Crucial Tracks
Tracks sync’d from the Crucial Tracks website.
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Fugitive Motel by Elbow

What artist or band changed your music taste forever? Pick your favorite song of theirs. From heavier rock and dance music as my ‘chosen’ genres, I stumbled into this band after catching them performing at Glastonbury in 2004 (on TV, it was a couple of years before I made it to that festival where I…
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Beat Dis by Bomb the Bass

What was your favorite song in high school? Why did it resonate? The radio crackles to life. It is full of heavily produced sounds. Bon Jovi, Madonna, Wham!, Phil Collins —artists I would spend my life with— dominated. Pet Shop Boys were ploughing a different path, New Order were living their Blue Monday ‘88 renaissance…
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Off He Goes by Pearl Jam

Pick a song from an artist or band that’s had the biggest impact on your life. Queen were my first love. Finding their albums in my parents record collection was like finding a rare jewel. Mostly because they spanned the time of my awakening to pop/rock music so I had a contemporary view of them…
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Go (Live from Glastonbury) by The Chemical Brothers

What is a song that instantly energizes you? Thumping bass, catchy melody, quintessential dance music always gives me energy. It’s why club nights were such a highlight of my youth. These days, energising tracks are for things like exercising which brings a similar endorphin high to those club nights —without the come down— and there…
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I Like to Move It (Radio Mix) by Reel 2 Real

Did you sing along to anything today? Describe the moment. My son, 4, has discovered the movie Madagascar. Which is fine because the endless repeats of Bluey (which I dearly love) are starting to grate a little. My memories of this song take me back to my early 20s, the local nightclub, the “everyone back…
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What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

What song do you wish you had written? Happy Birthday? Bohemian Rhapsody? Lyrics is where my brain focuses, which takes me to Cohen, Garvey, McCartney, Swift, Bush… But meaning matters and this song is such a gentle exploration of how beautiful life is if we pause and look around, literally stop and smell the flowers.…