Music. Blur, Rakim, Cults, Empire of the Sun, Art Brut, and more.

Yes, we have something for you again, from the really good to the downright embarrassing. On offer: Blur Live, and Blur is always good, especially live. Legendary rapper Rakim, who will never sound the same as he did in the 80s again, but he does sound remarkably contemporary. Boy band Art Brut with a new lyric/song that shines again, as all their lyric/songs do. Empire of the Sun, you know, who sounded a bit like MGMT, have a new record and sounds a bit like MGMT. Cults, an indie band with two or three great songs, are also out and about on the festival grounds. One of Brooke Candy’s characters has a new CD, and we’d like to share the song in which she first asks to do yoga in a different place than usual, and then puts something in her head (what that is is not entirely clear to us; you judge for yourself). We suggest: a remix with Ms. Hawk Twah. You’ll also receive from us: something from the new album by Mustard, the rap beat connoisseur who created the rap beats for the rap song of 2024, which has already been streamed a million billion times, Drake Legend Already by Kendrick Lamar. Anyway, we put it there as an ode to Mustard, who usually makes this column but somewhere on the beach is teaching hordes of scantily clad Portuguese, Spanish, Bulgarians, Finns or wherever how to make some obscure cocktails.