music
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The fims that acted as midwives at the birth of AmericanaThe Band’s Scorsese-helmed farewell couldn’t be more to different to the long-overlooked ‘outlaw country’ doc, but both are touchstones for today’s roots musicians -
The unreleased tracks from Chapter and Verse reviewedFive tracks on the new Springsteen compilation – timed to accompany his autobiography – predate his fame and have never been released officially – but how good are they?
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Skeleton Tree – brilliant music on the verge of collapseThe band’s misunderstood new album has an eerie and apparently premonitory power -
Share your songs about retrospectionMake your nomination in the comments and a reader will pick the best eligible tracks for a playlist next week – you have until Monday 19 September
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‘I didn’t want to be a rapper. I wanted to be Yoko Ono’Last year, the performance artist-turned-rapper announced he was HIV-positive. But instead of ending his career, it marked a turning point – which has now been capped with a debut album
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10 of the bestGaga’s wide-eyed hope gradually eroded as she became the most famous artist of the last decade. Here are 10 of the songs that show how absurd pop can be
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Triple J executive on Hottest 100 date change: ‘Sometimes the majority has to stand up for the minority’Content director says New Year’s Day a strong contender for alternative date if countdown moved from Australia Day after 2017
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Tom Waits loses court bid to stop French show using his songsThe singer wanted €500,000 from the Paris production On Achève Bien les Anges, but the company says it paid royalties
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Jay Z calls 'war on drugs' an 'epic fail' in New York Times videoRapper traces origins of so-called ‘war on drugs’ back to Richard Nixon in animated op-ed video
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Il Barbiere di Siviglia review – terrific performances make Rossini revival sparkleThomas Guthrie’s reworking of Leiser and Caurier’s 2005 production is tremendous fun, with a top-notch ensemble cast that includes Javier Camarena and Ferruccio Furlanetto
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Marian Consort: Breaking the Rules review – daring and vivid one-man psychodramaThe Marian Consort sang fluidly and Gerald Kyd played Gesualdo, the murderous 16th-century composer prince, in this part-concert, part-play
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Skeleton Tree – a raw document of griefRecorded following the death of Cave’s son, the Bad Seeds’ 16th album explores loss elliptically and with painful vulnerability
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Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016 – stripped back but still elusiveStripped of his pearly king artifice, White’s new pose as a normal human being finds him every bit the painstaking craftsman in this classy compilation
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Why I belong as a black woman in the white world of indieSolange Knowles was reportedly pelted with limes by white people at a Kraftwerk gig for being an outsider. I feel white micro-aggressions like that every day, says publicist Michelle Kambasha
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The groundbreaking composer America almost forgotWhen the pianist died homeless and alone in 1990, it looked like his music had died with him – but fans and one tireless researcher refused to let that happen
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video
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Asteroid to be named after Freddie Mercury in honour of his 70th birthday – videoBrian May announces the news that an asteroid is to be named after his former Queen bandmate Freddie Mercury to mark the occasion of his 70th birthday on 5 September
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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‘The idea of censoring things as you write, it’s something I don’t do’The songwriter and author on finding fresh inspiration, oversharing and hanging out by Bryan Ferry’s pool
interviews
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'People are catching on. There's a revolution happening'Grime is going global and the MC is leading the charge with a self-released, Mercury nominated album. He explains why he’s avoided the mainstream
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‘Kanye wanted me to be myself – I wasn’t ready’His 2012 debut made him one of the music world’s most wanted. But, riven by doubt, he ended up walking out on the planet’s biggest rapper and heading home to watch TV in his pyjamas. Has he finally banished those demons?
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‘I was watching low-budget 70s horror movies with nude vampires’The Norwegian musician’s work is rooted in the avant garde and influenced by everything from psychoanalysis to Gaudi to schlocky films – but don’t say her new album Blood Bitch isn’t pop
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Britain's up-and-coming country music queensThe duo may be from Hampshire rather than Nashville, but they’re about to have a No1 album in their native land – before setting their sights on the USA
quizzes
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How well do you know the Mercury prize?As the 25th-annual event approaches, test how well you know the past winners, losers and all-round award show bothers
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From Uptown Funk to Verve royalties, do you know this week in music history?Test your pop knowledge with our Friday quiz
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How well do you know this week in pop history? Take our quiz to find outWho was unamused at 2003’s MTV Video Music awards, how many ‘baby’ songs came out in 1963 and how did Guns N’ Roses make the skies less friendly?
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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?
in pictures
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Last Night of the PromsPhotographer Teri Pengilly was given exclusive access to the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday to watch preparations for the biggest night in classical music’s calendar
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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
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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
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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
you may have missed
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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
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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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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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'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
Liveblog Skepta wins the 2016 Mercury prize – as it happened
Mercury prize Bowie? Skepta? Radiohead? Our critics decide who should win
Quiz How well do you know the Mercury prize?