A humorous selection of titles suggesting new TV drama and documentaries. For example, English Murder Mystery, Clean Kill, Snow Angel.
We live in the Digital Age – and here are some tracks about what’s that like.
From dial tones to iPhones via payphones, a short history of great phone-related tracks.
30 years after the release of Guided By Voices’ classic twin album assault of Bee Thousand and Alien…
A tribute to Clem Burke of Blondie; Dave Allen of The Gang of Four; David Thomas of Pere…
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.
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 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”.
The tentpole hits of Britpop are well established, but in this episode we take a trip down some…
The subject is angels and ghosts but the mood ranges from visceral to joyous to reflective on these…
Alternative songs about Europe and European cities to celebrate Euros 2024.
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…
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 second of three shows rounding up some of the best alternative tracks from 2023.
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.
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.
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.
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
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…
Now there’s a Two Tone museum in Coventry, here’s a celebration of the label and the original ska…
To celebrate a certain milestone, the first letters of the these favourite Sombrero tracks spell out BIRTHDAY EPISODE.
It’s 30 years since Pavement’s Slanted & Enchanted landed on our CD shelf. Here’s an episode celebrating its…
Collaborations don’t always work, but these alternative examples of the art form are inspired.
A guest host episode with a member of the Haslam Musical Dynasty – and the UK’s leading cryptic…
A celebration of the music, mostly alternative, being made in Ukraine today.
To celebrate International Women’s Day, an episode of alternative female artists to watch out for in 2022.
For the 100th edition of Sombrero Fallout, listeners have written in with their choice of an artist never…
An alternative world of music for Valentine’s Day
Terry Edwards, go to session man, but also member of The Higsons, Gallon Drunk and the NJE guest…
The first episode in this year’s best tracks selection, in the opinion of Sombrero Fallout.
A survey of all that’s great in Australian post-punk over the last few years.
A celebration of the debt owed by the bands who listened to My Bloody Valentine’s soundscape masterpiece from…
Berlin, internationally famous for its clubs, its lifestyle, its vibe. Take a tour with a collection of songs…
Part 2 of the Sombrero interview with indie music maven Pinko Fowler. Tales of Mark E Smith, Snub…
Songs about books, reading, writing, libraries. Unfashionable these days, maybe, but the inspiration for some great tracks.
The very best type of cover song adds something new to the original. The icing on the cake?…
Alternative improv comedian and DJ to the stars (e.g. Cher)Andrew McLelland co-hosts this eclectic mix of Australian indie-folk,…
Confessionals, memoirs, autobiographies – call them what you like, a collection of brilliant, highly personal songs.
To coincide with the release of Edgar Wright’s outstanding Sparks Brothers movie, here’s 50 years of the Maels…
For half a century, one propulsive descending riff has provided not just covers but a framework for any…
The guest host is Rajan Datar, BBC journalist, star of TV and Radio, and long time bass player…
From the northern line to the north circular, some tracks celebrating London and London life.
From Arcade Fire to Helena Deland, Montreal is arguably the music capital of Canada. Here we take a…
Some of the 4AD label’s classic artists: from the Birthday Party to St Vincent, the Cocteaus to Pixies…
A brisk walk through a dark, deadpan, detached setlist. A lot more fun than it sounds. To add…
A tour through the byways of Irish alternative music over the last half century. From Stiff Little Fingers…
From John Cale to the Manics, Anhrefn via the Darling Buds, Colossal Youth through Gorky’s to Derrero and…
If you’re looking for the real indie, here’s the NY/Long Island scene that flourished at the turn of…
Three years ago this week we lost Mark E Smith. Here’s a tribute to the music of the…
Punk before punk – how punk is that. AKA garage rock or, as this episode’s title has it,…
A chance to hear some of the new female artists destined to make waves on the 2021 alternative…
A round up of the 12 “best” alternative tracks of 2020. Sombrero Fallout bears no responsibility for the…
The Go Betweens – the greatest of all Australian bands? Decide for yourself in this episode, paying tribute…
A look at the link between the original early ’70s dub reggae artists, such as Lee Perry and…
We know about the golden age of early 80s synth bands, but let’s take a tour round the…
Herein we take a listen to musicians paying tribute to other musicians who are their influences or who…
A celebration of different genres of alternative music, choosing one track a year from the last 16 years.…
A track a year from 1987-2003 to symbolise what was going on in alternative music in the second…
The first of 3 episodes with a track from each of the last 50 years.
In our 27th episode, we listen in to what’s emerging from the streets of Melbourne.
There’s more to Sheffield than Pulp and the Arctic Monkeys – though you can hear them too, on…
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