Category : General Info

‘I’ve denied it for years, but Taylor Swift really can write’: Ben Bailey Smith’s honest playlist

The actor and standup – AKA Doc Brown – cracks out Bowie at parties and needs the Beatles performed at his funeral. However what does he unleash at karaoke?The primary single I purchasedI used to get a pound pocket cash and buy a Milkybar – the chunk...

Bakar: Nobody’s Home review – a spectacularly strong sense of place

(Black Butter)The singer-songwriter’s eloquent if uneven debut album is stamped with the sounds of north London – Winehouse, Blur – the place he grew upWhen the up-and-coming north London singer Bakar broke via in 2019, it was with an enthralling ret...

What links The Great British Menu to the underbelly of the 00s New York scene?

From Miquita Oliver by way of American Apparel to Oxfordshire cheese, we tumble down a five-course rabbit gapThe Nice British Menu (BBC) kicked off its 17th season this month. Not MasterChef: The Professionals, nor own-brand MasterChef, nor The Great...

Damon Albarn: The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows review – beautifully haunting

(Transgressive)Probably the most driven artists of the Britpop period, now unbothered by business success, is back with a second solo album that drifts along in a melancholy, stoned mistWhen Might’s Glastonbury livestream finally creaked into life, i...

From Beyoncé to David Bowie: 10 of the best Glastonbury sets ever

Forward of a livestreamed model of the pageant, listed here are a number of the largest and greatest performances from years gone byJay-Z walked in order that Beyoncé might run. By dealing with down a reactionary backlash in 2008 (Hip-hop? At Glaston...

Damon Albarn: UK Covid response shows 'no empathy with arts'

Blur frontman hits out at authorities and requires music to be thought-about in official plansCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageDamon Albarn has hit out at the government, saying its response to the coronavirus pandemic exhi...

News: Graham Coxon to release Superstate, a graphic novel with music

The novel will include 15 dystopian tales.

'It was like we'd gatecrashed someone else's party': how Britpop stars Menswear came apart at the seams

Back in 1994, the sharp-suited quintet might do no mistaken as document labels fought to sign them. However in-fighting, drug abuse – and knocking a Coke can over on Peter Gabriel’s mixing desk – led to a speedy demiseMenswear are regaling me with ta...

Damon Albarn in a facemask: Kevin Cummins' best photograph

‘He needed to get on a practice in Tokyo to see what they have been like. He placed on a facemask and did a shiver as a joke. Due to Covid-19, it now appears really prescient’ Blur toured Japan in 1992 and I went with them for NME. It was the first t...

August 23 updates

Added: Two gig tickets from 1990 (thanks Sean W!) Added: Lyrics for Put It Back Together and The Repetition Kills You

June 16 updates

Added: Three new entries to Blur Gigography: - 16 Sep 1995 - Eastbourne Bandstand, Eastbourne, UK - 12 Mar 1997 - MTV's 120 Minutes, New York Metropolis, USA - Oct 2000 (?) - La Primera's Musica si, Spain (thanks Damon Albarn Unofficial!) Added...

'It reminded me I should not go quietly': readers' favourite UK No 1s

Guardian readers fill in the blanks in our countdown of the best UK No 1s of all time, with entries from Dusty Springfield to Desmond Dekker, Jimi Hendrix to Joe DolceOur ranking of the 100 best No 1 singlesTo make up for the surprising shortage of b...