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29 February? A rare leap ... at songs about jumping

February 29, 2024 Peter Kimpton

One giant leap: Bob Beamon’s long jump record at the Mexico City 1968 Olympics stood for at an unusually lengthy 23 years

A Thursday on 29 February rarely happens, so let’s not skip it: Songs about jumps, leaps, bounds, hurdles, vaults of all kinds, literal and metaphorical, no t random occurrence of a related words, but where the leap in question is central to to the song's theme. Get inspired by many varied contexts and guests in the Bar …

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, 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, jumping, leap years, Olympic Games, athletics, sport, Bob Beamon, Pablo Picasso, Emily Dickinson, Michael McClure, Neil Armstrong, Louis Jordan, Kurt Cobain, Wayne Shorter, Quincy Jones, Charlotte Bronte, WH Auden, Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, calendars, Gioachino Rossini, Jimmy Dorsey, Saul Williams, marriage, relationships, Amy Adams, Ireland, France, Finland, Greece, women's rights, geology, Tori Amos, Julia Margaret Cameron, David Lloyd George, Evel Knievel, Margaret Mead, Gustave Flaubert, Ray Bradbury, Nadia Comaneci, basketball, Nikki Sixx, Eddie the Eagle, Henry Miller
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How does it end? Songs with notable outros and codas

March 30, 2023 Peter Kimpton

What goes around …

The end has to come, but how, in an outro or coda, does a song or piece offer something different, original, unusual or memorable, musically or even lyrical form, a twist, a mood change, upbeat, downbeat or even a sense of unresolved mystery?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, songs, ska, soundtracks, traditional, soul Tags songs, outros, codas, playlists, Friedrich Nietzsche, Frank Herbert, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Bernardo Bertolucci, Igor Stravinsky, Robert Smith, The Cure, Winston Churchill, John Cooper Clarke, Paul Valéry, WH Auden, Gore Vidal, Jean Cocteau, The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, The Who, Terry Riley, Meher Baba, Derek and the Dominoes, Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon, Duane Allman, King Crimson, Robert Fripp, Edgar Winters Group, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Prince, The Stone Roses, Talking Heads
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What's going on? Songs with more questions than answers

September 22, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Un bout de souffle (1960): Under cover? How soon is now? Where did our love go?

Inspired by the recent death of a creative great and the movement he spurred, this week it’s time to pose questions of the listener, existential or otherwise, perhaps found lyrics or titles, but more than just in a random line, and perhaps also in often in form, structure and sound

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, philosophy, Film, film soundtrack, Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, French New Wave, Thomas Berger, Francis Bacon, Voltaire, Claude Levi-Strauss, John Coltrane, Robert Plant, Colin Hay, Black Francis, Éric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol, Alain Resnais, Charles Aznavour, Martin Scorsese, Paul Misraki, Louis Malle, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Edward Norton, WH Auden, Albert Einstein, Mos Def
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Make extensive notes: drone songs and music

May 27, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Velvet Underground, including John Cale and Lou Reed

Velvet Underground, including John Cale and Lou Reed

It can be minimal, relaxing, and meditative, or disturbing, loud and challenging, but in its purest form or within any genre, drone music, played or sung, centres on a single sustained note or long chord that dominates the entire song or piece

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In drone, blues, African, electronica, experimental, avant-garde, classical, indie, jazz, playlists, rock, songs, traditional Tags songs, instrumentals, drone music, Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, John Cale, Pythagoras, William Congreve, Beethoven, WH Auden, Max Richter, Brian Eno, Peter van der Merwe, La Monte Young, The Theatre of Eternal Music, Marian Zazeela, Tony Conrad, Angus MacLise, Terry Jennings, Billy Name, Jon Hassel, Alex Dea, Phill Niblock, Guinness Book of Records, Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner, Felix Mendelssohn, Mahler, Berlioz, Bartok, Arvo Pärt, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Taverner, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Cocteau Twins, Jesus & Mary Chain, Sun O))), Klaus Weise, time, philosophy, meditation
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Out of their time: original songs with a striking retro style

