Plus: how Leeds defied the doubters to become a hip-hop haven
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Picks of the week
Four Tet on being the world’s unlikeliest superstar DJ
‘100,000 people are about to lose their minds!’  
Four Tet on being the world’s unlikeliest superstar DJ
Kieran Hebden is now playing arenas in a bromance with Fred Again and Skrillex. In a rare interview, he talks authenticity, bootlegging Taylor Swift – and his landmark legal battle with his old label
Michael Imperioli  
I still give Morrissey the benefit of the doubt
Jamie Reid’s Sex Pistols artwork was a glorious assault on authority
‘I love being part of a collective female experience’  
Inside the all-Taylor Swift club night sweeping the UK
The Band’s Robbie Robertson captured a dream of what America was, is and might be
Reviews
Album of the week  
Noname: Sundial – riveting rapper builds new ways of living
Noname: Sundial – riveting rapper builds new ways of living
The Hives  
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons – Swedish rockers are back, louder and faster than ever
Jazz album of the month  
Tyshawn Sorey Trio: Continuing – genre-hopping triumph from award-winning drummer
Post Malone  
Austin – up close and whiny
Spotlight
How Leeds defied the doubters to become a hip-hop haven
‘What you rapping all Yorkshire for?’  
How Leeds defied the doubters to become a hip-hop haven
As a new rap exhibition opens in the city, west Yorkshire’s MCs remember how body popping gave way to bleak social commentary – and rap battles in their underpants
Classical
Come together  
The democracy of the symphony – music’s greatest form?
The democracy of the symphony – music’s greatest form?
Franck  
Hulda – grand guignol operatic curio
Hulda – grand guignol operatic curio
Opera  
Ruddigore – straight staging maroons G&S’s silly satire in the Victorian age
Ruddigore – straight staging maroons G&S’s silly satire in the Victorian age
National Youth Orchestra of Wales/Rizzi  
Drama, history and humanity
Drama, history and humanity
Add to playlist
Robbie Robertson’s 10 best recordings  
From Bob Dylan to the Band
From Bob Dylan to the Band
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Back in Barbie world with Aqua
‘Critics wanted us to be a one-hit-wonder’  
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The Scandinavian pop group’s sly, satirical take on Barbie pre-empted the hit film’s own subversion by 26 years. And they’ve noted some similarities …
Forget Instagram influencers, Sinéad O’Connor showed mental illness as it truly is
Everything the mainstream debate shrinks from, O’Connor put front and centre, says Guardian columnist Hannah Jane Parkinson
From weird nostalgia to weak formats, 6 Music is having an identity crisis
In trying to shake off the ‘6 Music Dad’ tag and not be thought of as an indie rock hub, the BBC radio station isn’t sure what it wants to be any more
‘People would have lost their culture’  
The Birmingham record label that saved south Asian music
From a transistor radio shop, Oriental Star Agencies championed legends such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and nurtured bhangra to chart success. Its 84-year-old founder recalls how
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