Sophia Deboick
22 September 2022
The return of Agitpop
Kid Kapichi's new album is smart, fearless and reflects a broken and rudderless Brexit Britain
Read the full article15 September 2022
Norway’s great musical survivor
Jonas Fjeld kicked off his career by trying to make the worst record in history. This year, he now celebrates 50 years of success in the industry
Read the full article08 September 2022
The mass appeal of Nathy: Spain’s queen of controversy
Directness and realness makes Nathy Peluso stand out among the current crop of female rappers
Read the full article01 September 2022
Disco giants: The Sheffield band hypnotising Europe
Sophie and the Giants are virtually unknown at home - but bona fide disco royalty elsewhere
Read the full article25 August 2022
30 years on: How the Manic Street Preachers took Reading
In 1992, Wales' most incendiary political rock band took to the stage of the Reading Festival for the first time
Read the full article25 August 2022
It’s the vinyl countdown: Europe’s 50 greatest pop singles
This list puts an emphasis on the perfectly formed pop single
Read the full article18 August 2022
The voice of Poland
Jan Kiepura's ability to break down the barrier between performer and audience meant he was a shoo-in as a leading man as the talkie arrived
Read the full article11 August 2022
Erasure – the best band of the past 40 years? Discuss
The most unlikely duo imaginable, Erasure are proof that genius often resides in British eccentricity
Read the full article04 August 2022
Very liberal Vikings: Amon Amarth’s metal with morals
If Amon Amarth's Johan Hegg is a Viking, he’s one who is fully paid up to modern Scandi liberal values
Read the full article28 July 2022
Orchestral manoeuvres: Why we can’t risk radio silence
Public service radio orchestras have played far more than just a cultural role over the last century but they are now under threat
Read the full article14 July 2022
Dropping Baltic bars: The rise of Latvian hip hop
Hip hop and rap are holding a mirror up to a changing Latvia, its problems and its obsessions
Read the full article07 July 2022
Meet Romania’s maneliști maestro
Salem is the King of Manele – the Middle Eastern-flavoured Romanian pop music descended from Roma folk music. But, some of his material divides audiences
Read the full article30 June 2022
Magic from the Dark Ages: the new sound of old Europe
Heilung's ancient-sounding music has slotted neatly into pop culture’s current enthusiasm for a bloody and merciless northern European past
Read the full article23 June 2022
Bars beyond bars: how music is changing ex-prisoners’ lives
A record label representing talented musicians with experience of going through the criminal justice system is helping them to make a career out of music
Read the full article16 June 2022
When Bowie traced time
A new edition of the closest we got to a David Bowie autobiography lifts a little of the on-stage mask
Read the full article09 June 2022
The modern Marseillaise: the album that has redefined the geography of a city
Quartiers nord is Marseille rapper Alonzo's most affectionate tribute to his hometown yet
Read the full article02 June 2022
When one Door closes: Jim Morrison in his own hand
A new boxed set provides a rare insight into the life and mind of one of the most popular cultural icons of the 20th century during what were to be his final days
Read the full article26 May 2022
Meet Armenia’s political genie, Serj Tankian
The frontman of the Armenian-American metal band had a sour reaction to the Eurovision results, calling for Armenia to leave the song contest behind in the future
Read the full article19 May 2022
Red wine, black metal: Norway’s unlikeliest vintner
The frontman of one of Norway's most notorious death metal bands has now turned his hand to Riesling
Read the full article12 May 2022
Turkish rap on trial
Dutch-Turkish rapper Murda is not the first artist from Turkey’s contemporary rap scene to face the censure of the authorities
Read the full article05 May 2022
Sisters of resistance: inside Ukraine’s bold and unapologetic music culture
This year's Tallinn Music Week has been a showcase for some of the besieged country's most defiant music acts
Read the full article28 April 2022
Time up for Rammstein?
If the kings of the Neue Deutsche Härte are calling it a day Germany will lose one of its most paradoxically valuable assets
Read the full article21 April 2022
Songs of drink and drums: Gabriel Ferrandini’s journey into the self
New album Hair of the Dog captures something of our primitive selves who looked for expression of our hopes, desires and search for new beginnings through the sound of a beat
Read the full article07 April 2022
Songs of everyday magic: Efterklang go back to basics
Deprived of the opportunity of having collaborators in the studio, the Danish experimental electronic chamber pop band have self-produced their new album
Read the full article31 March 2022
Avicii finds museum peace
A new museum dedicated to the Swedish dance star has more in common with its earnest predecessors than at first seems the case
Read the full article31 March 2022
The Hallyday spirit: when a French legend finally rocked Britain
The Johnny Hallyday who took the Albert Hall stage one night 10 years ago was the culmination of 50 years of myth-making
Read the full article24 March 2022
Ballads and Baudelaire: the Elevation of Susanna
The Norwegian singer's new album is an undeniably dreamlike, immersive experience
Read the full article17 March 2022
Head and the clouds: Murray Head, a prophet abroad
Largely forgotten in his own country, Murray Head remains an adoptive hero in France
Read the full article10 March 2022
How Will Young found his way
Designed to produce ephemeral pop stars, Pop Idol produced some acts who have kicked against expectations
Read the full article03 March 2022
Collab queen goes it alone: MØ’s new modus operandi
A chart star alongside the likes of Iggy Azalea and Justin Bieber, Karen Marie Ørsted, aka MØ, is now striking out on her own
Read the full article24 February 2022
VanWyck and the longing for belonging
The Dutch alt-folk act is making music for the rootless
Read the full article17 February 2022
Sally Shapiro: Italo disco goes to Ikea
A duo from Sweden are providing an escapist look back to the past of European pop
Read the full article