music
-
Police respond to rapper's home after woman calls 911 for assistanceLos Angeles police obtained a warrant to search the singer’s home and retrieved a bag he threw out the window containing drugs and a firearm, TMZ reports -
Dimensions festival review: Larry Heard keeps sunburned crowd in thrallSet in a stone fort, this dance music festival was a triumph, with daytime beach and boat parties giving way to rocking nights of Chicago and Detroit house
-
Born to writeWith the Boss still in prime stadium-filling form, and with plenty of intimate truths still to give up, his new tome promises more than the average rock memoir -
Readers' festival experiences from around the worldWe asked how you’ve enjoyed this summer’s festival season. From lasting Coachella romances to colourful carnivals, here are some of your memories
-
‘I wish I could write fantasy songs’The musician and singer, one half of indie duo Slow Club, on dark times, her debt to RuPaul – and Victoria Beckham’s beauty regime
-
Beyoncé, Britney and Kanye West – video highlightsBeyoncé stuns the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday with a 16-minute performance, after accepting the video of the year award for Formation
-
Taylor Swift is excused from jury duty in NashvilleJudge releases pop star as a potential juror in an aggravated rape and kidnapping case over conflict with her pending sexual assault lawsuit
-
Misfits recruit Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo for reunion dates‘It was an easy decision for me,’ says Lombardo, who will join Glenn Danzig’s band on stage in Denver and Chicago
-
Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's killer, loses ninth parole appealOfficials say ‘premeditated and celebrity-seeking nature’ of crime outweighs arguments in favour of release, 36 years after Beatle was shot in New York City
-
Leeds festival review – top marks for Red Hot Chili Peppers at post-GCSE blowoutBramham Park, Leeds
The headliners’ two-hour set inspires multi-generational singalongs while Fall Out Boy and Eagles of Death Metal deliver David Bowie tributes -
Leipzig Gewandhaus/Blomstedt – invigorating, gloriously silky BeethovenThe 89-year-old conductor drove his players through an emphatic performance of Beethoven’s seventh, and András Schiff made every note of the 5th piano concerto matter
-
-
Blonde review – abstract, atmospheric beautyThe singer’s new album has quality and poetry enough to raise it beyond its gimmicky release strategy
-
Blonde review – a baffling and brilliant five-star triumphWith its enigmatic beauty, intoxicating depth and intense emotion, the follow-up to Channel Orange is one of the most intriguing and contrary records ever made
-
-
How grime gave a voice to a generationA new music evolved in east London in 2002 – the sound of an angry but optimistic black Britain. A new book looks at grime’s evolution, and its new wave
-
The silliness ran deep in Gong, but they could groove like mothers, tooDespite its two founders now having died, it’s time for the word of the flying teapot to spread further – for Gong were a unique and great band
-
video
-
I’ve been here for hours: Kanye West fans queue for exclusive clothing launch – videoFashion aficionados and Kanye West fans queue up in east London on Friday to gain entry to a pop-up shop dedicated to Kanye West’s latest album The Life of Pablo
-
Stevie Wonder tells crowd 'black lives matter' in wake of shootings – videoStevie 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
-
Paloma Faith: 'Musicians are scared to speak out' – videoPaloma Faith tells Owen Jones that she thinks few musicians discuss politics because of the abuse directed at them on social media
-
Lady Gaga and the Dalai Lama call for kindness in a violent world – videoThe 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
-
Has Brexit put a downer on Glastonbury? Reaction from festival-goers – videoJohn Harris talks to Glastonbury revellers waking up to a damp day on Friday and the news that Britain had voted for Brexit
-
Pianist Ludovico Einaudi’s haunting iceberg performance to draw attention to Arctic plight – videoThe Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, renowned for his career composing scores for television and movies, gives a haunting performance among the icebergs of the Arctic
-
The most talked-about man in music – interview
His new album Channel Orange was rushed out a week early to rave reviews, then he made headlines worldwide by blogging about his sexuality
interviews
-
Indie's dark star tackles 'the complicated mess of being a woman'She made her name with angsty alt-country, but now she’s tired of being blue. The singer-songwriter discusses her new album and why it’s bigger than gender and sex
-
‘I sound like a nervous wreck who hates doing this’Their track Pompeii was one of the biggest hits of the decade but the Londoners still think they look like ‘competition winners’ when they hit the red carpet. Will their new album Wild World change that?
-
‘I’m fighting for everyone, regardless of sex’The Tobagonian calypso star on touring with Bob Marley, her battles against sexism and exploitation, and enjoying an unlikely career boost at the age of 76
-
‘We lost our minds’ – how the group spent the last 16 yearsRobbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi spent the best part of two decades making the follow up to their classic debut Since I Left You. Now – having lived through ‘seven shades of shit’ – they’re back with its Technicolor follow-up, Wildflower. What took them so long?
quizzes
-
How well do you know your Reading and Leeds festival history – quizDo you know who the first act to get coins thrown at them was? Or how many times the Red Hot Chili Peppers have headlined?
-
From Beyoncé in Chelmsford to Keith Moon – do you know this week in pop history?Car crashes, Cher and and space rock – test your knowledge
-
Pop quiz: from funeral songs to Fleetwood Mac – do you know this week in music history?We’re talking loved ones, Led pollution and new livers – test your knowledge
-
From Craig David to Coronation Street – do you know this week in pop history?It was the week Jimmy Webb was born, and Pink Floyd released their first album – but how well do you know your music history?
in pictures
-
Rock's iconic landmarksWith Prince’s Paisley Park complex due to open to the public, here’s a whistlestop tour of locations known for their musical significance – from the evocative Joshua Tree to the miserable M5 motorway near Portishead
-
Forty years of A Midsummer Night's Dream at GlyndebourneHow Glyndebourne has tackled the Benjamin Britten opera, from Peter Hall’s 1981 production to the latest revival, which will debut on 11 August
-
A look back at Woodstock - in picturesA 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
-
Jewish pop – in picturesFrom 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
you may have missed
-
10 songs in the key of 2016The 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
-
'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?
-
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
-
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
-
'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
-
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
The Millennial Whoop The melodic hook that’s taken over pop music