"On a Clear Day" by the Peddlers

Song: On a Clear Day
Artist: the Peddlers
Also try:  the other cook scenes in Breaking Bad
Commentary: I really enjoyed the whole (meth) cook scene along with this song. I thought for sure, with that beat, that the song was new with "retro" vocals. Wrong! Just good, old-fashioned BritPop.

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"They Don't Know" by Rich Homie Quan

Song: They Don't Know
Artist: Rich Homie Quan
Album: Still Goin In Reloaded
Commentary: Don't have a lot to say about this song. It stuck at out as I'm listening to mixtapes for my year end list. Rich Homie Quan's mixtape is good. "Type of Way" is the big song of it, but I liked this one too.

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"Cowboy" by Sarah June

Song: Cowboy
Artist: Sarah June
Album: In Black Robes
Also try:  Ani DiFranco, Leonard Cohen, Joanna Newsom, Bradford Cox
Commentary: This song reminds me of Ani and it's awesome (the others on this album, less Ani). I dig her (fey?) voice and she makes some nice music with the guitar. I particularly love how she sings the line: "I took up smoking, 'cause I wanna be a cowboy." Totally believable.

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Gnawa song by Moroccan artist

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Commentary: I'm a fan of a Gnawa music page on Facebook, and it's probably the best thing in my news feed. Fusing African and Islamic music traditions (yeah, I know, that's not very specific), Gnawa has some cool rhythmic repetition that I like, with some vocal style influence from Islamic chants. This guy killing it on a banjo (!) makes me weak. There's some cool stuff on the Gnawa Wikipedia page about banjos and Gnawa music.

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