Hit Singles

Hit Singles

The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs: “It was a publicity stunt and it worked”

Back in 1999, the idea of writing 69 love songs didn’t seem such a monumental task. “My labour was very cheap at the time,” says The Magnetic Fields’ mainman Stephin Merritt. “So devoting a year of full-time labour to one project didn’t seem all that unreasonable.” Advertisement For the past two years, Merritt has been touring his resultant three-hour masterpiece 69 Love Songs around the world to celebrate its 25th anniversary, playing the entire album over two consecutive nights, with upcoming shows at London’s Union Chapel as well as in Brighton and Bristol (tickets here). [embedded content] Last performed in the UK in 2001, when Peter Gabriel joined the band for the record’s cornerstone heartbreaker “The Book Of Love” at the Lyric Hammersmith, 69 Love Songs has evolved over the past quarter-century. An instant critical smash for its vast revue-style variety of stylistic experiment and superlative songwriting, the album fell between end-of-decade critic lists owing to being listed for pre-sale in 1999 but largely unavailable until 2000. “It seems appropriate,” argues Merritt. “Falling between gaps, genres and categories seems to be more or less the whole idea of 69 Love Songs. Why not fall in between centuries as well?” Over… Read More →

Hit Singles

Super Furry Animals announce 30th anniversary tour

Super Furry Animals are back! The Welsh wizards have today announced that they’ll play six live shows in May to mark the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Fuzzy Logic. See the dates for the Supacabra tour below: Wed 6 May 2026: Dublin, 3Olympia TheatreFri 8 May 2026: Glasgow, The BarrowlandsThu 14 May 2026: Llandudno, Venue CymruSat 16 May 2026: Cardiff, Utilita ArenaThu 21 May 2026: Manchester, O2 ApolloFri 22 May 2026: London, O2 Brixton Academy The Super Furries will be supported by Getdown Services (all dates except London), Melin Melyn (Cardiff only) and Honeyglaze (London only). Tickets go on general sale on October 3 at 10am – sign up here for pre-sale access. In addition, Super Furry Animals will reissue their 2005 album Love Kraft in remastered form on October 24, including 22 bonus tracks. Pre-order / pre-save here.

Hit Singles

Edwyn Collins reviewed: emotional final hometown concert capped by an Orange Juice reunion

“Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?” The buzz of expectant chatter in the auditorium turns to cheers as the room fills with the magnificent racket of The Mekons’ 1978 single, “Where Were You”, clattering out as intro music, and as a reminder of what was in the air back when all this started. Behind the stage, letters apparently stolen from the set of Elvis’s 1968 comeback special spell out E D W Y N. And now Edwyn Collins himself appears from the wings, walks slowly and determinedly to take the chair he will occupy for most, but not all, of the evening, and leans toward the mic. “The Orange Juice days,” he says. “Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?” Advertisement And with that, with his sterling five-piece band l,ocking instantly into the circling, tumbling riff of “Falling And Laughing” and with emotions already running high, we’re off. One last time. When, as it must, Hollywood gets around to making the big screen Edwyn Collins biopic, the scriptwriters will surely take poetic licence, tweak the pesky facts, and rewrite reality so that this Glasgow show becomes the final gig of this final tour. Edwyn belongs to Glasgow Sure, Edwyn… Read More →

Hit Singles

Nashville treasure – celebrating 100 years of country music institution, the Grand Ole Opry

When James Brown came to Nashville in 1979 to record vocals for “It’s Too Funky In Here”, he received an unexpected invitation. Country star Porter Waggoner asked him to stop by the Grand Ole Opry – not as an audience member, but as a performer. Backed by the fiddlers and pickers in Waggoner’s band, The Godfather Of Soul tore through Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” as well as his own “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag”. A few Opry members clutched their pearls, but the audience went wild. “It wasn’t meant to be a big media event, just a gesture of goodwill,” says Nashville historian Craig Shelburne, who writes about the performance in his new book 100 Years Of Grand Ole Opry. “It was an Opry artist saying to James Brown that his music mattered. But it also showed how unpredictable the Opry is. Anything is liable to happen on live radio.” Advertisement The venerated institution – which started as a small radio show and has grown into a symbol of the country music tradition – is celebrating its centennial in 2025, with a new boxset of live performances, a TV special, an exhibition at the Country Music Hall Of… Read More →

