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May 2026

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106 articles

May 23
- “People were like, ‘Lou Reed told me to get this!’ And I was like, ‘That’s nuts!’ I should definitely have that on the box”: Oliver Ackermann on the break-stuff philosophy that makes Death By Audio the world's most radical stompbox brand
- The song Bob Dylan called the greatest ever written: “I just held two notes down… it’s shivery, icy, almost like outer space kind of sound. Glen went crazy and said ‘We have to get that, we gotta put that on the fade’” - The story of Wichita Lineman
May 22
- “America’s where all the music we loved came from - rock ‘n’ roll, the blues and the whole thing”: Paul McCartney remembers The Beatles' first US TV appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show as he closes the final Late Show With Stephen Colbert
- “Firmly artist-centric, rooted in responsible AI, and will drive growth for the entire ecosystem”: Spotify and Universal to collaborate on new AI music creation system that will enable fans to generate remixes and covers for all to hear
- “I lost my virginity to Talk Show Host... I lost my virginity to the intro of Talk Show Host”: Harry Styles pays a very personal tribute to Thom Yorke as the Radiohead frontman is honoured at the Ivor Novello awards
- “Honestly, this song, The Cure, has nothing to do with the band, The Cure”: Olivia Rodrigo gives the answer to the question that everyone’s been asking about her new single
- MusicRadar deals of the week: A jaw-dropping $1,869 saving on Waves plugins, $600 off a legendary Gibson acoustic, plus all the best Memorial Day sales
- “I just shut up and didn’t talk and did whatever Brian told me to do”: Bruce Johnston and the surviving Beach Boys talk about the making of Pet Sounds
May 21
- Khemmis just made one of the best heavy metal records of the year using a $28 plastic fuzz pedal
- “Inclusion is not charity and it is not political correctness. It is good leadership, good culture and good business”: Blind record producer to take legal action against the artist management firm he co-founded
- Behringer "leak" reveals 14 unreleased products, including E-mu SP-1200, Yamaha CS-80, EMS VCS 3 and Korg Mini-Pops 7 clones
- “People are rejecting the algorithm. They want to think and feel. They don’t want to be fed things”: Geese’s record label dismisses the suggestion that their success was contrived amid 'psyop' drama
- “I love Stevie. But when that happened, the angels left the building. It was really over”: Stevie Wonder’s '70s synth guru Robert Margouleff remembers the moment he knew their partnership was over, and explains the problem with today’s music
May 20
- Gretsch just released the most vibey acoustic guitar of the year and it’s only $249
- It’s $92, weighs 4.5kg and is packed with features, and Harley Benton calls it “ultimate grab-and-go practice station” – meet the DNAfx AmP10 modelling combo
- “It’s my favourite song on the album and one of my favourite songs I’ve ever made”: Olivia Rodrigo prepares to administer The Cure – but is it about Robert Smith or something else?
- “This is like the center of gravity for the bass world”: Geezer Butler, Tal Wilkenfeld and Nate Mendel hail the legacy of the P Bass, as Fender celebrates its 75th anniversary
- The only MIDI keyboard controller made specifically for FL Studio just got a major upgrade
- “They said ‘That’s not the one. The one’s here’. And I was like ‘That’s not my one’”: Dave Grohl recalls the time Nine Inch Nails laughed at him
- Thomann just dropped a massive sale on gig-ready live sound gear with up to 50% off that will turn any sound guy's frown upside down - and it includes big-name brands like Yamaha, Shure, Electro-Voice, Mackie, Midas and much more
May 19
- “For all the guitar people out there who look at me as not an electric player, don’t let the person behind the guitar fool you”: PRS and Ed Sheeran just unveiled a hollowbody baritone for all occasions
- “Put Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter back in the 1980s and they couldn’t have got arrested": Kylie Minogue and Rick Astley songwriter/producer Mike Stock says that modern pop stars would have struggled to make an impact back in the day
- Misha Mansoor’s Evertune-equipped 8-string Juggernaut is here and it might be the heaviest signature guitar Jackson has ever made