May 13, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Get on the retro (dance) floor …

Get on the retro (dance) floor …

This week we look back to look forward with artists who wrote new songs with a style from the past, ignoring their zeitgeist and harking back to a former era or decade though musical stylings, choice of instruments, lyrics and more

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In African, country, comedy, calypso, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musicals, musical hall, playlists, pop, postpunk, punk, prog, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, songs, ska, soul, soundtracks, traditional, funk Tags songs, playlists, retro, TS Eliot, Michel de Montaigne, Salvador Dali, Criss Jami, WH Auden, Quentin Tarantino, David Bowie, Bauhaus, fashion, Mary Quant, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Muddy Waters, Phil Spector, Stray Cats, Brian Setzer, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Wilson Mizner, Stephen Fry, William Burroughs, Chuck Palahniuk, Jean Cocteau, Jean-Luc Godard, Jim Jarmusch, Mick Jagger, Fritz Lang, Terry Gilliam, LoneLady, Pearl Charles, Silvertwin, Carly Simon, Abba, Cabaret Voltaire, Neneh Cherry, St Vincent, Steely Dan, His Master's Voice
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Enjoy the view: songs about edges, ledges and thresholds

January 21, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Norway’s popular Pulpit Rock or Preikestolen

Norway’s popular Pulpit Rock or Preikestolen

Actual or metaphorical, from windows to riverbanks, doorways to cliffs, to mental or physical extreme places, this week let’s go to a variety of precipices, stare into the abyss, but also find astonishing new perspectives in song

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, edges, ledges, precipices, thresholds, WH Auden, Martin Luther King, Joseph Conrad, DH Lawrence, Haruki Murakami, William Shakespeare, Leonard Cohen, James Hansen, Sean Lennon, John Cleese, Malcolm Gladwell, Norway, Joan Lindsay, Peter Weir, Film, film soundtrack, MH Boroson, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Carl Jung, Jim Carrey, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Vertigo, The Truman Show, Bob Black, Flat Earth Society, Brazil, Stephen Hawking, Toba Beta, Bertrand Russell, Herman Melville, Winston Churchill, Goethe, Van Morrison, Brad Dourif, Hunter S. Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Haddon, Esther Hicks, Michel de Montaigne, architecture, Brutalist, Evel Knievel, Ada Lovelace, TS Eliot, John Keats, poetry, Josephine Jacobsen., Ricky Gervais, Ingmar Bergman, Rufus Wainwright, Gina Barreca, Steven Wright, Wu-Tang Clan, RZA, Eric B & Rakim
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Letters of note: songs about written correspondence

October 22, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Correspondence captures time, place, culture and emotions …

Correspondence captures time, place, culture and emotions …

Love letters to rejection replies, friendship, work or leisure, written correspondence are the preserved leaves of history, revealing human nature in all its states and culture, but how does it come up in songwriting? Reply here …

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, letters, postcards, correspondence, Lord Byron, John Donne, Emily Dickinson, Blaise Pascal, Thomas Wolfe, David Herbert Donald, Ernest Hemingway, WH Auden, poetry, Tennis (band), William Donaldson, Henry Root, Robert Popper, Robin Cooper, TImewaster Letters, Aphra Behn, John Cleland, Samuel Richardson, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Letters of Note, Shaun Usher, Groucho Marx, Woody Allen, Mozart, Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Jimi Hendrix, Iggy Pop, Mad magazine, Muriel Spark, Virginia Woolf, Lewis Carroll, Spike Milligan, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Charlie Chaplin, Phyllis Theroux, David Nicholls, Sarah Vaughan, Eminem, Linton Kwesi Johnson
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You let me down: songs about fallen ‘heroes’

June 25, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Joseph Stalin: hero turned villain. Statue torn down in 1956 in Budapest during Hungary's October Revolution

Joseph Stalin: hero turned villain. Statue torn down in 1956 in Budapest during Hungary's October Revolution

