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February 2025
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290 articles
- February 28
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- Lizzo is back!… With a Prince/Keane/Ramones/Frank Sinatra mash-up?
- “The SYN-20IR is the world’s most flexible, convenient, and tonally versatile all-tube amplifier head”: Steve Vai’s favourite amp brand Synergy unveils a 20W “preamp module platform” with onboard IRs
- “‘Would you like to tune your guitar?’ ‘Oh, no thanks, I’m trying to give up’”: The Tunerette is the healthy option for Clapton and Keef fans looking for that cigarette on the headstock look – and it tunes your guitar
- Seiki Kato, president of Korg and the inspiration behind 1988's M1 smash has died, aged 67
- “As soon as I played the demo I was just like ‘Yes! There he is!’ It was at the level of his old Erasure stuff, of Yazoo and his period of Depeche Mode": Producer Danny L Harle and Olly Alexander on their "extraordinary" collab with a synth-pop legend
- “It was a once-in-a-lifetime thrill to play these amazing iconic songs with the man who composed them”: The Black Crowes remember their live collab with Jimmy Page
- “I am beyond blown away that this is now in my possession”: Joe Bonamassa is now the proud owner of the treble booster that blew a young Brian May’s mind and made Rory Gallagher’s Stratocaster sing
- Primus lift the lid on their search for a new drummer in new Youtube series
- “The last piece of the puzzle has been developing a pedalboard that enable you to really focus on playing”: GigRig is now making pedalboards to create the ultimate integrated 'board and switching system – but they don't come cheap
- “If you had told me I'd be part of the first all-female crew in space… I would have believed you”: Katy Perry is going to be blasted into space as part of an all-female Jeff Bezos rocket crew
- "Rush is one of the very few bands where they somehow had a friendship in there and they made it work financially”: Megadeth bassist David Ellefson on songwriting credits and their potential to upend bands
- “It was a mind-bender. Your brain tells you this isn’t supposed to work”: From unplayable rhythms to lost astronauts – the genius of David Bowie’s Ashes To Ashes
- “We're sisters, so we're blood. Our love is blood love and as different as we are – which we really are - we just plough through.”: Nancy Wilson talks Heart to mark the band’s 50th anniversary
- February 27
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- “It is beautiful... it’s clean and it works great, and it does everything I need”: Steve Vai shows us just what’s needed to play ‘80s King Crimson as he offers tour of his custom-built BEAT rig
- “Ozzy's tassels were touching me, so I don't know if that was something about the future, saying, 'You can do it, man'”: Billy Idol ponders Rock and Roll Hall of Fame membership and reveals a trio of new-album collabs
- “AI is not creating John's voice. John's voice existed on that cassette and we made the song around him”: Giles Martin explains why you’d be wrong to think ‘AI’ created Lennon's parts for The Beatles' Now and Then
- “This collection showcases a fascinating era of unique, experimental designs”: Gibson takes its Certified Vintage programme into ‘80s, releasing one-off prototypes including a super-lightweight S-style with a balsa core
- Milk It: Two strands of Kurt Cobain’s hair expected to fetch thousands at new punk-themed auction
- “I cannot in good conscience play”: Rhiannon Giddens cancels show at the Kennedy Center in protest at the “change in programming direction” following Donald Trump’s takeover
- “You can look at like a thousand interviews where my dad says it, Gene says it, I say it, Nick says it. It’s, like, no”: The sons of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are recording together but won't be "Sons of KISS"
- “Some people might think it's a waste, but it's fun for me. Isn't that what matters?”: Why there’s nothing wrong with collecting gear as a hobby - even if you don’t use it
- "A budget-friendly guitar with looks and specs that could punch above its £249 price – so I gigged it": Mooer MSC20 Pro review
- A Starmaster is born: Fender Japan sticks a Starcaster headstock on a Jazzmaster for a limited run offset – and there is an Antigua finish option too just in case this didn't look radical enough
- That Pedal Show bring their YouTube show to life at the UK's biggest guitar show this weekend
- There were some very difficult moments and I often questioned my decision. But as we got better I thought, ‘OK this is really good’”: Paul McCartney relives his Wings years in a new book
- “I’m imagining the music that’s missing is very synthesizer-based and simple”: Jon Batiste delivers a freakishly accurate assessment of Chappell Roan’s Hot To Go after hearing just the vocals and drums
- “It's already too late. This theft has already been performed and is unstoppable”: Queen’s Brian May piles on board the anti-AI bandwagon
- “Artists face increased vulnerability to online crimes due to the rapid creation of deepfake videos”: K-Pop mega-label HYBE goes legal to stop the flood of fakes
- “The dreamy sound of a classic ’60s single head tape echo complete with the harmonic richness of the accompanying tube preamp”: Strymon launches the EC-1, a tape-echo emulator based on a vintage EP-2 modded by SRV's tech
- “For those about to rock… best try another genre”: New stats show that bands are dead, solo and collabs are the way to go and rock has well and truly rolled…
- “Untethered and exploratory rock music made by four musicians who seemed to epitomise the notion of intellectual cool”: Pink Floyd’s Live At Pompeii to be rereleased at cinemas and IMAX
- “If you don’t have an idea and you don’t hear anything going over and over in your head, don’t sit down and try to write a song. Go mow the lawn”: Follow Neil Young’s lead to demolish those frustrating songwriting barriers
