Alexis Petridis

The musician’s long-gestating debut album melds killer tunes to grimy distortion and the scuffed gloss of Jam and Lewis-era Janet Jackson, and marks the flowering of an original pop voice

His student band was a catastrophe but the Turner prize-winning artist decided to release his music after Frank Ocean appropriated one of his experimental songs. So is his uplifting new album pop – or art?

Wolfgang Tillmans never had any intention of releasing music and certainly no intention of playing it live.

Fifty years since Abba won with Waterloo, fans are paying tribute to a pop classic. Its status is a far cry from its origins in a celebration of weedy pop and dodgy lyrics – and, whisper it, ‘nul points’ from Britain

As an all-star version of 1984’s Stop Making Sense is released, we run down the band’s best tracks, from the beautiful Dream Operator to the existential crisis of Once in a Lifetime

· 13-min read The photo on the front of Linda Thompson's new album, Proxy Music, is nothing if not striking.

Her struggles with spasmodic dysphonia has led her to write an album for a bevy of other stars to sing. She talks about trauma, ageing and stealing an audience member’s car

The two cliches used to describe the new release by a major star are that it's long-awaited and eagerly anticipated.

Are we finally seeing the real Annie Clarke? Replacing alter egos with raw immediacy, she delivers one of her best albums: restlessly inventive and packed with ideas

As Drake, Kendrick Lamar and more continue their high-profile beef, we run down the most inspired – and vicious – attacks in rap’s history