Lips song the Flaming Lips never did. This is definitely a case where the album title says it all."

The New Pornographers - failsafe, 2007

"I admired A. C. Newman for his exceptional melodic talent, Neko Case for her strong, liquid voice and the rhythm section of John Collins and Kurt Dahle for their powerful rhythmic support. Each of their first three albums had featured at least one of the best melodic rock songs I’d ever heard: “Letters from an Occupant,” “Mass Romantic” and “The Laws Have Changed.”

Sambassadeur - albatross, 2010

"‘Albatross’ contains the brilliant line “I was happy to be alone / cut my hair just like a boy”, it seems to be a contemporary response to Abba’s ‘The Winner Takes it All’ and a nod to the early days of the band when they attempted to channel Sweden’s greatest pop export. Again all the emotion comes out in the strings - the longing gaze out of the window, the sight of couples arm and arm that turn a singleton inwards, smothering themselves in thoughts of better days."

REM - femme fatale cover, 1987

"Nico, whose native language is minority French, would say "The name of this song is 'Fahm Fatahl'." Lou and I would sing it our way. Nico hated that. I said, "Nico, hey, it's my title, I'll pronounce it my way"

The Radio Dept - peace of mind, 2002

"Perhaps the secret to the Radio Dept.'s inimitable ambience is their science of memory. There's not yet a band that can evoke the intangible nostalgia that the Radio Dept. do, but at least with this release we can be assured we don't need there to be."

Sufjan Stevens - love yourself short reprise, 2019

"Sufjan Stevens is celebrating Pride Month (which begins June 1) with the release of two new songs. The first, "Love Yourself" is based on a sketch Stevens originally wrote and recorded in 1996. "Love, can you love yourself," Stevens sings in a euphoric chorus. "Show me everything, every reason to believe in yourself." The second, "With My Whole Heart" is an entirely new and much more propulsive piece. In a press release announcing the new songs, Stevens says he wanted to "write an upbeat and sincere love song without conflict, anxiety or self-deprecation." As part of the special release, Stevens has also posted the original 1996 demo recording of "Love Yourself," along with a "Short Reprise" of the song."

Saint Etienne - stormtrooper in drag cover, 1997

"Paul Gardiner struggled with heroin addiction in his last years and died at the age of 25 from an overdose of Valium and Diconal combined with cold weather on 18 February 1984 in Limetrees Park in Northolt, Greater London. He is survived by a son, Chris who has a son named Dylan."

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Coldplay - white shadows, 2005

"White Shadows", meanwhile, is just the track that can keep the band nested right at home on Alternative."

The Cure - play for today, 1980

"one of their most loved deeper cuts, ‘Play For Today’ a favourite for so many, the liquid, chiming guitar of Robert Smith as distinctive as his pleading vocals."

Beirut - fener, 2015

"Indie-rock band Beirut originally began as the solo act of frontman Zach Condon, who wrote and recorded the band’s debut album mostly by himself. After the record had some success, Condon recruited some friends to make a live debut, and the band Beirut was born. The band quickly found success with its well-rounded instrumentation. It used horns, strings and keyboards to achieve a folksy, yet full and nuanced sound that displayed influences ranging from traditional European folk to electronic. Four well-received albums and several EPs later, Condon and Beirut were more successful than ever, touring extensively at increasingly larger venues until Condon put an end to the band, citing both physical and creative exhaustion. “No No No” is Condon’s eagerly anticipated return to the music industry, and marks the band’s return to recording after four years."

Paul McCartney - ballroom dancing, 1982

"Like most people, I’ve got memories that go back to when I was a teenager, like when George Harrison and I used to go to the local dance and neither of us would ever dare to ask a girl to dance until the last waltz. It was then that we thought, ‘Oh God, we’ve wasted all our money when all we came here for was to touch a girl. We’ve got to do it. Okay, let’s waltz, come on.’ We were always too shy but we’d always try and grab someone for that last dance. But most times we’d get refused. We never really got into ballroom dancing but that was where you went if you wanted to dance."

Stars ‎– this charming man cover, 2001

"Last year, we said Stars’ version of “This Charming Man” was the best cover of the song ever. You know who agreed with us? Smiths drummer Mike Joyce (he called it the best Smiths cover period). You know who else? Prince."

James - i know what i'm here for, 1999

"It's about the meaning of life. It's also about the nature of being in a band: the fulfilment of adolescent fantasies of endless drugs, drink and sex. But unless there's self-discipline, it can easily become a nightmare... Initially we did it almost as a blues song, but [producer] Brian Eno came up with the wacky, space-funk hookline. It became the album's first single, to make an announcement that we'e gone into a new musical area."

The Mountain Goats - autoclave live, 2008

“Autoclave” is a song concerned mainly with one single metaphor, a metaphor of such shining clarity that it makes me smile even when it makes me flinch. My heart’s an autoclave. An autoclave is a piece of equipment that sterilizes scientific tools with heat and pressure. They are pretty terrifying but they are mostly clinical, effective. My heart’s an autoclave, a thing that crushes. Your heart is meant to sterilize, your heart is constructed with scientific precision to kill everything inside of it that lives. Nothing could survive there even if it wanted to and at this point, nothing wants to. Your heart pulverizes all good feelings that get within a city block of it."

Softcult - haunt you still, 2023

"A bittersweet, shimmering reflection on the mark we leave on others in the extended aftermath of a breakup, Softcult have shared their latest single ‘Haunt You Still’. Full of their trademark shadowy, swirling riffs and soft dual vocals, the Canadian duo explore accountability and atonement on their latest offering."

Mike Oldfield - moonlight shadow live, 1999

"One of the first “live” version of “Moonlight Shadow,” I ever watched, was on a German TV show where a black woman, possible Pepsi DeMacque (who is awesome on “Man in the Rain”), performed the vocals, whoever she was, she was clearly not Maggie Reilly, but it sounded just like Reilly. In fact, the entire live performance sounded identical to the studio version. It was a lip sync, which I thought was really strange, because no one was upset by it. It did not make any sense, Mike Oldfield was there with a guitar, why not just perform the song live? Obviously, this would be the part of the review where I post the video, but I cannot find it anymore. I am pretty sure I did not imagine it during a fever dream."