A humorous selection of titles suggesting new TV drama and documentaries. For example, English Murder Mystery, Clean Kill, Snow Angel.
It’s 50 years since the first explosion of punk rock. Here’s a selection of tracks from 1976 and 1977.
Part one of a two-part series surveying the legendary Manchester scene. This episode puts the post-punk era under…
Synthpunk has a glorious heritage, but these are the synthpunk artists who are bringing it today
After 200 episodes, our Readers’ Poll episodes and the sad demise of the podcast spaniel Toby, it’s time…
Interviewing the legendary Dave Kelly, ex The Blues Band, who’s played with all the blues greats. Special focus…
We live in the Digital Age – and here are some tracks about what’s that like.
A shout-out to some of our generous patrons, friends and sponsors with their choice of tracks that didn’t…
At last! The Top Ten Songs of All-Time, as voted by you, the podcast listener.
The penultimate tranche of songs in our Listeners’ Poll 2026.
Into the Top 40 we go on our All-Time Listeners Poll.
So we reach the halfway stage of our All-Time Poll, as voted for by listeners to the Sombrero…
The second in our tranche of listeners’ all-time choices from music played on the Sombrero Fallout podcast.
Ignore the rest, settle only for these 14 best tracks of 2025!
SF0200 Festive Forthy 2025 Pt 2, #27-15 by Ian Deeker Forth
Pulp are back in 2025 but their heyday was the 90s when they influenced the artists featured in…
Songs with the title or the content about the band who are singing it.
Co-hosting with Paul Howarth and Tony Harris, my friends over at the Twilight Turntable podcast: they choose some…
Tracks from bands signed to the doyen of US indie labels, Merge
All eyes on this collection of tracks about watching, looking and seeing
Olivia Rodrigo inviting Robert Smith on stage at Glastonbury seems the perfect excuse to revisit the first 10…
England, more than any other country arguably, has attracted a boatload of myths about its history and how…
An episode in which the tracks are sung by non-humans. Animals, insects, computers, guitars, aeroplanes, zombies, lasagne and…
Songs of promises, songs of pacts and songs of pledges. Pretty well as described.
Tracks by horse-related bands (of whom there have been a recent flurry) and tracks about horses. A surprisingly…
From dial tones to iPhones via payphones, a short history of great phone-related tracks.
City life can be thrilling or alienating. Here are some tracks about city life to suit every mood.
A tribute to Clem Burke of Blondie; Dave Allen of The Gang of Four; David Thomas of Pere…
Not just your name, but tracks with your full name.
Take a trip to the Appalachians for a selection of tracks from North and South Carolina.
Tracks with “Hey!” in their title. A plentiful supply: it’s tough to leave so many good ones out.
A bonus episode, essentially the first episode in the podcast Steve’s Mix Tapes; Ian is interviewed by Steve…
In a darkening world, aiming to throw light on transgender musical artists with this episode featuring their work.
Three-piece bands, sometimes called power trios, in the third part of our Graham Greene inspired trilogy of episodes.
Valentine’s Day is upon us once more. But the flowers of romance can fade and die – as…
Brighton Rock was a novel by Graham Greene. But there’s also plenty of great (alternative) Brighton rock music…
Getting 2025 off to a depressing start with a selection of alternative songs about work
The third – and Top 14 – in our trilogy of the best alternative tracks from 2024.
Episode 2 of a trilogy looking back on some of the best alternative music tracks from 2024.
The first of 3 episodes rounding up the best alternative tracks of 2024. Starting with #40-28.
A selection of day tracks with yesterdays, todays, tomorrows, weekdays – and starting with “This Perfect Day”.
A celebration of the music of experimental pop artists Broadcast and some of the band they influenced.
Songs about water – murky, deep, still, treading, tables, coolers, edges and living adjacent to.
Steve Pringle, author of the definitive Fall chronicle “You Must Get Them All” takes us through his life…
Whether you believe individuals make a difference to history or not, here are some songs about history and…
The tentpole hits of Britpop are well established, but in this episode we take a trip down some…
A selection of tracks on the subject of feeling like an impostor, inadequate or out of our depth.
