My friend David Webb, who has died aged 59 of complications during heart surgery, was an exceptional brother, friend, partner, uncle and drummer. Dave played in too many bands, and was skilled in too many genres, to mention them all. He took his drums all over the UK, and to South Africa, the US, Canada, Germany, Australia, Cambodia, and doubtless many other countries. An incomplete survey from some of his music friends brought up 27 band names, including Burn, Cambodian Space Project, London City Brass, the Devout Sceptics, the Loose Arrangements, Bo Derelict and the Buster Cornelius Quartet ..read more

(Parlophone/Atlas Artists) The new wave Britpop singer-songwriter includes a couple of old hits on an album that is in fact brimming with fresh ideas There’s something mildly frustrating about this. Indie queen Rachel Chinouriri first emerged in 2018 as a SoundCloud starlet with So My Darling, a tender hymn to an everlasting friendship. The Londoner went viral in 2022 with maddeningly catchy All I Ever Asked, finding cheerleaders such as Sophie Turner, Adele and Lewis Capaldi. Is it strange to have those old songs reappear here? A little. It suggests this is the sort of debut you release when ..read more

Usher Hall, Edinburgh The indie artist deploys her songs like controlled explosions as she turns the stage into a cabaret, a circus, a cage A curtain hangs centre stage, as if set for a magician’s disappearing act. Mitski, barely visible in a black dress and tights, gazes at it longingly before ducking behind it. Her silhouette is thrown on to the drapes, frozen like a shadow puppet, as she opens with Everyone, a muted track which speaks, cryptically, about the American artist’s relationship to music, listeners and dark bargainings of success. The song ends, the curtain drops, and the “show” b ..read more

Artists from Dua Lipa to Nia Archives are tapping the boisterous energy of mid-90s music – and even embracing the union jack. Can they avoid the genre’s laddish lows? For some, Britpop was a high point for British guitar music: that time when Blur, Pulp, Suede and Oasis thrilled the world with wit and brio. Others argue it has aged worse than Loaded magazine: blokey, beery, conservative and still clogging up the charts. Indeed, there’s perhaps something a bit dismal about the fact that James and Shed Seven have both had No 1 albums in 2024. Nevertheless, a crop of young artists are turning to ..read more

As Taylor Swift tops $1bn in tour revenue, musicians playing smaller venues are facing pitiful fees and frequent losses. Should the state step in to save our live music scene? When you see a band playing to thousands of fans in a sun-drenched festival field, signing a record deal with a major label or playing endlessly from the airwaves, it’s easy to conjure an image of success that comes with some serious cash to boot – particularly when Taylor Swift has broken $1bn in revenue for her current Eras tour. But looks can be deceiving. “I don’t blame the public for seeing a band playing to 2,000 p ..read more

(Thrill Jockey) Largely recorded on the road and full of found sounds, this beguiling record from the US ambient artist captures the feeling of self-inflicted solitude Sentiment is Claire Rousay’s self-professed pop album, and compared to the abstracted sound collages of earlier works marks a subtle change of pace for the experimental Canadian-American artist. “Pop” might seem a stretch, but these are field recordings with a solid emotional centre, the soundtrack of someone unspooling in real time. “It’s 4pm on a Monday and I cannot stop sobbing,” intones guest Theodore Cale Schafer on the ope ..read more

Influenced by Korn and moving beyond their native Ireland, the band are ready to be one of the biggest in the world. They explain how panic attacks and parenthood came to bear on a bold new LP Carlos O’Connell isn’t merely excited about the release of Fontaines DC’s new single. He’s “giddy for it. I’m giddy,” he emphasises, reclining in his dressing gown in a sunlit corner of his north London home. His attire is far from rock star loucheness: it’s 9am and the guitarist has already been up for hours with his one-year-old daughter. “There’s no time to get ready!” His effusiveness doesn’t feel li ..read more

With expansive, experimental instrumentation, the Melbourne musician’s fourth album records our contemporary chaos – and finds a glimmer of hope Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Jess Ribeiro has range. Over the last decade, the Melbourne singer-songwriter has flitted from gentle storytelling to something a little weirder and more experimental. There was the folksy world of her debut, 2012’s My Little River; her following two albums added more texture and reverb, and a bit of jangle to boot. Central to it all is Ribeiro’s voice, which conveys worlds of emotion through its unadorned ..read more

It’s been 12 years since the Australian instrumental trio’s last album. Since then, their violinist has become Cave’s right-hand man and set up a home for abused monkeys. Now they’re back with a feverishly beautiful new album You might think that the primary factor needed to make a band work is, you know, actually being able to get together to make music. Not for Dirty Three. It is 12 years since the Australian instrumental trio last released an album, 2012’s Toward the Low Sun, but it isn’t for lack of trying that their reunion has taken so long. Drummer Jim White lives in New York, guitarist ..read more

(Wichita/Pias) Forays into psychedelia and world affairs serve the reformed British shoegaze pioneers well on their seventh album Like reunited noise-poppers Slowdive, Pixies and the Jesus and Mary Chain, Ride’s reformation era has now lasted longer than their original incarnation. Unlike those peers, though, the Oxford four-piece usually delivered far better singles and gigs than albums. On Interplay, they don’t try to replicate the delicate thunder of their live shows, but foreground less familiar elements such as synths, pianos, strings and, crucially, space. There are quick visits to the b ..read more