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Music
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The Anthony Burgess prize nominee says Stormzy’s headline set at Glastonbury united a violent and discontented Britain and shows that we have come a long way -
The musician on rebooting with a vitamin flush, visiting a Japanese bookstore and the joy of gadgets
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Back in 2013, the pop star was disillusioned and ready to quit. How did her hit foodie podcast Table Manners put her back in the groove? -
Pop’s angry young man Archy Marshall on moving to Cheshire, singing to his daughter and writing his best ever album -
Barack Obama is among the fans of this vibrant indie singer whose music celebrates her Mexican-American heritage
Playlists
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4 out of 5 stars.
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The Melbourne rock band released their fourth album last year, but you wouldn’t know it. As their popularity rose, they shied away from the spotlight -
The band are shocking their fanbase with new album The Unraveling, full of fury about the state of America – from school shootings to caged kids. We meet the angry Alabamians -
The singer-songwriter, 62, on examining mortality, living with trauma, and learning to become a druid -
Can the world’s biggest punk band capture the zeitgeist on their new album like American Idiot once did? They talk about staying positive in the age of Trump – and how people have forgotten to love each other
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3 out of 5 stars.
Verdi had something of a father fixation – as witnessed in new productions of two of his lesser-known works -
4 out of 5 stars.
Blossoms Chart-topping anti-lads get louche and loved up
4 out of 5 stars.Currently at No 1 in the album charts, Blossoms return home to subvert the image of the northern lad band with scarves, flouncing and shameless pop -
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3 out of 5 stars.
Sigala One-man party-starter defies Storm Ciara with tropical show
3 out of 5 stars. -
4 out of 5 stars.
Julian Cope Chaotic cult hero doesn't compromise
4 out of 5 stars. -
4 out of 5 stars.
Anna Meredith A careering getaway ride from musical convention
4 out of 5 stars.
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3 out of 5 stars.
Alexis Petridis's album of the week Justin Bieber: Changes – the sound of fame being shunned
3 out of 5 stars.He’s still one of the world’s biggest pop stars, but this subdued, fitfully lovely album suggests Bieber no longer wants to dominate the charts -
4 out of 5 stars.
Global album of the month DJ Diaki: Balani Fou – landslide of rhythms brings Africa to the dancefloor
4 out of 5 stars.DJ Diaki’s debut is a speeding cascade of sound that skilfully re-creates the pounding atmosphere of Malian street party Balani Show -
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30 years after Nirvana released their debut album, Bleach, we revisit Jonathan Freedland's 1994 report from the aftermath of Cobain's death
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By genre
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Black Sabbath frontman, 71, says 2019 was ‘most painful and miserable year’ of his life -
4 out of 5 stars.
Dance Tame Impala: The Slow Rush review – polished disco funk
4 out of 5 stars.Kevin Parker shifts further away from his psych rock roots, while pondering happiness and his continued relevance -
3 out of 5 stars.
R&B Justin Bieber: Changes review – mid-tempo wedded bliss
3 out of 5 stars.The Canadian superstar is doing it for himself with an album of easygoing R&B
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Barack Obama is among the fans of this vibrant indie singer whose music celebrates her Mexican-American heritage
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Motor neurone disease has left the French hip-hop artist totally immobile – yet he still found the means to compose a remarkable album inspired by Kate Bush
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The actor on the resilience of Lemn Sissay, Amy Schumer’s sidesplitting comedy and a fish stew to die for
You may have missed
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In our new monthly roundup of our music critics’ musings, we explore a forgotten corner of middle-class post-Britpop angst, and a book that argues for pop’s intrinsic magic -
Amid disillusionment with mainstream clubbing, illegal events are harking back to the original spirit of rave – but police maintain they are as dangerous and criminal as ever -
Happiness for the leftfield US folk-rocker is a home of her own, a cat and a newfound calm
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By mixing hard rock, punk and funk with radical theory, the late musician unleashed a fresh and furious sound -
Jennifer Lopez put children in cages for her all-singing, all-dancing attack on Trump’s immigration policies. But it’s just the latest of many hard-hitting Super Bowl performances -
She studied by day, went clubbing by night – then wrote the house anthem that launched a thousand hen parties
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Emily Eavis: a fighter against the great rock’n’roll festival swindle