We’re getting to the end of the January, so it’s time for another playlist of the month. This month I’m focussing on one specific niche genre: electro swing. Imagine swing and jazz music, but overlaid with a modern dance beat. It’s fun music and easy to dance to. Here’s a 10 track sampler playlist – as usual, you can listen along on Spotify.
“Inspector Gadget” by Madam Misfit. I had to get a Madam Misfit track in somewhere, as she’s one of my favourite artists. Alas, she’s not at this year’s Sci-Fi Weekender as it clashes with a Steampunk festival in America. This song covers the theme tune to the Inspector Gadget TV series, with additional verses written by Ms Misfit.
“Horny” by Pisk. This is a cover of the late 1990s song by Mousse T vs Hot ‘n’ Juicy (“I sent a message through the internet but it rejected).
“Still In Love With You” by Electro Velvet. Probably the most commercially successful electro swing song, on account of it being the 2015 UK Eurovision entry. Alas, the rest of Europe weren’t so keen, and it scored 5 points overall and we came 24th out of 27 countries.
“Take A Chance” by Odd Chap featuring Sarah Myers. Odd Chap is one of the most well-known artists in the electro swing subculture, and this song features songs by Sarah Myers who is actually Madam Misfit in another guise.
“Headless Horseman” by Kid Kasino. Halloween themed songs seem to be a big thing in electro swing, so whilst it may be January and October, it would be remiss for me not to include this.
“Black Betty” by Caravan Palace. Yes, it’s an electro swing cover of the Ram Jam classic.
I did this last year, and found it interesting to look back at the various statistics of things that I have done over the year. So, here it is again for 2024. It helps that loads of web sites now offer their own version of Spotify Wrapped.
Countries and counties visited
In 2024, I didn’t visit any countries besides England where I live.
Over the course of the year, I have spent at least some time in the following English counties:
West Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
Lincolnshire
Greater Manchester
Lancashire
Cheshire
Norfolk
Northumberland
County Durham
Merseyside
Greater London
West Midlands
This doesn’t include any counties that I have passed through without stopping. Compared to last year, I didn’t go to Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey or Hampshire, but I did go to Northumberland, County Durham, Merseyside, Greater London and the West Midlands which were all counties that I didn’t go to in 2023.
For context, I went as far east as 2023, but further north and (slightly) further west. However, as we didn’t go to France this year, I went significantly less far south.
Methods of transport used
Because we didn’t take our car to France, I didn’t drive as much this year – about 8000 miles, or 20% less than last year.
However, I have done more train travel. As well as my commute to work, we took the train to London in March. I have driven once in London and vowed never again; not least because our car is a diesel and therefore subject to additional charges inside the ULEZ. I also took our nine-year-old to Leeds last week on the train.
We’ve also been on trams a couple of times in Manchester – we tend to drive to Hollinwood tram stop and use Metrolink as a park and ride service. And whilst we didn’t cross the channel by ferry this year, we did cross the Mersey by ferry instead. Once again, no aeroplane flights in 2024.
Music listened to
Over the year, I scrobbled 12,671 tracks on last.fm, so slightly down on the 13,194 from 2023 (and 13,447 from 2022). That’s almost 35 songs per day, again down by about one a day from 2023. Assuming an average song is around three minutes, I listen to almost two hours of music every day on average. Spotify reckons that I listened to 436 minutes, or just over 7 hours of music on the 25 October.
Whilst I don’t exclusively listen to music on Spotify, on there, pop was my top genre, following by trance, rock, pop dance and Europop this year, according to my Spotify Wrapped. My most-listened to song was ‘React’ by Switch Disco featuring Ella Henderson and Robert Miles, which I listened to 14 times. Which is unsurprising as it’s one of our nine-year-old’s favourite songs, and samples Robert Miles’ ‘Children’.
My top artist was Armin van Buuren, which surprised me but there’s almost always one of his songs in my weekly Release Radar playlist. The rest of my top five were Patty Gurdy (blog post), Madam Misfit (blog post), David Guetta and Dua Lipa. I listened to 4,235 different bands and artists over the course of the year.
Books read and listened to
According to My Goodreads Year in Books for 2024, I read 77 books this year – 16 fewer than 2023. This amounts to 17,845 pages (although many of these were listened to as audiobooks).
