Foot stomping and clogging to the click of fingers, flamenco and castanets, these playlists, picked by guest Marco den Ouden from last week’s topic, take a tour of the world from Canada to Mexico, Spain to Japan, with music that’s right on tap
Read morePlaylists: songs about touch
A touchy subject? Yes but also a very tactile and effective one in song. Getting physical, metaphysical, metaphorical, sensual, sexual, communal, biblical, spiritual and much more, guest Uncleben finds true feeling in superb playlists inspired by last week’s topic
Read morePlaylists: songs about shame
It comes in many forms, but is often most powerful when it’s a hidden, secret shame. Picking from many great nominations out of last week’s topic, guest of the week DiscoMonster posts a powerful, personal narrative alongside his playlist
Read morePlaylists: songs with more questions than answers
Inspired by Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave cinema movement, music poses questions in all forms - in sound, form, structure, as well as lyrics. Picking from last week’s topic, guest playlister pejepeine has excellent answers by example
Read moreSweat bands: songs about perspiration
As heatwaves spread around many parts of the world, it’s time to turn the perspiration into inspiration. Sweating covers many contexts, from work, to exercise, fear to sex, but how are its process and emotions expressed in song?
Read morePlaylists: songs about heartbreak
Relationship breakdown, devastating loneliness to shocking bereavement, from a huge response to last week’s topic, it’s all here in a set of supremely powerful playlists picked by guest magicman, where despite all the sorrow, the music brings release
Read morePlaylists: songs about bodily motion, exercise and physiotherapy
‘The heart’s a muscle. I pull it constantly’. Stretching not only the body, but also the mind and musical boundaries, these week’s playlists, expertly exercised by guest TatankaYotanka, help find parts we didn’t even know we had
Read moreWomen at work: songs by girl groups and all-female bands
It’s a group dynamic. This week we celebrate landmark, iconic or noteworthy songs by groups of exclusively female artists of three or more, spanning genres from early classical to jazz and swing, 60s soul, to 70s, 80s, 90s and 21st century pop
Read morePlaylists: songs about collecting, cataloguing and listing
1) Why do them? 2) What are they for? 3) Are they positive or negative? 4) How do they appear in song? This set of questions and more are creatively catalogued and crafted into playlists by this week’s skilful guest Severin from the recent topic
Read morePlaylists: songs about inversions – upside down to inside out
The table is set for tea, except not all is quite as it seems … guest playlister EnglishOutlaw explores the topsy-turvy, inside out and upside through a fictional Lewis Carroll universe, in lyrics and music, inspired by last week’s topic
Read morePlaylists: songs about or expressing empathy
Best pals to the pangs of parenthood, lost lonely souls to lovers entwined, this week’s lists explore closeness in all forms through empathy, with emotionally powerful work chosen by guest Marco den Ouden from last week’s topic
Read moreValentine's Day? Reveal your songs about secret admirers
Clandestine cravings and crushes? To spice up a romantic tradition, this week’s topic is all about secret love longings expressed through song, here inspired by real-life examples of musicians, alongside film, books and theatre
Read morePlaylists: songs with great backing vocals
Aretha and her sisters to Ray and the Raelettes, Louis and Keely to Gladys and the Pips, this week's brilliant backing vocals came from a chorus of nominations topic, led by a masterful guest playlister magicman
Read moreSing out for unsung heroes: songs with great backing vocals
They're the brilliant singers who blend beautiful and really make the music. From Motown and soul to to church and gospel, barbershop to pop or even punk, suggest songs made backed brillliantly by the unknown or famous
Read moreBorn this way … biographical and autobiographical songs
Let me tell you a story … this week we're looking for songs that capture the narrative or arc of a person's life, about themselves or others, famous or unknown, whether that's in the first or third person
Read morePlaylists: songs about waiting
Prince to Nina Simone, Billy Bragg to Black Uhuru, this week's guest playlister Rachel Courtney writes a powerful topical piece about waiting for a better world, inspired by hundreds of readers' nominations
Read moreUnforgettable? Songs about the first time … or last time
There's nothing quite like the emotions or physical impact of first, formative experiences. From first sex to seeing New York to new sounds, revisit your innocence in song, and also any that try to say 'never again'
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