For their latest album, the heavy trio delved into poetry archives to foreground work by female writers and tell stories of the ‘subjugation of femininity’ across nature and humanity Since their inception in 2012, Big Brave have amplified the torrential sound of clawing oneself into being. The Montreal trio found their early audiences in metal and post-rock – recording their sophomore album a decade ago with Efrim Menuck of agitprop heroes Godspeed You! Black Emperor and signing to Southern Lord, the label of drone metal gods Sunn O))) – but their scorched, squalling experimental rock never fi ..read more

Cher finally recognised 60 years after her first recordings, while Mary J Blige, Peter Frampton and Dave Matthews Band are among the other inductees Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Mary J Blige and A Tribe Called Quest are among the stars to be added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year – many of them rather overdue. Artists can be added to the US institution 25 years after their first recording, but Cher – who once described her snub by the Hall as “kind of rude” – has had to wait until 60 years after her first releases with Sonny & Cher to be included ..read more

He’s the world’s hottest choreographer, the man who cooks up steamy videos and stage shows for giants of music. But does the Atlanta star ever think he goes too far? Quite the opposite … This year’s Super Bowl was watched by more than 120 million people in the US, almost as many as watched the moon landings. And in the half-time show, right behind R&B superstar Usher, there was Sean Bankhead dancing. “It was a really overwhelming sensory experience,” says Bankhead. “It was hot, muggy, sweaty and it stunk like a football game.” Bankhead, 35, officially hung up his dancing shoes a few years ..read more

New album The Tortured Poets Department flies off the shelves as Swift breaks record for most Spotify streams in a single day Taylor Swift fans joined queues outside vinyl shops yesterday for the annual Record Store Day in the hope of securing a limited edition note from “the desk of Taylor Swift”. The “handwritten” note came with a limited number of copies of the musician’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, which was released on Friday ..read more

Fifty years ago, a remarkable chain of events set in motion by the broadcast of a series of songs led to the fall of a dictatorship In musical terms, Portugal’s entry for the final of the Eurovision song contest on 6 April 1974 was not what you would typically call a success. E Depois do Adeus (And After the Goodbye), performed by Paulo de Carvalho, with lyrics by José Niza, came joint last with Norway, Germany and Switzerland, narrowly avoiding an embarrassing nul points and only slightly redeemed by the fact that the winning song that year was nothing less catchy than Abba’s Waterloo ..read more

The frontwoman of the Scottish synth-pop trio had a dream music career, but it came with years of online misogyny and artistic frustration. As she prepares to release her debut solo album, she discusses going her own way A graphic novel company recently sent Lauren Mayberry a pitch asking if they could use her likeness. The comic was to be set in a post-apocalyptic Scotland (Mayberry is from Glasgow and was born in Stirling) and it featured Lauren, feminist firebrand, as one of a group of women who, Handmaid’s Tale-style, had been imprisoned, repeatedly raped and inseminated by the planet’s re ..read more

(Republic) On her 11th album, the American singer-songwriter picks apart her romantic travails in typically unsparing fashion, while her ability to turn sorrow into songwriting gold remains unparalleled In a time of so many upended certainties, Taylor Swift’s 11th album arrives as a tale very much foretold. It’s no genre bolt from the blue like Beyoncé’s recent country album; it delivers not just what Tayloristas have been speculating about furiously for months, but more: a surprise second album, The Tortured Poets Department: the Anthology, dropped at 2am the night after the first album’s rel ..read more

The debonair duo have remixed U2 and Britney, and angered Kanye West. Still on each other’s wavelengths after almost a decade away, they’re resuming their quest to make ‘the most dramatic music possible’ Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé are sitting in their record company’s London office, both wearing sunglasses and vaping heavily. De Rosnay is in an immaculately pressed denim jacket with a delicate neck scarf, while Augé, with his huge head of curls, dark glasses and thick moustache, recalls prime-era Giorgio Moroder. If it wasn’t for the fact they have vapes rather than cigarettes between t ..read more

A ..read more

A ..read more