5 d. ago How a trip to ‘Moomin island’ made me rethink summers in the Med

Spending the summer attending music festivals, foraging and island hopping amongst the happiest people in the world is far preferable to sweltering on a beach in southern Europe, says Matt Charlton

Politics

7 d. ago Everything We Do Is Music by Elizabeth Alker review – how the classics shaped pop

From Stravinsky to Donna Summer, the story of connections that enriched music – in both directionsOne of many things I did not expect to learn in this book is that the BBC benefited from Nazi technology. Its standard tape recorder, in use till the 1970s, was called the BTR-2: EMI’s original model, the BTR-1, had been copied from a captured example of the German “magnetophon”, as used by Hitler to record a radio broadcast.Musicians who liked fiddling with machines, too, benefited from this legacy. Delia Derbyshire, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop pioneer who produced the original Doctor Who theme tune and otherwise particularly enjoyed playing an enamel green lampshade, influenced Paul McCartney’s experiments with tape loops, while Steve Reich hit upon his compositional technique of “phasing” phrases in and out of sync with one another on tape recorders, before training live musicians to do the same. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago There hasn’t been a Song of the Summer for 2025 – does that matter?

This year – for the first time in a while – a ubiquitous Summer Banger has failed to materialise. Ellie Muir looks into why there’s no defining sound for our dog days in 2025, and whether it says anything about the cultural mood right now

Politics

2 w. ago Charlie Brown and Snoopy offer an animated 'Peanuts' musical about summer camp

Charlie Brown and Snoopy are heading to sleepaway camp in a new Apple TV+ special

Politics

3 w. ago Bella Thorne’s honest playlist: ‘I wrote an essay about why I admire Lil Wayne for school’

The actor has a soft spot for Olivia Rodrigo and can’t listen to any of her exes’ music, but which wintry Christmas hit did she sing at a summer karaoke?The first song I fell in love with When I was a kid, my mom gave me her iPod, and I fell in love with all her music from the 70s and 80s. I’d sing Call Me by Blondie at the top of my lungs, jumping on the bed. What a great song.The first single I downloaded I was in [Disney sitcom] Shake It Up when I started falling in love with hip-hop. I went on a binge and discovered BedRock by Young Money. I was so obsessed that I ended up writing an essay about why I admire Lil Wayne for school. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Love Island star Ellie Brown's mystery fiancé revealed as American sports star

Love Island star Ellie Brown, who previously dated Charlie Brake and Michael Griffiths, got engaged to a reported basketball player last week

Politics

4 w. ago Mass shooting at Hard Summer music festival afterparty as at least two people shot dead

The horror unfolded at around 1am local time as revellers attended an unofficial afterparty following the Hard Summer music festival in downtown Los Angeles, California

Events