‘Musicians drank too much and slept on my barn floor’: Andrew Bird on making cult album The Mysterious Production of Eggs

‘I was playing all day and night in a kind of fever, throwing in pop, jazz, violin, guitars and polyrhythms, while wrestling with some demons’

Willie Colón was an explosive energy source who took salsa into the stratosphere

With his gangster image, Colón ruffled the feathers of the musical establishment, but thrilled millions of fans as he displayed the raw rhythmic possibility of salsa

‘We watched 9/11 from the rooftop, blasting the music out’: how The Disintegration Loops became a requiem for the attacks

It is an epic piece of music that literally falls apart – and it perfectly captured the end-of-days chaos after the tragedy. Composer William Basinski and musician Anohni recall its febrile birth in New York’s avant-garde scene

Wes McGhee obituary

Other lives: British musician whose songwriting made an impact among country and folk music lovers in Texas

Hen Ogledd: Discombobulated review – a manifesto for collective action from Richard Dawson’s folk-rockers

Featuring taunts in Welsh, ‘bard rap’ and spirited jigs, the British quartet’s ragged, rich music underpins their vision for change

British pop-soul sensation Skye Newman: ‘I come from a vulnerable background and there are vultures in this world’

The 22-year-old singer is up for two Brit awards thanks to her frank songs about family strife and predatory men. She explains why she’s fighting for her fellow council estate kids

Fred Smith obituary

Bass player who provided subtle but potent rhythm and tone to Television on their debut album, Marquee Moon

The Streets review – semi-theatrical staging of A Grand Don’t Come for Free resurrects a British classic

Deadpan recital of the era-defining album of downbeat English rap suits the full-album format, presented with a formidable band

Mitski: Nothing’s About to Happen to Me review – mordant, melodic melancholy from the best songwriter of her generation

The US singer-songwriter’s latest album flits deftly from horror to humour, with threads of melancholy and desperate unhappiness binding the tracks

U2: Days of Ash review – six new tracks reaffirm the band as a vital political voice

On their first collection of new songs since 2017, the quartet have a crispness that has been lacking in their 21st-century material, as they nimbly react to shocking news stories

Bono lambasts ICE, Putin, Netanyahu and more as U2 release first collection of new songs since 2017

New EP Days of Ash features songs about Renee Good, Iranian protesters and other political topics, and precedes new ‘defiantly joyful’ album later in 2026

Chuck Negron obituary

Singer with a powerful four-octave range whose hits with Three Dog Night included Joy to the World

‘Like an electrical gong bath!’ The Sheffield supermarket going viral for the symphonic sound of its freezers

Redditors are thrilled by the Co-op on Ecclesall Road, where a magnificent drone is reminiscent of Brian Eno’s ambient music. We take a visit to the back aisles

Raye review – dazzling display of range from old-school Vegas to Euro-dance

Switching from noirish drama to funk stomps, neo-soul to showgirl glamour, this is a big, bold show from a singer who has entered her ‘dramatic era’

Cardi B review – ambitious spectacle and sizzling choreography

Kia Forum, Los AngelesGrammy-winning Bronx rapper electrifies LA with pugnacious lyrics and vivid set pieces on her first arena tour