- February 26
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- “Even with the simplified controls layout, this Jag is one of the coolest cats around”: Fender Player II Jaguar review
- "The melody unfolds into a descending pattern, gently falling and lingering in a suspended moment of stillness": Sleep Token just shared new sheet music. We asked a pro pianist to perform it - here's what it sounds like
- “It was my first lead vocal. I was nervous. I sang it lying on my back. I still don’t know how I did it without singing from my diaphragm”: How a great rock guitarist finally proved himself as a singer
- If you own any of these MIDI controllers from Akai, Korg, Novation, Nektar and M-Audio, you can have Native Instruments Komplete 15 Select for free
- Bono and Apple team up for new ‘immersive’ 8K/Spatial Audio documentary, with a 180-degree video that places viewers onstage
- Classic MTV Unplugged episodes, including Nirvana's, are now available to stream on Paramount+
- "The standard of musicianship amongst young musicians is higher now than it's ever been”: Level 42 bassist Mark King on why the next generation of players is as good as he’s ever seen
- "It's the cleanest, greenest festival event ever staged": Massive Attack breaks world record with battery-powered, 100% vegan concert
- “4 of Drake’s 16 sold-out shows in Australia and New Zealand will be postponed:” Drake quits his Australia/New Zealand tour early
- “The statements are defamatory of the claimant at common law”: Documentary maker’s action against Roger Waters will now proceed to trial
- “We were human samplers. We’d listen to the tapes, isolate the best bits, then learn how to play them over and over again”: How Talking Heads created their classic hit Once In A Lifetime
- “A lot of times they won’t redo it. You could be like ‘oh, that clipped a little bit’, and they’re just gonna look at you like, ‘tough’”: How Beyoncé’s clipped vocal recordings ended up on the Queens Remix of Break My Soul
- "Quincy told her, 'Ro, don't sing that doggone song no more until you record it'": A music professor breaks down Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly with His Song
- “Distinctive, bold and relentlessly innovative... has taken her craft to new heights”: Charli XCX already confirmed for at least one Brit award
- “It’s tougher and faster than ever”: Jump aboard the modern hardgroove train and learn to build a club-ready beat
- “Boasts an array of features, many of which punch impressively above its relatively low price-point”: Millenium MPS-850 E-Drum set review
- “Live music’s important, it’s ingrained in our soul, click the link”: Take 15 minutes to save the future of live music – take the Music Fans Voice survey today
- “Some of the worst times I’ve been through. There’s been times when I thought my number was up”: New documentary lifts the lid on Ozzy Osbourne’s struggles with his health
- February 25
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- “We may be witnessing a true future guitar hero in our midst”: Aussie teenager Taj Farrant officially blows Nuno Bettencourt’s mind as Extreme guitarist describes the blues-rock phenom as SRV meets EVH
- “All who believe in freedom and sense the jeopardy we Europeans now find ourselves in are not sleeping easily on this, the third anniversary of the invasion”: U2 send message of support and music to President Zelenskyy and Ukraine
- Playing with Fyre: The greatest party that never happened is actually happening this time
- “Super-squashed cleans, singing slide tones and endlessly sustaining leads”: Origin Effects unveils the Cali76 Stacked Compressor – a compact stompbox promising “studio-quality” dual-stage compression with expanded headroom
- “A frankly ludicrous pedal that stakes itself as the ultimate octave funhouse”: Electro-Harmonix POG 3 review
- "I’d like to dedicate this moment to Sophie": A. G. Cook named Producer of the Year ahead of the 2025 BRIT Awards
- “It’s just heartbreaking to see someone spend so much money on something that is fake”: YouTuber assembles team of guitar experts including Joe Bonamassa and Gibson's Tom Murphy to show you how to spot a fake Les Paul
- "Stupid song. But our producer said, ‘It’s a hit.’ And he was right!”: How a famous singer had a No.1 in the ’80s with a song she hated
- “In between songs, we had to ask if there was a chiropractor in the house and literally stopped the show": How Mike Portnoy has played through pain for over two decades
- "This riff was gonna be really intense, and probably pretty majestic as well, but quite intriguing”: How Jimmy Page created the Led Zeppelin classic Kashmir
- “I went for a guitar commission with a carload of basses! I laid them all out on the floor, and he went, ‘Okay, let’s make a guitar’”: Ken Lawrence reveals how he became luthier to James Hetfield and made some of his coolest Metallica guitars
- “I saw this big hand come over with loads of rings on it and just stop the record. That was like my stamp of approval”: Adam F on making '90s DnB classic Colours – and why he’s re-recording it for 2025
- “The lyrics talk about machines writing music, and that’s actually happened. All things considered, it was a very prophetic song”: The iconic track that sparked the MTV generation also predicted the entire future of music
- “In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?” Kate Bush and others release new silent album in protest at plans to let AI firms use copyrighted work for free
- “We weren’t trying for it to end up in the vein of Mickey, that was unintentional!”: The Toni Basil influence on Bruno Mars and Rosé’s APT was accidental, says co-producer Cirkut, as he explains how the song was written and recorded
- Is Eternal Engine's Mars the world's first polyphonic vacuum tube synth?
