Music
A blast from the past
Halfway through what must count as one of the more esoteric quests, Jennifer Lucy Allan finds herself on a hill…
Letters
The Union in peril Sir: Fraser Nelson (‘The great pretender’, 15 May) writes that it has never been easier to…
‘I’m not interested in moral purity’
Michael Hann talks to St Vincent about Sheena Easton, Stalin and performing in five-inch heels
Inside stories
Prison-based podcast Banged Up, now in its second series, is far more uplifting — and less soapy — than its…
Loony tunes
The unstoppable rise of ‘background’ music
It’s cool to spool
May the gods of Hiss and Compression bless Lou Ottens. As head of new product development at Phillips, the Dutch…
Barack and the Boss
Barack Obama wants the world to know how much he loves singing. In his new podcast, which takes the form…
‘I like upsetting people’
Michael Hann talks to the cult rock star Steven Wilson about why it’s harder to write a pop song than prog
Sea fever
From ancient Greece to TikTok: Alexandra Coghlan on the pulling power of shanties
Rattled
Will Britain’s orchestras survive the Brexit exodus?
‘We knew there was greatness in these songs’
Graeme Thomson talks to Steve Diggle, front man of Buzzcocks, about orgasms, boredom and Pete Shelley
Yes man
Rod Liddle talks to Rick Wakeman about lockdown, the Sex Pistols, and how you can’t have opinions any more
The Red Hand Files
Two years ago, the songwriter Nick Cave told his fans that he’d speak to them directly — not through an…
Letter from Hawaii
In a normal week, I would jam with local musicians, but that stopped in March and we musicians miss the…
Musician’s notebook
My November was bookended by two characteristic displays of grace. I ushered it in by falling on all fours while…
The making of a composer
‘My dear young man: don’t take it too hard,’ Joseph II counsels a puppyish Mozart, the colour of his hair…
Barometer
Last orders The new tier restrictions have made life difficult for pubs. How many are closed? — According to the…
Riveting twosome
This week, two electrifying performances in two excellent films rather than two mediocre performances in the one mediocre film —…
Whistling past the graveyard
Dr John called James Booker ‘the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced’. Booker died…
Illegal raves
Every time I read that Britain’s anti-coronavirus measures are being jeopardised by a ‘small minority of senseless individuals’ holding illegal…
Youthful mistakes
In January, the director-general of the BBC, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, announced that the corporation intended to shift away from…
I’m missing moshpits
There was only so long anyone could put up with the live musical performances of the early days of lockdown:…
Diary
‘Musician’ is how I described myself to the nice Latvian lady interviewing me the other week for an ONS survey…
Homage to Avalonia
Televising Glastonbury has changed the festival, and in turn transformed television, says Graeme Thomson
Cheap thrills
Noël Coward was so right that his words have become a cliché: it is indeed extraordinary how potent cheap music…