- “This threatens not only our business, but also the future of S-style guitars for builders and players across the European Union”: Is this the beginning of the end for the S-style? Fender issues cease and desist letter to US builder
- “The Black Album, Sad But True – the really bright ‘90s large like a motorcycle metal kind of sound – that came from, or might have been inspired by, Livin’ on a Prayer”: Charlie Puth joins the dots between Metallica, Bon Jovi… and Phil Collins
May 18
- “Mutt definitely had a signature style of working. On my records, Mutt and I did all the background vocals together; with a band like Def Leppard, he was almost like the other member”: Shania Twain discusses producer Mutt Lange's unique hit-making prowess
- “Having the right microphone is so important to me. It has that warm, crisp and classic sound that I love”: Olivia Dean sings the praises of the affordable live vocal mic that’s still going strong after 60 years
May 15
- "Handin' out turkeys on camera inside of your hood, then you go back to the hills”: Drake stokes Kendrick Lamar feud once more on one of three new albums
- “That’s a really good T-shirt: Look Mum No Points”: Look Mum No Computer reveals his self-built Eurovision “mega-synthesizer”, and says he “expects nothing” from voters in the final
- “To everyone who is gassed up about the new ways you can fake making art, by all means drive right off that cliff”: Jack Antonoff blasts those who use AI in music
- “It’s not like the orchestra existed back then”: Composer Ludwig Göransson says that he bought 35 bronze gongs to use on the soundtrack for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (but he did use some synths, too)
- Pete Townshend sells out: Primary Wave group acquires rights to Who guitarist’s music, image, likeness and name
- Sweetwater's latest sale is the place for pedal lovers, with big savings on Universal Audio, Line 6, Eventide, Keeley, DigiTech and more - including $100 off the highly rated UAFX Anti 1992
- “I have a skipping heart and I got to get a surgery”: Slipknot’s Shawn Crahan speaks about his health problems and how he sometimes feels like he’s “dying”
- I went to Superbooth and these are the 10 bits of gear I wanted to take home with me
- MusicRadar deals of the week: We've found $200 off one of the best microphones around, $100 off a stunning Guild offset and a slew of discounted guitar pedals
- “The algorithm-based way that social media functions now is destroying the music industry”: Lizzo claims it’s the reason you don’t know about her new album
- “The thunder and rain crashed the generator for the film shoot”: U2 film new video on top of a bus in a soaked Mexico City
- Gallaghers accumulated £375 million last year and have made Sunday Times Rich List
- Give It Away? No – the Red Hot Chili Peppers have sold their back catalogue to Warners for $300 million
- “It’s an important part of the culture that we are all on our goddamn phones and it keeps us connected, you know?”: Billie Eilish doesn’t have a problem with phones at gigs
May 14
- “It doesn’t fundamentally affect anybody’s songs”: Eurovision boss explains why Finland’s bow-shredding violinist is playing live at the 2026 Song Contest, while other instrumentalists aren't
- “You wouldn’t work with a racist. Don’t work with somebody that’s destroying the job that allows you to feed your children”: El Estepario Siberiano urges fellow musicians not to collaborate with Suno users
- “I've been to a couple of Bob's shows and I couldn't tell what the song was that he was doing. Now, that's a bit much”: Paul McCartney gently suggests that Bob Dylan could give a little more thought to the needs of his audience when he performs live
- “Getting a noise complaint is essentially a death sentence for a grassroots venue”: The precarious state of Britain's small venues in focus
May 13
- Gretsch reinvents a cult classic loved by Jack Antonoff and Rory Gallagher as it expands mid-priced Electromatic range with a pair of sweet baritones
- The Seymour Duncan Custom Shop just released a stunning hand-wound replica an OG humbucker from the dawn of the high-gain era
- “I didn't think I needed a drum machine, so I gave mine to one of the road crew”: Phil Collins reveals that he gave his brand-new Roland CR-78 to a roadie, then got it back and created "the record that people think of when they think of me”
