Out of this world and into many wondrous others, this week’s playlists take you on a cosmic journey through genres and galaxies, skilfully steered and chosen by guest voyager Nilpferd from last week’s topic

It’s time to boldly go beyond our planet to explore songs about and inspired by other planets, stars and galaxies, real or those of science fiction, and ideally those are imagined to be, or were once inhabited

It’s a creative, freeflowing form that may well be as much crafted as straight from the imagination, but also one that distorts narrative and logic. Inspired by last week’s nominations, guest ajostu presents an associative, brainstorming set of lists with a real ‘vibe’

It’s a literary narrative technique capturing our chaotic minds and random flow of thought processes, often with non-linear sense of time, free association, saturated with sensory experiences with strange rhythms, but how is it used in song?

From earliest Iranian recordings, traditional and classical to defiant and political, 1970s pop and rock to more recent hip-hop, guest Severin charts a fabulous range of Persian sounds, all inspired by last week’s topic

New album: The acclaimed American singer-songwriter and pianist’s 18th album in a 35-year career is a grandiose, powerful 17-track album of odyssey and allegory around politics, power and feminist resistance, fuelled by the current state of her nation, set from the view of fictionalised marriage to a dangerous billionaire and an escape across the country with a narrative twist

New album: Moving away from the pop-folk direction of 2021’s Star-Crossed and 2024’s Deeper Well, the Nashville singer-songwriter returns with this seventh LP back to her country roots with gently trotting, stripped-back finely crafted collection of witty, catchy, candid numbers covering a spectrum of moods

New album: Hugely enjoyable, stylish, playfully eclectic debut LP of indie, electronica and Afro-disco and krautrock grooves by the Margate band fronted by the multi-lingual artist Falle Nioke from Guinea Conakry, West Africa, with songs about identity and ancestry, and a sound somewhere between New Order and William Onyeabor

New album: Still the scourge of the establishment after 2024’s debut LP Fine Art, a hugely entertaining second LP of punchy, slick, defiant Irish Gaelic rap by Belfast’s Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap, and beatmaker DJ Próvaí, with an expanded sound aided by innovative producer Dan Carey and an appearance by Kae Tempest

New album: Brilliantly inventive, eclectic, poetic, experimental folk and art-pop by the acclaimed Manchester-based Californian singer-songwriter and guitarist in her first self-produced album, variously about the end of relationships, life changes, technology’s social effects, Gaza victims and other contemporary issues with perhaps her finest yet

Song of the Day: An impassioned, stirring, dark and driving country/indie-rock number about what makes someone’s heart full and questioning why by the NY-based band with Kingsport, Tennessee roots, with this title track of the forthcoming debut LP Eyes Full, out on 5 June via Matador Records

Song of the Day: A catchy, cool, stylish fusion of indie and electro-pop by the classically trained, California-born, Vienna-based Iranian-Austrian artist, inspired by reading Patti Smith and Sam Shepard’s play of the same title, reimagining the play’s characters as Angel and Cowboy, and out now on Stones Throw Records

Song of the Day: A hugely fun, energising, infectious, effervescent, repetitive electronic dance track by the Bristol-based DJ/producer (aka Jake Martin) featuring a 3D pipe bassline by Memotone, and released alongside another track,Trust, out on Local Action

Song of the Day: Fizzing with vibrant energy and intricate rhythms, a fabulous new single with a personal accidental backstory by the London electronic afro-funk band out of London fronted by vocalist Eno Williams, out Merge Record

Song of the Day: A fabulous new version of the Jim Steinman-penned 1983 Bonnie Tyler power pop hit, arranged by Marcello Puppini in an entirely different style for her swing-jazz trio and band, part of their 20th anniversary celebrations and album, The Birthday Party, out now on Millionaire Records