- “I’ll never forget meeting Jimi at that club in New York in 1968. It’s an honour to help keep his legacy alive”: 88-year-old Buddy Guy comes out of retirement to honour Hendrix
- February 24
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- “One of the great soul singers of all time”: Stars pay tribute to Killing Me Softly With His Song singer Roberta Flack, who has died aged 88
- “I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens": Phil Collins has seemingly lost the desire to make new music
- “Tell me another band ever in history that has made a latter-day album that good in their 80s, with that level of songwriting, that level of performance?”: Producer Andrew Watt defends the Rolling Stones’ Best Rock Album win at the Grammy Awards
- "British artists may have enjoyed stronger years...": UK artists have disappeared from the global Top 10 singles and albums chart
- "For some guitarists this could be the smartest $199 they spend all year": Positive Grid Neo wireless guitar headphone amp review
- “Rick's not musical... at all”: Billy Duffy on how Rick Rubin ‘deconstructed’ The Cult
- “People think that these are terrible machines but I’m gonna prove that they’re great”: St. Vincent on the retro Roland groovebox she used on All Born Screaming
- Spotify fights back: Think that artists aren’t getting enough cash? Spotify says there's a good reason for that
- “I think that’s one of the reasons why we got into the feud”: Fatboy Slim on why he crossed swords with Moby
- Mankind is about to broadcast the first ever music from the moon. Any guesses as to which band has really made the grade?
- “If this guitar had come out of one of our other facilities saying Fender no one would be having this conversation”: Fender’s Justin Norvell on the $599 Standard Series, how it was made, and why it is not a Squier with a different decal on the headstock
- “The whole history of Led Zeppelin is musical expansion”: Their monumental double album Physical Graffiti is 50 years old
- February 22
- February 21
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- “Imagine not knowing Eric Johnson, Vai and Satriani and seeing this for the first time? It literally blows your mind”: Matteo Mancuso – 10 albums that changed my life
- "There’s so much that can be done on the guitar. I’ve only done a few bits and pieces, really": Play like Jimmy Page with this 5-point plan
- Transform your voice in just 12 months - score a year’s worth of vocal lessons for just $99 with 30 Day Singer
- Teenage Engineering celebrates 10 years of the Pocket Operator, the "world’s most affordable and accessible music machine"
- “The solos were not planned, they were spontaneously playing off of each other. We were really good at that": Joe Walsh tells the story of the Hotel California solo
- “There's a time and a place to bail out with dignity and grace - and not just flog a dead horse”: Iron Maiden guitarist Dave Murray says the band will split before they end up embarrassing themselves
- “It’s a mighty emulation of an emulation of an emulation”: GForce Novation Bass Station review
- "I was having regular panic attacks about not being in control and being exploited": James Blake on how ditching his label and going independent has revitalized his career
- “We want your subscription to go to the artist you listen to. Nobody can fraud that”: Deezer's CEO takes on streaming giants with fairer royalties for artists
- “They’re absolutely going to kill all that was good with the Pistols by eliminating the point and the purpose of it all”: John Lydon writes off Sex Pistols tour as "karaoke"
- “In my head I was there with Freddie in those moments, even though this was happening long after he was gone”: How Brian May completed the last Queen song that Freddie Mercury wrote alone
- “Without small venues you wouldn’t have Depeche Mode, which is a world not really worth living in”: Kelly Lee Owens worries that clubs could be dead within the decade
- Native Instruments heads east for Scene: Lotus, its latest cinematic instrument
- “Your opportunity to own a piece of music history that is directly tied to two of the world’s foremost guitarists”: Gibson unveils Murphy Lab replica of Eric Clapton’s “Disraeli Gears” 1958 Les Paul Custom that he later gifted to Albert Lee
- February 20
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- “It’s an old-fashioned piece of conceptual rock”: Steven Wilson issues album update and promises no less than the reinvention of the “extended classic rock solo”
- “We were always going to try to break boundaries and try new things”: It was the first No.1 pop single to feature rapping - and it came from Debbie Harry and Blondie
- “I have to try and talk about the neck without sounding offensive or angry”: Johnny Marr says satin finishes have no business being on a guitar neck
- “I don’t know why I’m apologising for Korg on their behalf…”: There’s a lot we love about Korg’s latest DIY synth – but it has one significant problem for owners of the original
- "You'll never read a manual again": How AI can help you learn to use your gear and instruments
- “The few who’ve played it say it's like having a spiritual experience with their guitar”: The $14,999 “urban myth” amplifier co-designed with Joe Walsh is finally available to order
- “The ‘gray bottoms’ have a little more high output – they have a punchier sound to them”: Joe Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan put pre-CBS tones on the menu with “Greenburst” Stratocaster pickup set
- “I sent this to Strandberg to get the wiring done and when they sent it back they included this”: Plini shows us his modded signature Strandberg Boden – but what’s that hiding in the tremolo springs?
- “What if we made a record with guitars?”: Charli XCX teases new “Lou Reed” rock direction for her next album
- “He would lead you down the garden path with quite a bog-standard chord structure and then suddenly go AWOL”: From David Bowie to Radiohead and Steely Dan, here’s some of popular music’s most outlandish theory choices
- “I want to shout from a mountain top about this incredible technology”: Is Dreamtronic's Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro really the first artificial vocalist to finally nail the fake factor?