Hit Singles

Jeff Tweedy’s Twilight Override reviewed: Wilco frontman’s triple album is a gentle salve in stormy times

A 30-song triple album of mostly mellow consolation It was novelist and critic John Berger who first posited that “calm is a form of resistance”. Who knows if Jeff Tweedy was channelling that sentiment while creating the gentle behemoth that is Twilight Override, but he has certainly responded to the maelstrom of paranoia and inhumanity unleashed by the second Trump term – what the Wilco frontman has dubbed “a bottomless basket of rock bottom” – with a disarming composure, and a big batch of tunes for his fifth solo outing. Twilight Override is a 30-song triple album of mostly mellow consolation, insightfulrather than intimidating. In the studio performance video for “Feel Free” – one of four tracks released in advance of the album – there is a glimpse of a sign on the wall of Wilco’s Chicago studio, The Loft, saying ‘It Could Be Worse’. The song itself is a seven-minute invitation to shut out the white noise and slow down, to lay down anger and concerns, “to fall in love with the people you know and fall harder for the people you don’t”. Advertisement Tweedy is not in this alone. The album bears his name, but it is an… Read More →

Hit Singles

Spain’s Josh Haden: “The entire band was smoking weed every day!”

Though Spain are known for their lethargic pace, this wasn’t always Josh Haden’s style. He’d previously been singer and bassist for Treacherous Jaywalkers, a punk act signed in the late ’80s to SST that he now describes as “boundlessly energetic, in a negative way.” Nonetheless, a constant staple of his teenage years was John Lee Hooker’s 1966 LP, It Serves You Right To Suffer, which provided the inspiration for his next band. “It was completely opposite to all the other music I was listening to, but, as I got older, I felt like I could, or should, be open to writing differently.” Fuelled by his newfound independence and habits – “I’m out of my parents’ house,” he laughs, “and I can finally wake up and smoke a bongload before breakfast” – he began writing new songs and, six years later, released The Blue Moods Of Spain to universal acclaim – a 30th Anniversary 2xLP reissue is released on October 3. “Looking back,” he grins, “I can’t believe the reaction. We were selling out shows and every major label wanted to steal us. Rick Rubin was picking me up in his Rolls Royce, Madonna wanted to sign us, and there were… Read More →

Hit Singles

Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Plays Mulatu

His journey was meteoric Somewhere around the close of the 1950s, a 16-year-old Ethiopian boy arrived at Lindisfarne College, a boarding school in the Wrexham countryside. The young Mulutu Astatke had come to North Wales to earn a qualification in aeronautical engineering. But around his more formal studies, he picked up a trumpet and, encouraged by Lindisfarne’s headmaster, learned to play. His journey from there was meteoric – from rural Wales to London’s prestigious Trinity College of Music, and then into the city’s flourishing jazz underground, where he graced the stages of Ronnie Scott’s and Soho’s Metro Club, rubbing shoulders with other musicians from Africa and the Caribbean. Arriving in America in 1963, Astatke became the first African musician to enrol at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where he studied vibraphone and percussion. But Astatke wasn’t ready to leave his homeland behind. Relocating to New York, he found himself in a fusion mindset, mixing Ethiopian musical scales with European jazz, American funk and Latin music to create an intoxicating new sound he called “Ethio-jazz”. In 1969, he returned to Addis Ababa, landing in the midst of a vibrant nightlife scene that became known as “Swinging Addis”. Alongside other figures like… Read More →

Hit Singles

Robert Plant & Saving Grace reviewed: a new fellowship and a new quest for the Zeppelin frontman

