Ohhhh boy. Today, I have for you some sensual, sultry, sweet soul for your aural pleasure. And what a pleasure it is: minimalist, but incredibly expressive, conveying a bewitching mood of journeys in the night and broken dreams. It’s dark, but tender and heartfelt and goodness me, I think I’m in love – the breathy vocals, the sparse instrumentation, the electronic accentuations… what a track!

War Nurse have a sound that can only be described as the synth of the 80s paired with heavy metal. Which is as bonkers as it sounds. Also, if anyone ever played that old PC game called Descent, it sounds a bit like a more intense version of that soundtrack (man that game was awesome).

Anyhoo, this is wild and hairy and quite thrilling – it almost feels like a kind of war cry. Couldn’t tell you what war it’d be for (something involving murderous robots… IN SPACE), but it’s intense and pretty friggin’ awesome.

Melancholic Mondays is what I like to deem the start of a working week. Well, now I do. To that end, allow me to present Ontario-hailing songstress, Christine Leakey, who brings you fine people this sumptuous folk tune. Deliberate and soothing, this feels like the type of song you’d use as an adult to drift away and forget about things for a bit – where you want to go sleep feeling a bit sad, but still knowing that much beauty exists in the world.

At some point, everyone needs music in their life that suggests that even though sexy times are not imminent per sé, the area where this music is playing is most certainly a good candidate for sexy times. You know, Barry White without the… uh… Barry White. Long story short, here is some of that music!

Cohenbeats is Israel-based DJ, Michael Cohen, who is clearly starting to make a name for himself with his deliciously smooth beat work. There’s plenty to like in this simple track, particularly in the fact that it’s slick and undeniably cool. Put it on at your next soirée (it must be a soirée; a simple party will not do) and let it turn you into the hep cat you always knew you were.

Funk has seen a resurgence of late, mostly owing to trendy hipsters and their love of things that aren’t brand spanking new. Bemoan them if you must, but if it’s bringing us stuff like Tuxedo and their brand of fresh, unbelievably danceable funk/neo soul, then who are we to complain?

This unashamedly has its roots in the 70s and I am very ok with that! No doubt that anyone that was a fan of Uptown Funk (so, everyone) will dig this ditty – it has a very similar, energetic but not overbearing, sense of coolness.

Do you like songs that remind you of the life you spent as a child in the countryside? The sky never changing from the vivid pink of sunset, the cool breeze ruffling through the tall fields of golden wheat and your hair, as your soared gloriously from the tire swing hanging from that old oak tree? No? Man, I’ve made myself wistful for a time I just completely made up, but dangit, that’s where this supremely beautiful and heartfelt song will take you.

Anna Atkinson hails from the far too talented land of Canada, where she brings us a whole mess of sparsely instrumented, but elegant tunes that I guess could be considered dark folk. It’ll pluck you right in the feels, I tells ya!

Our friends over at Kill Rock Stars have recently re-released Elliott Smith’s third record, either/or (hmm, now where have I heard that name before), in a brand spanking new edition with a bunch of new content. Now, I say friends but we’ve never met or had any interaction, but I’m sure that if we did, we’d get on like an old, happily married couple.

either/or marked the start of Smith’s push into more sonically layered music, which this track demonstrates aptly. It’s incredibly catchy, but it never loses sight of what makes his music so damn special: his incredible lyrical and compositional ability to tap right into your heart.

I dedicate this post to Hugh because a) he’s not writing on the site currently and b) he left it in drafts as a blank post. I will do my best to channel my inner Hugh, because he is a lovely lad and ought to be channelled more often? Ok, none of this makes sense, so let’s talk about the music instead!

I did not expect Hugh to be into this kind of swanky good time. He is into swanky good times, but I figured he wouldn’t use this kind of jam at it. But what do I know? This is a rollickingly grand piece of electro-swing that’ll get you all peppy and spunky!