Long Island rapper Roc Marciano samples old soul and jazz records and Memphis horrorcore instrumentals to create his unique style of hip-hop.

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When it comes to jazz and classical music, the examples I like best are when they incorporate subtle electronic undertones. That’s the case here with German composer Ralph Heidel, though that element is almost  subliminal on this track, Wake Up.

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I was always put off listening to Viagra Boys because of their terrible band name. Which turns out to have been my loss.

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Ghost Woman make the kind of atmospheric, moody music that instantly appeals to me – slow and spacey, trippy and twangy, jangly and hazy.

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Valerie June breaks all the rules by taking on Mazzy Star’s unimprovable song Fade Into You and absolutely nails it.

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Dub maestro Elijah Minelli takes an ancient English folk song, A’Soalin’, and rearranges it as a 21st century reggae tune.

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As the days grow shorter and darker, why not fill two hours of them with my latest playlist? From the warm embrace of The Cure to the date-adjacent celebration of The National, there’s soul and disco, reggae and ska, country and jazz, with a bit of an early-Eighties flavour running through it.

This is powerful stuff: it reminds me of when I first heard Linton Kwesi Johnson back in my youth. Like LKJ, Cleeshay uses spoken word, though the music is stripped-back R&B rather than roots reggae.

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Celeste channels her fellow BRIT School alumna Adele in the smoky cinematic theme song of Sky TV’s remake of The Day Of The Jackal.

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I have to confess I’ve been a bit late getting into Michael Kiwanuka. Which is strange, because I saw one of his very first shows.

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