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Disillusioned by his early EDM success, Alex Young bought hardware, embraced UK dance culture – and reinvented himself

Songs about love, poverty and swimming in Bacardi lemon: Dutch ‘levenslied’ captures a new generation

The Netherlands’ guttersnipe answer to French chanson and German schlager is as popular as ever – but has it lost its roots as the defiant voice of the working class? Our writer sways along at the Muziekfeest van het Jaar to find out

‘A lot of men don’t open up’: Kidwild, the UK rapper unafraid to bare his soul

As a child he performed in the West End and appeared in a Stormzy video. But after his early music career faltered, he began to write about his troubled childhood – and hit a nerve

Perry Bamonte, guitarist and keyboardist for the Cure, dies aged 65

Starting as a roadie and guitar tech, Bamonte joined the band in 1990 after its breakthrough album Disintegration

The best songs of 2025 … you may not have heard

From a folk murder ballad to an impassioned call for peace, Guardian writers pick their favourite lesser-heard tracks of the year

Perry Bamonte, guitarist for The Cure, dies after "short illness" at 65

December 26, 2025 / 4:01 PM EST / CBS/AP