Summertime, and the listening is easy (Harry Chapin, Micah P Hinson) – and funky (Mirwais, Baxter Dury) and lots more. There’s vintage country (Connie Smith) and ska (Phyllis Dillon), there’s old soul (Jackie Day, Jackie Edwards) and nu-soul (Jordan Rakei), some powerful blues (Buddy Guy, Ruth Copeland), hip-hop old (Nas) and new (Kneecap) and much more.

This month we’ve got garage punk and psych sounds from the ’60s,
some electro funk and classic country, a blend of rockabilly, noise and vintage French folk and some soothing neo-classical piano to end on a quiet note.

Here’s a new playlist for the end of Spring and… hopefully… the start of Summer. There’s seminal hip-hop, hardcore techno, primal punk, vintage soul, vintage folk-rock, funk, country and Congolese rumba. And probably more besides. 

Happy Easter – here’s my March playlist to put a Spring in the air as you open your eggs today. There’s a cracking mix of old and new, borrowed and blue: some drum’n’bass, some soul and reggae, vintage Velvets, country music, banging dance beats and primal punk.

Here is hopefully a final winter warmer, with cuts ranging from the return of Underworld and vintage Aphex Twin to deep cuts by Michael Jackson and Modern English, tributes to lost members of Can and MC5 and some dub reggae to warm the cockles of the ear. 

Here’s my last playlist of the year, for December 2023. It’s a vibrant mix of ’70s hard rock and ’80s kitsch’n’disco, vintage funk and soul and ambient house, old-skool blues and nu-soul, plus a bit of dub reggae and some festive themed numbers for Christmas recently past.

Here’s an autumn playlist to warm the cockles of the ear: from obscure ’70s rock to pioneering ’80s funk, first wave hip-hop and New Wave country, free jazz and doom folk, dub, blues and even some prog – plus  tributes to those we lost in November, Shane MacGowan and Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker.

Reggae and blues, country and funk, soul, disco – even jazz in this month’s playlist. Take your pick from vintage Janis Ian to recent Carla Bley (RIP), the best Velvets track ever, and the one decent track from the new Stones album. And much more.

Music, music, music… here is my montly playlist for September. It’s got soul and disco, it’s got country and jazz, it’s got hip hop, folk and country. Or, to put it another way, something for everyone: