Bach’s accidental masterpiece
The keyboard works of The Well-Tempered Clavier sound more novel and luminous 300 years later than in their composer’s day.
ByMusic reviews
Read about the best live performances, contemporary music and classic records here.
Caitlin Rose: “I’ve never been embarrassed of who I am”
The Nashville-born musician on trauma, getting older and taking nine years away from music.
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The high-art cabaret of Christine and the Queens’ Redcar
At a circus venue in Paris the next evolution in the musician’s theatrical pop shows how real life seeps into…
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The Proclaimers are still Britain’s best male rock singers
At a recent gig in Leicester, the duo were just as much a juggernaut as they have always been.
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How Arctic Monkeys succumbed to solipsism
On The Car, Alex Turner sounds increasingly like a man who doesn’t need his band any more. The resulting record is…
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How Morrissey became irrelevant
At a gig in south London, the singer seemed trapped by nostalgia for his early career – and a terminally…
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Nick Cave’s second coming
At 65, the Australian singer-songwriter is more creatively alive than ever before.
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Marcus Mumford lets go of shame
On his first solo album, the Mumford & Sons frontman confronts the sexual abuse he experienced at the age of…
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How Homogenic brought Björk into focus
Twenty-five years after its release, the Icelander’s third album sounds as urgent as ever.
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason: “The cello is a part of you”
The 23-year-old has already played for the royals and tackled the Elgar Cello Concerto. Where does he go from here?
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Beyoncé’s Renaissance album is an exultant, daring return to sticky dancefloors
Referencing ballroom culture and Seventies disco, her new album will see you emerge from the club sweaty, bruised and ecstatic.
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When Joni Mitchell surprised the world
In her first full live show in 20 years, her voice was rich and brown with age and fags.
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Vaughan Williams’ vision of Englishness is not the one we need
The composer dominates the BBC Proms this year, the 150th anniversary of his birth. But if this is our national…
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The “Running Up That Hill” revival proves the best songs are timeless
It’s no wonder Gen Z have fallen in love with Kate Bush’s empathy anthem.
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The BBC’s Glastonbury TV coverage is a hellish nostalgia generator
This year’s festival will be shown on TV for longer, and in higher definition. Ageing festival veterans should steel themselves.
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Why Grace Jones matters more than ever
At the 74-year-old’s Southbank Centre gig, it’s clear that the political and aesthetic reverberations of her art are still being…
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Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind: best served tepid
Drake used to be our Prince Hamlet – but on his underpowered new album he is a journeyman extra offering…
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Bob Stanley’s pre-history of pop breathes life into a lost musical era
In Let’s Do It, the musician and journalist reveals how ragtime, jazz, blues and swing still shape today’s popular culture.
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Muso snobs don’t own Kate Bush
Hoary gatekeepers mocking teenagers for finding “Running Up That Hill” through Stranger Things forget this is how it’s always worked.
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Wu-Tang Forever at 25: an audacious milestone in hip-hop
How the Wu-Tang Clan's brooding, sprawling second album shaped popular culture at the turn of the millennium.
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