- February 19
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- “The highest quality and most flexible polyphonic synthesizer ever created in a pedal format”: Meris has unveiled the Enzo X – is this “fully polyphonic monster” a game-changer for synth pedals?
- “There was a full moon and the curtains were open. Every time I looked up for ideas, I looked at the moon”: How teen prodigy Kate Bush created her timeless classic Wuthering Heights
- “These things work for me and I am finding out a lot of other guitar players like ‘em too”: Paul Reed Smith loved his Charcoal Phoenix so much that PRS has released this rare bird in strictly limited numbers
- “The crown jewel of grand pianos”: Native Instruments’ Claire: Avant creates avant-garde soundscapes out of the world's largest grand piano currently in production
- “I owe it to my brethren in metal not to have a Spotify account because they don’t pay people”: Cradle Of Filth's Dani Filth amps up music’s increasingly anti-Spotify sentiment
- “You would get suspended for even having a guitar”: Brian May says it was “illegal” to have a guitar at his school – but he and his friends played during lunch hour anyway
- "Fall in love with his royal badness all over again": Purple Rain gets new Dolby Vision and Atmos audio makeover for a one-night-only cinema rerelease
- “He is the only one who knew when his songs were finished… And I will continue to respect that”: Final Avicii collaborator slams new posthumous release
- “Three simple controls and one toggle that offer a wide range of sounds, perfect for beginners and professionals alike”: JHS Pedals expands mega-value $99 3 Series with Tape Echo, Rotary Chorus and Oil Can Delay
- Is pop music really being dumbed down? A music professor explains what the science really says
- "A great drummer whose innovative patterns helped shape our songs": Rick Buckler, drummer of The Jam, dies aged 69 after a short illness
- “You can even buy and create models of instruments that are impossible to build in the real world”: Don't know where to start with virtual instruments? We're here to help
- Spitfire Audio's latest instrument captures the sound of the Radiophonic Workshop, the hugely influential BBC department "purely for making bonkers noises"
- “Meeting your heroes can be disappointing, but not with Bon. It was our first real tour, and he was great to us”: Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott pays tribute to the late, great AC/DC singer Bon Scott
- February 18
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- “I want to continue to have something that’s not microwavable in a world today where our attention span is pretty much lost”: Kendrick Lamar officially becomes the world's biggest hip-hop artist
- "It's a theremin on steroids": Soma Laboratory's Flux brings the theremin into the 21st century with sixteen dimensions of control over a supercharged synthesizer
- “Gibson was able to put the universe on it… the planet Mercury is here, and that is a little nod to a friend of mine”: Inspired by the stars and co-designed by the Queen guitarist, Gibson unveils exquisite Brian May SJ-200 12-String
- “You know I’m putting my heart and soul into new music”: Madonna teases new music as Confessions Pt.2 becomes a reality
- “He’s fighting as hard as he can”: Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon delivers an update on guitarist Andy Taylor
- "One of the most fascinating techniques in the modern synthesist's arsenal": This free synth plugin transforms physics into sound
- “I glared at him and stuck out my tongue, lowered my head so we were face-to-face with each other and said, ‘Aaahhhh!’”: Gene Simmons recalls the rivalry between Kiss and Black Sabbath in the ’70s
- How learning and understanding chord symbols can prove a major benefit for sharing your musical ideas
- “Jesus, that was hard! But I got it. I welcome the challenges”: Guitar hero Steve Vai reveals the difficulties of playing King Crimson music - and how he gets by with a little help from Robert Fripp
- “Our focus is on restoring the imbalance of gender, culture and privilege within the UK’s creative space”: Adele and Stormzy producer Fraser T Smith launches scheme to encourage more diversity in music production
- “Kiss just had an attitude back then. The four of us were so different, but when we got together it was magic!”: How lead guitarist Ace Frehley wrote and recorded his first classic Kiss song
- February 17
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- "An excellent stomp box compressor that’s equally at home across a stereo mix": Polyend Press review
- "Steven cannot put himself under the rigours of doing a full worldwide tour because there’s a lot of pressure”: Why a recent live performance from Aerosmith's Steven Tyler was a one-off
- "Sometimes just a few notes on the piano are enough to be scarier than a 90-piece orchestra": What makes Severance's theme music so "eerily satisfying"?
