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Stop making sense: songs about absurdity and absurdism

March 6, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Playtime: Jacques Tati’s masterpiece about modern life (1967)

Strange, surreal, ironic, absurdity very much part of life, and absurdism is all about embracing the freedom with its meaninglessness. Exploring influences from Camus to Tati, Milligan to Python to Lynch, how is it expressed in music?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, absurdity, absurdism, philosophy, MC Escher, books, art, Film, Miguel de Cervantes, Cervantes, Søren Kierkegaard, Soren Kierkegaard, Cicero, Albert Camus, Bertrand Russell, Karl Marx, Steven Wright, Spike Milligan, Franz Kafka, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Jean-Paul Sartre, second world war, Myth of Sisyphus, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jacques Tati, David Lynch, Joseph Heller, Monty Python
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Sing out, act on CLIMATE CHANGE

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CONDEMN RACISM, EMBRACE EQUALITY
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DRINK OF THE WEEK

Camus Cognac

SNACK OF THE WEEK

candy floss

New Albums …

Featured
Divorce - Drive To Goldenhammer.jpeg
Mar 8, 2025
Divorce: Drive To Goldenhammer
Mar 8, 2025

New album: With a warm, engaging sound, and beautifully crafted, intelligent songs, this excellent debut by the Nottingham indie quartet transcends genres from pop to country, Americana folk to rock with enduring passion and quality

Mar 8, 2025
da Googie + Cara Tivey - The Golden Thread.jpeg
Mar 8, 2025
da Googie + Cara Tivey: The Golden Thread
Mar 8, 2025

New album: A mesmeric, cutting-edge, experimental tapestry of dark, magical, musical textures and songs by an English duo of seasoned, innovative collaborators – My Bloody Valentine bass player Deb Googe, and pianist and composer Cara Tivey in a superb debut LP together

Mar 8, 2025
Sasami - Blood on the Silver Screen.jpeg
Mar 7, 2025
SASAMI: Blood On The Silver Screen
Mar 7, 2025

New album: Following 2022’s excellent alchemic metal and more Squeeze LP, the LA-based classically trained French horn player, singer and composer Sasami Ashworth returns with a cinematic, stylish adventure in well-crafted, mainstream-style pop, aided by producers Jenn Decilveo and Rostam

Mar 7, 2025
Ichiko Aoba- Luminescent Creatures.jpeg
Mar 5, 2025
Ichiko Aoba: Luminescent Creatures
Mar 5, 2025

New album: A magical, transportive, gorgeously meditational evocative release by the Japanese singer and multi-instrumentalist with a celestial musical landscape LP inspired by the Ryukyu islands that stretch southwest of Japan towards Taiwan

Mar 5, 2025
Darkside - Nothing.jpeg
Mar 4, 2025
DARKSIDE: Nothing
Mar 4, 2025

New album: Filled with infectious, mystifying oddball but at times brilliant grooves across a range of styles – krautrock, funk, Latin, indie, psyche, prog rock, warped pop, contemporary classical and jazz among others, this third LP by New York’s Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington sees an expansion of their eclectic experimentation now joined by drummer and instrument designer Tlacael Esparza

Mar 4, 2025
Temporary - Everything Is Recorded.jpeg
Mar 3, 2025
Everything Is Recorded: Richard Russell Is Temporary
Mar 3, 2025

New album: A tender, gentle, minimalistic and rather beautifully eccentric release about mutability and death? It’s the third collaborative LP by producer Richard Russell, joined by a stellar cast of singers and musicians including Sampha, Bill Callahan, Noah Cyrus, Florence Welch, Maddy Prior, Kamasi Washington, Berwyn, Alabaster Deplume and Jah Wobble

Mar 3, 2025
Antony Szmierek- Service Station At The End Of The Universe.jpeg
Mar 2, 2025
Antony Szmierek: Service Station At The End Of The Universe
Mar 2, 2025

New album: Named after Douglas Adams’ satirical sci-fi Restaurant novel, the likeable Manchester spoken word poet’s debut LP is an entertaining, playful, richly observational mix of Streetsy stream-of-consciousness stories inspired by his home city through the classic sounds of 90s dance music and indie

Mar 2, 2025
Panda Bear - Sinister Grift.jpeg
Mar 2, 2025
Panda Bear: Sinister Grift
Mar 2, 2025

New album: The ever eclectic Animal Collective, Lisbon-based frontman Noah Lennox’s first solo album for five years is an oddly reflective but rather beautiful heartbreak album, one coming out of his divorce, but rich in many styles, from Beach Boys vocal harmonies to reggae, Latin to disco, jaunty 70s pop to psychedelia

Mar 2, 2025
Marie Davidson - City of Clowns.jpeg
Mar 1, 2025
Marie Davidson: City Of Clowns
Mar 1, 2025

