I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels. Some good, some bad. Some luxury escapes, some fleapits. But none could compete for all-round awfulness with The Walton Hotel in Nottingham.

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Summer’s here and what better way to enjoy the sunshine than by pressing play on my latest playlist? We’ve got a fair few Northern Soul stompers, some old classics from The Kinks, Steely Dan and 10cc, a little bit of country and reggae, and a couple of unlikely collabs like Robert Smith and Olivia Rodrigo and (even more unlikely) Jeremaine Jackson and Devo.

Brandon Flowers of The Killers previews his new solo country album, recorded in Nashville with a stellar cast of studio veterans.

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Eels offer up a taster from their latest album Cookie Happened with this beautifully bruised and bittersweet song, Cap In Hand.

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Jeffrey Alexander is a prolific purveyor of his hazy brand of stoner rock jams, especially with The Heavy Lidders.

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Olivia Rodrigo and Robert Smith of The Cure team up to duet on this perfect love song, What’s Wrong With Me.

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This is everything I like in electronica: a sinister undercurrent, a throbbing pulse, a driving rhythm, punctuated by modular flares and strange noises.

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Fontaines D.C. owe much of the credit for their rise to arena-filling stars to their manager and “sixth member of the band,” Trev Dietz, who has died at the age of 47.

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The Bobby Lees come from Woodstock, so you’d expect their sound to be all peace and love wouldn’t you? Prepare to be plelasantly surprised.

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This week The Mekons, one of the longest-serving survivors of punk’s Class of ’77, released Horrorble – a dub deconstruction of their last album.

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