Playlists

The days are growing shorter, the nights are drawing in and, as Jim Morrison put it, Summer’s Almost Gone. So what better way to start a September playlist than with The Doors’ elegiac tune? And what better way to end it than with that Adrian Sherwood remix of Saint Etienne? In between there’s everything from vintage rockabilly and folk to fingerpicking guitar and French hip-hop, and tributes to those we lost in September, from Supertramp, Blancmange and Pentangle to Robert Redford.

Here’s a sultry summer playlist to give you two hours of pleasure.
We’ve got a storming Italo-house opener to open up the pores, tributes to Flaco Jimenez, Terry Reid and Eddie Palmieri – three giants in their respective fields – and songs ranging from the Sixties through to the present day from a line-up that includes The Impressions and The Flamin’ Groovies, Aphex Twin and Betty Wright. Not forgetting the best tribute band out there – Slady.

It’s the height of summer – and what better way to kick off a July playist than with the nu-disco sounds of Goldfrapp? We’ve also got some old-time country (Southern Raised) and old-skool reggae (Michael Rose) and a more modern Polish-Jamaican reggae hybrid. Plus the oddest tribute to Ozzy Osbourne you’ll ever hear with a cabaret version of Paranoid… in German. And lots lots more besides.

Summer’s here (and some!). So here’s a soundtrack for these long sunny days. Two hours of pleasure, opening up with The Prodigy, fresh from their Glastonbury triumph, and ending with Kim Gordon bidding us farewell as she gets ready for a holiday. In between there’s a bit of everything: funk and soul, reggae and country, metal and jazz. Start the dance!

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. 

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).

Here’s my latest playlist – a spring-flavoured selection from March, ranging from The Damned to Miles Davis, Roy Ayers to Fontaines DC. It starts with a bang, to mark the death of Brian James, before settling into a smooth soul groove, dipping into the Nineties now and then for what we once called ‘indie’ music, making a detour into the Seventies, and ending up back in the Fifties and Sixties with some fiery blues and cool jazz.

My latest playlist is one of my most eclectic yet. It begins with one of the all-time pop classics (Ronettes) and ends with an aptly valedictory elegy for one of those we lost in February (Bill Fay).

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The Saints, who formed in Australia in 1973, were arguably the first punk band of all – but they always claimed not to be punks. Whatever they were, they were fantastic.

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Here’s my January playlist, kicking off and ending with something familiar, including some old blues-rock (Thin Lizzy, Jethro Tull), some old soul (Sam & Dave, Irma Thomas), some new stuff (Mogwai, Jim Jones) and some strange Irish folk (John Francis Flynn) that you’ve probably never heard. Plus some Iggy, some Neil Young, some Bowie and a banging tune by Leftfield… something for everyone there, I hope.