music
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You don’t need a record company or a promo campaign to reach the huge audience of the Nigerian diaspora – just a WhatsApp account
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Ophir Kutiel’s web series – which stitched together amateur music from around the world – saw him named one of the planet’s top inventors. Can the Israeli composer’s own album, 6am, match that billing?
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‘Real rock music’, our callout asked for – and you got it, as RR regular Pairubu gets heavy
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Following the very public disintegration of the Civil Wars in 2012, John Paul White returns with a set of beautifully composed, utterly self-absorbed modern country songs
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Peta has launched a game approved by the Smiths frontman, complete with a bleepy rendition of Meat Is Murder – but is it any good?
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The dance music duo make their records in their kitchen, but have managed to lure stars including Zayn Malik and Chance the Rapper to guest on their songs
Gateways – Tony Allen and Nigeria
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As Pink Floyd head to the V&A, a baby aims for starddom at the Edinburgh fringe and Lucille Ball gets another statue, here’s a soundtrack to this week’s news
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Grunge’n’b, anyone? Meet the LA duo in love with emo and R&B, urban and indie
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Make your nomination in the comments and a reader will pick the best eligible tracks for a playlist next week – you have until Monday 8 August
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A reader picks a list from your nominations – songs from Santana, Grateful Dead and Soulsavers all making the cut
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Abel Tesfaye joins list of stars – including Beyoncé, Jay Z and Drake – who are making their support for the movement a matter of record
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Sheeran’s Grammy-winning hit Thinking Out Loud copied the ‘heart’ of Gaye song, says its co-writer Ed Townsend as he sues British artist in New York
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The bassist/songwriter alleges Osbourne’s Blizzard Music ‘short-changed’ him in connection with hit song Crazy Train – a claim the company denies
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Juanjo Mena brought more subtlety to Dutilleux than he did to Elgar; Mark Simpson’s Edgar Allan Poe-inspired orchestral study lost detail in the Albert Hall’s acoustic
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The Welshman ranges from tales of Elvis to bossa-nova arrangements of his hits on a flawlessly pleasant evening
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The foursome swap arty erudition for rock swagger on a bigger, bolder fifth album
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The Stockport quintet have already had a Twitter spat with Sleaford Mods, but their chugging melodies show sparks of individuality
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What’s it like to play a cello concerto written by your brother? To conduct your
wife? To sing alongside your daughter? Michael Hann meets the classical musicians who are keeping it all in the family this Proms season -
The music identification app is teaming up with Fox for a new Name That Tune-style game show that could take it back to the top of the charts
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video
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Stevie Wonder performed in London’s Hyde Park on Sunday, and he urged the crowd to choose ‘love over hate’ and proclaimed that black lives matter
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Paloma Faith tells Owen Jones that she thinks few musicians discuss politics because of the abuse directed at them on social media
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The singer and Tibetan spiritual leader attended a conference in Indianapolis on Sunday hosted by the US Conference of Mayors that focused on bringing more kindness to a violent world
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John Harris talks to Glastonbury revellers waking up to a damp day on Friday and the news that Britain had voted for Brexit
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The Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, renowned for his career composing scores for television and movies, gives a haunting performance among the icebergs of the Arctic
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Led Zeppelin musicians Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have won a lawsuit brought by the estate of guitarist Randy Wolfe, which alleges that the introduction sequence of the famous hit Stairway to Heaven was copied from Taurus, by Wolfe’s band Spirit
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For 40 years, they’ve rocked like a juggernaut, fighting off claims they were a threat to society. But, with the release of Rock or Bust accompanied by unwelcome headlines about drummer Phil Rudd’s arrest and guitarist Malcolm Young’s dementia, can AC/DC keep the wheels on? Angus Young and Brian Johnson speak out …
interviews
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When he realised his life of guns, knives and hustling was getting too dangerous, Fantastic Negrito grew his sideburns long – and gatecrashed music school
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Just as Patti Smith used the New York punk scene to channel defiance and individuality, Rose uses her Appalachian roots to delve deeply into her identity
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The pioneering rapper has released a raw autobiography that charts his journey from stardom to rehab – and he’s still hungry
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No vibrato, principal violinists facing each other, audiences encouraged to applaud between movements … the great conductor celebrates the unorthodox at the Proms this week
quizzes
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It was the week Jimmy Webb was born, and Pink Floyd released their first album – but how well do you know your music history?
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It’s our weekly test of the byways of pop – and today is a test of your knowledge on angry Swiss crowds, Carole King and the best ‘gay albums’ ever
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It was the week Elvis made his first recordings, and we lost Amy Winehouse. But how well do you know your pop history?
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It was a big week for Drake, Live Aid and Take That – test your knowledge
in pictures
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How Glyndebourne has tackled the Benjamin Britten opera, from Peter Hall’s 1981 production to the latest revival, which will debut on 11 August
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A collection of photographs, exhibited in Camden’s Proud Galleries from 28 July until 11 September, and taken by Baron Wolman, document a journey ‘three days of peace and music’ which took place at Woodstock during the summer of 1969
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From superstar cantors to Streisand and CBGB’s roster of rebels, Jews have played an influential part in the rise of popular music. The new exhibition Jukebox, Jewkbox! charts the highs of Yiddish theatre, punk politics and Israeli folk
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The vinyl revival continues. Founded in 1978, Music Matters Jazz is dedicated to re-releasing new pressings of historic Blue Note jazz titles. Each of the reissued albums is restored and remastered from the original analogue master tapes
you may have missed
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The blistering revenge of a superstar scorned, an anthem to the rise of gender fluidity... Observer and Guardian writers to pick the songs that most reflect the state of music – and the world – right now
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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 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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In 1969, Rolling Stone shocked the world with an issue about the rock ‘supergroupie’. A new book tells all
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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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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
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Amy being alive meant there was hope for my heroin-addicted younger sister. When the singer died, my world caved in. What chance did we have now?
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Jamie T 'People were weirded out by me talking about anxiety'