The shortest book I read, at 32 pages long, was ‘The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me’ by Roald Dahl(sponsored link) – clearly, one of the books that I read to our nine-year-old this year. Meanwhile, I listened to 15 and a half hours of Nicola Coughlan reading ‘The Shadow Cabinet’ by Juno Dawson(sponsored link), which translates to 528 pages and the longest book. That’s longer in terms of pages than my longest book last year (‘What Just Happened?!’ by Marina Hyde(sponsored link) – 472 pages) but shorter in terms of listening time (17 hours).
Overall, the average length of book that I read was 231 pages, which is 11 more than 2023. Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’(sponsored link) was the most popular book that I read last year.
Beers and ciders consumed
I log the beers and ciders that I drink using Untappd, and these stats are from my year in beer. However, I only logged 11 such drinks this year (compared to 58 in 2022). I just haven’t been particularly interested in drinking beer and cider this year, and it’s notable that my favourite style was ‘non-alcoholic’.
Steps taken
My total steps taken was very similar to 2023. Overall I took 3,526,369 steps, which is 5% less than 2023 and means that, on average, I walked just under 10,000 steps per day. Overall that’s almost 2,600 kilometres (again down by around 100 compared to 2023). These are all tracked using my Fitbit Versa 3.
Time spent learning French
I started Duolingo’s French course on the 1st January 2022 (so I have a three year streak now), and in 2024, I spent 4,228 minutes learning – that’s 70 hours or an average of 12 minutes per day. Again, slightly down on 2023, but then we didn’t go to France this year. I also managed to remain in the Diamond League for the entire year, and successfully completed every friends quest and monthly challenge.
My Duolingo Score for French is 100, which means that I’m in the low B2 level (‘vantage’) of the CEFR for French. Currently Duolingo’s maximum score for French is 130, which is high B2 level and should be sufficient to study a university course taught in French. I’m hoping to achieve that by the end of 2025, although there’s a possibility of us going on holiday somewhere else which may see me switch languages for a bit.
Podcasts listened to
I listen to the majority of my podcasts through Overcast (with the remainder in BBC Sounds). My most listened to podcast was RHLSTP (RHLSTP!) with 78 hours over the year. The Guilty Feminist, The Comedian’s Comedian, The Bugle and The Infinite Monkey Cage make up the rest of my top 5. ‘Reasons Revisited’ is the now defunct podcast which was hosted by Ed Milliband and Geoff Lloyd; now that Ed is a government minister again, there are no more new episodes.
Tracking my podcast listening is a relatively new feature in Overcast and so this is a new statistic that I didn’t track in 2023.
Photos taken
Another new statistic that I didn’t track in 2023 was number of photos taken. It’s an estimate – basically it’s the total number of images backed up from my phone to Dropbox over the year. That could also include screenshots, memes and a few videos. Overall, it was 1,813 in 2024, compared to 1,417 in 2023. So whilst I may have been less active, listened to less music and not been abroad, I did take around 28% more photos in 2024.
So, that’s 2024 quantified, and a useful summary of the statistics from various web services that seem to spend their December telling me data they hold about me but in a nice way. I suppose I need to get a bit active in 2025 then.
So it’s time for a playlist of the month for December. I did my best Christmas songs last year, and whilst I considered doing a ‘worst Christmas songs’ playlist this time, I decided that no-one really wants that. Anyway, as it’s a new year in a few days’ time, here’s a New Year’s Day playlist. I cannot confirm or deny that these are the first 10 songs that I liked when searching for ‘new year’ on Spotify.
New Year’s Day by U2. I know this better as the 2003 remix, New Year’s Dub, but here’s the 1983 original. Yes, you’re old.
Happy New Year by Abba. I’m not a big Abba fan, and this was released before I was born. It’s a typical Abba song.
No Tears for New Years by Katy Perry. After a couple of older songs, here’s a brand new one from Perry’s latest album.
New Year’s Day by Taylor Swift. This is actually the first time I’ve included a Taylor Swift song in my playlists of the month. It’s from her sixth album Reputation, so, at the time of writing, there’s no (Taylor’s version).
New Year by Sugababes. The second single from their first album, and was released before any of their numerous line-up changes. I suppose you can consider it both a Christmas and New Year song.
New Year’s Revolution by NOFX. Start the new year with a bit of pop punk. Although “Next year is gonna be bad, The next one even worse” maybe isn’t the most upbeat way.
