Guardian Music — Touted as the new Grimes, and with a name that is old Norse for virgin, MØ shows her awareness of soulful electronica, with sultry vocals reminiscent of Lana Del ReyHometown: Copenhagen.The lineup: Karen Marie Ørsted (vocals, music).The background:... more info

Guardian Music — Prince's purple reign is unpicked here with a true fan's obsession, but we're no closer to knowing the real manIn 2007 Prince played a 21-night stand at the O2 in London. The author of this book went to 19 of the shows and "deeply regretted missing t... more info

Guardian Music — Water Rats, LondonOn her current tour, Charlotte Church has been denouncing "the mainstream", as if she hadn't spent her entire career in it. Biting the hand that feeds you is a risky strategy for a performer, still more so one like Church, whose CV ... more info

Guardian Music — That's the question we asked readers earlier this week – and here's a selection of responses. Is your first album on the list?Earlier this week we asked readers to tell us about the first album they bought. The response was huge, and sadly we can o... more info

Guardian Music — (One Little Indian)It must be exciting but tough to be born into a musical dynasty such as the Watersons. Exciting because of the music that could constantly be heard around the families' homes near Robin Hood's Bay, on the Yorkshire coast, but diffi... more info

Guardian Music — No dance music, no hard rock, no curveball, no Kate Bush and no true pop among this year's nominationsAs with last year, it's one of those Mercury shortlists that somehow contrives to add up to less than the sum of its parts. These are all decent alb... more info

Guardian Music — The Mercury prize albums of the year will be announced later today. Is it time for Plan B? Did alt-j make your blood flow? Let us know who you'd really like to see make the shortlistIt says here: "The Barclaycard Mercury prize ‘2012 albums of th... more info

Guardian Music — Olympic Stadium, LondonIt was hard not to approach the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympic Games with some trepidation.The equivalent event at the Olympics had felt slightly underwhelming, perhaps because no spectacle could possibly live up to the ath... more info

DrownedInSound — August came and went so quickly that we at DiS can’t be entirely sure it wasn’t some weird, lucid dream. After all, we're pretty sure Romanian discus throwers aren’t supposed to congregate outside our bus stop, fairly certain that our televisio... more info

Guardian Music — Bramham Park, LeedsWhatever's going on in music, the Leeds festival always feels like a parallel universe. Unfashionable tattooed American pop-punk reliably clogs the main stage and fans look to make an exhibition of themselves for a weekend before r... more info