Plus: The secret life of Noah Kahan
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Sleeve Notes
Picks of the week
Pop-punk was seen as paint-by-numbers nursery rhyme music. But there’s a lot of creativity
Sum 41  
Pop-punk was seen as paint-by-numbers nursery rhyme music. But there’s a lot of creativity
The Canadian band have weathered shocking attacks, alcoholism, collapsing popularity and being papped with Paris Hilton – so why are they breaking up amid their genre’s resurgence?
The reader interview  
Sheryl Crow: ‘AI is so real. It feels like an assault on my spirit’
The secret life of Noah Kahan  
Pop’s sudden superstar on No1s, packed arenas – and impostor syndrome
‘Music is the language of the world’  
How a Syrian refugee became the toast of the Irish folk scene
Reviews
Alexis Petridis's album of the week  
MGMT: Loss of Life – surprise TikTok stars play to their strengths
MGMT: Loss of Life – surprise TikTok stars play to their strengths
Global album of the month  
Amaro Freitas: Y’Y – transcendent sounds inspired by the Amazon
The Body and Dis Fig  
Orchards of a Futile Heaven – awe-inspiring music for heavy times
Theatre  
Hadestown – thrilling songs from an American underworld
Spotlight
Nine festivals cancel amid rising costs
‘UK’s position as live music leader at stake’  
Nine festivals cancel amid rising costs
Standon Calling among events scheduled for 2024 to call time or postpone amid fears of impact on new talent
Classical
Stravinsky  
Pulcinella Suite – Falla: El Retablo de Maese Pedro – fascinating and intense
Pulcinella Suite – Falla: El Retablo de Maese Pedro – fascinating and intense
Quatuor Agate  
Brahms: The String Quartets – a suave and refined debut
Brahms: The String Quartets – a suave and refined debut
Philharmonia/LPO  
Brilliant new piano concertos by Dessner and Coll
Brilliant new piano concertos by Dessner and Coll
You may have missed
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind – huge, moving and full of surprises
Art review  
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind – huge, moving and full of surprises
Inviting you to draw on the walls, hammer in nails and climb into cloth bags like the ones she shared with John Lennon, this retrospective of the artist’s hopeful work over seven decades is as inclusive as it is instructive
‘If you release that, I’m leaving’  
How Cutting Crew made (I Just) Died in Your Arms
‘So many people asked us about the origins of our name that we put the answer on a T-shirt. An Italian journalist was so disgusted by this he walked out’
Cult singer-songwriter Bill Fay  
I didn’t leave the music business, the music business left me!
In his last ever interview, the 80-year-old – admired by stacks of stars from Nick Cave to Jeff Tweedy – explains how God and war informed his distinctive folk pop, and how he got a second chance at success late in life
Eurovision  
Israeli song under ‘scrutiny’ for alleged Hamas attack reference
Organisers considering if lyrics breach non-political rules a week after giving Israel all-clear to participate
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