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Cyndi Lauper review – still showing her true colours in fun farewell tour

There’s still no-one else like the 71-year-old star: she gives rambling speeches and accidentally hits someone with a recorder, but her voice punches through the chaos

Maribou State review – UK duo turn darkness into light after existential crisis

With Chris Davids recovered from a brain condition, the electronic act’s first tour in years is full of committed, emotionally resonant performances

Biig Piig: 11:11 review – long-awaited debut hovers on the edge of clubland

Switching between English and Spanish vocals, Irish singer-songwriter Jess Smyth’s genre-hopping set feels most at home in the quieter moments

Nadia Reid: Enter Now Brightness review – a restorative balm of folk-tinged songwriting

Like a more genteel and jaunty Laura Marling, the singer-songwriter’s exquisite voice and timeless simplicity make her fourth album a very reassuring companion

Olly Alexander: Polari review – Hi-NRG throwback for the Radio 2 crowd

The actor-singer’s solo debut proper looks to 1980s gay clubland for inspiration, but plays it too safe under all the retro synths and stammered-vocal effects

The Brian Jonestown Massacre review – psych-rock survivors play it safe

Anton Newcombe and co rummage through the rock history books, but lack the danger and unpredictability their reputation was built on

The Weeknd: Hurry Up Tomorrow review – a record that will floor you … and drive you up the wall

On a somewhat exhausting sixth album, Abel Tesfaye uses Brazilian funk, punishing house and lush 70s soul to press great songs into the service of rotten lyrics

Teddy Swims: I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) review – extra-size emotion

The huge-voiced Atlantan behind last year’s megahit Lose Control is back, and in love, on this unignorable, playlist-pleasing follow-up

Manic Street Preachers: Critical Thinking review – older and wiser

The Welsh rockers’ 15th album finds them in thought-provoking mood

Lady Blackbird review – flamboyance and nuance from late-blossoming jazz-soul star

Behind the impressive Grace Jones-esque stage outfits, the US singer is blessed with both lung power and sensitivity

Mogwai: The Bad Fire review – a flame that still burns bright

Conceived in troubled circumstances, the Glasgow band’s follow-up to their 2021 chart-topper As the Love Continues is compelling balm

FKA twigs: Eusexua review – a hymn to the healing power of the dancefloor

Coining a word to describe a particular state of euphoria, twigs effortlessly juggles left-field digitals and club pop tunes on album No 3

Teddy Swims: I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) review – retro soul with a retro lyrical attitude

The soft-alpha streaming sensation behind Lose Control returns with more of the same Motown and Stax pastiches, with the odd diversion into soft rock

Tina Turner: Hot for You Baby review – she’s in fine voice, but this lost 1984 song is no classic

Dug out of the vault for a 40th anniversary version of Private Dancer, this glossy rock track gains much-needed rawness from Turner

Lloyd Cole review – still causing a gentle commotion

The singer-songwriter’s voice has got even better with age – a shame, then, that the crowd just want to hear his 80s hits

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  • RPO/Edusei/Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha review – the makings of a classic Strauss
  • The Hallé Presents … Jonny Greenwood review – everything in its right place, almost
  • Bruno Mars: The Romantic review – you’re better off listening to the songs he’s blatantly imitating
  • Lala Lala: Heaven 2 review – brooding alt-popper fights the urge to run
  • Tomeka Reid: Dance! Skip! Hop! review – an early contender for jazz album of the year
  • Harnoncourt: Mendelssohn, Wagner, Schumann album review – revelatory readings from the late revolutionary
  • Pekka Kuusisto: Willows album review – luminous, inventive and penetrating
  • Gorillaz: The Mountain review – a late career peak haunted by ghosts yet glowing with life
  • Bath BachFest review – joyous and mesmerising music making
  • BBC Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill review – ambience, flowerpots and drones in varied day of new music
  • Sacconi Quartet review – new Freya Waley-Cohen work reveals ensemble at their finest
  • Tamara Stefanovich review – inspired and insightful programme celebrates Kurtág at 100
  • Hedera: Hedera review – Cornwall, Georgia and Bali combine on joyful debut
  • Hen Ogledd: Discombobulated review – a manifesto for collective action from Richard Dawson’s folk-rockers
  • HK Gruber: Short Stories from the Vienna Woods album review – still quirky after all these years
  • Johann Ludwig Bach: The Leipzig Cantatas album review – this distant cousin’s music is a remarkable discovery
  • Saul review – Purves didn’t just chew the scenery, he swallowed it whole
  • The Streets review – semi-theatrical staging of A Grand Don’t Come for Free resurrects a British classic
  • Mitski: Nothing’s About to Happen to Me review – mordant, melodic melancholy from the best songwriter of her generation
  • U2: Days of Ash review – six new tracks reaffirm the band as a vital political voice
  • Raye review – dazzling display of range from old-school Vegas to Euro-dance
  • Cardi B review – ambitious spectacle and sizzling choreography
  • Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny review – big and brash staging for Brecht and Weill’s whisky-soaked dystopia
  • Gillian Welch and David Rawlings review – phenomenal duo put on an exquisite show
  • BBCSO/ Rustioni/ Davóne Tines review – Black-tinged Anthem spins US nationhood
  • Deftones review – alt-metal veterans sound exceptionally fresh 38 years on
  • The Great Wave review – Hokusai opera sounds and looks beautiful but skimps on drama
  • Charli xcx: Wuthering Heights review – atonal, amorous anthems that more than stand apart from the film
  • Fred Again review – guest-heavy homecoming for the golden boy of UK dance is an eclectic triumph
  • Converge: Love Is Not Enough review – metalcore veterans’ rage remains fresh and furious

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