Soft Cell: ‘One day you’re smearing your naked body with cat food, the next you’re at the garden centre’

The synthpop duo answer your questions on the fight against homophobia, getting an OBE at 60 and why they never thought Tainted Love would be a hit

Bleep it out! The bowel-quaking dance music of late-80s Yorkshire

Books and compilations are reanimating the overlooked sound of bleep: a speaker-smashing strain of DIY techno born out of breakdance rivalries and heavy industry

Save the last dance: London superclub Printworks aims to reopen in 2026

The cavernous club in an old Rotherhithe printing factory closed on Monday amid regeneration of the area. Its operators explain how they intend to keep the party going

‘A big chunk of my motivation is vengeance’: Skinny Pelembe, the musical don of Doncaster

After leaving Gilles Peterson’s label, the artist felt adrift. But by drawing on a heritage that stretches from Birmingham to Mozambique, his new music is his most confident yet

‘Creating this magical atmosphere is addictive’: five of the hottest festival acts for 2023

From veteran crowd-pleasers the Chemical Brothers to first-timer yeule, musicians discuss what they love about playing the great outdoors and give their top tips for festival-goers

Nabihah Iqbal: Dreamer review – between dream pop and the dancefloor

Her studio equipment stolen, the London musician began with a more acoustic sound on this second album – but pure electronics are still her strong suit

Post your questions for Soft Cell

As the synthpop duo return for a new album and tour, they will answer your questions about their career

Bongeziwe Mabandla: amaXesha review – South African singer in his own lane

The singer-songwriter elevates his reimagining of Xhosa folk music with synth-pop hooks and his melismatic voice

‘I was decadent, I was stupid, I was a fool’: the dark days of Donna Summer

In public she oozed glamour, but in private the disco star battled depression, self-loathing and suicidal thoughts. Her daughter speaks about the film she made to understand Summer’s silent struggle

Flume wins song of the year at 2023 Apra awards for Say Nothing

Same track that topped Triple J’s Hottest 100 takes top gong, with Rüfüs Du Sol, the Kid Laroi and Sampa the Great also winning

Everything But the Girl: Fuse review – still staking out pop’s frontier after 40 years

Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have absorbed the revolutions in dance and electronic music since their previous album in 1999, and shaped them into melancholic, finely detailed stories

Jai Paul has only released three singles in 12 years. So why is he one of Coachella’s biggest draws?

At the start of the 2010s, the Londoner released two tracks that would change the sound of the next decade. Then he vanished. This weekend, he rewards faithful fans with his first ever show

Kathleen Hanna’s feminist party band Le Tigre reunite: ‘It’s depressing our lyrics are still relevant 20 years later’

They got back together for a one-off show on Hanna’s doorstep. Then they realised they had unfinished business: to affirm their place in the punk canon and get warring feminists offline and revelling together

Yaeji: With a Hammer review – pop-facing rage and candour

The Korean-American singer-DJ examines complex questions of heritage on a debut album proper that expands her beatscape to include moments of grace

Tim Hecker: No Highs review – ambient music that reflects our polluted world

Full of alarms, arrhythmic pulses and deep bass, Hecker’s eerie work feels as if it’s bracing for cataclysm – but is nevertheless rich, warm and inviting