- "I'm not planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath but I am doing little bits and pieces with them”: Ozzy Osbourne’s health will restrict his involvement in Villa Park gig this July
- Guns N’ Roses and Tool added to Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s final show at Villa Park
- Watch: Pantera and Bruce Dickinson unite to perform Walk in Paris
- How we test electronic drum sets
- "He was so drunk, we couldn't even finish the show": Surviving members of The Doors on the breakdown of the band and life with Jim Morrison
- Post Malone fronting Nirvana, Miley Cyrus channels Sinéad O’Connor, David Byrne and Robyn, Lady Gaga joins The Lonely Island… SNL’s 50th anniversary weekend had something for everyone
- “Even 300 million streams don’t guarantee a sustainable career”: How Lola Young built on the viral success of Messy - and what musicians can learn from her journey
- February 15
- February 14
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- “Crafted for the true metal enthusiast, this axe embodies the soul of legendary guitarist Zakk Wylde”: Paging all “shred warriors,” Wylde Audio’s Berzerker takes the shape of metal guitars to new extremes
- "An upgrade that’s all about creativity": PreSonus Studio One Pro 7 review
- “This company has not only copied the trade-dress, they have even assimilated the history of Musitronics into their videos”: Musitronics slams “$2 billion German company” for copying Mu-Tron effects
- “A high-spec instrument at a competitive price”: Sustainiac pickups, onboard Z.Vex Fuzz Factory circuits, a Night Sky Holosparkle finish? Manson lavishes Matt Bellamy-approved specs on updated M-Series electrics
- Adele or Oasis? The most popular breakup and love songs that guitarists and pianists want to learn to play
- “I don’t like to categorise my tracks by genre - I do it by vibe”: Dr Dubplate's 5 DJ tips
- You can now sample via USB-C using your Ableton Move
- “I said, ‘Of course we’re gonna be better than Metallica!’”: Bruce Dickinson explains why he was trash talking when he rejoined Iron Maiden
- Fender launches a slew of patriotic deals this Presidents' Day with hundreds off a wide range of USA-made guitars - including $200 off select American Professional II models and more
- SampleRadar: 345 free glitch drums samples
- “Not a single person paid. No one came in. I think I got a Diet Coke out of it”: Joe Bonamassa dishes the dirt on his worst gig ever
- “Joe is on fire! What better inspiration can you get?”: Steve Vai describes the “craziness” of his new music with Joe Satriani
- “The world’s leader in cast iron cookware”: Primus get a thorough panning for the 35th anniversary of Frizzle Fry
- “I am so honoured to have one of my biggest idols on a song that means so much to me”: Sabrina Carpenter snags Dolly Parton for a duet on a new version of Please Please Please
- “We were forcing some of these ideas into the wrong context”: Andy Powers on how the difficulties of designing a new Taylor electric led to the launch of Powers Electric
- “There is no pain, but it feels like I am wearing a pair of gloves when I try to play”: Stray Cats rockabilly legend Brian Setzer has autoimmune disease and cannot play guitar
- “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”: Universal Music cave in to Chappell Roan and launch the Music Industry Mental Health Fund
- “I don’t want to be trapped again, with the same musicians making the same sound”: New John Lennon documentary sheds light on his dark, tragic, final decade
- 50 years of Phaedra: Tangerine Dream’s forward-thinking, futurist, synth classic is now an antique
- “I see songwriting as having to do with experience - the more you've experienced, the better it is”: How the Rolling Stones drew on their own - and imagined - lives for songwriting inspiration
- Chappell Roan’s Grammy speech triggers celebrity pile-on as pop’s big names step up to pledge charity cash
- "A classic compressor for free on Valentine's Day – it must be love!": Universal Audio is giving away an 1176 plugin as a Valentine's gift - here's how to get it and use it
- February 13
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- “This was the first amp modeller that I’ve tried that feels like a real amp”: Vower’s Joe Gosney and Rabea Massaad reveal their festival Quad Cortex setups – and why there's a Zappa-inspired “harmonic exciter” on the 'board
- "A painstaking facsimile of the original in software form": Waldorf Microwave 1 Plugin review
- Feed your GAS habit for free with RePedal, an ‘AI guitar pedal maker’ that creates a new distortion stompbox plugin every time you click it
- “A nice fusion of synthesizers and epic pop”: Queen drummer Roger Taylor names the best song he ever wrote for the band - and the Queen song he hates!
- "Does he love her, does he not love her? People play it at weddings, but it has that strangeness about it…": As it celebrates its 50th anniversary, 10cc's Graham Gouldman and Kevin Godley discuss the making of their classic anti-love song
- "It's probably closer to the real hardware than anything out there": 5 of the coolest free plugins we discovered this month
- “Seven amps and instant access to a crushing set of tones”: IK Multimedia adds former Ozzy shredder and Firewind guitarist Gus G to its signature Tonex lineup
- "Love is in the air, your AI Valentine's Day music is ready": We test the best and worst AI love song generators for the 'perfect gift' this Valentine's day
- The rumours were true: Thom Yorke officially becomes a Warp Records artist via a new single with Mark Pritchard - and a nightmarish video
- “Mick Jagger came with Matt Voss... his favourite song was Biting Bullets”: INXS classic album Listen Like Thieves gets the Giles Martin treatment for 40th Anniversary remix
- “It’s a privilege to be involved in this good cause… especially when it involves making a fantastic Les Paul”: Gibson unveils the ‘84 Les Paul Standard with Bigsby, signed by Johnny Marr, to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust
- Clash of the Liams: Prodigy’s Howlett misses out on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nom, while Oasis’ Gallagher tells fans not to “waste your time”
- “Explosive passion and exciting energy!”: Watch Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes rocking out in 1999
- “Users can simply plug it into their instrument, connect earbuds or headphones, call up a memory, and go”: Boss refreshes the Katana:Go headphone amp – new look and exterior design, same sounds and features