The only thing to do is to come home From West Midlands clubs to cavernous American stadiums, from the wasted land of the Sahara to the glitz of Nashville – not to mention the darkest depths of Mordor and over the hills where the spirits fly – Robert Plant has been on quite the journey. When globe-trotting gets old, though, the only thing to do is to come home. Plant’s new album, his first with his current group Saving Grace, is a return to the promised land, located somewhere around Kidderminster and the Wyre Forest. It’s a reconnection for Plant with the musicians of the region, and a rediscovery of some of the songs of his youth. It also revitalises his craft, if that were needed. Advertisement Saving Grace’s start was inauspicious, probably just how the low-key Plant would like it: he met stringed-instrument master Matt Worley in a pub, where the pair bonded over The Incredible String Band, Dave Swarbrick and Sandy Denny, before Worley introduced the singer to guitarist Tony Kelsey. The rest of the group, mostly local players, soon slotted into place. Plant would rather his name wasn’t even on the album cover Over the last 20… Read More →

Hit Singles

Graham Nash On His 10 Greatest Songs

“I’m not going anywhere!” “It’s going to be a really good evening of songs and stories,” says Graham Nash of his current live show, which hits the UK on October 4. “I’ve got three people with me that are half my age, so I have to bring my A-game every night. There’s Todd Caldwell, who’s the organ player for the CSN band, on all keyboards. Adam Minkoff, who plays acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, bass and sings – sometimes at the same time. And Zach Djanikian, who plays acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, bass, mandolin and tenor sax. They’re kicking me in the ass every single night. And both Adam and Zach sing like angels. It might be the last time that people will get to hear a lot of these CSN songs that they love. I mean, I’m not going anywhere, but I am 83.” Of his old band, Nash also reveals that there’s a new CSN documentary in the works: “It’ll be out in about a year and it’s being made by Bob Zemeckis, who did Forrest Gump. Right now it’s three hours long. And my friend Joel Bernstein – who is not only a great photographer, but… Read More →

Hit Singles

Bruce Springsteen: 172-page Definitive Edition. Updated!

More Boss than Boss Is there no limit to the energies of Bruce Springsteen? Even leaving aside his sideline as a spokesperson for American democracy, we must most recently face up – as Peter Watts does in this new magazine which is out tomorrow – to the payload of his latest archive release. Namely, Tracks II: The Lost Albums. Garage romanticism, rowdy country, ghostly instrumentals, the box set genuinely contains multitudes, further evidence of an artist building a bigger picture, even if favourites must be sacrificed along the way. Advertisement There’s been no danger of that at a Springsteen concert, however. As you’ll read in the foldout chronology section of our new Definitive Edition of our Ultimate Music Guide, in recent years, Bruce and band have proved it all night with sets involving deep cuts, dives into entire years of work (respect due, 1973), and ultimately bringing us to a situation where his shows can bust curfews, annoy chi-chi neighbours who don’t like the noise, and top a ridiculous four hours on stage. The singer-songwriter Steve Earle recalls meeting Bruce after a 2023 show and telling him “I don’t know what you didn’t play!” The range and power of Springsteen’s work is… Read More →

Hit Singles

Legendary acoustic bassist Danny Thompson has died, aged 86

Danny Thompson, one of the most distinctive bass players in British musical history, has died peacefully at his home in Rickmansworth, aged 86. Advertisement Born in Teignmouth in April 1939, Thompson built his own bass out of a tea chest when he was 13, upgrading it to a Gand double bass two years later. By 16 he was playing the dive bars of Soho, and on his return from national service in 1963, he got a gig playing electric bass with Roy Orbison on a tour supported by The Beatles – the one and only time he ever played an electric bass. Moving through the burgeoning British blues and jazz scene, Thompson played with the likes of Alexis Korner, Ginger Baker and John McLaughlin. In 1967, he joined forces with John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Terry Cox and Bert Jansch to form folk-jazz pioneers Pentangle, with Thompson’s unique, fluid double bass style to the fore. Leaving Pentangle in 1972, he became John Martyn’s primary foil for an imperial phase of albums spanning Bless The Weather to One World. Consistently in-demand with jazz, folk and pop musicians alike, Thompson also played with Kate Bush (on The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love), David… Read More →