Whether it’s figures of public renown in music, film, politics or history, or private – mentors, relatives and even lovers, this week we look into songs about how the once admired and revered can seriously disappoint and fall from grace

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, experimental, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, musicals, musical hall, playlists, pop, prog, postpunk, punk, reggae, rock, showtime, ska, rocksteady, soul, songs, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, heroism, disgrace, scandal, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Diane Sawyer, Jean Cocteau, Nicanor Parra, Georg Büchner, Aesop, television, childhood, childrens' TV, Gary Glitter, Jimmy Savile, Black Lives Matter, racism, slavery, Edward Colston, Robert Milligan, Thomas Guy, Sir Francis Drake, Winston Churchill, Saddam Hussein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, WH Auden, Yoko Ono, Walter Scott, Samuel Goldwyn, Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, #MeToo movement, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, Jerry Lee Lewis, Whitney Houston, Morrissey, Kanye West, Richard Nixon, Charles I, Marie Antonette, Billie Holiday, Buzzcocks
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Thumbs up: catch songs about hitchhiking

June 27, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Where to?

Where to?

It’s time to give us all a lift, not only emotionally, but as Song Bar bus sets off on a road trip, picking up all sorts of musicians and other artists, in a quest to find for stories about hitching experiences – good, bad, scary or heartwarming

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In avant-garde, blues, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, ska, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, hitchhiking, road songs, Janis Joplin, Vincent Gallo, John Waters, WH Auden, Kenneth Grahame, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, books, Film, art, John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens, Stephen King, Tony Hawks, Serge Oldenburg, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Brownie McGhee, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler, Phil Brown, Hunter S. Thompson, Jackie Lomax, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Marvin Gaye, Steve Earle, Willie Nelson, Eminem, Lou Reed, Ruth Weiss, Bjork, Ursula K. Le Guin, Warren Zevon, Mama Cass Elliot, The Mamas and Papas, Kris Kristofferson, Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, Les Paul, John Cage, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, The Beatles, Roger Waters, Pink Floyd, John Sayles, Terry Gilliam, Claudette Colbert, Clark Cable, Rutger Hauer, Tom Robbins, Tom Waits
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Bostin'! Songs from or about Birmingham and The Black Country

May 9, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Roy would …

Roy would …

This week’s topic takes a particular accent towards music inspired by the great British West Midlands city and its surrounding area, a rich cultural mix of ethnicities and styles, industrial history, upheaval and humour

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In avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, experimental, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, Birmingham, West Midlands, The Black Country, Roy Wood, slang, The Beat, Black Sabbath, The Move, The Moody Blues, Traffic, Dexys Midnight Runners, ELO, Felt, Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood, Joan Armatrading, Roland Gift, Steel Pulse, Laura Mvula, Mike Skinner, The Streets, Ocean Colour Scene, The Nightingales, UB40, industry, Francis Brett Young, Donald Trump, Stewart Lee, Jasper Carrot, Milton Jones, comedy, Jim Capaldi, JRR Tolkien, David Lodge, Jim Crace, WH Auden, Benjamin Zephaniah, Peaky Blinders
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Merry? Divided? Dreaming? It's songs about England

September 27, 2018 Peter Kimpton
England is dreaming? … Who? Keith, Roger, Pete and John

England is dreaming? … Who? Keith, Roger, Pete and John

Let’s take a musical trip around this strange, sceptr’d isle, this land of eccentric frontmen, this place of punk and flourishing fashion, to pick up lots of place names and perhaps also define the nature of being English

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In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul Tags Songs, playlists, England, The Who, Napoleon Bonaparte, John Lydon, Beyonce, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Brexit, social class, sport, cricket, football, Bill Bryson, David Crystal, Pennine Way, Sex Pistols, Ian Brown, The Stone Roses, Naomi Campbell, fashion, Malcolm Gladwell, Pete Townshend, JK Rowling, Brian Eno, HG Wells, Otis Redding, H.P. Lovecraft, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Merchant-Ivory, film, television, Brideshead Revisited, Ken Loach, Monty Python, Eric Idle, WH Auden, Noam Chomsky, monarchy, royalty, revolution, English Civil War
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The real thing? Songs about authenticity and fakery

