The Radio Dept - sleeping in, 2006

"I knew next to nothing about these guys The Radio Dept. A three piece originally from Lund, Sweden – who named themselves after a petrol station which was converted into a new premises repairing transistor radios. But I was already enraptured by the wonderfully dreamy sounds I was hearing from all their YouTube videos. Founded by Johan Duncanson, and joined by Martin Larsson and later Daniel Tjäder, with several other musical collaborators among them: Per Blomgren, Lisa Carlberg, and Elin Almered. The band were a core trio for the most part but often the line-up fluctuated to become a quartet, even a quintet, before once more settling for the trio / duo. Thus it transpires they’d been around a fair while – 2001 when they released their first music – but their genesis started even further back than that in the mid 1990s. To bring things to the present, their recorded output to date has been sporadic, if not exactly wildly prolific, in quantity. Since their formation in 2001 they have issued four studio albums and a dozen or so singles, plus many other download only tracks. The average gap between studio albums during this two decade stretch has been about five to six years. But, crucially, that is hardly of much consequence given that I belatedly discovered their music in 2019, by which time all of their physical singles and albums were readily available to seek out wherever I could, and so that was what I did as much as possible. I glutted on everything they brought out, belatedly picking up all their albums on CD, given that I had already fallen hopelessly in love with their music. Even more significantly, their records offered me solace and provided me with a comfort blanket during those horribly anxious times in 2020 to 2021 when everything – life as we all knew it – fell off a cliff and the world seemingly stood still due to the pandemic and lockdowns."

Pet Shop Boys - hey headmaster, 1993

"In the booklet accompanying the 2001 reissue of Very, Neil notes that "Hey, Headmaster" is one of those occasional PSB songs written almost totally by himself, with minimal input from Chris. In fact, he had composed it in its original form before the two even met."

Best Coast - the only place, 2012

"Crazy for You and its sound, "simple and pungent songs […] toying with 1950s and ’60s melodic structures," had become something of a touchstone for Best Coast and adopted by several other bands. Cosentino hid her vocals behind layers of reverb and distortion, which was an extension of her onstage anxiety. As a result, Cosentino desired to take their sophomore record in a completely different direction."

Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan - deus ibi est, 2006

"I am going to try and limit my post (there's just too many bands I want to talk about!). I've started a Morrissey Vox Group... Anyway: Isobel Campbell started off her career in the band Belle & Sebastian (you may have heard of them?), she released two albums under her own band The Gentle Waves. Then followed by a collaboration with Bill Wells and then her excellent solo album "Amorino". That's where she met up with Mark Lanegan, who sang on "Why Does My Head Hurt So?" (off the EP, not the album). Anyway, her second album, "Ballad of the Broken Seas" is the best duet album! It's mostly Mark singing with a little Isobel's sweetness thrown in for good measures."

The Postmarks - run away love, 2009

"Innocence Mission, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, Autumn’s Grey Solace, The Postmarks... I think all of these groups are fairly well known in the indie/dream pop community, but don’t get enough love for how great they are."

Saint Etienne - side streets, 2005

"A few years back, thanks to SiriusXM’s Coffeehouse channel, I discovered a delightful song called “Side Streets” from a band aptly named Saint Etienne, because the song made me feel like I was on the streets of Paris for some reason. It has a cool, hip (not hipster) vibe, and it immediately took me to another place, even though I was cooking in the kitchen. I immediately had to iTune it. The lyrics were not only animated, but at the same time in a funny way, relatable. I didn’t look anything up, I didn’t need to know anything about the band, I just enjoyed the song for what it gave me, and the vibe it provided me and continues to provide. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out now from Pete Wiggs, who wrote the song, that they’re from the UK. While I can play songs on repeat to where I can’t listen to it again for up to years at times, “Side Streets” has been my go-to song on the weekends, where it’s on permanent repeat mode, especially when I’m whiling away hours in the kitchen."

The Big Moon - your light, 2020

"The infectious beat and bassline are present from the start of the track, setting the perfect backdrop for frontwoman Juliette Jacksons’ powerful voice. Typical of The Big Moon, the harmonies and overlapping layers of voices soon come to light and builds to the chorus. Lyrically, the chorus is simple, yet as upbeat, compelling, and formidable as ever."

Love is Dark energy (actually it should be called "Light energy")

"Independently of its actual nature, dark energy would need to have a strong negative pressure to explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe. According to general relativity, the pressure within a substance contributes to its gravitational attraction for other objects just as its mass density does."  