Hit Singles

The Rolling Stones announce a Super Deluxe reissue of Black And Blue

The Rolling Stones are reissuing their 1976 album Black And Blue on November 14 from Universal Music. It’s coming in a definitive Super Deluxe Box set, available as a 5xLP vinyl box set and a 4xCD box set, both editions include a Blu-ray disc, a hundred page hardback book, and a replica tour poster. Advertisement A limited edition 5xLP version on exclusive black and blue marbled vinyl will also be available via select online retailers, alongside streamlined 2 x disc and 1 x disc formats on both vinyl and CD. Additionally, a limited edition 1xLP Zoetrope vinyl will also be released. Click here to order a copy. The Stones’ 13th studio album, Black And Blue was the first following the departure of former guitarist Mick Taylor who was eventually replaced by Ronnie Wood. The recording sessions famously served as auditions with guitar greats Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins, Jeff Beck and Robert A. Johnson all contributing. Advertisement The 2025 reissue features a brand new mix by Steven Wilson, alongside a six track disc of previously unreleased recordings, including the Jagger/Richards composition “I Love Ladies“, plus a take on Shirley & Company’s “Shame, Shame, Shame” which you can hear below. Also included… Read More →

Hit Singles

Meet Tyler Ballgame, the LA-based crooner who really believes in love

Tyler Ballgame was born in a bar. One night he was plain old Tyler Perry, a suburban Rhode Island musical theatre kid and fan of the rock and grunge greats – The Beatles, The Who, Nirvana – singing covers in local clubs to fund his DIY musical ambitions, including albums of “Nick Drake cosplay”. Then someone in the crowd requested Roy Orbison’s “Crying” and the Ballgame began. “I’d sing it like him and people would freak out,” says Perry today. “It was like, ‘Oh, people aren’t used to hearing a singer who can do this’.” From that theatrical showman part of his psyche leapt Tyler Ballgame, an elegant and soulful crooner in the Orbison, Presley and Nilsson mould. “It just became fun to create this character. It goes back to being a theatre actor – you occupy the space, and for this, I’m occupying the space of my idealised frontman from the ’60s and ’70s.” Advertisement [embedded content] A frontman with a voice as rich and evocative as Tyler Ballgame wouldn’t live anywhere as ordinary as Rhode Island, though. Only one track from his forthcoming debut album For The First Time, Again – the sumptuous, lilting “Got A New Car”… Read More →

Hit Singles

The sound of “Dubai Star” by HRISTELIN

HRISTELIN writes like a guitarist who trusts silence as much as sound. His sessions begin with a simple motif on a clean electric line, then he adds space, texture, and just enough tension for the melody to decide where it wants to go. The result is music that feels precise rather than ornamental, even when the arrangement grows large. Dubai is present in these tracks without leaning on clichés. The city’s pace shows up as crisp percussion and wide synth pads that leave room for air. You hear it in “Dubai Star” with Julia Kirilova on vocals, where the hook arrives quietly, then tightens its grip as the guitar answers in short phrases. Nothing shouts. The parts lock in and move. HRISTELIN’s playing favors contour over flash. Solos are built from singable lines that still satisfy the theory nerds. He will slip in an odd meter or a Balkan turn, but never as a stunt. The moves serve the arc of the track. “One Life” uses this approach well, pushing forward with a steady pulse while the guitar sketches a melody that you can hum after one listen. “After Life” sits on the other side of the spectrum, patient and… Read More →

