Skip to content

Feeling

playful

42 tracks.

Whilk & Misky

Clap Your Hands

The 2014 breakthrough of the London duo Whilk & Misky: a barefoot, bossa-nova-tinged acoustic song with handclaps for percussion, played on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show and later carried onto dance floors by a Solomun remix.

The Supermen Lovers, Herr Styler, Cristine

C'est bon

A flirtatious slice of French pop-funk house from Guillaume Atlan's project, two voices trading lines over a springy bassline until the title becomes a shrugging, grinning verdict on the night.

Robin Thicke, T.I., Pharrell Williams

Blurred Lines

A cowbell-clacking, falsetto-laced funk-pop strut from Robin Thicke, Pharrell and T.I. that owned the summer of 2013 and then the courtroom.

Robin Schulz

Sugar

Sun-bleached deep house with a soul hook: Robin Schulz builds a sweet, bouncing groove around Francesco Yates and an interpolation of Baby Bash's 2003 'Suga Suga', a number one in seven countries in 2015.

Peaches

Pickles

Peaches at her most gleefully filthy: Pickles rides a stark, rubbery electro beat while she raps about desire with a grin you can hear in every line.

Paloma Faith

Upside Down

Paloma Faith's brassy, swing-tinged retro-soul romp about a world turned on its head, with a stomping rhythm section and a voice that relishes every theatrical flourish.

N.E.R.D, Clipse

Loser

N.E.R.D and Clipse close the Neptunes' Clones compilation with a keyboard-driven rap-rock hybrid: a Queen-sized arena chorus against fast-firing hip-hop verses.

Mount Sims, Jessie Evans

Andy of Jenny

A short, sharp electroclash track from Mount Sims' 2008 album Happily Ever After, with André Lang's live drums under the synths and the underground punk singer Jessie Evans adding saxophone.

Mount Sims

Good Service

Deadpan vocals, buzzing analog synths and a drum machine with attitude: Good Service is Mount Sims serving early-2000s electroclash with a sly, suggestive grin.

Marcus Marr, Nick Murphy

Birthday Card

Nearly eight minutes of sleek, disco-tinged house: Marcus Marr's springy production and bright synths carry Nick Murphy's smoky voice towards a long dancefloor release, the opener of their 2015 EP Work.

Jain

Mr Johnson

Handclap-light percussion, a bouncing bass and Jain's playful, slightly mischievous delivery make Mr Johnson one of Zanaka's sunniest little stories.

Jain

Hope

Jain's light, sing-song voice, her own drum programming and Yodelice's bass and trombone carry a small, sunny plea for a better world, the title track of her first EP in 2015.

Jain

Come

Jain's debut hit hides a lovesick lyric under a happy bounce: chugging guitar, bashful horns and double-tracked vocals, under three minutes of Afro-pop lightness that went to number one in France.

Jain

City

The closing song of Jain's 2015 Hope EP, produced by Yodelice: her bright, slightly mischievous voice riding a homemade-sounding beat that mixes pop simplicity with the rhythmic colours of a childhood spent between Dubai, Congo and Abu Dhabi.

Gorillaz

19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)

The Soulchild Remix turns Gorillaz's woozy 19-2000 into a bright, bouncing cartoon road trip, a 2001 UK top-ten single and the title theme of FIFA Football 2002, with a chorus everyone remembers: get the cool shoeshine.

Glass Animals

Gooey

Glass Animals' breakout is a slow, syrupy jungle of a love song, Dave Bayley's murmured vocal drifting over finger-snap beats, soft guitar and a bassline that oozes.

Gin Wigmore

Hey Ho

A stomping, hand-clapping slice of retro soul-pop from Gin Wigmore's debut, her gravel-and-honey voice making a breezy chant sound like a dare.

Format:B

Chunky (Radio Edit)

A rubbery, swaggering tech-house stomper from Berlin's Format:B, built on a fat bassline and chopped vocals from Shorty Long's 1966 Motown single Function at the Junction, cut down to a radio-sized strut.

Ed Sheeran

Shape of You

A plucked marimba-like loop, a dancehall bounce and a flirtation that starts at the bar: Shape of You is the minimal pop machine that took over the world in 2017.

Clea Vincent

All that she wants

Cléa Vincent turns Ace of Base's 1992 hit into breezy, homespun French synth-pop, trading its reggae-pop strut for a dreamy, lo-fi groove closer to hip-hop and R&B.