Is It New Year’s Yet? by Sabrina Carpenter. Another relatively new song, having been released last year.
New Year’s Resolution by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. And now for a much, much older song; this one is from 1967. A bit of a slow jam this one.
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? by Ella Fitzgerald. Staying in the 1960s, Ella Fitzgerald is well known for her classic versions of Frosty the Snowman and Sleigh Ride, but she also did this New Year’s song too.
New Year’s Day by Rob Thomas. You may know Rob Thomas as the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, or the guest vocalist on Carlos Santana’s song ‘Smooth’. This is another slow piano track.
Now I’m not saying that it’s mandatory for queer men like myself to like musical theatre – but, let’s face it, lots of us do, and I’m no exception. Both my wife and previous girlfriend were involved in a musical theatre society at university (same university but not at the same time), and I’ve seen a number of shows, both locally and in the West End in London. And, seeing as Wicked is now a film, it’s a good theme with which to base a playlist on. So, here are my favourite songs from musicals. As ever, you can listen to it on Spotify.
“Defying Gravity” from Wicked, by Kerry Ellis. This isn’t the version on either the stage or film soundtrack, but a belting cover version by Kerry Ellis. Although, to be fair, Ellis played Elphaba for a time during its West End run. This is one of my morale boosting songs.
“The Greatest Show” from The Greatest Showman. Friends fear that he’s been listening to the Greatest Showman soundtrack and has just found another excuse to include this in a playlist. Yes, I included it in July’s ‘duets’ playlist too.
“You Can’t Stop The Beat” from Hairspray. It’s not quite the finale but it’s the big number where the audience is usually encouraged to join in. Back before Netflix was available in the UK, I rented the DVD of Hairspray, not realising it was the (non-musical) 1980s original with Ricki Lake, and not the then new (musical) film version.
“I Wanna Be A Producer” from The Producers. This is one of those songs that I randomly break out into. I enjoyed the film adaptation and have also seen a good amateur production in Bradford.
“Just Around The Corner” from The Addams Family. I don’t think enough people know that there’s an Addams Family musical, especially after Wednesday came out a couple of years ago. It’s about Wednesday coming of age, and this song is a solo by Morticia.
“When I Grow Up” from Matilda. We managed to see the Matilda musical in the West End shortly before it won loads of awards, and it was excellent. This song manages to be both fun and heartbreaking at the same time. Also, it’s the only one of these that I’ve performed in a show before.
“Let It Go” from Frozen. Oh come on, just because this song has been massively over-played, doesn’t mean it’s not good. How many kids songs manage to include words like ‘fractals’?
“How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. I haven’t actually watched Moana all the way through in one go, but I’ve probably seen all of it collectively as our eight-year-old has watched it multiple times on Disney+. Whilst it’s not made it to the stage yet, this is a good song. I imagine we’ll be watching the sequel at some point soon.
“Ex-Wives” from Six. Six is a musical that I really want to see, but haven’t managed to yet. I’ve listened to and enjoyed the soundtrack a few times though.
When it comes to choosing a playlist of the month for October, it has to be Halloween-themed, doesn’t it? In the hope that I’ll have chance to do one again next year, I’m specifically focussing on party tunes for Halloween this time. Here’s the Spotify playlist.
Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. As well as being the theme tune to a cult-classic film, this is a great catchy party song.
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) by Backstreet Boys. Whilst the lyrics are not especially Halloween-themed, the music video and accompanying dance moves are. Also, any song which unironically opens with ‘Oh my god, we’re back again!’ is good to me.
She Wolf by Shakira. Not one of her most-played songs on Spotify (that honour goes to Hips Don’t Lie, with nearly 2 billion streams) but it fits the theme.
Time Warp by the Cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Can you have a Halloween party without people doing a jump to the left, and a little step to the right, while being driven insane by pelvic thrusts?
Things That Go Bump In The Night by allStars. I mentioned this song back in March, as it was one that was recently brought back onto digital platforms by Pop Music Activism. It’s now up to 5 million streams as I write this.
Witch Doctor by The Cartoons. The Cartoons were a late 90s novelty Danish pop band, and this cover version is much better than the original 1950s song by Ross Bagdasarian.
