RIP Jerry Lee Lewis (1935-2022). Last of the rock’n’roll legends, The Killer might not have been the greatest of men but his musical legacy is peerless.

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Who would have thought a pasty-faced weirdo and his Manchester mates could create something as funky as Sly Stone’s original? Yet that’s exactly what Magazine manage to do.

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It’s almost a quarter of a century since that landmark moment when MARRS told us all to Pump Up The Volume. It’s a moment channelled by Dan Snaith in Caribou’s new single, a homage simply titled Volume – and it’s an addictive slice of summer fun that’s perfect for a sunny day.

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Welcome to my July playlist, filled with summer sounds to fill the ears on a sunny day. We have everything from Afrobeat to Australian funk, old soul and new jazz, blues and country, punk, techno, reggae and and metal. Plus tributes to the late John Mayall and Martin Phillipps of The Chills.

Today I’m feeling a little bit country and a little bit rock’n’roll, just like Donny and Marie once did. So here’s a bit of Buck Owens. This song never fails to put a big fat smile on my face. It just swings, and rocks, and twangs in all the right places.

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This is short and sweet, nostalgic and nothing if not poignant, recalling a bus ride taken half a century ago on a No.16 double-decker.

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Here’s a sweet slice of Sixties psychedelia by a bunch of British teenagers, released in February 1968 to a chorus of indifference. Who would have expected it to launch a multi-million-selling band on a stellar career?

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Heavy metal pioneers Deep Purple return to majestic form more than half a century after they started with Lazy Sod.

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Here’s another summery treat, this time from London girl Nilüfer Yanya. I can’t say her earlier work appealed to me much but this definitely does.

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I’m a little late on this but I wanted to post a song by The Chills after the sad death of their main man Martin Phillipps at the age of only 61.

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