New album: The stylish Canadian from Montreal returns with a sixth LP of clever, catchy, droll-delivery dance music and electro-synth-pop, joined by Belgian electronic legends Soulwax aka David and Stephen Dewaele, and Pierre Guerineau

Mar 1, 2025
Doves - Constellations For The Lonely.jpeg
Mar 1, 2025
Doves: Constellations For The Lonely
Mar 1, 2025

New album: A glorious sixth LP by the Manchester indie band, weathering many ups and downs, including ongoing mental health issues for lead vocalist and bass player Jimi Goodwin who is unable to tour, but despite that, summoning a powerful, dynamic, passionate work of darkness and light, and one of the best in the 25 years since their debut, Lost Souls

Mar 1, 2025
IDER - Late To The World.jpeg
Feb 26, 2025
IDER: Late To The World
Feb 26, 2025

New album: Sharp, smart, candid and sometimes lyrically caustic synth pop by the London duo Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville in this third LP that highlights many challenges of life and femininity from eating disorder to abortion rights, dodgy relationships to personal insecurity and leaving the past behind

Feb 26, 2025
Albertine Sarges - Girl Missing 2.jpeg
Feb 25, 2025
Albertine Sarges: Girl Missing
Feb 25, 2025

New album: Joy, vulnerability, wistful longing, cutting melancholy, sisterhood, resilience, and healing from grief all burst forth in this uplifting new LP by the ever inventive, eccentric, eclectic Berlin-based singer-songwriter with a distinctive experimental indie-pop here includes organs, flutes, strings and layered vocals

Feb 25, 2025
Youth Lagoon - Rarely Do I Dream.jpeg
Feb 25, 2025
Youth Lagoon: Rarely Do I Dream
Feb 25, 2025

New album: The idiosyncratic Idaho songwriter and producer Trevor Powers’s latest LP is a vividly cinematic, darkly humorous, dream-like release inspired by a 2023 discovery of VHS home movies documenting his childhood, and lying boxed in the basement of his parents’ house

Feb 25, 2025
Sam Fender - People Watching - album art.jpeg
Feb 24, 2025
Sam Fender: People Watching
Feb 24, 2025

New album: The likeable, powerful tenor-voiced, 30-year-old singer-songwriter from North Shields has hit mainstream success, especially with his last LP, Seventeen Going Under (2021), and while this continues with a sometimes Springsteen-like style, there’s a lyrical melancholy colouring this third LP, on trappings of fame, music industry, and tales of tragedy within his northern working-class roots

Feb 24, 2025

new songs …

Featured
Doecchi - Anxiety.jpeg
Mar 8, 2025
Song of the Day: Doechii - Anxiety
Mar 8, 2025

Song of the Day: Re-released and re-recorded after her more recent success with last year’s album Alligator Bites Never Heal, a fabulous, sharp, inventive number from the Tampa, Florida rapper and singer, sampling Gotye’s 2011 hit Somebody That I Used To Know

Mar 8, 2025
The-Voidz-Blue-Demon.jpeg
Mar 7, 2025
Song of the Day: The Voidz - Blue Demon
Mar 7, 2025

Song of the Day: The experimental rock band featuring Strokes’ Julian Casablancas on distorted, sci-fi style vocals return with a synth-laden, syncopated, oddball but catchy release, also filled with caustic, indirect references to Israel’s destruction and occupation of Palestine and the US foreign policy hand in it

Mar 7, 2025
Tune-Yards.jpeg
Mar 6, 2025
Song of the Day: Tune-Yards - Limelight
Mar 6, 2025

Song of the Day: Funky, catchy, danceable new single by the Oakland, California experimental pop duo of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner, and the the first taken from their forthcoming sixth studio album, Better Dreaming, out on 16 May, via 4AD

Mar 6, 2025
Black Country, New Road - Happy Birthday single.jpeg
Mar 5, 2025
Song of the Day: Black Country, New Road - Happy Birthday
Mar 5, 2025

Song of the Day: The latest single by the south London experimental band marks a slight shift in style with this stirring, thoughtful, shifting narrator folk-pop-rock, life-death-themed number, inspired by Joanna Newsom and Fiona Apple, heralding their upcoming album Forever Howlong, out on 4 April via Ninja Tune

Mar 5, 2025
Jenny Hval - To Be A Rose.jpg
Mar 4, 2025
Song of the Day: Jenny Hval - To Be A Rose
Mar 4, 2025

Song of the Day: Childhood memory, olfactory senses, metaphor and emotions uncurl in this strangely beautiful new number inverting Gertrude Stein’s 1913 poem Sacred Emily (“A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose”) by the Norwegian experimental artist, heralding her upcoming new LP, Iris Silver Mist, out on 4AD