Scared of the Dark by Steps. Again, we can’t have a pop party without Steps. This is one of their more recent songs after a long hiatus, and, like many of their newer singles, is also one of their best.
Super Freak by Rick James. Possibly not the sort of song to play at a kid’s birthday party if you listen closely to the lyrics. It’s the song that was famously sampled by MC Hammer for Can’t Touch This.
Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. Oh go on, let’s throw a classic in here. I think most people know the lyrics by now.
Disturbia by Rihanna. And finally another one with a catchy ‘bum-bum-be-dum-bum-bum-be-dim-bum’ in the lyrics.
It’s the first Friday of the month, which, most months, means it’s Bandcamp Friday. And that includes today.
On Bandcamp Friday, Bandcamp waives its revenue share from all purchases made on that day. Instead, their share of the purchase goes to the bands and artists instead. It started during the pandemic in 2020, and has continued most months since.
Basically, if you want to buy a song or album from a band or artist on Bandcamp, today’s the day.
If I may, here are some recommendations:
Madam Misfit. Her third album, Vitamin M, is now available, and you can buy the singles from it, Power Up and Birthday Bounce, along with a remix of Big Bad Wolf featuring Professor Elemental. See also my blog post from July.
Professor Elemental. Speaking of the Prof, he’s released a new Halloween-themed EP today.
Grace Petrie. If you didn’t buy her new album Build Something Betterback in March, now’s the time to buy it.
Nato Green. If you don’t want music, but like stand-up comedy, long time Bugle contributor Nato Green has The Whiteness Album available to buy and download.
If, by the time you’re reading this, it’s no longer Friday 4th October, then the next Bandcamp Friday is December 6th (skipping November, it seems). However, buying music from Bandcamp on any other day of the year is still a good idea, as even when it’s not Bandcamp Friday, a higher proportion of the revenue goes to the artists and bands compared to most other digital platforms. Plus, you usually get a choice of audio formats and there’s no digital rights management on the files.
‘Good grief’, you may be thinking, ‘how can there be enough songs about Ikea to make a playlist?’. Well, I was aware of four, and found several more while creating this playlist. Seeing as it’s September, which is a time when many 18-year-olds are dragged around Ikea to get furniture, bedding and utensils before setting out on their own for the first time, I thought it would make a good theme.
Also, for some reason our eight-year-old has developed a hatred of Ikea. Which is a shame because we do need to go sometime soon.
“Ikea” by Grace Petrie. “It’s Wednesday evening in Ikea; There’s just two kinds of people here; And in my life, I have been both”. I can relate this, as I too have been both. It’s a sad little song from the phenomenal Grace Petrie, who I’ve blogged about before. Also available on Bandcamp.
“I Fear Ikea” by The Lancashire Hotpots. Sung to the tune of ‘The Wild Rover’, this laments the labyrinthine layout and that you have to pick the boxes out of the warehouse yourself, which then don’t fit in the car. The Hotpots are well worth listening to if you like musical comedy and have a northern English sense of humour, like I do.
“Ikea” by Jonathan Coulton. JoCo is probably best known for the song ‘Still Alive’ which plays during the credits of the game Portal. This is from his 2003 debut album, Smoking Monkey.
“Ikea” by Mitch Been and the Distractions. Mitch originally recorded this for BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show, and I seem to remember him playing it dressed as a Viking in an Ikea car park for the one-off BBC Two show ‘Ikea Drives Me Crazy’. Also available on Bandcamp.
“Ikea” by Urban Cone. This is the first of the songs that I found whilst researching this playlist.
“Ikea Date” by SWMRS. This was the second, where the singer is recalling a dream set in an Ikea.
“Ikea Strikes Back” by CLIFFDIVER. This was the third. I actually quite like this song despite not having heard of the band before.
“Ikea” by Suman Biswas. I actually own this CD and never realised this track was on it. Suman is a consultant anaesthetist who used to be part of a double act called the Amateur Transplants with Adam Kay. Also available on Bandcamp.
We’re getting to the end of another month, and so with just a few hours remaining in August, here’s this month’s playlist. I appreciate that the weather hasn’t been particularly summery this week (stormy more like) but this month’s theme is songs that remind me of the summer holidays of the 1990s. You can listen along on Spotify if you want.
‘Steal my Sunshine’ by Len. This Canadian band ended up being something of a one-hit wonder with this upbeat song 25 years ago.
