First beat

Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold performing at the 2018 Mad Cool Festival in Madrid.

Opinion | Fleet Foxes are comfort food for your ears

4 min read . 03 Oct 2020

Thelonious Monk performing at Minton’s Playhouse jazz club in New York in 1947.

Opinion | A ‘new’ album by one of jazz’s greatest pianists

4 min read . 26 Sep 2020

Suzanne Vega performing at The London Palladium on 28 September 2017. (Getty Images)

Opinion | An intimate evening with Suzanne Vega

4 min read . 20 Sep 2020

Muldrow performing in Oakland, California, in November 2019.

Opinion I A Janus-faced genius of modern jazz

4 min read . 12 Sep 2020

The late Lenny Breau‘s genius hugely exceeds his popularity among jazz fans.

Opinion I Remembering Lenny Breau, jazz’s most inventive guitarist

4 min read . 05 Sep 2020

‘Gaslighter’ from alt-country trio The Chicks’ latest album is on Obama’s 2020 playlist.

Opinion | Song recommendations from a hip ex-prez

4 min read . 29 Aug 2020

The Airborne Toxic Event perform at Riot Fest in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images)

Opinion I A book and its mesmerising soundtrack

4 min read . 22 Aug 2020

Songs by the Kolkata band Underground Authority are fiercely anti-establishment.

Opinion I Five Indian bands for an I-Day playlist

4 min read . 14 Aug 2020

Joe Casey performing with Protomartyr at the Barcelona Acció Musical. (Alamy)

Opinion I Modern day post-punk’s new prototype

4 min read . 08 Aug 2020

This podcast will tell you more about your favourite artist.

Opinion | Five essential podcasts for music aficionados

5 min read . 01 Aug 2020

Ozzy Osbourne performing live with Black Sabbath in Oslo in November 2013. (Alamy)

Opinion | The Prince of Darkness delivers another rocker

4 min read . 25 Jul 2020

The Weight Band’s music is flush with influences of Americana, country, soul and jazz, just as The Band’s was. instagram @theweightband

Opinion I Carrying The Weight of The Band

4 min read . 18 Jul 2020

Phoebe Bridgers in a still from her song ‘Motion Sickness’.

Opinion | Five great new albums by (mainly) women

4 min read . 11 Jul 2020

Neil Young performing at Hyde Park, London, on 12 July 2019. (Getty Images)

Opinion | A refreshing blast from Mister Young’s past

4 min read . 03 Jul 2020

Bob Dylan explores a vast range of issues in his new album: war, civil rights, religion.

Opinion | Bob Dylan’s rough and rowdy return

4 min read . 26 Jun 2020

Bob Dylan explores a vast range of issues in his new album: war, civil rights, religion.

Opinion | Bob Dylan's rough and rowdy return

4 min read . 26 Jun 2020

Run the Jewels performing at Finsbury Park, London, on 30 June 2018. (Photo: Getty Images)

Opinion | Powerful rap from hip-hop’s prescient duo

5 min read . 20 Jun 2020

Codeine at Wetlands, New York City, 1992. (Photo: Getty Images)

Opinion | Slow-core could do the trick during sad times

4 min read . 14 Jun 2020

The 1975 won the British Album of the Year Award at the BRIT Awards, 2019. (Photo: Getty Images)

The music of The 1975 seems to define 2020

4 min read . 06 Jun 2020

Members of the rock band Kyuss at the Riviera Theater in Chicago, in 1992. (Photo: Getty Images)

Kyuss and the continuing legacy of stoner rock

4 min read . 31 May 2020