Music

One of the magical things about Oasis was the way Liam's rough-and-ready rock blended with Noel's harmonic roll to make one of the most eminent and timeless bands of the 21st century. Like the Lennon–McCartney duo most people side with one or the other, but few would disagree that both the Beatles and Oasis would be half a band if you removed either party. Which is what makes the recent release of new records from the respective Gallagher brothers so fascinating....

As music industry lawyers say "where there's a hit there's a writ" and this one even by music standards is bizarre. Legendary hip hop brand the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA is unamused by a doggie day care centre in New York that has been trading under the name The Woof-Tang Clan. RZA Shankbone (real name Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) is suing the dogs walking and sitting service based in Brooklyn and offering services to "the illest group of dogs in New York...

“Don’t worry; I can pour it myself, thanks.” Billy Bragg whispers politely to the waitress attempting to top up his glass. We are in a hotel in Newcastle about to talk about his new album Bridges Not Walls, politics, patriotism, socialism, Brexit, his stint in the army, and everything in between. On growing up in Barking Bragg was brought up by his parents in Barking, in the same house his dad grew up in. Together with his brother, he had...

DJ Format and Abdominal are heading to our shores again! After another successful tour earlier this year, the infamous hip hop duo are heading out once again to showcase their very first full-length album together, Still Hungry. Still Hungry was released in May this year and saw the guys played live on BBC 6 Music with Lauren Laverne as well as London's very own Soho Radio. The first single from the album, 'Behind the Scenes' was play listed on 6Music...

14.11.17 The Dome, Tufnell Park, London Detroit has never sounded so gloomy. Post-punkers Protomartyr treated London to two back-to-back shows last week in support of the quartets' latest LP Relatives In Descent. Live, it's really frontman Joe Casey's show. Pacing back and forth, a beer in hand with spares in each pocket, his deadpan sermonising on-record escalates into straight-backed, blank,eyed, rapturous anger. It's easy to read this twist of emotions on his face in the photoset below.   Photos: Grant Bailey

The dance hall where The Beatles first performed their debut single is going to auction - with a guide price of just £175,000. An audience of teenage girls screamed as John, Paul, George and Ringo belted out ‘Love Me Do’ in 1962 at the Majestic Ballroom in Birkenhead, Merseyside. The venue was built as a cinema in 1916, but its glory days were the 1960s when it was at the centre of the Liverpool and Merseyside music scene. The dance...

Listen to Julie Byrne if you like: Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Nadia Reid, Patti Smith, Carole King, Bob Dylan, Richard Hawley, Mark Chapman  Julie Byrne has an instantly mesmerising stage presence. Before her first song, she gives a brief introduction - in her familiar husky, peaceful tone - and we could just as well be about to partake in a guided meditation. Everything about her is therapeutic – from her soft melodies and gentle mannerisms, to the way she picks...

So much for being the voice of the oppressed. The music of the forgotten and the derider of stereotypes and cultural demarcations. The world’s most popular art form has been swallowed by corporate America. Hip-hop, has been hijacked by the world’s elite. Embodying a continuum of struggle and acrimony, the genre once flaunted its revolutionary history, belligerence for authority and supercilious intelligence. But now, it flaunts naked woman, designer clothes and overpriced luxury cars. Hip-hop’s modern day founders Grandmaster Flash,...

Australian singer-songwriter Emily Barker is in town on Wednesday, playing the Borderline in support of her latest release Sweet Kind Of Blue. She has penned and performed theme songs for BAFTA and Ivor Novello winning television dramas Wallander (starring Kenneth Branagh) and The Shadow Line, and for the movie The Keeping Room, as well as an entire musical score for the poignant and well-received 2015 road movie, Hector, starring Peter Mullan. How would you describe the experience of recording Sweet...