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

(more…)

The Clean were pioneers of New Zealand’s so-called Dunedin Sound, blending a punk influence with a bucolic brand of jangly psychedelia.

(more…)

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark came up with their eco-anthem Electricity, the foundation stone of synthpop, in the summer of 1979.

(more…)

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.

Mr November is the climactic final track on The National’s 2005 breakthrough third album Alligator and a highlight of every live show.

(more…)

Is this classic late-period disco? Or is it prototype ’80s dance-pop? Frankly, who cares when it sounds like this?!

(more…)

I didn’t always buy Johnny Cash’s American Recordings though there were wonderful exceptions like Hurt. The same is true here.

(more…)

In their heyday in the early 1980s, it was impossible to ignore pop-soul trio Imagination with their infectious dance hits and flamboyant front man Leee John.

(more…)

I vaguely remember Revolting Cocks appearing in the mid-Eighties but I’d forgotten all about this magnificent piece of provocation called Beers, Steers & Queers in 1992.

(more…)

The New Romantics didn’t do much for me but like everyone else, some of the songs did. Especially Culture Club’s first hit in 1982.

(more…)