September 6, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Genuine lip syncers Milli Vanilli

Genuine lip syncers Milli Vanilli

Being true to yourself or others to genuine article in objects, this week we’re seeking songs that, in lyrics, are about searching for authenticity, but might sometimes find the opposite from forgery to falsehood, bootleg to bullshit

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In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags Songs, playlists, authenticity, forgery, fake news, books, Film, media, art, Margery Williams, Toy Story, WH Auden, Bruce Chatwin, Robert Tonkinson, Australia, Aboriginal, Milli Vanilli, Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones, blues, collectables, marketing, fashion, Thomas Hobbes, Coco Chanel, Eric Cantona, Carl Jung, Milan Kundera, Albert Camus, Jim Jarmusch, Jean-Luc Godard, David Bowie, Elmyr de Hory, Han van Meegeren, Robert Driessen, Peter Guber, George Cruikshank, The Hives
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Bake-off? No, far better: songs about bread, cake, pastry and biscuits

October 26, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Enjoy …

Enjoy …

This week it's less about the reality TV competition, instead a much tastier treat into the world of lyrical bagels and brot, cupcakes and buns, breadlines and Bourbons. Take your pick and dig in …

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Tags Songs, music, bread, cake, biscuits, pastry, politics, Seamus Heaney, Robert Louis Stevenson, history, Neolithic period, The Bible, baking, television, reality television, The Great British Bake-Off, The Magnetic Fields, Stephin Merritt, Paul Hollywood, Delia Smith, Peter Hook, Joy Division, John F Kennedy, Jesus Christ, religion, David Lynch, graffiti, Manchester, Juvenal, Ancient Rome, Mahatma Gandhi, Hovis, Ridley Scott, advertising, health, food, Alison Moyet, Ivan Pavlov, Mick Jagger, Benjamin Clementine, fiona apple, Ralph Waldo Emerson, WH Auden, Brian Greene, physics, multiverse theory
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Born this way … biographical and autobiographical songs

September 28, 2017 Peter Kimpton
From the cover of The Slits' guitarist Viv Albertine's book Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys (2014)

From the cover of The Slits' guitarist Viv Albertine's book Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys (2014)

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

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Tags Songs, biography, autobiography, Viv Albertine, The Slits, James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, books, Mark Twain, Samuel Goldwyn, Film, Steven Wright, Comedy, showbusiness, Mike Leigh, David Thewlis, evolution, Charles Darwin, art, painting, Jackson Pollock, Oliver Reed, Brian Blessed, Marx Brothers, Harpo Marx, David Niven, Hollywood, Marlon Brando, Robert Evans, Quincy Jones, Ice Cube, Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, Johnny Cash, Slash, Guns 'n' Roses, Woody Guthrie, Nick Tosches, Dean Martin, The Rat Pack, mafia, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Humphrey Carpenter, Ian Mckellen, acting, Orson Welles, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Charles Dickens, Peter Ackroyd, WH Auden, John Kennedy Toole, Oscar Wilde
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At the cemetery gates: elegies and other songs of remembrance

November 10, 2016 Peter Kimpton

Away from all the political turmoil, it’s time for musical rest, something poetic. Honouring soldiers or victims of war to family, friends or lost fellow bandmates, suggest music that remembers the departed on a personal, profound and beautiful note

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Tags songs, elegies, war, grief, remembrance, poetry, DH Lawrence, politics, media, Charles Baudelaire, Berlin, Holocaust, Mary Elizabeth Frye, Dylan Thomas, WH Auden, history, First World War, Vietnam War, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, The Clash, The Dead Kennedys, The Passengers, Elvis Costello, Pete Seeger, John McRae, William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, Nick Cave, John Lennon, George Harrison, AC/DC, Bob Dylan, Elbow, Emmylou Harris, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Genesis, The Libertines, The Pretenders, Prince, Primus, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Victoria Williams, The Who, The Smiths, Thomas Gray, Richard Wise, James Joyce
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DRINK OF THE WEEK