- Presidents' Day is here, and that means epic music gear deals at Guitar Center - save $500 on a stunning Gibson Les Paul, $100 off the ever-popular Casio CDP-S110 and much more
- “When you’re watching a horror film and you get that tingling sensation when something frightens you – I wanted to create that in music”: How Black Sabbath became the scariest band on Earth
- "I don’t want to be part of anything that mentally disturbed": Here are all of the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees
- February 12
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- “We always have one song, on every album, that doesn’t quite click. And we thought that Tom Sawyer was going to be the one”: How Rush finally nailed their most famous song
- “‘Let me see,’ I said. I didn’t want to see the movie. I just wanted to get eyes on it to make sure it was what she said it was. It was”: Sly Stone says he once acquired some very intimate footage of Jimi Hendrix
- “Charts, shmarts, man. Who measures that? Her album’s cool”: After being beaten by Sabrina Carpenter, Travis Scott is totally down for a collab
- Psst… Paul McCartney MIGHT be playing a secret gig tonight
- “None of my albums have ever been on any chart. I'm personally deeply proud of this”: Jacob Collier says he’s jazzed to be the only non-charting artist to be twice-nominated for the Grammy Album of the Year
- “It's like recording sounds across time”: How Yumi Matsutoya, one of Japan's biggest ever artists, used AI to turn back the clock when crafting her new album
- “Trust me, 20 years from now it will all be nonsense”: Kendrick Lamar scored the biggest Super Bowl half-time audience ever and Noel Gallagher isn’t impressed
- DrumCraft’s Urban Beats delivers pro-quality looks and sound for the compact stage and budget
- "I love them, they just sing, they’re absolutely gorgeous:" Mike Portnoy just crashed Sabian’s party with seven sexy cymbals
- “I started getting messages from strangers asking if I knew about this other product”: A tale of two mini-synths
- Donald Trump’s tariffs appear to be benefitting an unexpected industry: K-Pop
- “Our decision to use some electronic instruments is not some kind of lifestyle choice. You use the instrument to help you get across a certain thing”: How Radiohead’s most controversial shift proves that music-makers shouldn’t be restricted by genre
- “A noise like God conducting the soundtrack to the end of the world!”: The classic Black Sabbath album with the most bizarre song they ever recorded
- February 11
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- “Brutal looks, razor-sharp tone, and unbeatable playability”: Schecter unveils the Red Dawn series, sleek and shreddable S-styles with baritone, 7-string and EverTune options – and multi-voiced Fishman Fluence humbuckers as standard
- Could this robotic glove make you a better piano player? Researchers give pianists a helping hand with exoskeleton that improves finger speed
- “The best ever grime producer”: Influential producer and beat maker Terror Danjah has died
- “My ego was telling me, ‘These aliens have programmed you to be a rock star!’”: The famous singer who claims that extraterrestrials tapped into his brain!
- “I’m a Nirvana fan, but it was just a regular guitar to me”: Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt left unimpressed by Kurt Cobain’s “haunted” Martin acoustic
- “I thought it was my friend joking when the receptionist said ‘Bob Dylan on the phone for you,’ but I could tell as soon as he spoke, it was Bob”: Dave Stewart recalls his first meeting with Bob Dylan as he unveils new covers album, Dave Does Dylan
- February 10
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- “Wth did we just watch?”: Seal stars as… a seal in bonkers new Mountain Dew ad
- "An enormous amount of fun with a side helping of inspiration": Kiviak Instruments WoFi review
- “I don’t make the rules. We’re trying to do the right thing. It is what it is, I’m the singer. Get off my case”: Liam Gallagher responds to fans who’ve had their Oasis tickets falsely cancelled
- “The ultimate wireless guitar rig built into premium headphones”: Positive Grid cuts the cable with Spark Neo
- “Boy, he’s a weird guy. He’s got one orange sneaker, one red sneaker”: Gene Simmons on Ace Frehley’s memorable audition for Kiss
- “I think singers tend to be a little insecure!”: Iron Maiden leader Steve Harris recalls how he gambled everything by changing the band’s frontman
- “Even global stars must follow local rules - no permit, no performance”: Plug pulled on Ed Sheeran busking in India
- "There's a new free DAW in town": openDAW promises to open the door to music production for beginners, students and beatmakers on a budget
- “Radio stations all said Layne’s voice is wrong”: Alice In Chains and Jane’s Addiction producer Dave Jerden helped to define the sound of alternative rock
- Why did Jon Batiste have a Jupiter-8 plugin controller, a Maschine+ and an Ableton Live controller sitting on his piano when he sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl? We’re still not sure
- “Random dudes are allowed to criticise my Grammy speech, but they best put their money where their mouth is, otherwise MOVE out of the way”: Chappell Roan stands her ground on need to support developing artists
- “And then, out of nowhere, this crazy boy just started singing this song”: How Elvis Presley spontaneously altered the course of music history
- “The Beatles and Ramones played 30 minute sets, and if I could, I would do the same”: Jack White bemoans fans feeling their ticket ‘entitles’ them to a mammoth setlist
- February 8
- February 7
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- “It dawned on me, ‘Wow! I think that we’re learning how to do this just how Bob learned how to play’”: How Timothée Chalamet went from a complete guitar novice to become Bob Dylan onscreen
- “I thought it was too pop. I rebelled against it”: How Ozzy Osbourne learned to love a song that was written and recorded in one hour and ended up becoming Black Sabbath’s biggest hit
- “I don't really mind if people mishear lyrics or misunderstand what the story is, I think you have to let go of that when you send it out in the world”: Are all interpretations of songs correct? Kate Bush certainly thinks so
- “I loved that he showed up with a $200 guitar… It’s humble”: Timothée Chalamet learned to play guitar for his Oscar-nominated role in Bob Dylan biopic on a beginner Yamaha acoustic
- Full Bucket Music takes on another rare vintage synth with Paralogy, its free plugin emulation of the Crumar Trilogy and Stratus