“I had jumped off the edge, and then, at the very last moment, something reached out and caught me in midair. That something is what I define as love. It is the one thing that can stop a man from falling, powerful enough to negate the laws of gravity.” Paul Auster, Moon Palace.

America - ventura highway, 1972

"Dewey Bunnell, the song's vocalist and writer, has said that the lyric "alligator lizards in the air" in the song is a reference to the shapes of clouds in the sky he saw in 1963 while his family was driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California, where they had a flat tire. While his father changed the tire, he and his brother stood by the side of the road, watched the clouds, and saw a road sign for Ventura."

Allo Darlin - europe, 2012

"It’s fair to say that Allo Darlin’ succeed by building a world in their songs that’s different to the one we see everyday – people still wear ties, buy records and send letters to their loved ones proclaiming deep and meaningful messages. Throughout Europe, they manage to make that sound like a pretty nice place to be, and also serve a timely reminder that there’s life in such a simple but effective style of music."

The Waterboys - december, 1983

"Whimper, whimper. This week's 90th moody, tremulous ballad with lashings of tearful vibrato and acoustic twelve-strings. A record to sit down and listen to as the leaves fall, it informs us that 'December is the cool month'. Oh really?"

The Radio Dept - domestic scene, 2010

"Four years is smoothed into nothing with opener ‘Domestic Scene’, which picks up where they left off, all low-key shoegazey textures and Strokes-y vocals. There’s no fanfare, no triumphant comeback sound – the big statements are left to samples, like the one that opens ‘Heaven’s On Fire’ – "I think we should destroy the bogus capitalist process that is destroying youth culture". It voices the most interesting aspect of underground music in 2010, especially scenes like chillwave: the reigniting of DIY culture, with the bedroom the studio again, the cassette in vogue – a complete rejection of mainstream industry."

Barclay James Harvest - poor man's moody blues, 1977

"Poor Man's Moody Blues" was written after a journalist angered the band by referring to Barclay James Harvest as a "poor man's Moody Blues". In response, guitarist John Lees wrote a song which sounded like the Moody Blues song "Nights in White Satin", but in fact was cleverly not the same - the words would not fit."

The Postmarks - all you ever wanted, 2009

"I don't even remember where I first heard the Postmarks. It was on some college radio station driving through somewhere, I would guess. I love the sound... Tim Yehezkely has this very, very quiet voice that just makes you think the tune is a dream floating in through the open window (and makes you fall in love, really)."

Stars - look away, 2014

“I was born the year this record came out and I’m here because you’re my favourite band.”

The Carpenters - they long to be close to you cover, 1973

"The song was first recorded by Richard Chamberlain and released as a single in 1963 as "They Long to Be Close to You" (without parentheses). However, while the single's other side, "Blue Guitar", became a hit, "They Long to Be Close to You" did not. The tune was also recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963, was re-recorded with a Burt Bacharach arrangement for her album Make Way for Dionne Warwick (1964), and was released as the B-side of her 1965 single "Here I Am". Dusty Springfield recorded the song in August 1964, but her version was not released commercially until it appeared on her album Where Am I Going? (1967). Bacharach released his own version in 1971. But the version recorded by Carpenters with instrumental backing by L.A. studio musicians from the Wrecking Crew, which became a hit in 1970, was the most successful."

Del Amitri - behind the fool, 1992

"Mostly though “Change Everything” is just choc full of wonderful songs, like “Behind The Fool” – they nail not letting your guard down here – and there’s a sort of The Faces feel to the last one “Sometimes I Just Have To Say Your Name” and I think I knew that then, too."

Saint Etienne - teenage winter, 2005

"one of the saddest, most melancholy tunes of the 'naughties'. Taken from their 2005 album Tales from Turnpike House contained a song that will bring tears to your eyes – especially if you are of a certain age. An immensely British song..."

Pet Shop Boys - hit and miss, 1996

"a superb job of conveying the almost ineffable sorrow of lost love, all the more sorrowful on account of the joy it brought before its loss"

Keats - hollywood heart, 1984

"Keats were a short-lived British rock band, which produced one eponymous album in 1984. It was an Alan Parsons Project offshoot. Its members were Colin Blunstone (vocals), Ian Bairnson (guitars), Pete Bardens (keyboards), David Paton (bass and backing vocals) and Stuart Elliott (drums and percussion)."