Butterbeer

SNACK OF THE WEEK

steak and ale pie

New Albums …

Featured
Ela Minus - DIA.jpeg
Jan 17, 2025
Ela Minus: DÍA
Jan 17, 2025

New album: A wonderfully eclectic, inventive, darkly ecstatic, introspective yet musically expansive electronica and dance music follow-up to 2020’s debut, Acts of Rebellion, on the theme of light and self-discovery by the Colombian singer-songwriter, musician and producer

Jan 17, 2025
Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out.jpeg
Jan 10, 2025
Lambrini Girls: Who Let The Dogs Out
Jan 10, 2025

New album: This feisty, humorous, angry, intelligent, kick-ass debut by the Brighton queer-punk band fronted by duo Lily Macieira and Phoebe Lunny is an explosion of artful, acerbic attitude and energy, and produced by Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox

Jan 10, 2025
Franz Ferdinand - The Human Fear.jpeg
Jan 10, 2025
Franz Ferdinand: The Human Fear
Jan 10, 2025

New album: After a greatest hits tour and two recently new band members, the Glasgow art-rockers fronted by the sharp-witted Alex Kapranos return with renewed vim and vigour, with an unashamed air of going full-tilt on classic FF in their sound and style perky, pacy, hooky indie-pop

Jan 10, 2025
Moonchild Sanelly - Full Moon.jpeg
Jan 10, 2025
Moonchild Sanelly: Full Moon
Jan 10, 2025

New album: Always infectiously fun and effervescently charismatic, the blue-haired South African star’s third LP bursts with witty, sex-positive braggadocio, sung in Xhosa and English, and spanning the rhythms and sounds of Johannesburg and Durban with electro-pop and cross-genre dance

Jan 10, 2025
Ethel Cain.jpeg
Jan 8, 2025
Ethel Cain: Perverts
Jan 8, 2025

New album: Dark, challenging, otherworldly, experimental, ethereally oddball but at times alluring electronica and ghostly vocalisations? It’s the Tallahassee artist Hayden Anhedönia, who after the successful 2022 LP Preacher’s Daughter, pushes the musical envelope into most unusual territory

Jan 8, 2025
Alice Hebborn - Saisons.jpeg
Jan 8, 2025
Alice Hebborn: Saisons
Jan 8, 2025

New album: Released last month, a vivid, stirring, experimental debut LP of piano and electronica by the Belgian composer in seven movements, exploring humanity’s relationship with the natural world

Jan 8, 2025
Sault - Acts of Faith.jpeg
Jan 5, 2025
SAULT: Acts of Faith
Jan 5, 2025

New album: Released as usual without fanfare, and on Christmas Day, the London collective of by producer and musician Inflo return with an 11th LP – silky smooth, classy soul, funk and gospel, fronted by the voice of Cleo Sol

Jan 5, 2025
Albums 2024 collage 2 final.jpg
Dec 30, 2024
Favourite Albums of 2024 - Part 2
Dec 30, 2024

Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 2. Part 1 can be found here. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but please dig into this rich seam of originality and quality, and even suggest more of your own

Dec 30, 2024
Albums 2024 collage 1 final.jpg
Dec 30, 2024
Favourite albums of 2024 - Part 1
Dec 30, 2024

Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 1. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but rich seams of originality and quality are certainly here to be enjoyed. Peruse away …

Dec 30, 2024
Aphex Twin - Music from Merch Desk.jpeg
Dec 29, 2024
Aphex Twin: Music From The Merch Desk (2016-2023)
Dec 29, 2024

Album review: A decade since his last album, Syro, electronica’s brilliant British outsider and pioneer Richard D James returns with a surprise fan-pleaser, a mass compilation release of 38 numbers played at festivals, and previously only on limited-edition vinyl sold at the merch desk of select events

