music
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From Super Furry Animals to Avicii – the best (and worst) singlesEvery international tournament brings fleeting hope, crushing disappointment and a raft of singles. Hear’s your brief guide to the latter -
‘I like the chords my cat plays’The singer has stripped everything back for his solo album, Piano. It’s inspired by divorce, John Lennon and, yes, random pet sounds
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‘I was always drunk on stage. It’s how I hid my anxiety’After her first two albums, synthpop star Pip Brown lost herself in LA. But now she’s sober, married, and back with the vibrant glam of Wild Things -
Patience review – complex and brilliantly original popFollowing their 2012 album inspired by grief, Dave Okumu and band now deliver one steeped in joy, and full of ingenious details that only reveal themselves with multiple listens
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Share your songs about interlopersMake your nomination in the comments and a reader will pick the best eligible tracks for a playlist next week
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Brian May seeks to dissociate Queen from 'Trump's unsavoury campaign'The Republican presumptive nominee had used We Are the Champions at a televised event, to the ire of the Queen guitarist
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Beyoncé faces lawsuit over claims Lemonade trailer 'copied' ideasFilm-maker Matthew Fulks says two-thirds of the pop star’s album promo was based on his short film seen by one of her collaborators
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Cher sues financial managers she claims 'defrauded her of $800,000'Singer invested with firm whose portfolios proved to be worthless – but which kept collecting management fees
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A spine-tingling musical meetingFresh from a funeral and a recital respectively, the Celtic soul troubadour duetted with the Welsh opera star in a one-off coup for the Festival of Voice
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The Last Mermaid review – Charlotte Church thrills in dystopian eco-fairytaleThe singer has co-authored a fascinating update on Hans Christian Andersen, pitting her sea nymph against marine pollution and malign capitalism
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Stranger to Stranger review – still creative after all these yearsThe former folk hero continues his sophisticated combination of sonic adventure and witty wordplay
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Love You to Death review – smart, confident, grown-up popContinuing their skilful transition from the indie world to the mainstream, the Canadian twin-sister duo prove their pop chops on a brilliantly concise new album
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A California club bans DJs who use laptops … but why?When DJs started to use CDs, purists were up in arms – and now an even more recent piece of kit has been declared verboten. Yet, like dance music itself, technology moves on – so why not embrace it?
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For many women, metal is our home – so why don’t we feel safe at gigs?During Deafheaven’s performance, I floated away. I experienced beauty and chaos in the same moment. I shouldn’t have to fight off sexual aggressors at the same time
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video
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Never before seen footage of the band backstage in 1965 – videoThe footage, shot by an Australian woman, shows The Beatles getting their make-up done for the special The Music of Lennon & McCartney in November 1965
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Remembered by fans across America – videoFans in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and the artist’s home city of Minneapolis pay tribute
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Eagles of Death Metal return to Paris for first time since BataclanEagles of Death Metal play live in Paris on Tuesday for first time since their gig at the Bataclan was the scene of a massacre in November’s terrorist attacks
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Lady Gaga nails The Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl 50The singer wows the crowd at Levi’s Stadium with her performance of the US national anthem before kick-off
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Artist says Donald Trump does not have permission to use her musicAdele has objected after frontrunning Republican candidate Donald Trump was introduced in Iowa by Sarah Palin with Adele’s Rolling in the Deep playing
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Fans pay tribute at Ziggy Stardust album cover location – videoFans lay flowers and leave messages for David Bowie in central London at the site where the photo was taken for Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust album
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'I'm a musician. And I am music'
Ringtones are evil. Islamic countries are fun. The internet is like 'a carjacking', where there are no boundaries. Prince on being pop's 'loving tyrant'
interviews
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'He was antisemitic and I'm Jewish. Who cares?'As his set designs for ENO’s Tristan and Isolde are unveiled, Anish Kapoor talks about the flak they’ve caused him, his record-breaking slide – and how he got his own back on the Frenchman who sued him
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On life in the shadows of the Stones and Tina Turner: 'I got used to keeping quiet'The legendary backup singer has supported the world’s biggest stars. But on the final leg of her first solo tour, she reflects on the emotional and physical toll it took
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The Orb's Little Fluffy Clouds‘The song still follows me around. There’s a beer named after it now – and a loaf of bread’
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The band that’s sensitive on the inside, lairy on the outsideThe Chicago group are bringing back indie fever with a combination of lyrical introspection and raucous partying
quizzes
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How well do you know your music award-show speeches?After this year’s Grammy’s and ahead of the Brits, see how many of these famous speeches you can match to the probably sozzled winner as we plough into the heart of awards season
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'All right Reading!' – test your knowledge of the Reading and Leeds festivalsWith the rocktastic festivals taking place this weekend, it’s time to see how much you know about their history
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Feeling Directionless? Test your boyband knowledgeThere’s more to boybands than One Direction. But do you know how many members Menudo had? Or in which paper Lou Pearlman advertised for the members of Backstreet Boys?
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Guess the guitar hero – from their guitarWe’ve cut out the faces of 12 axemen with distinctive guitars, so you have to identify the guitarist from their instrument …
in pictures
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For the Record: 60s Pop Through the LensA new exhibition in London celebrates the cultural boom of the 60s, as captured by photographer Stanley Bielecki. Shooting Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Supremes, the Polish refugee who arrived in Britain after the second world war worked for titles including Pop Weekly, Teen Beat and Melody Maker
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Backstage with the Rolling Stones – in picturesCharlie peeing in the sink, Brian fixing his hair and Mick meeting Bo Diddley ... how did the band fill the long hours between stage-time on their 1965 and 1967 tours? Photographer Gered Mankowitz shares his album – and memories
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Everything Must Go turns 20 – in picturesTo celebrate the 20th anniversary of the platinum selling 1996 record which scored the Welsh rock group their first commercial success, a special box set will be released. Taken from the EMG reissue, here’s a preview of the book, featuring Nicky Wire’s lyric sheets and photos from the era
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Unseen Bowie, Blondie and B-52s album shootsThe new book Outside the Lines gathers behind-the-scenes pictures, outtakes and lost images from the cover shoots of punk and new wave’s most famous LPs. Take a look, and read what their photographers recall from the sessions
you may have missed
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'I thought my music was beautiful all along'She was subjected to decades of vilification. Now everyone from Gaga to Sparks are lining up to pay tribute. How does the 83-year-old artist feel about the world catching up to the Yoko Ono sound?
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Why working-class voices are music to Darkstar's earsWhy did these two men hang around Huddersfield railway station asking young people what they did today? Electronic duo Darkstar explain their most daring LP yet
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Groupies revisited: the women with triple-A access to the 60sIn 1969, Rolling Stone shocked the world with an issue about the rock ‘supergroupie’. A new book tells all
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‘You don’t stop growing until they shovel the dirt in’At 71, the Rolling Stones legend is proud of his cartoon image as a rock outlaw. He’s back now with his first solo album in 23 years. But some days, the wildman reputation feels like a ball and chain – he just wants to visit an art gallery or water the garden
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'I like everything people say about me – you gay, you a punk, you can't rap, you're the hardest'Atlanta’s Young Thug is the gender-fluid, surrealist rapper who’s being anointed as hip-hop’s next titan. Don’t know what to make of him? You’re not the only one
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Blur: 'We used to take it in turns to punch each other'Back in Hong Kong, where they recorded their album The Magic Whip, Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave talk about falling out and making up, the state of British pop music and why 90s Britpop was a wasted opportunity
Desert sounds Meet Kel Assouf and Imarhan, the new wave of Tuareg rock