- “Can you imagine sharing the stage with your 14-year-old self?”: Donny Osmond uses “mind-blowing AI and CGI technology” to duet with… himself
- “Sometimes I can do the big drum fill in the intro to The Trooper. But even then it's a bit flaky, it’s not clean”: Iron Maiden legend Nicko McBrain’s “difficult decision” to retire from touring
- “The first time I heard a Buchla synthesizer, something clicked. It felt like a fantasy”: Maria Teriaeva on the Buchla 200e, olfactory album art and vocoded breakup songs
- “The Netflix documentary will not be released”: Prince’s estate claims a “big win for his legacy” as it confirms that the completed but controversial 9-hour documentary about him won’t be broadcast
- “It’s just about being alive. It’s about the voice carrying much more information than words do”: The power and intensity in Jeff Buckley’s greatest song
- “Any other musical discussion that has taken place has been kind of anti-Brat": Charli XCX producers reveal a possible about-face in the direction of the multi-Grammy winner
- Discover new rhythms, patterns and sound palettes with UVI’s multi-faceted Mosaiq
- “We were making a new hybrid music, we were something different”: How futurepop brought the sound of tomorrow to the dawn of a new century
- February 6
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- "Is this a watershed moment for acoustic-electric guitar?": LR Baggs AEG-1 guitar review
- “This thing is your one-way ticket to funky town”: Behringer’s long-awaited Mu-Tron III clone arrives and promises a rabbit-hole of retro-funk tones for just $69
- “There was a forty-foot cliff and I’d dived off it into the ocean. Apparently I’d said it was a good day to fly!”: The day that Ozzy Osbourne could have killed himself
- “I love it when people change my songs and make them their own. He flipped the lyrics round to sing ‘I saw the whole of the moon’”: Mike Scott says he enjoyed Prince’s cover of The Waterboys’ biggest hit, but did he really write it about him?
- “AI is about as close to reality as you can ever imagine”: Gene Simmons discusses the prospect of a virtual KISS and says the “future of entertainment is here”
- "Have you ever been playing something awesome and thought 'I should have recorded that?' Now, you did!": Jamcorder automatically records everything you play on piano - so you'll never lose a spontaneous jam again
- "Music genres have undergone a noticeable simplification": Study concludes that modern music is not complex enough - and it's all your fault
- "A staggering number of ideas to experiment with" : a new set of chance composing cards could be the 2025 update to Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies
- “Dude, I'm just trying to make the song as best as it can be! You’re so impatient!": Studio footage shows producer Andrew Watt berating Elton John during the recording of his new album Who Believes In Angels?, a collaboration with Brandi Carlile
- “U wanna hear the raw files”: Producer Mike Dean tells streamers to switch off auto levelling on every music platform, and hear the music as it was meant to be heard
- "This makes no sense at all in terms of functional harmony. So why does it sound so good?: A music professor breaks down Doechii's Denial Is a River and Boiled Peanuts
- This Valentines Day, say it with… strings, plectrums and some bargain-priced software bundles?
- “When we heard the album we were speechless!”: How Led Zeppelin's debut blew Peter Frampton away - and inspired countless guitarists
- “The risk is that I never finish a piece - I want to push them further, to see how far they can be deformed without tearing”: How Aphex Twin fought the temptation to continually refine, and how we can learn from his example
- “It was Gary’s idea to bring the Irishness back into Thin Lizzy": Guitar hero Gary Moore made only one album with the band - and it’s a classic
- February 5
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- “Even a complete beginner could get the 18i20 set up and start making multi-mic recordings”: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen review
- “I was like, ‘this cannot happen’. There’s a time and a place and it’s not with Glinda; she doesn’t have that kind of rhythm”: Ariana Grande tells Billie Eilish why she said no to the idea of having “trap drums” in one of her showstopping songs in Wicked
- Strum is a deconstructed, accessible guitar that anybody can play
- Toraiz ChordCat is a chord-focused groovebox that'll help theory-averse beatmakers cook up chord sequences
- “Jimmy Page arrived carrying a Waitrose bag. I thought he’d brought sandwiches with him”: How new Becoming Led Zeppelin documentary nearly never happened
- “An impressive compact stereo recorder that’s light enough to mount with a camera and small enough to stick in your pocket”: Zoom H1 XLR review
- “How do musicians and young bands get paid? I can’t work it out”: Turns out that Gavin Rossdale doesn’t have the answers
- Arturia's limited-edition DrumBrute Impact 1984 gives its analogue drum machine an '80s facelift
- “The greatest heavy metal show ever!”: Ozzy Osbourne reunites Black Sabbath’s original line-up for a final show in Birmingham
- "Reggae is more freeform than the blues. But more important, reggae is for everyone": Bob Marley and the Wailers' Catch a Fire, track-by-track
- "They inhabited the future of their time, but they sound historical to me now": A music professor breaks down the theory behind Kraftwerk's Autobahn
- "I’m not sure that journey is fully understood. And frankly, we probably haven’t done a very good job of explaining it": Spotify just posted their first-ever year of profit
- Beyoncé to tour Cowboy Carter in 2025: Here are all those global venues and dates - and how to get tickets
- February 4
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- “Surely the most versatile version yet, putting different flavours of gourmet crunch on the menu”: DOD 250 Overdrive/Preamp 50th Anniversary review
- “Expect a heavy weather-checked finish, heavy belt buckle wear, light arm wear, and light neckwear”: The Gibson Custom Shop unveils its first Heavy Aged Murphy Lab acoustic guitars
- “We are convinced that we will inspire many Beatles fans all over the world with this beautiful acoustic guitar”: Framus reissues John Lennon’s record-breaking $2.86m “Help!” Hootenanny 12-string
- "I aggravated it so I could drive back to London and go to the match": Bill Wyman once faked toothache to skip the Stones and watch the cup final
- Here are all the winners in the 2024 Drumeo Awards. Did your favourite sticksmith make the cut?
