If there was an instrument I’d lock away in Room 101 it’s the ukelele, that scratchy little four-stringed guitar so beloved of hipsters. Yet I’ve always had a soft spot for Zach Condon.

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Summer sounds, from primal punk to vintage soul, reggae and African dance grooves, plus a tribute to Robbie Robertson and a little chill jazz for those long hot evenings.

Christina Vantzou and John Also Bennett collaborate as CV and JAB on this beautiful piece of peaceful piano music – a soothing balm for the pains and frustrations of everyday life.

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Four white men in black suits and white shirts. One black man in a shiny gold suit. And two classic Northern Soul tunes. That’s The Epitome Of Sound.

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The mysterious Rubin only recorded a single side in his obscure music career – but it became a Northern Soul classic. (more…)

This Welsh group is new to me but it seems they’ve been going since 2019 when they formed as what Americans call a “jam band.” The sextet are named after their home town of Church Village, ten miles from Cardiff, calling themselves Church Village Collective – CVC for short.

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I don’t know how you can make a song sound this funky with little more than a bunch of drums from Africa and Asia. But dammit, Nina Simone can. And she did.

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I’ve always loved soukous music, with its lively rhythms and circular electric guitar melodies. And if this doesn’t get you dancing then your feet must have fallen off. Either that or you’re dead. 

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Do we really want to hear an elderly church minister sing a song blissfully unaware that it celebrates the pleasures of heroin? Well yes, it turns out we do.

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Glenda Collins slipped through the cracks of UK pop in the Sixties, leaving a slender legacy of obscure singles recorded with Joe Meek – until releasing her debut album more than 60 years later.

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