- “It’s like, so raw; his passion and that bluesy piano… I couldn't get enough”: Alicia Keys is joined by Raye to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her debut album, Songs In A Minor, which featured a notable cover of a Prince b-side
- This is definitely, maybe your best chance to nail Oasis guitar tones – Noel Gallagher’s pedalboards have gone up for sale
- "There are producers who make hit records. Then there are producers who leave a lasting mark on people’s hearts and lives. Jack did both": John Lennon and Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas has died
- How do you like your ES-335? Gibson’s gives its iconic semi-hollow the Les Paul treatment, offering ‘50s and ‘60s versions with “decade-correct feel, look, and tone”
- “I ended up at Klek’s mother’s place making music in the basement, and we started doing that for… for ever”: Meet Angine de Poitrine, the polka-dotted alien ambassadors of math rock
May 12
- “Sometimes I try to pretend that someone threw mud on the fretboard of my guitar, or thick syrup! It’s a funny thing to imagine but it changes the way you play”: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's Sadler Vaden reveals his approach to slide guitar
- “You just can't put bass on a song like this. What would you put? We tried to have bass in there. It just doesn't work”: Teddy Riley on how he took a single bar of a classic Bill Withers song and turned it into one of the greatest R&B records of all time
- “Track a performance through your favorite tube amp while simultaneously capturing a dry signal as a safety”: Warm Audio’s Reamper is an analogue “creative routing hub” that could be the recording tool you’ve been waiting for
- “We built the amps, Hendrix made them scream”: Marshall celebrates 60 years of Jimi Hendrix with “cosmic” anniversary collection including hand-wired amp, Fuzz Face and more
- From stochastic sequences to a ‘render farm’ of drums: 8 of our favourite Eurorack releases from Superbooth 2026
- “We were supposed to open that place”: Adam Jones reveals that Tool were meant to raise the curtain on the Sphere in 2023
- Keep Dancing: New study shows it provides “vigorous” exercise and lowers stress
May 11
- “There are so many special memories within the walls, not to mention the rooftop”: Apple Corps to throw open the doors (and roof) of the Beatles' London HQ as a visitor attraction
- “I came away from the first session thinking, ‘Well, I like him, but he’s a bit pushy.’ But pushy’s not a bad thing in a producer. It’s just enthusiasm. It’s infectious”: Paul McCartney hails Andrew Watt as the perfect foil for creating his new album
May 8
- While everyone is mesmerised by its veiled mystery synth, Korg also sneakily launches a new effects-packed performance mixer, the NTS-4, at Superbooth
- “When I’m cooking or playing FIFA or cleaning, I’m listening to records – it’s a great time to work whilst you’re not actually working”: 5 things we learned in the studio with O'Flynn
- “I felt like I was levitating off the ground. I felt like I was in Cream in 1968. The tone was so raw, and I just said, ‘This is exactly where I want to be’”: Jared James Nichols on why he switched to Marshall amps
- “The artists are AI. I’m an AI agent. There are no humans in the creative or operational chain”: An AI run record label? Are the robots taking over?!
- Mike D of the Beastie Boys breaks silence with debut solo single, Switch Up
- “The tools you rely on today will keep working, and the tools you will rely on tomorrow are actively being built”: InMusic confirms Native Instruments acquisition, bringing it under the same ownership as Moog, Akai Pro and many more
May 7
- Teenage Engineering’s EP-136 KO Sidekick is part DJ mixer, part interface, part effects unit – and surprisingly affordable
- The most mighty mini amp modelling pedal just got mightier as IK Multimedia offers full MIDI integration and wireless editing on the Tonex One+
- “This version reflects what creators told us they want from AI hardware in real musical contexts”: Project Lydia, Roland’s neural sampling stompbox, moves a step closer to becoming a product you can actually buy
- Meet the $99 stompbox that’ll crush your bits – JHS expands its affordable 3 Series with three exotic effects for your pedalboard
- Is it a filter or is it an instrument? For Erica Synths, the answer is ‘Why not both?’ as it drops Resonant Filterbank at Superbooth 2026
- Superbooth 2026: all the latest synth news from Berlin - LIVE!
