When it comes to girl groups, you can keep yer Spice Girls, All Saints, Girls Aloud and Sugababes and give me a band like the Slits, Shonen Knife or Las Kellies. Or Hinds.

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Summer sounds in my August playlist: some classic postpunk (Magazine, Pere Ubu), some classic reggae (Culture and LKJ) and soul (Bill Withers, Gary US Bonds), some old-time country (Gillian Welch, Dwight Yoakam) and nu-skool punk (Dead Pioneers), vintage hip-hop (A Tribe Called Quest, DJ Shadow) and a handful of brand new tunes (Nick Cave, Fontaines DC). Plus the magnificence of Pablo Picasso (Modern Lovers).

Tramhaus are The Netherlands’ best-kept secret – a post-punk band from the (low) land that gave us Focus, Golden Earring and, er, Pussycat. (more…)

Cinnamon Horses is my favourite song from a lot of favourites on Wild God, the new album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

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Dead Pioneers are a Native American punk band making radically political music about white people’s perceptions and misconceptions of indigenous peoples.

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It’s almost a quarter of a century since that landmark moment when MARRS told us all to Pump Up The Volume. It’s a moment channelled by Dan Snaith in Caribou’s new single, a homage simply titled Volume – and it’s an addictive slice of summer fun that’s perfect for a sunny day.

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Welcome to my July playlist, filled with summer sounds to fill the ears on a sunny day. We have everything from Afrobeat to Australian funk, old soul and new jazz, blues and country, punk, techno, reggae and and metal. Plus tributes to the late John Mayall and Martin Phillipps of The Chills.

This is short and sweet, nostalgic and nothing if not poignant, recalling a bus ride taken half a century ago on a No.16 double-decker.

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Heavy metal pioneers Deep Purple return to majestic form more than half a century after they started with Lazy Sod.

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Here’s another summery treat, this time from London girl Nilüfer Yanya. I can’t say her earlier work appealed to me much but this definitely does.

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