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Fela Kuti, Half Man Half Biscuit, Sonic Youth and Kevin Ayers provide some freshly baked tunes for this week’s playlist

Here is this week’s playlist – songs picked by a reader from hundreds of your suggestions last week. Thanks for taking part. Read more about how our weekly series works at the end of the piece.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of baking – something about it is comforting and homely. Join me in a musical celebration of all its form and the delicious treats produced by bakers professional or domestic – a baker’s dozen of delights for the ears.

First up is Kevin Ayers, whose Eleanor’s Cake (Which Ate Her) reflects his friendship with Eleanor Barooshian of US group the Cake, who had helped with backing vocals on an early Soft Machine song.

Joe Dassin follows with an exotic French breakfast treat: Le Petit Pain au Chocolat, a song that is, like the pastry, very sweet – some might say too sweet. On the savoury side of the oven, Norman Fox and the Rob Roys offer up some Pizza Pie. Nice and hot and cheesy – just the way I like it.

Welsh rockers Budgie sing of the Breadfan. One of those bands that, perhaps, should have been bigger, they certainly didn’t lack rocker credentials, and this track really demonstrates their down-to-earth style, though I have no idea what a “breadfan” is.

I’m also not so sure about Sonic Youth’s recipe for Orange Rolls, Angel’s Spit. I’m fine with the orange rolls but may pass on the rest. It’s very hard to find in our local shops anyway and would, I’m sure, put you in danger of the dreaded soggy bottom.

Continuing with noisy rock, Marilyn Manson offers another creation I might take just the first bit from: Cake and Sodomy. Razorcuts offer us a Big Pink Cake, and that’s more like it for me: just a big fat slice of indie patisserie.

Of course every baker needs a pair of Half Man Half Biscuit’s Joy Division Oven Gloves; in these odd times, it’s entirely unsurprising that such a thing really exists. In a world where the Weezer Snuggie and British Sea Power’s Kendal Mint Cake are real, anything is possible.

A change of pace now with Die Antwoord. I’m not entirely sure how much of Cookie Thumper! is about baking, and the video – which is definitely NSFW – doesn’t give any real indication Yolandi and Ninja are Bake Off fans.

Often looked at with rose-tinted glasses, the 1960s, apart from being “swinging”, were a time when our food was becoming increasing industrialised and the focus was moving from local suppliers and smaller shops to big conglomerates and the fledgling supermarkets. In Oi Can’t Git a Noice Loaf a Bread, Allan Smethurst (the Singing Postman) nimbly bemoans the decline in quality this brings in his inimitable Norfolk drawl.

Another old timer, Smoky Dawson, is clearly fond of doughnuts, with The Doughnut Song proving there’s deep philosophy in a simple lyric: “When you walk through life you’ll have no cares / If you ... watch the doughnut, not the hole.” About time there was some Aussie “country” music in the Marconium.

Conjuring up the spirit of a lazy Sunday, everything just peaceful and dandy on their Lazy Day, the smell of scones wafting on the summer breeze, we have the Moody Blues. The band may be somewhat unfashionable these days, but have earned their place on our list. They were very much a group that marked your “intellectual credentials” when I was at school. I was not a fan back then and, consequently, was regarded by my peers, rightly, as a semi-educated demi-trogolodyte.

Bringing up the rear, solely due to the length of the track, is Fela Kuti, who, typically, has a political message in his song. No Buredi (No Bread), he tells us and, as Marie Antoinette supposedly found out to her cost, when the people can’t afford bread, brioche is really not an acceptable alternative.

New theme: how to join in

The next theme will be announced at 8pm (BST) on Thursday 19 July.

Here is a reminder of some of the guidelines for Readers recommend:

• If you have an idea for a theme, or you would like to volunteer to compile a playlist from readers’ suggestions and write a blog about it, please email matthew.holmes@theguardian.com.
  
• There is a wealth of data on RR, including the songs that are “zedded”, at the new-look Marconium. It also tells you the meaning of “zedded”, “donds” and other strange words used by RR regulars.
  
• Many RR regulars also congregate at the ’Spill blog.

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