Hit Singles

Pixies announce 40th anniversary tour dates

Pixies are kicking off their 40th anniversary celebrations with a headline worldwide tour for 2026 titled Pixies 40. Founding members Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, together with bassist Emma Richardson, have so far announced dates across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands to celebrate, including their first performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Tour dates confirmed so far are below and tickets are available here from September 26. Pixies 40 2026 UK / European Tour Dates May 20 – Barbican, YorkMay 21 – Alhambra theatre, DunfermlineMay 25 – Aviva Studios, ManchesterMay 28 – Royal Albert Hall, LondonMay 31 – Live at the Castle, LimerickJune 2 – Olympia, DublinJune 30 – Zitadelle Spandau, BerlinJuly 1 – Parkbühne Clara-Zetkin-ParkJuly 2 – myticket Jahrhunderthalle, FrankfurtJuly 14 – Parco Della Musica, MilanJuly 17 – Maassilo, RotterdamJuly 18 – Muziekcentrum, EnschedeJuly 19 – PLT, Heerlen

Hit Singles

Read Bob Dylan’s and Neil Young’s setlists from Farm Aid 40

Bob Dylan and Neil Young performed at Farm Aid last night [September 20, 2025]. Founded by Willie Nelson – who headlined – the event raising money for farmers across America celebrated its 40th anniversary. The line-up at the Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, also included John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price, Waxahatchee and Billy Strings. Advertisement Dylan and his band, who have recently finished the Outlaw Festival Tour with Nelson, played: All Along The WatchtowerI Can Tell [Bo Diddley cover]To RamonaHighway 61 RevisitedDon’t Think Twice, It’s All Right Dylan was accompanied by his current touring band: Advertisement Tony Garnier – electric and standup bassAnton Fig – drumsBob Britt – acoustic guitar, electric guitarDoug Lancio – acoustic guitar, electric guitarMatt Katz-Bohen – keyboard [embedded content] This was also Dylan’s last scheduled US show of the year. He returns to the Europe in October and the UK in November. Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, meanwhile, played: Big CrimeRockin’ In The Free WorldLong Walk HomeBe The RainSouthern ManHey Hey, My My (Into The Black)Old Man The Chrome Hearts are: Micah Nelson – guitarCorey McCormick – bassAnthony LoGerfo – drumsSpooner Oldham – keys Click here to read our interview with Micah Nelson about… Read More →

Hit Singles

Katie Runnels Channels Academic Insights into New Experimental Music

Twenty years of working three jobs simultaneously prepared Katie Runnels for artistic independence most musicians never achieve. Her latest project, “Imperfect Beauty,” represents the convergence of academic rigor and experimental vulnerability—a sonic thesis written in ambient electronics and deliberate imperfection. As an educator primarily in Title I schools, Runnels brings scholarly perspective to music-making. She understands how narratives shift cultures, citing Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment alongside contemporary neuroscience podcasts. “Music has a PROFOUND ability to influence people,” she explains, connecting her work to historical moments where art catalyzed social change. Her theory about musical impact runs deeper than typical artist philosophy. Runnels believes rhythmic patterns mirror cosmic cycles, that human bodies respond to beats because existence itself follows similar rhythms. It’s thinking that emerges from someone who’s spent decades studying literature, psychology, and human behavior across multiple disciplines. Her recent recognition as one of the “World’s 50 Most Influential Business Women” reflects an unusual career trajectory built on persistence rather than connections. Her LLC survived two decades through determination alone—”blood, sweat, and tears” sustaining creative vision when industry support was absent. What distinguishes Katie Runnels from conventional indie artists is her refusal to separate personal growth from artistic practice. Recent… Read More →

Hit Singles

Peter Gabriel on his Genesis swansong: “It was a journey into the soul”