- "We’ve heard your frustrations": Native Instruments responds to customer concerns, announcing Maschine 3, Kontakt 8 support and Play Series instruments for Maschine+
- “All the songs are about life on the road and things that were going down within the band”: Recently unearthed footage shows Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham discussing the making of the album that would end up being one of the biggest of all time
- “It meant a great deal to him and remains one of our most beloved of Jack’s treasures”: Cream legend Jack Bruce’s EB-1 violin bass to go on display at the Gibson Garage London
- “We used to play that song faster…”: Slipknot’s Eloy Casagrande reveals the secret lessons he gave his Sepultura replacement
- “I didn’t know what to do. It sounded like an angry wasp”: Brian May recalls the time he played live through Jimi Hendrix’s Marshall – and it didn’t go well
- Behringer releases RD-78, a $199 Roland CR-78 clone that promises to "bring the magic of the '70s and '80s back to life"
- Tool’s Danny Carey just invented an exercise bike with a built-in drum workout
- 10,000 AI-generated tracks are being uploaded to Deezer every day and it's fighting back
- “It had so much weight. So much power”: How Led Zeppelin’s Communication Breakdown set the template for heavy metal and inspired a legendary punk guitarist
- “With Off The Rails, I was stuck – didn’t quite know where to finish it – so I went and saw Killers of the Flower Moon”: Jerry Cantrell reveals how Jeff Beck and Martin Scorsese influenced new solo album I Want Blood
- “That very first meeting we had was quite intense. He just wanted to know how thoroughly we knew the subject”: Becoming Led Zeppelin filmmakers tell of their first meeting with Jimmy Page
- "In the studio, everyone is a sad, tragic animal that has no idea what they’re doing - no matter how successful they are": Mogwai producer John Congleton
- “When I came up with the guitar part, Krist looked at me and said, ‘That is so ridiculous’. I made the band play it for an hour and a half”: It defined the '90s, yet Nirvana’s biggest anthem started out as a self-confessed rip-off
- “I just love the music so much that I just can’t give up”: Meet the conductor still working at 97
- February 3
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- “We’re making new guitars that don’t exist for the sole purpose of writing something”: Polyphia's Tim Henson teases new 8-string meisterworks that could require a whole new guitar to play along
- "Stop trawling the small ads and boot sales": Kays Catalogue classic the JEN SX1000 just got reborn as a plugin and iOS app
- “It gives you that power that sometimes pop, rock and techno songs need”: Charli XCX's Brat mastering engineer Idania Valencia on her go-to plugins and the threat of AI
- Prince's former bandmate reveals her "total surprise" when, without warning, he gave her the nod to play the Purple Rain guitar solo in front of her hometown audience
- Spotify wins major court case, over controversial 'bundling' that lowered artist payments
- Grammys 2025: All the winners and nominees in EVERY category
- “He turned out to be the nicest, funniest guy I'd ever hung out with": Steve Lukather on meeting his hero, George Harrison
- "He was very particular on vocal sound. There was a particular tone that he liked”: One of George Michael’s backing singers on why she was one of the very few female vocalists who was able to record with him
- “We put a lot of effort into making sound design easy and visual. And year after year, we try to emphasise this even more”: The story of Arturia’s Pigments synth, from early challenges to the “huge milestone” of version 6
- Grammys 2025: All of this year's winners and losers
- “We were in between shots, around 2 or 3 in the morning... Just one of those moments that you knew something big was happening”: Actor Mekhi Phifer on being one of the first people to hear Eminem’s Lose Yourself
- “We toured with Mötley Crüe, and I was like, ‘Please tell me I'm not going to end up like that!’”: Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson recalls his wild years in the ’80s
- February 2
- February 1
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- “It's a song with enough twists and quirks to make it stand out from the pop landscape”: A music professor breaks down Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe!
- “Part of a beautiful American tradition”: A music theory expert explains the country roots of Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em, and why it also owes a debt to the blues
- “Maybe I’ll write out five or six chords, then discipline myself to write something only with those chords involved”: Why David Bowie’s restrictive songwriting strategies provide a lesson for us all