‘Waiting for Tonight’ by Jennifer Lopez. Oooh, a JLo song for the second month running. I listened to a lot of Galaxy 105 (now known as Capital) during the school holidays and this was in regular rotation.
‘Save Tonight’ by Eagle Eye Cherry. This was everywhere in the summer of 1998, from the half-brother of Neneh Cherry. Whilst a second single and an album did well, you may be surprised to know that a further five albums followed – I certainly was.
‘Lovefeel (Tee’s Club Radio)’ by The Cardigans. The dance remix of that song from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, courtesy of American DJ Todd Terry. It was some time later before I heard the slower original.
‘Staying Out For The Summer’ by Dodgy. Dodgy had been around since the early 90s, and this song was originally released in 1994. Their 1996 single ‘Good Enough’ was what brought them fame, however.
‘Cecilia’ by Suggs, Louchie Lou & Michie One. The original was by Simon & Garfunkel, but Suggs from the band Madness released this speeded up version with some additional reggae vocals in 1996.
‘In The Summertime’ by Shaggy & Rayvon. We’re in 1995 now and another cover, this time of the Mungo Jerry classic with additional rapping from Shaggy.
‘Twist and Shout’ by Chaka Demus & Pliers. Another cover! Reggae music was big in the mid-90s and I prefer this to the original.
‘Wake Up Boo’ by The Boo Radleys. A mainstay of the student club nights that I went to in the early 2000s, but originally from 1995. They’re regarded very much as a ‘one hit wonder’ despite having released eight (!) studio albums, the most recent of which came out last year.
‘Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix)’ by Los Del Rio. And we’re back in remix territory. The original came out in 1993, but it was the 1995 remix by the Bayside Boys, and subsequent dance moves, that made this song so popular. Sorry, but I actually like this song.
‘I’m Just Ken’ by Ryan Gosling. Gosling showed his singing talent in La La Land, but his solo in last year’s Barbie movie brought greater awareness. Especially to those who don’t remember him being on the Mickey Mouse Club.
‘What If’ by Kate Winslett. Winslett sang this for a 2001 animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and it was released as a single to promote the film. She has such an amazing singing voice, so it’s a shame that there aren’t more songs out there that she has recorded and released.
‘Yellow’ by Jodie Whittaker. Whittaker is probably best known as being the 13th Doctor, and released this lovely cover version of Coldplay’s debut single for BBC Children in Need in 2019.
‘On the Floor’ by Jennifer Lopez. JLo is probably as well known for her acting as for her singing. This song is probably my favourite of hers but ‘Waiting for Tonight’ is also top tier.
‘The Greatest Show’ by Hugh Jackman. Oh no, another excuse to have a song from The Greatest Showman soundtrack in a playlist! Jackman was well known as musicals star before taking on the role of Wolverine in the X-Men films.
‘Wild Wild West’ by Will Smith. There was a time when every Will Smith film had a song that accompanied it, although I’ve not seen Wild Wild West myself.
‘Boy You Knock Me Out’ by Tatyana Ali. Ali was Will Smith’s co-star in the Fresh Price of Bel Air, and released a solo album in 1999 featuring a guest rap by Smith on this song.
‘Under the Broadwalk’ by Bruce Willis. A friend at university had this on cassette tape, along with other novelty songs such as ‘Star Trekkin’ by The Firm.
‘Looking for Freedom’ by David Hasselhoff. What can I say other than it’s David Hasselhoff singing?
‘Falling Down’ by Scarlett Johansson. I could have chosen any number of other Marvel Cinematic Universe actors here as it seems that many of them have released albums (either solo or in bands) but I chose this one.
I’m going to talk about one of my favourite artists of the moment: Madam Misfit. She’s been at the past three Sci-Fi Weekenders and is always popular with the crowd (although we missed her this time as she was on really late). Her first appearance saw the smaller venue (‘The Spaceport’) filled to bursting, and so she’s rightly been on the main stage for her two most recent events.
I first found out about Madam Misfit through her collaborations with Professor Elemental (who we have also seen numerous times). Her music sits between Electro Swing and Chap Hop, combining singing and rap elements in songs that are very easy to dance to. As well as Sci-Fi Weekender, you can often find her at Steampunk gatherings, and co-hosting her Carnival of Chaos, a variety show.
