Hugh Laurie: ‘There’s a sensual pleasure involved in making music that I just can’t get from acting’
His role in House made him the highest-paid actor ever in a TV drama, but with a new album out this week Laurie is keen to follow his real love
From Snoop Dogg to Snoop Lion: The reinvention of a gangster rapper
He’s the former pimp married to his childhood sweetheart; the shrewd businessman who smokes 30 joints a day. Can the gun-toting Dogg reinvent himself as a peace-loving Lion?
Daft Punk announce new album
French EDM godfathers continue their slow drip of information ahead of the album’s May release
Depeche Mode: Delta Machine
(Columbia)
Eric Clapton: Old Sock
(Polydor)
David Bowie tops UK albums chart for first time in 20 years
Bowie’s new album The Next Day is UK’s fastest-seller of the year, as V&A exhibition also opens
David Bowie: The Next Day
David Bowie’s eagerly awaited new album is thought-provoking, strange and filled with great songs
Who is David Bowie? A guide to the V&A retrospective
As a blockbuster exhibition, David Bowie is, gets under way at the V&A, Sean O’Hagan dissects the pop icon’s influences – and reveals the ideas behind four of his key alter egos
Nick Cave: ‘The greatest feat of artistic honesty would be to retire’
The musician, novelist and screenwriter talks about the new direction of his latest album with the Bad Seeds, Push The Sky Away (listen to it here) – and his prolific output over the past few years
Mumford & Sons win top prize at the Grammys
Best album gong for the folk rock quartet reflects their giddying commercial rise in the US
Kraftwerk at Tate Modern
Tate Modern, London
Justin Bieber: Teen pop idols never die. They’re gradually unfollowed
After a bumpy start to the year, the rapidly ageing teenywink singing sensation stands at a crossroads in his career
The inside story of how David Bowie made The Next Day
David Bowie sprang the biggest surprise the pop industry has seen in years by recording his new single Where Are We Now? and a new album in complete secrecy. Producer Tony Visconti, guitarist Earl Slick and others in the know reveal how it happened – and spill more about the singer’s plans
HMV’s woes do not signal the end for record shops
Despite HMV’s inability to make high street music retailing pay, some independent record shops are seeing increased sales
Bowie’s Berlin: ‘A time of Sturm und Drang in the shadow of the Wall’
After the surprise release of the singer’s first single in more than a decade, Kate Connolly walks in his footsteps around the city landmarks that inspired three great albums of the 1970s – as well as his latest elegy to the German capital
Amazon’s Autorip turns heat up on Apple’s iTunes Store
Service aims to challenge Apple dominance by giving customers free MP3 versions of physical CDs they have already bought
