As Harry Styles announces the first names for this summer’s festival at the Southbank Centre, Claire Biddles argues that there’s a lot more to the ex-boyband singer than some might think

Harry Styles by Laura Coulson

A common misconception shared by boybands and their fans is that neither have discernable stylistic taste. In popular media – from Josie and the Pussycats’ Dujour to the more rockist-leaning music press – they are reduced to product and consumer, with the boyband’s music existing to enable the much more important products of parasocial desire, fantasy and merchandise. Now almost a decade into his solo career, ex-boybander Harry Styles undoubtedly still sells desire, fantasy and merchandise, but his personal taste is a key pull towards the…

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The move comes amid controversy over the rapper’s previous comments about Jewish people and Hitler

The UK government has cancelled Kanye West’s permission to enter the country amid controversy over his planned headline appearances at London festival Wireless this summer.

The US rapper’s shows at the July festival have subsequently been cancelled, and the event will now no longer go ahead this year. In a statement, Festival Republic, the promoter behind Wireless, said: “The Home Office has withdrawn YE’s ETA, denying him entry into the United Kingdom. As a result, Wireless Festival is cancelled and refunds will be issued to all ticket holders.”

The statement continued: “As with every Wireless Festival, multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking YE and no concerns…

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Throbbing Gristle and Pixies among artists involved in 30th birthday release

Our friends at Norman Records are marking their 30th birthday with a series of limited edition vinyl releases from a bunch of artists tQ readers tend to rather love. These special releases go on sale today, 7 April and are 20 Jazz Funk Greats by Throbbing Gristle, Spiderland by Slint, Doolittle by Pixies and Slanted & Enchanted by Pavement, with one more to follow – keep your eyes peeled. We’ve also filled this week’s edition of The Portal archive dive with tQ writing around the artists featured on this Norman Records birthday deal – you can find that here. We dropped Phil and Nathon at Norman a line to…

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As he prepares for his Placebo-soundtracked RSC debut, the actor, writer and comedian tells Julian Marszalek why most of his favourite songs contain a strain of melancholy, and why streaming algorithms think he’s Gen Z

There’s a particular joy in hearing Mark Gatiss talk about the moment something first sparked in his imagination. In this case, it’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt Brecht’s satire on the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, which Gatiss first encountered as a teenager at Darlington Civic Theatre in a production that, somewhat incongruously, starred Robin Asquith, the face – and bottom – of the bawdy 70s Confessions… film comedies. 

“He was absolutely brilliant and it was like being punched in the throat,” recalls Gatiss….

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Rabid hurdy-gurdy, murky DIY sounds from Canada, a shahi baaja and a Javanese kentongan in this month’s playlist from the zone.

France, photo by Gordon Wallace

Let me talk to you about Sogo Ishii. Have you seen August in the Water? You should. How about Angel Dust? You really should. Crazy Thunder Road? You really, really should. 

Ishii’s films are often prescient, wildly heterogenous, soundtracked by essential punk infractions, industrial chug and the glassy space-holding sound of fourth world ambient. Bonus: they are also Easter-egged with a raft of Fortean esoterica (megaliths, aliens, meteorites, psychics, unexplained weather events). I love his films, even after spending the first quarter of 2026 face first in it for a book-length essay, which has just been published…

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Mclusky

I Sure Am Getting Sick Of This Bowling Alley

Late 90s post-hardcore favourites return once more, wry wit intact, just as abrasive as ever

i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley by mclusky

The restless Welsh kings of post hardcore noise rock make a return with the short-and-sweet EP, I Sure Am Getting Sick Of This Bowling Alley. Luckily, the wait was not as prolonged as the two-decade-long hiatus fans had to endure preceding The World Is Still Here And So Are We, and the release hints at a forthcoming full-length release from the band. Comprised of tracks written during sessions for their previous albums, two new songs that may appear on the next record, and two digital-only tracks, the long-standing masters of…

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Mr Vast

Upping The Ante

Wild and eccentric music from one third of Skam Records group Wevie Stonder

Upping The Ante by Mr Vast

If ever there was a name that suited a record, it is Upping The Ante by Mr Vast. From the opening moments, it feels like we have stepped through the looking glass. What ante needs upping, precisely? The answer never fully materialises, and listening in is akin at times to a 1980s role-playing book, with eccentric nutters and ravers confronting us instead of wizards and trolls. We can also consider the sinister smiley face that dominates the cover artwork. For those who like to overthink things, there is an uneasy visual association with the illustration of the sun in ’70s…

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Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE & SURF GANG

Pompeii // Utility

For some fans of Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE, an album of 33 songs entirely produced by SURF GANG, rather than The Alchemist or Wiki, might constitute a potential dud, but POMPEII // UTILITY is anything but

POMPEII // UTILITY by Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE & SURF GANG

As a medium, the ‘collab album’ can be rather polarising. Sure, fans may rejoice that two of their favourite artists are working together, but equally, they might be fearful of a low common denominator outcome. In this case, for hip-hop fan favourites Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE, a joint album would seem an obvious move for artists with similar production, cadence and flows, not to mention previous successful collaborations. Throw…

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In an exclusive extract from his new book Ukrainian Field Notes, author Gianmarco Del Re explores the soundscape of ScanEagles and Shahed drones turning the skies over Kyiv into a sonic warzone

The word drone comes from Old English, referring both to the male honeybee and its buzzing sound – a meaning that now feels grimly prophetic. In places long subjected to drone warfare, people often name them after the noise they make. Along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, drones have been called bangana (“buzzing wasp”); in Gaza, Israeli drones are nicknamed zanana, slang for a “nagging wife”, a term that mimics their ceaseless hum. In each case, the sound is not incidental but central: an acoustic weapon that invades daily life, produces…

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A. L. Noonan uncovers the toy-like, lo-fi astral world of underground artist Larrison; space-age tableaux that challenge perceptions of outsider art while recontextualising 90s electronic music

Connecters Vol. 1: Original Recordings, 1992–1999 by Larrison

In 2020, Jed Bindeman of rarities label Freedom To Spend, purchased the full review archive of defunct magazine ND. Over the publication’s lifespan of 1982 to 1999, editor Daniel Plunkett had amassed over 1,200 tapes to be considered for review. These were now Bindeman’s and on listening to a slew of them, fatigue began to set in. Most tapes were noisy, awkwardly lo-fi productions that were starting to tax him in his search for some uncovered gem. This was until he discovered Connecters by visual artist Larrison Seidle:…

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