Plus: Steel Pulse look back on half a century of being a voice for the voiceless
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Picks of the week
Brutalist composer Daniel Blumberg on the happiness and horror of his big win
‘I never thought about Oscars’  
Brutalist composer Daniel Blumberg on the happiness and horror of his big win
The defiantly anti-commercial musician had walked away from mainstream success twice by his early 20s. Will his Academy Award convince him to embrace Hollywood, celebrity, the big bucks?
‘We swept into Moscow in Gorbachev’s limousine’  
Neil Tennant’s love affair with Russia – before the ‘cancer of Putin’
Daveed Diggs’ sci-fi rap trio Clipping  
We are at war all the time. It’s one of the great tricks of capitalism
Analysis  
Spotify is trumpeting big paydays for artists – but only a tiny fraction of them are actually thriving
‘Everyone knew who he was’  
James Hamilton, the ‘eccentric aristo’ who catalysed British club culture
Reviews
Alexis Petridis's album of the week  
Annie and the Caldwells: Can’t Lose My (Soul) – a gospel masterpiece to drag you out of despair
Annie and the Caldwells: Can’t Lose My (Soul) – a gospel masterpiece to drag you out of despair
Global album of the month  
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek: Yarın Yoksa – a feast of woozy Turkish psych
Throwing Muses  
Moonlight Concessions – as ever, Kristin Hersh is astonishing
Edwyn Collins  
Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation – the sense of an ending
Courting  
Lust for Life, Or: ‘How to Thread the Needle and Come Out the Other Side to Tell the Story’ – a giant leap forward
Spotlight
We told punk fans – you can pogo, but please don’t spit at us
UK reggae pioneers Steel Pulse  
We told punk fans – you can pogo, but please don’t spit at us
They won a Grammy, risked being shot in the US and were adored by Bob Marley. As they go on tour, the band look back on half a century of being a voice for the voiceless
Classical
Album review  
Fauré: La Bonne Chanson and Other Songs – the ecstasy of unbuttoned love
Fauré: La Bonne Chanson and Other Songs – the ecstasy of unbuttoned love
Live review  
LPO/Edusei – devastating Wijeratne and Martinů meet zany fun with Zappa
LPO/Edusei – devastating Wijeratne and Martinů meet zany fun with Zappa
Album review  
Mahler Symphony No 3 – slightly sub-par outing for ‘least hysterical’ work
Mahler Symphony No 3 – slightly sub-par outing for ‘least hysterical’ work
Live review  
Levit/Budapest Festival Orchestra/Fischer – edgy Prokofiev baffles and compels
Levit/Budapest Festival Orchestra/Fischer – edgy Prokofiev baffles and compels
Add to playlist
Ranked!  
Everybody dance: Nile Rodgers’ 20 greatest tracks
Everybody dance: Nile Rodgers’ 20 greatest tracks
You may have missed
Are they really his favourite songs?
King Charles’s Apple Music playlist  
Are they really his favourite songs?
Some of the choices on The King’s Music Room – Beyoncé, Raye – are frankly implausible but disco and reggae from his youth do get a nod
‘If all I cared about was a career, I’d make listenable music’  
Joost Klein on Eurovision, scandal and having the last laugh
The wild child ‘gabber pop’ rapper was booted off last year’s song contest. But his song Europapa eclipsed the winner’s – and he’s about to tour the world in his gigantic shoulder pads
‘Johnny Rotten tore my record off the deck’  
The superfan at the centre of disco and punk
Alan Jones somehow straddled the riotous noise of the Sex Pistols, the fetishism of Vivienne Westwood and the hedonism of disco and gay clubs. A new book tells his story
‘I cried about my breast cancer – but I didn’t throw a pity party’  
Anastacia on hardship, hits and humour
Twenty-five years after her debut album, the star is still loving life as a ‘continual working girl’. She talks about menopause, mastectomy and her bizarre failure to crack her native America
‘It sounds terrible but I listen to it 30 times a day’  
How the Lumineers made Ho Hey
‘We were moving away from bar band covers to doing our own songs. So shouting “Ho hey!” from the stage got people’s attention. We were doing it to be heard. Then suddenly everyone started listening’
Live music this week
The Brand New Heavies  
Acid jazzers are as slick and funky as ever
Acid jazzers are as slick and funky as ever
The Darkness  
Retro rockers are still in acrobatically high spirits
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