Music

‘Released following the musician’s death in 1993, the album is an extraordinary swan song: morose, comical and utterly preposterous’

‘The bold, deep, shoulder-shaking beats of the new-jack sound era’

‘It is Björk’s ambivalence to human relations that makes her liberality so poignant’

‘George Michael has always told the truth. But I don’t believe that truth. Freedom is invisible. It’s just a line in an ad’

‘A year after its release, it was still a huge dancefloor anthem and I was entering a world that would dismantle what I thought I knew about life up until that point’

The Throbbing Gristle member and multimedia artist discusses a beloved instrument which has become a lifelong companion

The artist reflects on the sounds that have shaped their thinking

At Gasworks, London, the sea is an archive of disaster, but one containing depths of potential 

The artist-investigator tunes his work to the undocumented, the surveilled, immigrants and prisoners; those fleeing the talons of the state

Paul Rekret surveys ‘chill wave’, the mellow pop, sepia-toned indie and tropical dance tropes in new music releases 

Two controversial events suggest a precarious relationship between China’s culture industry and the state’s soft power project

Édouard Glissant's 1961 play Monsieur Toussaint reimagined as a slam battle, swerving between Haitian Creole and French (for a performance at the Ghetto Biennale)

A new video by the Chinese artist hosted exclusively on frieze.com

Spoken-word recordings can offer a liberating alternative, audibly melting text from the permafrost of print 

PJ Harvey records a new album in public

From deep soul explorations of topical subjects and the plight of the poor to musing reflectively on art, life, God and outer space

The musicians talk about their new double album

Michael Gira’s band release their first album since 1997

David Sylvian (Samadhisound, 2009)

Earth (Southern Lord, 2008)