Mar 4, 2025
Destroyer - Hydroplaning off the Edge of the World.jpeg
Mar 3, 2025
Song of the Day: Destroyer - Hydroplaning Off The Edge of the World
Mar 3, 2025

Song of the Day: Infectiously catchy, alternative indie-pop by the Canadian singer and musicianDan Bejar with a barrage of oddball, amusingly mysterious, conversational lyrics in this latest single heralding his new album, Dan’s Boogie, out on 28 March via Merge Records

Mar 3, 2025
TORRES and Julien Baker.jpeg
Mar 2, 2025
Song of the Day: Julien Baker and TORRES - Tuesday
Mar 2, 2025

Song of the Day: A witty, droll but also beautiful, bittersweet country number with TORRES, aka MacKenzie Scott, on the lead vocal, with lyrics about a girl she had a crush on in her youth and the resulting conflict with her mother, and heralding the LP Send A Prayer My Way, out 18 April on Matador Records

Mar 2, 2025
Model:Actriz.jpeg
Mar 1, 2025
Song of the Day: Model/Actriz - Cinderella
Mar 1, 2025

Song of the Day: A pulsating. staccato, angular take on the well-known fairytale by the exciting Boston-formed, Brooklyn-based post-punk band of Cole Haden, Aaron Shapiro, Jackson Wetmore, and Ruben Radlauer, heralding their forthcoming album, Pirouette, out 2 May via True Panther / Dirty Hit Records

Mar 1, 2025
Little-Simz - Flood.jpeg
Feb 28, 2025
Song of the Day: Little Simz - Flood (featuring Obongjayar and Moonchild Sanelly)
Feb 28, 2025

Song of the Day: Three standout artists together in this extraordinary, thunderous, dark, exciting, menacing, mythological new single of hip-hop and African drumming by the London rapper, with the Nigerian and South African singers

Feb 28, 2025
McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive.jpeg
Feb 27, 2025
Song of the Day: McKinley Dixon - Sugar Water (featuring Quelle Chris & Anjimile)
Feb 27, 2025

Song of the Day: Dynamic, stylish, clever hip-hop with agile notes of jazz and gospel and guests, by the American rapper and singer from Richmond, Virginia, heralding his forthcoming fifth album, Magic, Alive!, out on 6 June via City Slang

Feb 27, 2025
Ora The Molecule.jpeg
Feb 26, 2025
Song of the Day: Ora The Molecule - Nobody Cares
Feb 26, 2025

Song of the Day: Witty, droll, fun funk-disco by the Norwegian artist and producer aka Nora Schjelderup, heralding her upcoming album, Dance Therapy, out on 21 March via Mute Records

Feb 26, 2025
Hamilton Leithauser - Burn The Boats.jpeg
Feb 25, 2025
Song of the Day: Hamilton Leithauser - Knockin’ Heart
Feb 25, 2025

Song of the Day: A passionate, punchy, thumpy, catchy, candid love song by The Walkmen vocalist heralding his upcoming album, This Side of the Island, out on 7 March via Glassnote Music

Feb 25, 2025

Word of the week

Featured
Varsovienne 1855.jpeg
Feb 26, 2025
Word of the week: varsovienne
Feb 26, 2025

Word of the week: Our latest etymological move into obscurity originates in around 1850 in Warsaw, Poland, and also known as the varsouvienne or varsoviana – a slow, graceful dance in 3/4 waltz time, which also combines elements of the mazurka and polka

Feb 26, 2025
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Feb 11, 2025
Word of the week: withershins / widdershins
Feb 11, 2025

Word of the week: Also variously spelled widershins and widderschynnes, this Lowland Scots dialect word term derived from German means counter-clockwise, literally “against the way”, not only on a clock face, but originally against the perceived motion of the sun in the northern hemisphere

Feb 11, 2025
Chateau Marmont.jpeg
Jan 29, 2025
Word of the week: xenodocheionology
Jan 29, 2025

Word of the week: It’s something in which many of us may indulge during the thick of winter, planning for holidays via booking websites, this noun meaning the study of hotels, extending also to researching their lore and history

Jan 29, 2025
Cupped hands.jpeg
Jan 16, 2025
Word of the week: yepsen
Jan 16, 2025

Word of the week: A timeless noun emanating from Middle English ȝespen and first used in around 1325, meaning a unit of measurement being the amount of that can be held in two hands cupped together

Jan 16, 2025
Gingerbread guitar.jpeg
Jan 9, 2025
Word of the week: zingiberaceous / zinziberaceous
Jan 9, 2025

Word of the week: Two alternative spellings, spicily evocative and colourful, they are adjectives pertaining to the Zingiberaceae family of flowering plants that variously bring that distinctive flavour of, and are a rather fancy way of saying – ginger

Jan 9, 2025
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