El Michels Affair make impeccably crafted cinematic instrumentals recreating the sound of late-Sixties and early-Seventies funk and soul.

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Trans duo Fado Bicha take traditional Portuguese fado music in a new direction with their eclectic collaborations.

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Five years before The Wailers put reggae on the map, another band called The Wailers made their mark 3,300 miles away in America.

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Another month, another playlist. This one opens with an Eighties classic and takes us on a journey back to the Sixties with some garage rock nuggets, via deep funk, deep soul, deep blues, and forward through time via electro, hip-hop, a dash of punk and reggae, through to the present day. 

The Litter languished in garage rock obscurity during their brief career in the late Sixties – until they were rediscovered a decade later.

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With a name like The Electric Prunes, whose founder and front man James Lowe has just died, they could only have been a late-Sixties band from California.

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Back in the mid-’90s teenage all-girl quartet Fluffy flared briefly as Britain’s riposte to groups like Hole and L7 and Riot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill.

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Whenever I’m in New York City, and wander past the Flatiron Building, this song comes into my head. Because at that point I am literally Walking Down Madison. Or, to be pedantic, Up.

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One of Britpop’s long-forgotten also-rans, Hopper had a moment after signing to Tony Wilson’s label Factory Too. But they disappeared as fast as they arrived. (more…)

It doesn’t take a genius to work out why success somehow eluded a band called Tonstartssbandht. You only have to imagine being a radio DJ apprehensively awaiting the end of a tune.

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