“We wanted to do something ambitious” Peter Gabriel joined former Genesis bandmates Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett to celebrate the 50th anniversary reissue of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway at an exclusive listening party and Q&A in London’s Soho yesterday (September 19), discussing the classic double album’s “difficult” making and inscrutable plot. “Who the fuck knows?” Gabriel joked when asked by host Alexis Petredis what the album – receiving a deluxe 4CD/5LP box set re-release next week, featuring demos, a live show and Dolby Atmos remix – was all about. “I can say what I think I was trying to get to. It was a journey into the soul. In life, key experiences that happen to us, and often not the ones we choose, give us a little more of an education and hopefully a bit of wisdom and a bit more knowledge of ourselves. So in a way it was trying to accelerate a set of experiences that would allow this character to learn a lot more about himself.” Advertisement In easy and jocular mood, the band spoke about the origins of the 1975 opus concept. “We wanted to do something that was a bit more ambitious… Read More →

Hit Singles

“God Will Be My Peace”: Peg Luke Re-Releases a Defining Song

Peg Luke, the Emmy- and Grammy-nominated artist known for her authenticity and spiritual depth, has re-released one of her most moving songs, “God Will Be My Peace.” The track returns as a reminder of Luke’s ability to create music that blends timeless faith with contemporary resonance. At just over two and a half minutes, the song carries remarkable emotional weight. Luke’s luminous vocals rise above a delicate piano melody, gradually joined by layered harmonies that expand into something stirring and full of grandeur. Compact yet sweeping, it’s a piece that draws listeners back again and again. Her recent projects highlight a versatility that keeps her music fresh and unexpected. With “God Will Be My Peace” now re-released, Peg Luke is also focused on creating new work, promising her audience more music in the near future. For Luke, music is both personal and communal—a thread that binds audiences across genres and generations. With this re-release and new compositions on the way, she continues to affirm her place as a creator who bridges faith, artistry, and emotion in every note.

Hit Singles

Micah Nelson on touring with Neil Young: “rock‘n’roll energy!”

As the youngest son of Willie Nelson, guitarist Micah Nelson has been in Neil Young’s circle since childhood. He later played with Young between 2014 and 2019 as a member of of The Promise Of The Real, recording two studio albums The Monsanto Years and The Visitor and a live album Earth. More recently, as a member of Young’s latest backing band The Chrome Hearts, Nelson has appeared on Young’s latest studio album Talkin To The Trees and the Love Earth World Tour — which wrapped on September 15 at the Hollywood Bowl. Here, Nelson talks us through some highlights from the tour: from the surprise appearance of “Ambulance Blues”, the arrival in the setlist of rarities like “Sail Away” and “Singer Without A Song”, the origins of new song “Big Crime” to… what’s next for Young as he prepares to turn 80? Advertisement Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images “We might know what we’re going to play first” UNCUT: The setlist seems to have become more fluid as the tour has progressed. Is that just Neil on a whim or does the band also get involved in terms of what you perform?NELSON: It’s both really. Back in the day [Nelson touring… Read More →

Hit Singles

“It’s a very sensual song” – Suede on the making of “The Drowners”

As Suede conclude their triumphant Southbank Takeover, here’s Brett Anderson, Bernard Butler, Mat Osman, Simon Gilbert and producer Ed Buller remembering the creation of their debut single, “The Drowners”. Inspired by glam and “engorged flesh”, it earned the band celebrity fans and a record deal, and helped change the course of ’90s indie… For Suede, it was, in many ways, the worst of times. Singer Brett Anderson had broken up with girlfriend Justine Frischmann, losing along the way his residence in her plush Kensington flat, and her hustle as ersatz band manager. Advertisement It was also the best of times. In his new, meaner lodgings in London’s seamier Westbourne Park, Anderson made a giant leap forward as a writer, shedding his Momus-indebted flourishes for a new style of lyrics that romantically recast his own penurious lifestyle. He grew closer to guitarist Bernard Butler, and their songwriting partnership gave up its first real fruits. “When someone is going out with someone in the band and they’re going home together you can never break that down,” remembers Butler. “Brett was a hidden character behind Justine. So when that ended, that’s when we started writing good things together. Justine lent me the money… Read More →