70 m. ago Kate Bush, Imogen Heap and Damon Albarn among 1,000 artists featured on silent AI protest album

Project features recordings of empty studios and recording spaces, which musicians warn could become the reality should new AI proposals go ahead

Events

84 m. ago Cold Wallet review – blackly comic revenge fable goes into crypto’s corrupt heart

Fickle financial dealings leave a man and his friends in debt, prompting them to go in search of the slippery crypto king responsible and hold him to accountThe opening crawl for this timely, acute thriller proclaims it’s a Steven Soderbergh presentation, although that’s the only place that the veteran film-maker’s name crops up in the credits. No doubt kudos here should mostly be due to director Cutter Hodierne and screenwriter John Hibey, as well as their crew and cast, but it’s tempting to sense a light Soderberghian touch in Cold Wallet’s blackly comic look at how cryptocurrency eats the soul of all who meddle in its black arts.Charismatic Raúl Castillo stars as protagonist Billy, a bit of a screw-up who is neck deep in a crypto called – tellingly for those aware of the history of bubble stocks – Tulip. Hoping to cash out enough to buy a house so he can gain better access to his daughter who lives with his bitter ex-wife (Zoe Winters from Succession), Billy is the proverbial thi...

Politics

85 m. ago More than 1,000 musicians including Kate Bush and The Clash release 'silent album' to show the impact Labour's damaging AI plans would have on the music industry

Massive stars including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and The Clash are among those who have collaborated on the project designed to warn that Labour's proposals would see the industry fall silent.

Culture

2 h. ago Pet Shop Boys announce big Greatest Hits gig for Cardiff this summer

They are the latest band to announce they will be performing at Cardiff Castle this summer

Events

2 h. ago Brit Awards 2025: When are they on, presenters and live performances

From Sam Fender to Sabrina Carpenter, here is everything you need to know about the Brits - the annual celebration of the best music

Events

4 h. ago It’s grand theft AI and UK ministers are behind it. Oppose this robbery of people’s creativity | Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alastair Webber

The plan to weaken copyright law, allowing tech firms to profit for free from people’s talent, is an outrage, and the nation would sufferWe are father and son: one has written 16 musicals and counting, the other cofounded The Other Songs, a leading independent record and publishing company. Our work has employed thousands globally, nurturing the next generation of talent. Copyright is the foundation that protects this, and all creative work: from music, theatre and literature to film and art. Copyright ensures creators retain control and are fairly compensated. It underpins the creative economy. Put simply, it allows artists and creatives to make a living. Endless studies have shown what a benefit that creativity – music, theatre, dance, art, film, TV, the list is endless – has on the rest of society.Yet, today, the UK government is proposing changes that would strip creators of this protection. Under the data (use and access) bill, AI companies would be allowed to take works, past ...

Politics

4 h. ago How The Brutalist made its disorienting, dazzling score: ‘It was hammers and screws making music!’

The Oscar-nominated soundscape of Brady Corbet’s awards frontrunner was often recorded before filming had begun, before being blasted out of speakers onto the set of the film during production. Kevin E G Perry speaks to composer Daniel Blumberg about his very novel approach to music – and his surprise that it’s been so embraced

Politics

4 h. ago Voices: AI cannot be allowed to thrive at the expense of the UK’s creative industries

Journalism – along with the film, music and television industries – must stand strong in the face of growing power of AI, writes Chris Blackhurst. In the end, we need each other to prosper

Politics

4 h. ago Sports Team: ‘They pointed the gun at our tour manager... we took cover’

Fresh from a too-close experience of armed robbery in the US, the flamboyant indie band tell Mark Beaumont about their new album, America as the new Roman empire, and being on Louis Tomlinson’s mood board

Society

5 h. ago Grace Slick on sex, drugs and Jefferson Airplane: ‘I was sober in the 80s. That was a mistake’

She topped the charts, dropped the F-bomb on US TV, was ghosted by Jim Morrison and planned to spike Richard Nixon’s tea with LSD. Now 85, the legendary singer tells allRock’n’roll might not be advertised as being good for your health, but it’s worked out all right for Grace Slick. The former Jefferson Airplane singer is talking me through a life story that spans psychedelic drugs, free love, alcoholism, house fires and a high speed car crash. And yet, even at the age of 85, she sounds as perky, full of mischief and hilariously coarse as any interviewee I can remember.“Rock’n’roll people are spoiled brats,” she says at one point with a throaty cackle. “We don’t know anything about anything except having fun, how much money we can spend and who we can screw.” Continue reading...

Events

7 h. ago More than 1,000 musicians including Kate Bash and The Clash release 'silent album' to show the impact Labour's damaging AI plans would have on the music industry

Massive stars including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and The Clash are among those who have collaborated on the project designed to warn that Labour's proposals would see the industry fall silent.

Culture

10 h. ago Top 10 grocery stores in the US named in massive study — and two of them are tied for first place

Top of the heap score with product quality, service and store experience

Politics

10 h. ago Lizzo appears to tease new music in video speaking of ‘real love in real life’

The US singer stepped back from the public eye while facing a lawsuit.

Culture

10 h. ago Hard rock duo Nova Twins debut songs from upcoming album at Brits Week gig

The pair thanked their fans for ‘keeping venues alive’ during the gig at London’s Omeara.

Culture

13 h. ago Roberta Flack exposed Killing Me Softly With His Song to the world – songwriter

The soul singer has died at the age of 88.

Events

13 h. ago Second time lucky? Everything we know about Fyre Festival 2, from sky

Convicted fraudster Billy McFarland said the second iteration of his Fyre Festival is ‘my dream finally becoming a reality‘

Politics

14 h. ago Oprah Winfrey hails Roberta Flack for creating ‘soundtrack to our lives’

The US soul singer died ‘surrounded by her family’ at the age of 88.

Politics

14 h. ago Roberta Flack’s performances softly burned with the fire of life itself

The soul singer was ambitiously diverse in her musicianship, and enthralled at every turn – whether doing desolate folk cover versions or lighter, sophisticated popIn the liner notes to 2023’s Lost Takes – which excavated the tapes that had served as Roberta Flack’s audition for Atlantic Records over half a century earlier – the poet Harmony Holiday wrote that Flack possessed “the voice of the idyllic afterlife you’d want to arrive in after the end of a dysfunctional world”.Indeed, Flack sang like she was equally conversant with the ecstasy of faith and the agony of life. The dignified richness of her vocal was tempered by the subtly volcanic power she displayed on her reading of To Sir With Love off Lost Takes – a not-so-quiet fire that always resided within her. Continue reading...

Events

15 h. ago The Guardian view on AI and copyright: creativity should be cherished, not given away | Editorial

The government’s consultation was weighted towards big tech. Now is the time for a rethinkIt’s a seductive promise: let our computers scrape the internet for ideas, images, forms of words, stories, music, jokes and our industry will make your country rich. For a UK government desperate for economic growth, the demands of tech companies for copyright laws to be relaxed – in order that their artificial intelligence (AI) systems can access as much online content as possible without having to pay or seek permission – have been hard to resist. The US and China are the global leaders of this new tech race. But the UK has a chance to compete that ministers are desperate not to miss.To AI businesses, copyright is an irritant. Three years ago, it appeared that their lobbyists were on the verge of getting their way when a government agency, the Intellectual Property Office, recommended an exemption for data mining. This would grant bots free rein and – so the argument...

Politics

16 h. ago Masked robbers launch hammer attacks on cyclists in Regent’s Park

Masked robbers launch hammer attacks on cyclists in Regent’s Park  Evening Standard

Events