Music & Nightlife

Little Dragon

• Critics choice

Haunting, cool and tunefully esoteric Swedish electro-pop quartet, fronted by radiant vocalist Yukimi Nagano and drawing on sources as disparate as Prince, Depeche Mode and TV On The Radio; here leaning mainly from their dazzling second album, 'Ritual Union' (Peacefrog), a work of subtle but insistent, gleaming and gorgeous dance pop.

Corneille

German-Rwandan singer Corneille aka Cornelius Nyungura (now living in Quebec) flips between singing in English and French. His work is informed by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Prince.

General Elektriks

• Critics choice

Hot Chip, Justice and a trunk of funk collide in GE's squelchy electro party starters, while French duo Souleance know how to rock an MPC.

Rammstein

The German industrio metallers tour 2009's album 'Liebe ist für alle da', as well as promoting a new best-of, 'Made in Germany 1995-2011'.

Gretchen Parlato

Fast-rising US singing star Parlato made a dramatic entry to the upper echelons of jazz vocalists when she won the prestigous 2004 Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Award. Possessing a honeyed voice coupled with quicksilver technique, she matches the sweetness of her sound with music of depth and beauty.

Liz McComb

A resident of Paris, the Cleveland-born gospel singer has been a hit on the continent for 20 years, probably because she borrows heavily from blues and roots music — such as the Blind Boys of Alabama and the Holmes Brothers — rather than working the slicker contemporary gospel sound that’s popular stateside. Not exactly a purist, McComb shakes up...