This month…

Mike Patton and the Avett Brothers join forces to create a work of immense beauty.

London Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Finding poignancy in the dread and dislocation of modern living, London four-piece DRY CLEANING have garnered admirers including Nick Cave, Grace Jones and Jeff Tweedy. As new album Secret Love refines their nervy post-punk sprechgesang, the band set their sights on new targets. “Art and humour are our main weapon,” they tell Stephen Troussé

Fifty years on from their explosive debut single “New Rose”, THE DAMNED have evolved from punk pioneers to national treasures. But as a new album pays tribute to Brian James, their fallen co-founder, bandmates Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies – along with sundry eyewitnesses and ne’erdo-wells – recall the volatile beginnings, creative vision and incorrigible spirit of The Damned’s groundbreaking first act. “It was CID, villains and the Captain in a nurse’s outfit,” hears Peter Watts

When Blur won four trophies at the BRIT Awards on 20 February 1995, the band changed forever. Britpop, or whatever you want to call that scene, had entered the mainstream. After the success of Parklif