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Plus: Grouper’s Liz Harris on her ‘restorative’ dream-pop trio

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Fri 2 Oct 2026
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Picks of the week

‘It’s a deep soul connection’

Erasure on how 40 years of friendship got them through grief – and why Vince Clarke has quit touring

Returning for a 20th album of sumptuous synthpop, Andy Bell and Clarke open up about supporting one another through bereavement, being happily uncool and battling the resurgence of homophobia
Andy and Vince sat side by side, Vince's head is resting on Andy's shoulder
The musician Liz Harris wearing a baseball cap and laughing with her eyes close in shadowy woodland
‘It’s rational to fear the music industry’
Grouper’s Liz Harris on virality, streaming scammers and her ‘restorative’ dream-pop trio
The huddle around a staircase at the venue, posing for the camera
‘Shane was rascality personified'
The Pogues on their late frontman, anti-Irish prejudice and the feud over Fairytale of New York
A young woman in an unbuttoned checked shirt staring at the camera
‘It’s radical to release a film called Girls Like Girls in this climate’
Hitmaker turned director Hayley Kiyoko on sexuality, safety and becoming ‘Lesbian Jesus’
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Reviews

Meshell Ndegeocello rests her chin on her hand, wearing rings, in a dark jacket indoors
Alexis Petridis's album of the week
Meshell Ndegeocello: Synonym – vivid all-star reinventions of everyone from Bob Dylan to J-Lo
★★★★☆
Musician Greg Freeman stands outside a white house.
Greg Freeman
All Set the Bone – ambitious alt-country double album spreads its talents a touch thin
★★★☆☆
Six people on a grassy hillside hold rocks up to cover their faces. Folk band Trá Pháidín.
Folk album of the month
Trá Pháidín: Cloch’s Claí – giddy Galway gang burst the boundaries of folk music
★★★★★
Suggs performs into a microphone while two bandmates play guitars, from the film Take It or Leave It
Film review
Take It or Leave It – vividly atmospheric formative adventures of future pop princes Madness
★★★★☆
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Make a Feast out of anything

The Feast app: your most useful kitchen utensil
Get inspired with more than 7,000 recipes from our world-class cooks and smart, exclusive features to make cooking a breeze.

 

Spotlight

quote  Heavy metal is about uplifting the downtrodden. So why is alleged abuse by Marilyn Manson so easily forgotten?

Matt Mills
Slipknot sharing their stage with a man accused of wrongdoing by more than a dozen women is the antithesis of everything the genre should stand for, even if he denies it
Marilyn Manson.
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Classical

Isabel Leonard as Frida Kahlo in Gabriela Lena Frank's El Ultimo Sueno de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York
quote  Start spreading the news… New York’s opera giveaway shows UK politicians how to be brave
Tom Service
Geneva Lewis plays the violin, eyes closed, against a plain backdrop
Album review
Geneva Lewis: Barber, Zorn, Glass – virtuosity and warmth
★★★★☆
Classical singer Beth Taylor smiles softly with arms crossed, against a green backdrop
Album review
Beth Taylor: The Deeps Have Music – seamless legato and a gift for storytelling
★★★★☆
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Add to playlist

A flashed-out photo of Chidi Obialo, AKA Heavensouls, at a house party
Add to playlist
The beautiful, breakneck chaos of Heavensouls and the week’s best new tracks