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  • Olivia Dean on stage in a red dress

    Report
    Hard work, romance and bell hooks: how Olivia Dean became British pop’s newest megastar

  • The Brian Jonestown Massacre in BrightonPortrait of Anton Newcombe, founder of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, on Brighton seafront. Brighton, East Sussex, UK. 31st January 2023.

    10 Chaotic Questions
    Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe: ‘I feel like I have to work very hard to redeem myself’

  • side by side photos of three musicians

    The best songs of 2025
    That you may not have heard

  • Annahstasia publicity photo, 2025

    Soul-baring ballads, alt-rock fury and neon-lit techno
    Five-star albums you may have missed this year

  • Cécile McLorin Salvant Press publicity portrait

    The 10 best jazz albums of 2025

  • Labi SiffreBritish poet and musician Labi Siffre on stage, circa 1970. (Photo by David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images)

    Paranoia, pop-dubstep and perfectly odd gems: the best old music we discovered this year

  • From left, John Moore, Sarah Nixey and Luke Haines of Black Box Recorder.

    ‘We’re a pub friendship – with songs attached’: deadpan dazzlers Black Box Recorder return, thanks to Billie Eilish

  • ‘The trauma felt biblical’ … New York on 11 September 2001.

    ‘We watched 9/11 from the rooftop, blasting the music out’: how The Disintegration Loops became a requiem for the attacks

  • Andrew Bird plays the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee in 2006.

    How we made
    ‘Musicians drank too much and slept on my barn floor’: Andrew Bird on making cult album The Mysterious Production of Eggs

  • Gorillaz 2026 press publicity portrait Credit: Gorillaz & Reuben Bastienne-Lewis

    Alexis Petridis's album of the week
    Gorillaz: The Mountain – a late career peak haunted by ghosts yet glowing with life

  • Get me out of here … Lala Lala.

    Pop
    Lala Lala: Heaven 2 – brooding alt-popper fights the urge to run

  • Mitski with a taxidermy of a fox

    Alexis Petridis's album of the week
    Mitski: Nothing’s About to Happen to Me – mordant, melodic melancholy from the best songwriter of her generation

  • Band members Dawn Bothwell, Sally Pilkington, Richard Dawson, Rhodri Davies in woodland.

    Rock
    Hen Ogledd: Discombobulated – a manifesto for collective action from Richard Dawson’s folk-rockers

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Manchester: Music City

  • Collage of live music pictures

    Manchester’s top 20 up-and-coming bands and musicians – from the Maddocks to Yasmin Coe

  • Collage of gig pictures

    Why live gigs matter more than ever – from the owner of Manchester’s iconic Night & Day cafe

  • Brighter Sound, a Manchester-based music development charity championing grassroots creativity and under-represented voices.

    ‘There’s a music world beyond London’: the northern changemakers helping young artists find a brighter future

  • Vinyl Revival

    ‘After 30 years, you learn what sells’: the owner of Manchester’s Vinyl Revival on supporting new artists

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This content was paid for by Mastercard and produced by the Guardian Labs team.
  • Mike Skinner of the Streets performing at Edinburgh Corn Exchange.

    Rap
    The Streets – semi-theatrical staging of A Grand Don’t Come for Free resurrects a British classic

  • Raye performing at Co-Op Live, Manchester.

    Pop
    Raye – dazzling display of range from old-school Vegas to Euro-dance

  • Saturday Night Live - Season 51SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- Episode 1896 -- Pictured: Musical guest Cardi B performs "ErrTime" on Saturday, January 31, 2026 -- (Photo by: Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images)

    Rap
    Cardi B – ambitious spectacle and sizzling choreography

  • Chino Moreno of Deftones at BP Pulse Live, Birmingham.

    Metal
    Deftones – alt-metal veterans sound exceptionally fresh 38 years on

Add to playlist

  • Lily Allen.

    Ranked
    Dead-end boys and West End girls: Lily Allen’s greatest songs – ranked!

  • Miles J Paralysis.

    Add to playlist
    The seance-worthy dancefloor music of Miles J Paralysis and the week’s best new tracks

  • Alex James

    Honest playlist
    ‘What do I play at a party? Oasis’s Wonderwall goes down a storm’: Alex James’s honest playlist

From the archive

  • The Sherlocks

    Feature
    Made of steel: how South Yorkshire became the British indie heartland

    As Arctic Monkeys' debut album turns 20, revisit Dave Simpson's feature on the long shadow they cast over the region's indie scene

Obituaries

  • Eliane Radigue - Conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist - 2014

    News
    Éliane Radigue, French composer and musique concrète legend, dies aged 94

  • Willie Colón performing in 2012.

    Willie Colón was an explosive energy source who took salsa into the stratosphere

    Garth Cartwright
  • Ebo Taylor At WOMADEbo Taylor portrait backstage at the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Festival at Charlton Park, Wiltshire, July 2014. (Photo by Judith Burrows/Getty Images)

    News
    Ebo Taylor, Ghanaian highlife pioneer and guitarist, dies age 90

  • Photo of Sly DUNBAR and SLY & ROBBIEUNITED KINGDOM - JULY 09: Photo of Sly DUNBAR and SLY & ROBBIE; Sly Dunbar photographed in Kensington (Photo by David Corio/Redferns)

    10 of the greatest songs by Sly Dunbar – from reggae classics to Grace Jones and Bob Dylan

    Alexis Petridis
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