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From pubs to festivals to arenas, out and about with tQ
As the US reels from the re-election of Donald Trump, Jesse Dorris finds solace and inspiration in a fine weekend of concerts curated by Polish festival Unsound, from hunkering down to basement techno to riding the drone of Kali Malone and Sunn O))). Photos by Lawrence Sumulong.
Tariq Goddard finds himself not just entertained but understood by Matt Johnson as he sees him perform new The The album Ensoulment in full before a run of greatest hits. But, in an era where music has ceded its centrality in everyday life, were he and 5000 others packed into an echo chamber?
Dan Dylan Wray watches Factory Floor, Marie Davidson and Colin Stetson at MUTEK, and considers the importance of fallibility in electronic music under the monolithic shadow of AI. Amnesia Scanner & Freeka Tet photograph by Vivien Gaumand
Big Thief, Lonnie Holley, Lynks, Nadine Shah, Omar Souleyman and others triumph in another excellent instalment of Green Man. Alastair Shuttleworth reports on a weekend that again strengthens its claim to be one of the UK’s best music festivals. All photos by Jan Rijk / dutchpix.com
Pet Shop Boys’ very own never-ending Dreamworld tour is back in the Capital for a five-night run at the Royal Opera House. But on a day when central London is host to multiple demonstrations about the kind of country the UK wants to be, are Tennant and Lowe losing their common touch?
After seeing Bruce Springsteen at Wembley, Michael Hann writes a deeply personal essay about the power of live music, not as redemption or catharsis, but as a unique and potent force that reflects who we are when we encounter it
Jakub Knera reports from the ninth edition of the Sanatorium Of Sound, in Sokołowsko, Poland and focuses on the wild intonarumori instruments of Italian futurism, takes a deep listening walk to a mountainous opencast mine at dawn, and enjoys the healing properties of outdoor sound
One night of torrential rain can't dampen Julian Marszalek's spirits as he has a hoot at Green Man 2023, taking in sets by the likes of Devo, Jockstrap, Spiritualized, Bob Vylan, Billy Nomates, Nuha Ruby Ra, Lankum and his festival highlight Mandy, Indiana
Rather than the miserabilists they’re often unfairly painted as, watching The Cure at Wembley Tariq Goddard finds a band of sincerity and empathy, with superb new songs of colossal scale and a bond between artist and audience that continues to grow tighter and more heartfelt as time keeps passing
Lentils as projectiles, a medieval answer to Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, twin xylophone attack from Mexico City, a post-punk opera about the paranoid mind – Richard Foster and Patrick Clarke report back from another headspinning edition of Utrecht’s Le Guess Who?
Esme Bennett presents her picks from the performances at this year's Heroines Of Sound festival in Berlin, dedicated to experimental and multifaceted works of the world's most forward-thinking female and non-binary composers. Photos by Ulla C. Binder
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