2Pac

The Ancestor’s Tale: An Interview With Richard Dawson

According to the title of his 2005 debut album, Richard Dawson is a Sings Songs And Plays Guitar kind of guy. The truth, as you might imagine, is a damn sight more expansive. On the eve of a UK tour, he speaks to Scott McKeating about counterpoints and community

Uncast Shadow Of A Southern Myth: O Brother, Where Art Thou? At 20

Joel and Ethan Coen's magical realist take on Homer's Odyssey explores the evils and quirks of Southern myths – but 20 years on, its failures and triumphs deserve a closer look, finds Madeleine Seidel

Be Quick Or Be Dead: Iron Maiden at the O2

Jeremy Allen goes to the O2 and watches Iron Maiden go to war, and then goes to war himself with all the battle metaphors the media uses in cases of cancer. All photographs John McMurtrie

Nothing But Noise Set For RSD Release

Listen to a cut from the Front 242 side project's sterling debut from last year ahead of new 10" on Saturday

Ayumi Ishito (feat. Kevin Shea and George Draguns)

Roboquarians, Vol. 2

Saxophonist Ayumi Ishito makes her horn sound like everything and anything – bar a saxophone, that is

No Music: A Baker’s Dozen with Alva Noto

From Laurie Anderson’s United States Live to Meredith Monk’s Dolmen Music, Carsten Nicolai tells Mollie Zhang about 13 records that shaped his musical backbone. Photo by Andrey Bold

GUSH

Afro Blue

A 1998 live recording with drummer Raymond Strid, and pianist Sten Sandell, finds Mats Gustafsson on crisp form channelling Coltrane on peals of sparkling, snakelike riffs

WATCH: New Algiers Video

Group confirm debut album with Matador

Paradox & Pure Rhythms: Zun Zun Egui Interviewed By John Doran

Kushal Gaya and Stephen Kerrison talk to John Doran about their new album, postcolonial identity and chopping out the boring bits

The Pleasure Of Discomfort: Siavash Amini’s Favourite Music

Siavash Amini discusses his 13 favourite albums with Jennifer Lucy Allan, including the power of romanticism, weeping over the death of Leonard Cohen, and why Nils Frahm has a lot to answer for. Photo by Selma Pour-Amin

Isabella, Jasper and Simon Fisher Turner

Savage songs of brutality and food. By the Extreme Angels of Parody

The worlds of sound art and child-rearing collide on an album of children's songs and chants collaged and transformed by Simon Fisher Turner

FESTIVAL REPORT: Festival No. 6

Andy Thomas reports back from a weekend in Portmeirion, Wales. Featuring Pet Shop Boys, Love L.U.V, Jane Weaver and more. Photos by Katja Ogrin

Smashing Pumpkins

The Aeroplane Flies High (Box Set Reissue)

40 Years On: Pere Ubu’s The Modern Dance Revisited

Can the birth of post-punk be traced back to a recording studio in the Cleveland woods? Brian Coney makes the case for Pere Ubu’s debut LP being the genre's genesis point

Trembling Bells & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy

The Bonnie Bells Of Oxford

Neil Young To Release Shelved Crazy Horse Album From 2001

'Toast' was recorded by the group at San Francisco's Toast Studios, but Young decided it was too "sad" to put out at the time