Playlists
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Cinematic Noir
Chart music that sounds like it could be played in the background of a dramatic old film sequence.
25 tracks
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Acid Jazz
Golden period in the late eighties, early nineties where funk meshed with hip hop and jazz
53 tracks
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Euphoria
Tracks that lift the mood. The only playlist that plays Neil Sedaka and ZZ Top-perverse or what?
42 tracks
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Stock Aitken Waterman
Take or leave leave but they were ubiquitous and iniquitous for about 5 years from 1986 to 1991...and they were never going to be RESPECTABLE.
41 tracks
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Wouldn't have known about this track without Last.fm......
...and a few that I wouldn't have become reacquainted with without Last.fm
72 tracks
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1969
This was a year in which to my ears, music production became more expansive, ambitious and audacious. By this point it is difficult to tell the difference between an old track and a modern one, since they were often recorded in stereo and with full orchestral backing, giving a relatively phat sound. The lyrical content seems slightly pessimistic, despite influenced by the fact that technologically man had just landed on the moon. With a bit of licence over dates.
30 tracks
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Fetch that lady an oxygen Mask!
Heavy breathing has been a requisite of sexy time music ever since Jane Birkin lunged for her asthma inhaler during Je t'aime....moi non plus in 1969, signalling the beginning of the sexual revolution. This was before the grunt was immortalized as the sexiest sound a women could make during tennis matches in the 1990's.
13 tracks
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Coulda Shoulda Done Better
When you hear a tune, and you think it is great possibly at the start of the track, and then the rest of the track isn't quite as good. Some of the best artists lose the original spark of inspiration, or cobble together different tracks but the seams are visible for all to see. Or the original output of an artist is bested by some less renowned artist who writes a better track based on a riff or sample taken from the original. Some artists we expect to be stellar in their productions all the time, but such standards are always elusive- hence we know they can do better, and they should have done better- but they didn't
4 tracks
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Musical Meltdown
Some drugs free up the creative process, lot's of drugs fry the mind- leading to meltdown for the following artists. Sometimes reflected in their music?
37 tracks
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Losers
Songs about hovering at the edge of the dancefloor afraid to ask the girl up for a dance, and going home alone....or being envious of those guys who are a bit more successful
5 tracks
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Odes to DJ's
A guaranteed way to get your track played is to make a reference to a DJ in the lyric, since the sycophants behind the turntable love nothing better than bathing in the reflected glory of a paen to pains.
18 tracks
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Las Vegas Cabaret Classics
Post Rat Pack, and timeless classics, that they were never in fashion. Schmaltz and powerful vocals.
41 tracks
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The Economics of Pair Bonding (Insolvent Men and Acquisitive Ladies)
Male rappers seem to have cornered the market in eulogies about the link between economic solvency and being highly sexed, whilst Soul sisters create paens to avoiding men without cash.
41 tracks
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The Weekend
About the cheapest stunt an artist or a record label can pull is to create a party song, about knocking off work and going out clubbing. Every teenager and beyond, loves to go out and get intoxicated, go dancing, and preferably have coitus. So all you have to do is create a song that is the sound track to that revelry. I can't believe serious artists would stoop so low, but you get professional song writers who need to make a buck writing sure fire hits, whose staple it probably is.
41 tracks