Here’s my latest playlist for the month of April and as ever it’s eclectic; one of the most diverse yet. We’ve got postpunk guitar legends (Keith Levene, John McKay), banging dance choons (ATB, Altern-8, Baby D), vintage soul (Three Degrees, James Carr), old-skool hip-hop (Luniz) and nu-skool reggae (Protoje), ambient (JakoJako) and country (Kaylee Rose) and tributes to those who left us in April (Max Romeo, David Thomas, Mike Berry, Wizz Jones…. Pope Francis).

You may not have heard of him, and neither had I, but Wizz Jones was a pioneering figure in British folk: a man described by Bert Jansch as “the most underrated guitarist ever.”

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Kaylee Rose is a Nashville-based artist who taps into tradition with this song about a cheating partner, set to a simple backing. It’s the archetypal “three chords and the truth” – the phrase Harlan Howard used in the 1950s to sum up country music’s appeal.

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Melts are a band from Dublin that sound like the missing link between Joy Division and The Horrors, blending big post-punk guitars with psychedelic flourishes of organ and the detached vocals of Eoin Kenny.

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David Thomas regarded this as the nearest he ever came to writing and performing a straight-up pop song. Which tells you all you need to know about the Pere Ubu frontman, who has just died.

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If World War I was “the war to end all wars” then Warfare ought to be marketed as the war film to end all war films. It’s that good.

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Ashley Johnson sings this heartbreaking song at the end of the powerfully poignant second episode of the second season of The Last Of Us.

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I’d never heard of JakoJako or the Dragon Bridge in Vietnam, which is the inspiration for this soothing slice of minimalist techno by the Berlin-based electronic artist.

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Pulp return a quarter of a century after their last album with a nostalgic tribute to the Stone Roses’ legendary / mythical gathering at Spike Island. (more…)

Farewell to a musical legend of the early ’60s who grew up in my back yard of Stoke Newington, and found success in the pre-Beatles era with Joe Meek, North London’s own DIY Phil Spector.

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