Never mind the politics, our leading troubadour insists it was always the love songs that meant the most. In his new album they're sad and bruised – and he's thrilled about it. Nick Duerden meets Billy Bragg

As a 14-year-old boy living in a West Country village, Iain R Webb thought David Bowie's style statements were a 'gift'. And so have generations of fashion designers

Up-and-coming Brooklyn four-piece TEEN (pictured) have turned to Kickstarter to fund the recording and release of their new Carolina EP – kck.st/11KIK5u. Things are looking good with the group already surpassing their $5,000 target ahead of their donation deadline tomorrow. The all-girl quartet offered up a sample track from the proposed EP in the form of the title track, a nice stew of dreamy psych-pop and krautrock, which can be heard at snd.sc/Zv2Yt3.

Hopes that Noel Gallagher's curatorship of the TCT gigs might include a night of improv art-noise have not been realised, but his line-up is none the worse for rounding up Oasis's mates, plus a treat for teens.

With a new album out and a retrospective at the V&A imminent, Paul Trynka goes back to where it all began for the Thin White Duke

On the eve of Republica's return tour, lead singer Saffron talks to Emily Jupp

Struggling in an acoustic goth band; propelled to fame by performing in lingerie; now a global pop and TV superstar. So what’s next for Nicole Scherzinger?

He has carved his own groove in the jazz world – with another album out tomorrow – but he's still best known for his famous father. Nick Duerden meets Kyle Eastwood

With his Texan-Venezuela background and trailblazing 'freak folk', the singer-songwriter, artist and model is studiously unconventional – not to mention brilliant company in an art gallery, as Fiona Sturges discovers.

Shannon and the Clams

MIA (pictured) made an appearance of sorts earlier this week on the catwalks of Paris, for a Fashion Week collaboration with the label Kenzo. The UK/Sri Lankan performer created an eight-minute musical collage to soundtrack the label's show. Entitled the “Matangi Mixtape”, the music flits, in keeping with her general oeuvre, through snippets of sounds, songs, raps and beats – some more fully formed than others. It's streaming at matangimixtape.com. Given that MIA's next album is reportedly called Matangi, the cacophonous mix may offer insight into how the record will sound, though it's not yet fully clear.

'John Frusciante is a genius with the guitar'

In his various guises, John Grant has made an art out of his ability to craft grand pop melodramas from personal crises. Fronting the Czars, he turned drug issues and career struggles into transcendent baroque fancies.

The Light Surgeons' live mixing of visuals and music tells a story about race and politics in Malaysia

'Appy days are here again… the online music stores and streaming sites which we believe are the hippest and hottest around.