IDLES
The Wheel
IDLES' song about the cycle of alcoholism passed from mother to son, from their 2021 album Crawler: a menacing one-note riff, heavy chords and Joe Talbot howling a gospel-preacher call, here in a live KEXP session.
Instrument
vocals
243 tracks.
C.A.R
Idle Eyes (Roman Flügel Remix)
Roman Flügel turns C.A.R.'s cold-wave Idle Eyes into patient, hypnotic minimal house: a rattling bassline, spiralling keys and pads that swell slowly toward a euphoric peak.
2raumwohnung
Somebody Lonely and Me (Nacht)
The night side of a song recorded twice: 2raumwohnung's 2017 single sets Inga Humpe's German verses and English refrain over a darker, 1980s-flavoured synth arrangement, one of two versions on their double album Nacht und Tag.
Indiana
Solo Dancing
A hypnotic, synth-driven song about dancing alone, the 2014 single that took the Nottingham singer Indiana to number 14 in the UK and became the centre of her debut album No Romeo.
Mafia Klvb
Credit Card
The closing track of Mafia Klvb's 2022 debut, made with Pilocka Krach and Mommo G: underground lifestyle rap that turns the credit card into a symbol of excess and the persona into the point.
Anthony Rother
Brainshaker
A pulsating electro track from Anthony Rother's 2006 album Super Space Model on his own Datapunk label: machine rhythms, hard synthesizers and a chanted list of names that turns into the hook.
Ultraísta
Smalltalk
'Smalltalk' is the 2012 lead single of Ultraísta, the trio of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, drummer Joey Waronker and singer Laura Bettinson: layered synthesizers and afrobeat-minded drums under a plea to stop the small talk, heard here in Four Tet's garage-shuffle remix.
Mélissa Laveaux
Needle in the Hay
Mélissa Laveaux, a Montreal-born singer-songwriter of Haitian descent, recasts Elliott Smith's bleak 1995 song for percussive finger-style guitar, double bass, claps and drums on her 2008 album Camphor & Copper.
Marbert Rocel
Hush Now
A soulful downtempo song from the German trio Marbert Rocel's second album Catch A Bird: Antje Seifarth's gentle voice over soft, slowly unfolding electronics, made for winding down.
Fischerspooner
Emerge
'Emerge' is Fischerspooner's debut single and one of the defining records of electroclash: a pounding, theatrical electro-pop anthem from a New York duo that began as a performance art piece about entertainment.
Felix Da Housecat
Madame Hollywood (feat. Miss Kittin)
'Madame Hollywood' by Felix Da Housecat featuring Miss Kittin is an electroclash single that plays the glamour of stardom deadpan: a Chicago house producer's taut electro beat and a French voice that sounds bored by fame.
ACRAZE
Do It To It
Orlando producer ACRAZE turned the vocal of Cherish's 2006 R&B single into a two-and-a-half-minute tech house track that spread through DJ sets before it was released and reached the UK top ten in 2022.
The xx
Crystalised
'Crystalised', The xx's 2009 debut single, is minimal indie pop at its most intimate: a muted guitar riff, a sparse beat by Jamie xx, and two voices, Romy Madley Croft's and Oliver Sim's, answering each other verse by verse.
The Police
Roxanne
Sting wrote 'Roxanne' after seeing street workers near the band's Paris hotel in 1977: a plea to a woman to leave that life, set to off-beat reggae guitar and a tango-like rhythm, the A&M debut single that became the Police's signature song.
Lucky Luke
Cooler Than Me
The Lithuanian producer Lucky Luke's 2019 electro-house reworking of Mike Posner's 2010 debut hit, released on Columbia/B1: a song about feeling snubbed, turned into a laid-back club anthem that became a radio hit in France a year later.
Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams (Ibiza Deep Summer Remix 2015)
An uncredited 2015 deep-house rework of Eurythmics' 1983 synth-pop classic: Annie Lennox's cool, haunting vocal set on a laid-back summer house beat, a lesson in how a famous bassline survives any remix.
Groove Armada
Superstylin'
Groove Armada's 2001 single fuses house with dancehall, reggae and dub over a speed-garage bassline, with MC M.A.D. on vocals and a live horn section; a UK number 12 and a 2003 Grammy nominee.
Gorgon City
Hard On Me
Gorgon City's sleek, late-night deep house meets Maverick Sabre's raw, soulful voice on Hard On Me, the closing track of their 2014 debut album Sirens: a plea for gentleness carried by a steady, rolling groove.
Gabriella Cilmi
Cry Me a River (Cover)
A teenage Gabriella Cilmi takes Justin Timberlake's 2002 break-up hit out of Timbaland's beatbox-and-clavinet production and sings it as a stripped-down soul lament, her husky voice carrying all the hurt.
Freeland
Under Control
The lead single of Freeland's Cope swaps the guitar riff for a roaring synth and puts Kurt Baumann's deadpan vocal over breakbeat-bred drums: electronic rock with a raw, defiant edge.
Fort Minor
Remember The Name
'Remember The Name' by Fort Minor is an anthem of perseverance: Mike Shinoda and Styles of Beyond trade verses over a cello loop and a chorus that breaks success down into percentages, a song that became the soundtrack of sport.
Asian Dub Foundation
Flyover
The synth-heavy opener of Asian Dub Foundation's Tank: churning drum and bass, a dub-friendly chorus and the band's political urgency, at the start of an album written in the shadow of the Iraq War.
AnnenMayKantereit x Parcels
Can't Get You Out of My Head (Cover)
AnnenMayKantereit and Parcels join forces on a stripped-back cover of Kylie Minogue's 'Can't Get You Out of My Head', trading the original's cool electronic pulse for Henning May's rough voice and close band harmonies.
Waldeck
Midsummer Night Blues (feat. Zeebee)
'Midsummer Night Blues' is a song from Viennese producer Waldeck's 2007 album Ballroom Stories, written and sung by Zeebee: late-1920s ballroom swing seen through modern production, with the crackle of shellac and a summer night's melancholy.