What the £~{± … ℑ⊇◊⊆ℜ from Mater Suspiria Vision. Photograph: YouTube Scan the array of recent blog buzz bands and you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in the middle of a migraine. †‡†,  Gr†ll Gr†ll, ℑ⊇◊⊆ℜ and GL▲SS †33†H all use dots, dashes and triangles in their names and on their flashy websites. Some [...]

Alasdair Roberts: ‘subversive, inspired and inventive’. Photograph by Jean-Marc Luneau Alasdair Roberts is an angular, tentative presence, thin as twigs and full of caveats and quiet amusement, but the cerebral star of what he would never call “vogueish nu-folk” music is sure about one thing: “I am not interested in this individualistic one-man-singing-of-his-pain-with-his-acoustic-guitar bullshit. I [...]

‘It blows my mind that Jimmy Page wanted to play with us’ … Aerosmith. Photograph: Andre Csillag / Rex Features/Andre Csillag/Rex Features Corinne Bailey Rae, singer There have been so many amazing moments in my career so far: coming off stage to find Prince had been in the audience, playing for Nelson Mandela, being introduced [...]

Wyclef Jean to run for Haiti president. Photograph: Jemal Countess/Getty Images Wyclef Jean, the former Fugees singer, will formally announce his candidacy for president of Haiti later today. In the eight months since Haiti’s devastating earthquakes, Jean has become a high-profile spokesman for the country, but recently claimed to have “no … political intentions”. After [...]