Bruno Mars: The Romantic review – you’re better off listening to the songs he’s blatantly imitating
(Atlantic)Harking back to Oye Como Va, Move On Up and other 20th-century classics, Mars’s homages are beautifully performed but bereft of new ideas
‘It’s good music, not a guilty pleasure’: how Bruno Mars embraced cheese to become pop’s most popular star
He gets more streams than Taylor Swift or Bad Bunny, thanks to a shamelessly corny and cannily timeless style. Close collaborators and industry experts explain his secret
Lala Lala: Heaven 2 review – brooding alt-popper fights the urge to run
Lillie West’s fourth album is a hazy, mid-tempo meditation on escape that gets stuck in a numbing mid-tempo mode – though there is a gorgeous moment of release
‘Everybody wants a bestie like this guy!’ Rush on rock’s most anticipated reunion – and its greatest bromance
After drummer Neil Peart died in 2020, many thought the Canadian prog legends would never reform. As they book a mammoth global tour, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson explain how their lifelong bond drew them back together
Dead-end boys and West End girls: Lily Allen’s greatest songs – ranked!
Ahead of her UK tour and her three nominations at this weekend’s Brit awards, we appraise Allen’s sharp, candid songcraft
Gorillaz: The Mountain review – a late career peak haunted by ghosts yet glowing with life
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band mark 25 years with an album inspired by India and shaped by loss, featuring collaborators living and dead
‘The bathrooms were rank, but we didn’t care’: how the grimy-but-great CBGB changed rock for ever
Half a century ago, the famed New York venue run by a former marine and folk singer was ground zero for the punk and new wave scenes. Now the bands who played there are being celebrated on a 101-track box set
Willie Colón obituary
New York-born Puerto Rican trombonist, singer, bandleader and exponent of salsa credited with nearly 40 albums
Source close to Rolling Stones disputes Melania producer’s claim Mick Jagger ‘gave his blessing’ to use song
Spokesperson for Rolling Stones tells Guardian band did not liaise with Marc Beckman and his team on use of Gimme Shelter in first lady documentary
‘We’re a pub friendship – with songs attached’: deadpan dazzlers Black Box Recorder return, thanks to Billie Eilish
Their unnerving songs about car crashes and suburban ennui, sung in a sparkling yet unemotional RP, stood out from the Britpop bloat. Now, thanks to a certain singer taking their streams stratospheric, the trio are back
Temple of boom! Why Taiwan’s religious sites are becoming unlikely rave venues
Dance culture faces barriers in Taiwan, with frequent raids on nightclubs. But Temple Meltdown is trying a different tack, with sound systems overseen by gods
‘Musicians drank too much and slept on my barn floor’: Andrew Bird on making cult album The Mysterious Production of Eggs
‘I was playing all day and night in a kind of fever, throwing in pop, jazz, violin, guitars and polyrhythms, while wrestling with some demons’
Willie Colón was an explosive energy source who took salsa into the stratosphere
With his gangster image, Colón ruffled the feathers of the musical establishment, but thrilled millions of fans as he displayed the raw rhythmic possibility of salsa
‘We watched 9/11 from the rooftop, blasting the music out’: how The Disintegration Loops became a requiem for the attacks
It is an epic piece of music that literally falls apart – and it perfectly captured the end-of-days chaos after the tragedy. Composer William Basinski and musician Anohni recall its febrile birth in New York’s avant-garde scene
Wes McGhee obituary
Other lives: British musician whose songwriting made an impact among country and folk music lovers in Texas