This post-war Japanese sound, primarily sung by ladies in their 50s and 60s, is adapting to seek a younger audience. My besotted daughter is first in line

DANIEL ROBSON / THE GUARDIAN Since her father is a longtime music journalist and her mother is a musician, it was inevitable that my 10-year-old daughter would fall in love with music. But I never imagined that the music she would fall in love with would be enka. Enka is often considered “traditional” Japanese music […]

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SPOTIFY: News 02

THE GUARDIAN: Sped-up versions of existing songs are becoming more popular than the original versions. But who’s behind the trend? I’m listening to the accelerated, chipmunk voice of the British singer Raye on Escapism, a rebound-sex anthem that’s currently climbing UK pop charts. Raye actually has a low, brassy singing voice, but I’m not listening […]

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BEST OF THE REST: The classical CDs we missed in 2022

THE GUARDIAN / Andrew Clements It took Maurizio Pollini more than 30 years to complete his recordings of the Beethoven piano sonatas for Deutsche Grammophon. The first instalment of that series, which appeared in 1977, was devoted to the last five sonatas, including magisterial performances of the two paired on this new release, which was […]

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JOHN LYDON: News

THE GUARDIAN: Former Sex Pistol competing to represent Ireland with love letter to wife of 44 years who is living with the illness John Lydon has said he is competing to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision song contest primarily in order to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. The former Sex Pistols frontman (once known […]

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ANDY TAYLOR: News

THE GUARDIAN Last November, former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor revealed that he had been diagnosed with incurable stage four metastatic prostate cancer, in a letter read aloud by the band at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Now, Taylor has opened up about his diagnosis in an interview with 5 News, saying […]

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JOHN CALE: News – Cale has never shied away from ugly subjects

THE GUARDIAN / Chal Ravens As he hits 80 and releases a softly raging album inspired by the ugliness of the pandemic years, the ever restless and eternally avant-garde musician unburdens himself John Cale is wearing a priest’s black cassock and a string of pearls where the dog collar should go. A shock of white […]

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TAYLOR SWIFT: Money news

THE GUARDIAN / Edward Helmore Taylor Swift’s Midnights album, released in October, helped to generate $230m in sales for her label Universal last year, according to a report on Wednesday. According to JPMorgan Chase, the music superstar raised close to 3% of the company’s revenues from recorded music in 2022. As a result, analysts at […]

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SPOTIFY: News 03

There’s a Key Difference Between Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music There are now several music streaming services to choose between, and at first glance they can all seem pretty similar—tens of millions of tracks to stream, mobile and desktop apps, offline caching options, and all the rest. It’s not always clear where the differences […]

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BBC NEWS: Fans and bands fear regional network that helped launch careers of Ed Sheeran and Little Simz will be cut back as BBC confirms changes to schedules

THE GUARDIAN / Dave Simpson It is the nationwide network of weekly regional radio programmes and festival stages that has helped launch the careers of British superstars such as Ed Sheeran, Florence + the Machine, Celeste and Little Simz. But now, the future of BBC Music Introducing is believed to be under threat. For days, […]

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JOHN LYDON: News – the long read

THE GUARDIAN: John Lydon has said he is competing to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision song contest primarily in order to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. The former Sex Pistols frontman (once known as Johnny Rotten) will appear with his band, Public Image Ltd, on the Late Late Show on 3 February, performing Hawaii, […]

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THE GUARDIAN: The critics pick their classical highlights.

For the first 10 months of 2022, it seemed that British musical life was returning to some kind of normality. But that was to reckon without the decisions of the one organisation in this country whose sole reason for existence is to nurture and encourage the arts throughout England. It was generally accepted that there […]

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SCHUBERT / THE PIANO TRIOS: News

THE GUARDIAN / Andrew Clements The pianist Lars Vogt died in September last year. His cancer had been diagnosed in 2021, and he was already ill when, against doctors’ advice, he had travelled to Bremen to begin these Schubert recordings with his longtime collaborators, the violinist Christian Tetzlaff and his cellist sister Tanja. They began […]

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