- Three years in the making, Bastl Instruments’ quirky Kalimba is a fusion of traditional instrument design and state-of-the-art internals: “Treat it like an acoustic instrument, it will answer like one”
- "The drum machine we would want to use and own ourselves": Polyend Drums combines the best of analogue and digital
- “Blackbox 2 is heir to its own portable sampler throne”: 1010music updates its sampling workstation with a better screen, onboard battery and USB audio streaming
- On the first day of Superbooth, Modal bring expressive synthesis without the complex learning curve with the lightweight Element One: “It doesn’t ask you to learn the rules; it dares you to play”
May 6
- “Built on the rhythmic and pitch drift of legendary drum machines”: Sonicware Deconstruct Minimal is a hardware groovebox designed for ‘hypnotic minimal grooves’
- Eddie Van Halen-approved baked maple necks? Check. Flagship pickups? Check. EVH Gear unveils stunning refresh of the Wolfgang Special
- “No compromises. No shortcuts. Just pure, hands-on sampling and sound design”: Kiviak Instruments promises to bring the old-school sampling fun for less with the cut-price WoFi LE
- “Over the past 24 hours, I’ve received hundreds of messages about my current situation. So yes, it’s official: I’ve made the move”: Jared James Nichols switches to Marshall amps
- "It's time to go. It’s like, you're Gwen Stefani. You don't need No Doubt. You're going to be amazing, right?”: What Linda Perry told Gwen Stefani as she channelled the star's negative energy into her explosive debut single
- “Ringo was from the Dingle, and that was well hard. He said he used to get mugged coming home, because he worked. Even though it was crazy, it was home to us”: Paul McCartney talks about his nostalgic duet with Ringo
- No knobs? No problem – Sterling By Music Man takes bass guitar design minimalism to its logical conclusion with the super-cool Joe Dart Vision
- You’ve seen Fender’s Godzilla Strat, now here the comes the pedal – and it’s a monster op-amp distortion with city-levelling tone (and a seriously cool graphic finish)
- “I think this is the one, after years of toiling in obscurity. This is their time”: Stones launch Foreign Tongues in Brooklyn with Conan O’Brien
- “Then I see the security guard person is eyeing me and it looks like I’m shoplifting when I’m doing the opposite”: Dave Grohl talks about hiding CDRs of the new Foos album around Southern California
May 5
- A sub-$600 shred machine with active EMGs and roasted flame maple neck? Harley Benton expands its Pro Series with 41 hot-rodded but affordable S-styles
- This one-button synth could be the wildest idea to come out of Superbooth 2026
- Julian Lage wants to teach you guitar! The jazz virtuoso announces multi-day masterclass “diving deeply into everything” guitar
- “These songs are played a lot. They’re often not played well”: Top 10 riffs played in-store at Guitar Center revealed
- Ableton Live 12.4 is out now, with Link Audio and updated Erosion, Delay and Chorus-Ensemble devices
- “That song casts such a huge shadow over everything that we’ve done. It’s difficult, but it’s not like I have to beat it": How Johnny Rzeznik overcame writer's block to pen the Goo Goo Dolls' Iris, then saw it become the soundtrack to '90s nostalgia
- Got some loose change? Well, it might just be the starting point of your next electronic masterpiece if you stack it atop Soma’s Enigma – the synth that's controlled by metal objects
- “Isolate or remove instruments from any song… Remove the guitar and step into the player’s shoes”: With AI stem separation, component-level modelling, and access to 200,000+ neural captures, Blackstar says the Beam Mini “redefines” the desktop amp
- “I don’t recognise that name”: What Kacey Musgraves was told when she asked for her album in Walmart… dressed as an armadillo
- “I asked Sean and he said, ‘Oh, he would’ve wanted to engage’”: Steven Soderbergh on his John Lennon doc and its use of AI
- “An ‘instrument’ rather than a ‘synthesizer’”: Buchla Ziggy is a desktop analogue West Coast synth available for (just) under $1000
- First Madonna at Coachella, now Stevie Nicks at the Met Gala: when it comes to duetting with music legends, Sabrina Carpenter is winning by a landslide
May 4
- “He let me into the basement with all his secret stuff and he had 10 Dumbles down there. It was the biggest collection I’ve ever seen in person!” Jake Kiszka on the time he went shopping for the world’s most expensive guitar amp in Japan
May 2
- “It's basically like, stream of consciousness, endless pouring out of emotion, intrusive thoughts, blended with metaphor, with discussion, with shouting”: Taylor Swift explains the songwriting trick that she and Jack Antonoff have used multiple times
May 1
- “I don’t think it’s normal to have the same collaborators over and over": Jack Antonoff says he has no problem with not being involved on Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life Of A Showgirl
- Is Beyonce about to release a rock album with a guest appearance from Stevie Nicks? A Bootylicious video callback has fans speculating
- "I don't know what half those knobs do up there, but you know, I just fiddle with them until they make the right sounds”: Howard Jones takes you on a tour of the synth he’s owned since 1983
- “From underground beats to high-stakes espionage, get ready to turn the speakers up”: Chase & Status sign up for new James Bond video game