Every genre, every era, every week
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Music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras emailed direct to you
Music
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From brewing tea for Kylie to brewing hipster beer in Copenhagen, the singer tells us about his unexpected life in food and drink -
With a beguiling debut album, the sisters from Atlanta, mentored by Beyoncé, are ready to spread their wings
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The autumnal reality staple is back! But despite some new Robbie-shaped additions, it’s never looked so flat, joyless and bored of its own existence -
Fame, family, failure, being stalked, getting low, getting high: nothing is off limits in the musician’s new memoir. She explains why -
Singer warns that similar abuse is rife in music business despite the #MeToo movement
Festivals
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4 out of 5 stars.
Festival No 6 Au revoir to an eccentric, magical gem
4 out of 5 stars.The last Festival No 6 ‘for now’ has awkward cultural copyists, but is saved by Franz Ferdinand, The The and Anna Calvi -
5 out of 5 stars.
End of the Road Intimate, adventurous fest steals the summer
5 out of 5 stars.In lieu of glittery students, the esoteric festival’s lineup does the sparkling – from Vampire Weekend’s afro-indie hits to St Vincent’s visceral synth-rock
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4 out of 5 stars.
Wysing Polyphonic Explosions in the sonic inventing shed
4 out of 5 stars.Moor Mother and Paul Purgas curate an inspirational gathering where electronic artists, dancers and poets freely test the boundaries of expression -
4 out of 5 stars.
Reading and Leeds festival review Glittery GCSE blowout has most diverse lineup yet
4 out of 5 stars.From Dua Lipa’s choreographed pop to Kendrick Lamar’s rap blitzkreig, R&L expanded beyond the indie faithful – but Sex on Fire still got the biggest singalong -
4 out of 5 stars.
Creamfields festival review Inhibitions shed for sensory EDM overload
4 out of 5 stars.With Eric Prydz, the Chainsmokers and Annie Mac providing beats from breakfast to bedtime, hedonistic energy was needed for the 20th anniversary of the dance festival – and the audience delivered -
5 out of 5 stars.
Review Green Man – cosmic rock and communal wonderment
5 out of 5 stars.An eclectic bill of everything from psych rock to alt-folk proved again why Green Man is one of the UK’s most beloved festivals
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Skepta hailed him the ‘greatest grime MC of all time’ but Darren Dixon has struggled to break into the mainstream – can his solo debut album change that? -
The Mercury prize nominees weighed in on their favourite films, their next album and dressing up for Halloween as Liam Gallagher -
The musician and writer, 63, tells Juliana Piskorz about being in the Slits, the wisdom of older mothers and the genius of Vivienne Westwood -
‘I’d watched the Brixton riots. People felt they were being left behind and there was a potential for violence. The song was intended as a wake-up call’
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4 out of 5 stars.
Binker and Moses – syncopation and spontaneity in a swing-free set
4 out of 5 stars.Breakout stars of the London jazz scene Moses Boyd and Binker Golding thrill a young crowd with polyrhythms, improvisation, funk riffs and driving drums -
3 out of 5 stars.
Hozier – seductive fervour powers soul man's return
3 out of 5 stars.Airing new material for the first time, the Irish singer sometimes drifts into tameness, but his unselfconscious voice anchors the material -
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4 out of 5 stars.
Janelle Monáe – euphoric funk at the edge of megastardom
4 out of 5 stars. -
3 out of 5 stars.
Soccer Mommy – teenage torment set to bittersweet jangles
3 out of 5 stars. -
4 out of 5 stars.
Garbage – scrappy cyberpunks make a strident homecoming
4 out of 5 stars.
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2 out of 5 stars.
Album of the week Pale Waves: My Mind Makes Noises – goth-pop as thin as black lipstick
2 out of 5 stars.The super-hyped Manchester quartet have some nice melodic touches, but can’t yet craft songs – and you’ll need to be a heartsick emo teenager to endure the lyrics -
2 out of 5 stars.
It’s not actually horrible, but Underwood’s sixth album feels almost as if it was produced by an algorithm -
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Anna Calvi: Hunter – a filmic pop dreamscape
5 out of 5 stars.
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On what would have been Michael Jackson's 60th birthday, we revisit Sean O'Hagan's look at the life, death and legacy of one of the greatest entertainers the world has ever known
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In focus
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In music, the joy of sex has been supplanted by nihilism and melancholy. Has the digital age made pop lose its loving feeling? -
4 out of 5 stars.
Kendrick Lamar Reading and Leeds festival review – glittery GCSE blowout has most diverse lineup yet
4 out of 5 stars.From Dua Lipa’s choreographed pop to Kendrick Lamar’s rap blitzkreig, R&L expanded beyond the indie faithful – but Sex on Fire still got the biggest singalong -
With a big-screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s feline musical under way, here’s how #MeToo, Zac Efron and DJ Khaled could make purrfect movie memories -
3 out of 5 stars.
Eminem Eminem: Kamikaze review – in full rabid underdog mode
3 out of 5 stars.(Aftermath/Interscope)
By genre
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5 out of 5 stars.
Dom Thomas’s shifting musical collective weave nuanced spells behind guests including Mélanie Pain, La Roux and a children’s choir in one of the year’s most endearing gigs -
The best DJ mixes and radio shows this month feature everything from exhilarating hardstyle to a cappella Farsi – plus a bit of My Humps by the Black Eyed Peas -
5 out of 5 stars.
Hip-hop Janelle Monáe review – future soul revue from an android reborn
5 out of 5 stars.From water-pistols to vagina trousers, the fun never stops at the eclectic artist’s formidable live show
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With a beguiling debut album, the sisters from Atlanta, mentored by Beyoncé, are ready to spread their wings
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From Empress Of’s modern classic to the magnificent angst of Boygenius, here are 50 new tracks you shouldn’t miss – read about our ten favourites below, and subscribe to the playlists
You may have missed
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As Kate Bush announces a book of her collected lyrics, Guardian writers pick out their favourite lines from across her career -
The son of a middle-class Jewish photographer and architect, Miller took a dogged approach to pushing his sound -
From the clock in High Noon to the watch in Pulp Fiction, the US artist turned thousands of film clips into a 24-hour epic that tells the actual time. As the cult work returns to London, the place of its birth, he relives three years of toil
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Paramore have axed their hit Misery Business at their live shows due to its slut-shaming lyrics. But which other tracks should never make it on to another playlist?
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For gay men, ‘stanning’ – being a super fan of – female pop stars can be a valuable part of your identity. But too often this fandom lapses into misogyny and body shaming -
A tune loved by children and hated by adults, released in South Korea in 2016, has finally made it into the UK Top 40. What is the secret of its slow-burn success?
Kitty Empire's artist of the week Janelle Monáe – future soul revue from an android reborn
5 out of 5 stars.