Luka – Suzanne Vega
The guitar is small on purpose.
C.R.E.A.M. – Wu-Tang Clan
The sample is warmer than the room it describes.
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys
The guitar is scratchy on purpose, a downstroke that sounds like the cable is part of the instrument.
Don’t You Want Me – The Human League
A bass synthesiser counts the listener in like a bartender who has seen this argument before, and Philip Oakey starts the story from his side, already certain he is owed something.
Killing in the Name – Rage Against the Machine
The beat bounces before the anger does.
Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinéad O’Connor
A drum machine keeps a slow, almost funereal pulse, strings enter like a room going cold, and Sinéad O'Connor's voice arrives bare, counting the hours since love left as if the arithmetic could bring it back.
Interstate Love Song – Stone Temple Pilots
The riff twangs and then slickens, country in the fingers, something smoother in the chorus, as if two songs had agreed to share a car.
Fast Car – Tracy Chapman
An acoustic guitar states a small circular figure, almost shy of the microphone, and Tracy Chapman's voice comes in already in the middle of a life, a job, a father drinking, a plan that is mostly a car.
