Sarah Leonard obituary
Soprano with a remarkable high register who made her debut at La Scala, Milan, and sang with the Michael Nyman Band
The 50 best albums of 2024: No 2 – Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee
The mysterious and theatrical singer’s monumental 32-track album is a parallel dimension of nostalgic pop, its pristine tunes rivalling the greats of the 20th century
Bob ‘Slim’ Dunlap, guitarist in the Replacements, dies at 73
The well-loved ‘replacement Replacement’ joined the band after being a janitor at a local music venue where they played early shows
The Christmas that went wrong: I was hungover – so I bought everyone in my family a Moby CD
A term’s worth of techno clubs and afterparties at university in Glasgow didn’t do much for my education or my choice of Christmas gifts
‘I don’t deal in nonsense’: Tulisa on ‘revenge porn’, tabloid stings, celibacy, success and survival
After a stint on I’m a Celebrity, the N-Dubz singer is preparing for her next act. She discusses the trauma she has lived through – and why she still has faith in the future
Move over, Mariah! The cheesiest, weepiest, silliest, booziest European Christmas bangers
Bye Bye Bing and Brenda! Bonjour Janek and Piramis! Here’s our guide to the foreign festive anthems that get the whole continent schmoozing under the mistletoe. Warning: this article contains accordions
Amazon push may help Tom Grennan beat Wham! to UK Christmas No 1
Grennan’s It Can’t Be Christmas is one of many Amazon-exclusive singles in recent festive chart races
The 50 best albums of 2024: No 3 – Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft
Stepping aside from her role as pop’s conscience, Eilish looks inward to tell murky love stories on her third album, and returns to her teenage flirtations with the macabre
Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists/Rousset review – joyous and immaculate festive programme
Under the baton of Christophe Rousset, the Monteverdis sounded exquisite in a celebration of Advent that balanced reflection with exultation
Aphex Twin: Music from the Merch Desk (2016-2023) review – Santa’s sack overspills with AFX bounty
Compiling the highly sought-after limited vinyl releases sold at recent festival sets, this surprise 38-track release filled with bangers and beauty is a trove for fans
The 10 best contemporary albums of 2024
Astrid Sonne’s sonic odyssey led her to Auto-Tune experiments, Caroline Shaw took Emily Dickinson into junkyard hip-hop and Nala Sinephro went space-age
Cher: The Memoir, Part One review – from an orphanage to superstardom
The first volume of Cher’s extraordinary memoir mixes hard times with the high life
Zakir Hussain obituary
Virtuoso tabla player whose work with a variety of musicians included composing for films
New heights, fond farewells and daring acrobatics – the year in classical music
It was a thrilling year with glittering new works, an electrifying Proms season, Puccini in a laundry and Britten on a trapeze
‘Like Depeche Mode, but evil’: the sweaty, sexual music of 80s EBM
As documented in a new book, electronic body music swept Belgium and Germany as its artists strove to make something entirely new – but their militaristic look became controversial