The subject is angels and ghosts but the mood ranges from visceral to joyous to reflective on these…
A reassessment of 1974, 50 years on. An almost themeless era as music wondered where to go next…
An uplifting episode – though ironically the tracks are about boredom.
Alternative songs about Europe and European cities to celebrate Euros 2024.
A multi-genre selection united by all containing the word “Song” in their title.
An episode featuring fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, grandmothers, half sisters, little sisters and the…
A tribute to the legendary Steve Albini (RIP), featuring tracks from his bands Shellac and Big Black; and…
A celebration of alternative bands incorporating the pedal steel guitar into their sound.
A tribute episode to the iconic female bass players – and also some you may not have heard…
When will I be famous? Me, probably never, which is fine because, as these tracks show, it is…
You snooze, you lose, or so they say. Not on this episode though. Alternative tracks about sleeping and…
Hundreds of groups have been influenced by The Kinks. Here’s a few of them plus some original tracks…
An episode about the perils of either striving after too much money or not having enough of it.
A cherry picking exercise from the archives on the occasion of the podcast’s 150th episode.
An episode about music itself – the songs, the singers, the radio, the ballroom, the dances.
The final countdown of the best tracks in 2023, according to Sombrero Fallout.
The second of three shows rounding up some of the best alternative tracks from 2023.
The first of 3 episodes dedicated to the best tracks of 2023. Well, some of them.
It’s a quarter of a century since Neutral Milk Hotel effectively stopped. Here’s a celebration plus some bands…
What happens when artists first demo a familiar song or re-imagine it years later.
The thrill of the open road. An episode about cars, roads and motorways.
Ending up in the same band as your sibling. Here’s some of the best tracks that combination can…
As ‘Stop Making Sense’, the Talking Heads live concert film is re-released and given the IMAX treatment, we…
An outstanding selection of alternative love songs from the 2020s.
I was stoked when Gideon Haigh, one of the world’s pre-eminent cricket journalists, joined me to share his…
Tracks with false endings, codas and late changes of direction from a variety of genres.
There’s a brand new alt-scene in 2020s Chicago and here’s some great examples of what’s happening there.
Refreshed and back from its holidays, Sombrero Fallout wants to share some classic alternative tracks about returning with…
An Ocean’s Eleven of songs. Well, an Ocean’s Fourteen, to be accurate.
Renowned music critic and author Simon Reynolds joins the podcast to choose some of his favourite tracks.
Paying tribute to the great Tom Verlaine and some of the groups his band Television influenced.
Tara Emelye Needham, an integral mover within the Millennial Long Island music scene, introduces us to some tracks…
Young Marble Giants left a slim volume of work but a disproportionately large legacy. Here we listen to…
An open top bus tour around the best alternative tunes from Liverpool and Merseyside
None of the smash hits, but some of the alternative tunes from 1993.
A commemoration of the alternative music artists we lost in 2022.
So, here it is: the best tracks of 2022. And it’s the best year for music ever, as…
Part Two in our trilogy of episodes celebrating the best tracks of 2022.
Part One of three episodes rounding up the best in alternative listening for 2022. Not definitive, not meant…
The sounds before the sounds. What successful bands sounded like before they sold out stadiums. Often better.
A tribute to Mimi Parker of Low and Keith Levene of early PIL and founder member of The…
John Cale is 80: no second invitation needed to celebrate the Velvets, his solo work, his musical contributions…
Braces, tire swings, then love and other catastrophes. Songs about the indignities and thrills of being young.
Perth, a thousand miles from anywhere else, and West Australia more broadly have always had their unique thing…
25 Years of living under the reign of Mogwai. Interlaced with some influences on the band themselves.
Tributes, hymns, odes to. Songs for, Homages about. Not people though. Binoculars, divorce and androids amongst others.
Songs about the class system, about the bourgeoisie, about unfairness, about inequality. But with humour too.
The inheritors of the ’60s psychedelic bands are the latter-day Neo-Psychedelia practitioners. Here’s an episode featuring them.
The conch is handed to listeners of the podcast who feature here in the bands they play in.
Songs about actors, songs about movies, songs about actors in movies.
Great tracks from TV shows, good, bad and indifferent.
More songs about cameras and photography.
Guest host this episode is Jowe Head, veteran of many groups and especially beloved by post-punk aficionados for…
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