Dec 29, 2024
Juniore - Trois Deux Un.jpeg
Dec 27, 2024
Juniore: Trois Deux Un
Dec 27, 2024

Album review: Released in September, the French band’s latest LP is another sparkling gem of 60s psychedelic and “yéyé noir” surf pop – whisperingly seductive, witty, wistful, stylish and sophisticated, from the breathless paced to the songs like a coil of smoke - moody, slow and pithily philosophical

Dec 27, 2024
Izumi Mimi Kobayashi choice cuts.jpeg
Dec 27, 2024
Izumi 'Mimi' Kobayashi: Choice Cuts 1978-1983
Dec 27, 2024

Album review: Out of many compilations released in 2024, this Time Capsule collection is a highlight, picking some of the fabulously fun, inventive, hybrid jazz-funk-Latin-reggae-electronica pop of the innovative Japanese composer and pianist

Dec 27, 2024
Human Error - Human Error.jpeg
Dec 23, 2024
Human Error: Human Error
Dec 23, 2024

New album: Ingenious, playfully inventive electronica by Jeremy Barnes, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, inspired by the idea of how errors lead to invention and discovery, written while teaching music to incarcerated teens at YDDC juvenile detention

Dec 23, 2024
Legowelt - A Field Guide To The Void.jpeg
Dec 20, 2024
Legowelt: A Field Guide To The Void
Dec 20, 2024

Album review: The Netherlands electronic artist Danny Wolfers returns with a delightful mixture of old-school-influenced synth pop, crafting textured soundscapes, nostalgic, futuristic, eccentric and eclectic, steering somewhere between robot voices, cosmic exploration and the dancefloor

Dec 20, 2024

new songs …

Featured
Perfume Genius - Glory.jpeg
Jan 17, 2025
Song of the Day: Perfume Genius - It's a Mirror
Jan 17, 2025

Song of the Day: With this lead single, the US musical shapeshifter Mike Hadreas returns with a compelling Americana-style number about reflective horizons and paradoxes, heralding his seventh album, out on 28 March on Matador Records

Jan 17, 2025
Joy-Crookes-Pass-The-Salt-Still.jpg
Jan 16, 2025
Song of the Day: Joy Crookes - Pass the Salt (featuring Vince Staples)
Jan 16, 2025

Song of the Day: With a big, meaty, menacing bass and drum sound, the serenely smooth-voiced Brixton British singer returns, following her acclaimed 2021 LP Skin, with a spicy, bitch-back number expressing anger at someone telling lies about her, with added verse by the American rappe

Jan 16, 2025
Everything Is Recorded - Temporary.jpeg
Jan 15, 2025
Song of the Day: Everything Is Recorded - Swamp Dream #3 (ft. Mary in the Junkyard)
Jan 15, 2025

Song of the Day: A beautifully odd, ghostly, eclectic track by the producer and XL Recordings founder Richard Russell, joined by the south London experimental rock trio, and heralding his forthcoming album Temporary, out on released 28 February via XL Recordings

Jan 15, 2025
Albertine Sarges - Girl Missing.jpeg
Jan 14, 2025
Song of the Day: Albertine Sarges - Girl Missing
Jan 14, 2025

Song of the Day: The title track from the forthcoming album by the innovative Berlin indie artist is beautifully upbeat and serene and style, but is inspired by deeply personal and sorrowful story from her life. Girl Missing is due out on 21 February via Moshi Moshi Records

Jan 14, 2025
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Jan 13, 2025
Song of the Day: Helen Ganya - Fortune
Jan 13, 2025

Song of the Day: A Thai-dulcimer (khim) decorates this beautiful track by the Singapore-raised, Brighton-based, Scottish-Thai singer-songwriter inspired by her heritage, her mother, and “all the diasporic mums out there”. It’s the latest track heralding her forthcoming album Share Your Care out on 7 February via Bella Union

Jan 13, 2025
Tunng - Snails.jpeg
Jan 12, 2025
Song of the Day: Tunng - Snails
Jan 12, 2025

