Kraftwerk to Neu! Bowie to The Fall! Leaping into last week's surprise topic, guest writer Flatfrog takes a voyage of discovery to playlist prime originals and others hugely influenced by this German genre
Read morePlaylists: songs about news, reporting and media
How did it all unfold on election night? Narrated through perfect playlists of running coverage, our guest reporter EnglishOutlaw, inspired by last week's topic, cleverly sneaked inside No 10 Downing Street …
Read morePlaylists: songs with dynamic volume changes
Otis Redding to Arvo Pärt, Beach Boys to Beau, Kate Bush Waking The Witch to Wedding Present's Bewitched, guest writer Rachel Courtney turns up diverse and distinguished playlists from last week's topic
Read morePlaylists: songs about the rough and the smooth
Van Morrison's spiritual journey to rough seas with Gordon Lightfoot, Aretha Franklin's lover to smooth silk via Count Basie, this week's guest writer TakeitawayGuru creates two tantalisingly touching playlists
Read morePlaylists: songs about the strange, disturbing and surreal
Fairy-tale dreams to strange train journeys, Visions of Johanna to Elvis Presley's lost Jesse, guest writer Severin takes us into weird and wonderful world inspired by last week's song nominations
Read morePlaylists: Who's got the funk?
Inspired by last week's pyroclastic flow of song suggestions, the Song Bar Landlord takes a visit to see who is playing at the House of Funk and finds a vibe that is both super cool and hot, hot, hot
Read morePlaylists: Easter egg songs – hidden or ghost album tracks
Digging out treasures of all shapes and sizes from last week's topic, guest playlister Maki cracks open songs ranging from Gorillaz to The Jam, REM to Nick Drake
Read morePlaylists: songs inspired by movie and TV stars
Marilyn Monroe to Jodie Foster to Johnny Depp, Sidney Poitier to Sigourney Weaver, this week's playlists made by guest Mnemosene2 from last week's topic create a constellation of stars. Let's roll the credits …
Read morePlaylists: songs about bad decisions, poor judgement and U-turns
Brexit or breakup? Heartbreak or international crisis? Hitting the hurt and mistakes hard, from Ramones to Radiohead, guest writer Violet Vivid tells a personal tale of woe with a wonderful set of playlists from last week's topic
Read morePlaylists: songs about contentment and tranquility
Busking on the beach to sailing with Jacque Brel, sipping beer with Elbow to looking at old photographs with Al Stewart, this week's guest writer Barbryn brings balm to any soul with two beautiful playlists
Read morePlaylists: songs about days of the week
Lazy Sundays to stormy Mondays, wet Wednesdays to going big on Saturday night, our guest writer EnglishOutlaw fills out a week of wonderful music inspired by our most recent topic
Read morePlaylists: songs with close harmony singing
Beach Boys to Byrds, Gladiators to Platters, this week's guest writer Hoshino Sakura makes beautiful harmony by interweaving voice choices from a huge chorus of nominations from last week's topic
Read morePlaylists brave and brilliant: uncharacteristic, genre-switch songs
Call the cops! Are music artists not doing what they are supposed to do? This week's guest writer Detective Sergeant Uncleben investigates, and finds that those who break the rules make brilliant playlists
Read moreSong Bar 1st Birthday playlists: songs about the number one
Inspired by a flood of celebratory nominations from last week's birthday topic, our guest writer treefrogdemon adds one to another to create singularly superb playlists
Read morePlaylists: songs about migrants, immigrants and refugees
From Ireland and Cornwall, from Syria and Africa to America and elsewhere, it's hard not to be moved by stirring, and emotional playlists picked by this week's guest writer Marco den Ouden from last week's topic
Read morePlaylists: songs about winter
Winter blues? Shivery nights? Dark mornings? Warm your cockles with these perfect playlists that shed a global light on this inspiring season, created by our guest writer Sidecar Shiv from last week's topic
Read morePlaylists: songs about misunderstanding
Etta Jones to Dr John, the Cure to Bob Dylan, if you were unclear about misunderstandings, then our guest writer Suzi straightens it out with perfect playlists inspired by last week's topic
Read morePlaylists: elegies and other remembrance songs
Soaring soul to gentle lament, Ray Davies on his sister to Lou Reed's farewell to Andy Warhol, guest writer barbryn's beautiful playlists inspired by last week's elegy topic will leave you moved and inspired
Read morePlaylists: songs with a gripping or intriguing narrative
Leading us first into the magical world of an Irish boozer via the portal of the great James Joyce, this week's guest writer Uncleben plays out a prize-winning tale of supreme storytelling in song
Read morePlaylists: songs about renewal, rebirth and starting over
From cleaning up to getting dirty, leaving the country to new life at forty, black eyes to old blues, this week's guest writer Marco den Ouden's playlists show brilliant breadth of perspective on ways to start again
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