Illinoise review – brilliant story of loss, grief and reconciliation
Dreamlike logic and exceptional choreography make this wordless interpretation of Sufjan Stevens’s Illinois album a deserving winner of a Tony award
May 2024
Spunk Records goes out on a high: ‘Like a mixtape from your coolest friend’
After 25 years and almost 700 albums, the tastemaker who brought Belle and Sebastian and Arcade Fire to Australia are shutting up shop
April 2024
‘A silent film of dance underscored by an album’: inside the audacious Sufjan Stevens musical
With Illinoise Justin Peck has transformed the artist’s 2005 album into an ambitious and eye-opening modern dance show like nothing else on Broadway
February 2024
New York City Ballet’s Justin Peck: ‘Trump’s win changed the whole arc of the piece’
Ahead of a London show, the choreographer talks about his new Sufjan Stevens musical, community in dance, and how election results can affect his moves
December 2023
Best music of 2023
Blank space: how Taylor Swift – and an aching sense of loss – dominated music in 2023
Away from Swift’s joyous, record-breaking successes, the year’s most acclaimed albums were concerned with death and absence
November 2023
‘A reminder that life has to be lived’: the lyrics that got us through 2023
A new Youth Music survey said that 93% of young people use lyrics as a therapeutic tool for mental health. Our writers share the lines they kept close this year
October 2023
Sufjan Stevens: Javelin review – US indie folk hero hits every target
Alexis Petridis's album of the week
Sufjan Stevens: Javelin review – the triumphant culmination of an unpredictable career
September 2023
Sufjan Stevens ‘learning to walk again’ after autoimmune disease diagnosis
US musician in rehabilitation after contracting potentially life-threatening Guillain-Barré syndrome
December 2022
Do they know it’s Christmas?! Why today’s meek festive pop lacks the crucial chaos element
Emma Garland
Despite annual attempts at toppling Mariah, there hasn’t been a new Christmas classic in nearly a decade. Modern songwriters shoot too classy: history tells us that commotion is the only way
Ranked
The 20 greatest Christmas albums – ranked!
Whether you fancy a heartwarming carol with Elvis or the story of a yuletide drug dealer from OutKast, there’s a festive album for you in our rundown of the best ever
Santa Claus is coming to frown! Why the best Christmas songs are sad and slow
Who says festive numbers have to be merry? Marvin Gaye’s prisoner-of-war lament is a touching treat – while Prince’s track about a guy getting over a yuletide death with banana daiquiris is the jewel of the genre
June 2022
Ranked
The National’s 20 best songs – ranked!
As the beloved indie band debut new material and return to touring, we count down the best of their eight-album catalogue
September 2020
Fleet Foxes: Shore; Sufjan Stevens: The Ascension review – postcards from the edge
'I have a sense of urgency': Sufjan Stevens wakes from the American dream
September 2019
Best culture of the 21st century
The 100 best albums of the 21st century
We polled 45 music writers to rank the definitive LPs of the 21st century so far. Read our countdown of passionate pop, electrifying rock and anthemic rap – and see if you agree
March 2018
Record Store Day 2018: the exclusive releases in full
From Abba to Zero 7, the 500 singles, EPs, LPs and cassettes released for the annual celebration of independent record shops
David Bowie, Prince and Courtney Barnett among Record Store Day exclusive releases
The annual celebration of independent record shops takes place on 21 April, with the usual sought-after limited vinyl editions
Mary J or Miguel, Sufjan or Showman: who will win the Oscar for best song?
Can Diane Warren bag a best original song Oscar on her ninth attempt? Will Sufjan Stevens’ fingerpicking lose out to Miguel’s strumming? Here are your runners and riders for the big race
December 2017
Out of tune: the big star songs that were rejected for movie soundtracks
As Sufjan Stevens reveals his unused song for I, Tonya, here’s a look back at other artists, from Bruce Springsteen to Frank Ocean, who failed to make the final cut