Song of the Day: Delicious, delicate, detailed and poetic, it’s a beautiful acoustic new single by the British folktronica pioneers, heralding their new album Love You All Over Again, which in part celebrates 20 years of making music, out on 24 January on Full Time Hobby

Jan 12, 2025
Sports Team - Bang Bang Bang.jpeg
Jan 11, 2025
Song of the Day: Sports Team - Bang Bang Bang
Jan 11, 2025

Song of the Day: Infectiously catchy yet with a darkly satirical subject, the British band return with new song inspired by the whistling spaghetti western soundtracks of Ennio Morricone, but reflecting on American gun culture, heralding their next album Boys These Days out 24 May on Bright Antenna & Distiller Records

Jan 11, 2025
Fat Dog - Peace Song.jpeg
Jan 10, 2025
Song of the Day: Fat Dog - Peace Song
Jan 10, 2025

Song of the Day: Following their hit 2024 album, WOOF. the south London alternative post-punk band fronted by Joe Love return with a fabulously strong melody and an entertaining video featuring an pub-based alien figure and Godzilla-sized invading dog, out on Domino Records

Jan 10, 2025
DARKSIDE - S.N.C..jpeg
Jan 9, 2025
Song of the Day: DARKSIDE - S.N.C
Jan 9, 2025

Song of the Day: Instantly stylish, hooky, engaging funk and experimental rock with a distinct cavernous sound by the New York trio of Nicolás Jaar, Dave Harrington, and new member Tlacael Esparza, heralding the band’s forthcoming third LP, Nothing, out on 28 February on Matador Records

Jan 9, 2025
Avalanche Party - Shake The Slack.jpeg
Jan 8, 2025
Song of the Day: Avalanche Party - Shake The Slack
Jan 8, 2025

Song of the Day: Panache-filled post-punk with a fierce, electrical energy and sharp lyrics by the five-piece band from the North Yorkshire Moors in a new single heralding their forthcoming album, Der Traum Über Alles, out on 7 February via AMK/ Kartel Music.

Jan 8, 2025
Brooke Combe - This Town.jpeg
Jan 7, 2025
Song of the Day: Brooke Combe - This Town
Jan 7, 2025

Song of the Day: Breezy, escapism-themed, uplifting classic soul by the charismatic, golden voiced Scottish singer, heralding her forthcoming album, Dancing At The Edge of the World, out on Modern Sky UK

Jan 7, 2025
Panda Bear - Sinister Grift.jpeg
Jan 6, 2025
Song of the Day: Panda Bear - Ferry Lady
Jan 6, 2025

Song of the Day: Trumpets, a beautifully serene melody, with an eclectic, catchy Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry clip-clopping vibe and syncopated rhythm? It’s none other than the Animal Collective drummer and vocalist Noah Lennox, who returns with a new single, taken from from his forthcoming first solo album for five years, Sinister Grift, out on 28 February via Domino Records

Jan 6, 2025

Word of the week

Featured
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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
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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
icicles.jpeg
Dec 12, 2024
Word of the week: aquabob
Dec 12, 2024

Word of the week: Sounding like some water-based children’s TV superhero, it’s actually a particularly apt and descriptive word for wintertime, being an 18th-century English Kent dialect noun meaning icicle

Dec 12, 2024
Raccoons.jpeg
Nov 27, 2024
Word of the week: broticolous
Nov 27, 2024

Word of the week: Mice, rats, spiders, foxes to raccoons, this obscure adjective, connected to the French noun broticole, this relates to any animal and insect species with a tendency to live around and alongside humans and their dwellings perhaps as scavengers, but also showing adaptability

Nov 27, 2024
Tristram+Shandy+Vol+3.jpeg
Nov 15, 2024
Word of the week: circumbendibus
Nov 15, 2024

Word of the week: Not a snaking elongated piece of public transport but still a very evocative 17th-century word for a circuitous, long-winded route or way of doing something or telling a story …

Nov 15, 2024
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