The Holy Grail? Yeezus? Why are rap’s power players obsessed with religious allusions? Gillian Orr takes a pew

Catherine Bennett is a bright, slightly clumsy, bike-riding, museum worker

The songs that are hot on our playlist this week

British pop fans are buying more singles than at any time since the days of Bright Eyes and Blondie. Elisa Bray investigates

Aristocrat Bo Bruce has turned her losing talent-show turn into success. Matilda Battersby finds out how

Fresh from last year's Song Reader sheet-music project and five years after his last full album, Modern Guilt, Beck (below) is back with a wealth of new material. Recently he showcased a sparkling new single, “Defriended” – it's at youtu.be/pDSjOM42HZU. The song is an expansive ballad flitting between electronic sonics and more organic sounds with an undertow of Beck's usual melancholia. The track, not pegged to any LP release, is reportedly preceding another standalone single this summer followed by two new albums. The first, due in the autumn, is said to be a small acoustic effort, while the latter will be a more varied affair.

The singer mouths off about nut allergies, Justin Bieber, drugs and that feud with brother Noel...

After recovering from alcoholism and affairs, Take That’s Mark Owen tells Adam Sherwin he thinks the group will one day play Glastonbury

'Klaus Voorman's stark, simple playing on Lennon's Plastic Ono Band is exactly what this elegant group needs'

I voted for Joey Bada$$ (pictured) in last year's BBC Sound of 2013 poll. He didn't make the list but I maintain the young Brooklyn rapper is a voice to listen out for. “Word Is Bond” is his new track, released last week and trailing his upcoming mixtape Summer Knights. Find it at snd.sc/16nv7eP. Like his excellent mixtape 1999, still freely available at theproera.com/music/joey-badass-1999, the new single finds Bada$$ rhyming confidently over beats and samples, here provided by Statik Selektah, that recall the classic 1990s era hip hop of the likes of Nas' debut Illmatic – those piano loops are irresistible. As if to burnish his throwback credentials he references, among other things, George Pataki, the long-serving former Governor of New York, who first took office in 1995.

Travis's singalong chart-toppers led the way from Britpop to Coldplay. Their frontman tells Elisa Bray why they've been out of sight for a while

The songs that are hot on our playlist this week

Ahead of a new compilation of James Brown shows, Robert Webb lists the best live records

After Antony Hegarty's "future feminism" manifesto at last year's Meltdown, Yoko Ono grabs the curator's reins with a view to celebrating "strong female energy".

KT Tunstall's new album was written after her father's death and divorce from a fellow band member. That's why the songs are her most personal yet, she tells Craig McLean