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Album: Scissor Sisters, Magic Hour (Polydor)

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

There's no surprises here – the usual Scissor Sisters mélange of sex, drug and disco tropes recycled over the usual hustling grooves, one eyebrow ironically raised throughout like a sonic emoticon.

Festival of the week: Bath International Music Festival, various venues, Bath

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Signing off after seven years as Bath MusicFest's Artistic Director, the once-dreadlocked pianist-composer-conductor Joanna MacGregor is enlivening the obligatory nods at the Olympics and her Maj's interminable reign with restorative doses of magic and circus.

Album: Public Image Ltd, This Is PiL (PIL Official)

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

It's hard not to feel slightly disappointed by PiL's first new studio album in two decades.

Pop gig of the week: Big Star Third, Barbican, London EC2

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Defiance against the odds is the spirit of this tribute to US cult heroes Big Star's ill-starred 1974 third album, Third/ Sister Lovers.

Album: Paloma Faith, Fall to Grace (RCA)

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Leaving behind the retro stylings of her debut, Paloma Faith has hooked up with producer Nellee Hooper to develop her undeniable talents in more modern directions.

Caught in the Net: Seeing is believing for a soulful comeback

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Soul-tinged US alt-rockers The Afghan Whigs recently reunited and last week produced their first song in over five years.

It's time for Britpop's Bright Young Things to take centre stage

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

There was a point last spring, watching the third night of Suede's three-night run at Brixton Academy, when I said "that's enough". The problem wasn't the gig; it was fantastic, as indeed the Pulp and Blur comebacks were. It's more that reliving the music of my youth in a near-perfect battle re-enactment was starting to give me a hollow feeling.

The Playlist: Frank Ocean / Teengirl Fantasy / Yeasayer / Donna Summer / Florence & The Machine / The Bee Gees / Oh No ft. MF Doom

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Frank Ocean - 'Summer Remains'

Album: Rumer, Boys Don't Cry (Atlantic)

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Covers albums are often taken as indications of creative stasis, a drying of the well, so to release one as the follow-up to your debut album is a very risky strategy indeed.

Ladyhawke: Asperger's and the anxious pop sensation

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Pip Brown, better known as Ladyhawke, is still buzzing from her gig four nights ago. It was the culmination of a comeback tour which saw the New Zealander's first UK performances in two years, and the London show had sold out in five minutes. "It was mind-blowing," she enthuses over a pint at an east London pub near where she lives, producing a picture of the ecstatic crowd, arms aloft, on her iPhone. "I had to take a picture on stage because I couldn't believe it."

Album: Regina Spektor, What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (Sire)

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Just when you think Regina Spektor is coasting into a song's shallower waters, she'll catch an outsized wave – like the gulping sound in "Open" – which yanks it back into the choppier swell.

Fantasy Band: Barry Hyde, The Futureheads

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Piano: Ludwig van Beethoven

Sigur RósValtari (Parlophone)

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The four years since their last studio album have found Sigur Rós in suspension while Jónsi Birgisson indulged his various side-projects.

The London 2012 Festival: The greatest show of a great year

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

You have to hand it to the London 2012 Festival team. When they call it "a once in a lifetime experience", I rather think they mean it. In an "age of austerity", this almighty splurge is not to be sniffed at. More than 25,000 performers and 12,000 events are involved, with every corner of the country, more or less, becoming part of it. Heaps of it is free at the point of use. And if the full programme is... well, a little confusing, perhaps it could scarcely be otherwise, given the sheer scale of the bonanza.

Keira Knightley engaged to rock star boyfriend James Righton from Klaxons

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:42:06 GMT

Hollywood star Keira Knightley is to marry her rock star boyfriend, James Righton from Klaxons.

Rumer, St James' Church, London

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:05:58 GMT

“I’m tremendously proud of this album,” Rumer demurely claims about her impending new record, Boys Don’t Cry.

Illness forces Elton to cancel concerts

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Sir Elton John yesterday cancelled three nights of performances in Las Vegas after being hospitalised with a serious respiratory infection.

View from the stage: Pete Turner, bassist in Elbow

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

How does it feel to be topping the bill at this year's Latitude?

View from the stage: Dominic O'Dair, guitarist in TOY

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

How does it feel to be playing Field Day again?

How festival land turned green

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

“We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap,” wrote author Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five.

The top six child-friendly festivals

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Underage Festival

The alternative festival survival guide

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Get in (and go home) early

View from the stage: Pete turner, bassist in Elbow

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

How does it feel to be topping the bill at this year's Latitude?

The alternative festival countdown

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Chagstock Festival

Stone Roses play first gig in 16 years

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

A crowd of 1,000 Stone Roses fans saw the newly reunited band play their first gig in 16 years last night.