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Green Man festival review – Kneecap and CMAT lead the charge in a utopian Welsh idyll

Progressive, independent and more sonically diverse than ever, the Brecon Beacons festival offered sterling sets from MJ Lenderman to Mike, Jasmine.4.t to Joshua Idehen

Sault review – GCSE-level drama performance borders on the pretentious

Standout moments included Chronixx captivating on stage, Yasiin Bey delivering a seamless guest verse and Cleo Sol’s ethereal appearance – but the theatrics felt alienating

Rise Against: Ricochet review – slick shift doesn’t skimp on righteous anger

Blood-and-guts emotion with the energy of the punk veterans’ early years meets high-sheen recording craft in a hulking 10th album

Cass McCombs: Interior Live Oak review – double album doubles the pleasures of one of indie-rock’s finest

With existential lullabies and ritualistic stomps, tear-jerking odes and ballads worthy of Sinatra, US indie’s steadfast storyteller makes a wonderfully unhurried double album his best yet

Rita Wrote a Letter: Paul Kelly’s sequel to How to Make Gravy is an affectionate goodbye to Joe

Almost 30 years after Kelly released his Christmas classic, we finally learn what became of his cast of characters

For Those I Love: Carving the Stone review – bracing anger at Irish social stasis

The raw grief of David Balfe’s first album may have faded to a bruise, but his spoken-word fury is as strong as ever in these hyper-focused stories of poverty and exploitation

Ninajirachi: I Love My Computer review – a surprisingly moving tribute to 2010s EDM

The Australian producer’s debut album pays homage to the blustering, bombastic genre of her adolescence. The BPM soars and so do the feelings

Amaarae: Black Star review – ​glamour, glitz and lust from a pop star who should be a supernova

With a sleek dancefloor-facing sound, the Ghanaian American singer is deliriously in thrall to wealth and celebrity – but most of all love

Mariah Carey at Brighton Pride review – even the shirtless dancers can’t distract from how stop-start this is

Playing to a crowd of devotees, Carey’s voice largely still holds up, but the energy drops off due to a rushed setlist and too many interludes

Dick Diver review – beloved ‘dolewave’ band’s one-off reunion brings out Melbourne for four magical shows

Thornbury Theatre, MelbourneIt has been 10 years since their last album but you’d be forgiven for forgetting any time had passed at all – they sound as tight as ever

The New Eves: The New Eve Is Rising review – imagine if the Velvet Underground scored Midsommar …

Velvets-style drone rock, trad folk, anarcho-punk and hippy whimsy are all discernible in the Brighton quartet’s debut album – all played with white-knuckle intensity

Blackpink review – K-pop queens bring fun to New York with a little fatigue on the side

An oppressively humid night takes its toll on the maximalist pop quartet who deliver moments of sugar rush exuberance but with less power than before

Kesha review – a triumphant and electric return for pop’s comeback kid

The millennial-beloved pop star brings the house down in an emotional and energetic chance to show off her new, return-to-form album

Madonna: Veronica Electronica review – Ray of Light rarities range from perfect to perfunctory

Much anticipated set of remixes and lost songs give a glimpse of a great pop mind trying out new tricks

Justin Bieber: Swag review – inane lyrics undermine a gorgeously produced R&B passion project

The surprise seventh album from the former tween idol is musically expansive, abetted by a host of star producers. If only he’d thought about the words a bit

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  • 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
  • Joshua Chuquimia Crampton: Anata review – an ear-splitting haze that heals as it hurts
  • Ensemble Intercontemporain: Unsuk Chin album review – rich and strange music of kaleidoscopic colours
  • Handel: Sosarme album review – Marco Angioloni makes the case for this little-known work
  • LPO/Benjamin review – music of crystalline clarity and hedonistic pleasure
  • Hemlocke Springs: The Apple Tree Under the Sea review – a DayGlo DIY triumph in an era of risk-averse pop
  • The Beach Boys: We Gotta Groove review – box set of lost 70s music has all of Brian Wilson’s turmoil and talent

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