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F&M playlist

Our music team pick the songs or albums, old or new, they just can't turn off
Wiley is giving away 200 tracks for free – which will only add to his legend

Modern music marketing is closer in spirit to the Native American practice of potlatch than you might think

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Act your age: the new wave of high-powered child stars

Once upon a time, child stardom was the road to dysfunction and ruined youth; but today's young actors are smart, talented and in complete control. Cath Clarke reports on the new brood

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Go back to go forward: the resurgence of prog rock

After its 1970s heyday, prog rock receded in on itself, but now a new wave of bands are embracing long, difficult songs and fantastical lyrics – and finding fans for it, too, writes Alexis Petridis
Thrash is back on the menu with the Big Four

Heavy metal seemed dead in the water 10 years ago, but the Big Four tour – bringing Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth and Metallica together at last – is one great big bounce back, writes Jamie Thomson

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Frank Fairfield: Sorting the funky from the fogeys

The 25-year-old who supported Fleet Foxes digs for treasure in his spare time. By Rob Fitzpatrick
Readers recommend songs about manual labour: The results

Not many from the last 20 years, when pop poppets wouldn't know the meaning of the phrase, but we pick earthy songs from earthier times
Sex, shame and Indian cinema

Why the continent is the most sexually contradictory place on earth. By Nirpal Dhaliwal

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Splice

Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley in an enterprising black comic horror film, Splice samples the DNA of Alien, The Fly and Eraserhead. By Peter Bradshaw
Ivul

An unusual, semi-autobiographical film by English director Andrew Kotting. By Peter Bradshaw

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My Night With Maud

Eric Rohmer's ultra-chaste meditation on sex and religion from 1969 is still a delight, says Peter Bradshaw
The Rebound

Catherine Zeta-Jones's new rom-com – about an older-woman-younger-man combo - is as soulless and dead-eyed as it gets, writes Peter Bradshaw
City Island

A labour of love for producer-star Andy Garcia, this drama of blue collar lives in New York is a little on the soapy side, says Peter Bradshaw
Baarìa

Giuseppe "Cinema Paradiso" Tornatore's latest is a turgid, self-indulgent, treacle-smothered account of growing up in Sicily, writes Peter Bradshaw
Hollywood's mental block

From Psycho to Shutter Island, why is the portrayal of mental illness in the movies stuck in the dark ages, asks David Cox

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The Magic Numbers: The Runaway

A four-year gap has done nothing to put the Magic Numbers back on course, fears Dave Simpson
Click to download: Mercury nominees

22 July 2010: Save yourself some money and check out the shortlisted artists for this year's Mercury Prize online for free
Animal Collective: Oddsac

This freeform film collaboration could be a lot worse, says Alexis Petridis – it's just boring, not pretentious
Midnight Juggernauts: The Crystal Axis

What Midnight Juggernauts lack in subtelty, they make up for in hooks, suggests Michael Cragg
Jedward: Planet Jedward

Jedward? That joke isn't funny anymore, says Caroline Sullivan
Tom Jones: Praise & Blame

The Welsh belter has reinvented himself as a man of gravitas – and he's succeeded, reckons Michael Hann
Klashnekoff: Back to the Sagas

Three years ago, Klashnekoff was one of the innovators of UK hip-hop, says Paul MacInnes. Now, though, he's sounding tured
Jaill: That's How We Burn

Jaill offer no innovations, says Maddy Costa. But it doesn't stop them being bags of fun

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Ballake Sissoko and Vincent Segal: Chamber Music

Second only to Toumani Diabate as a kora player, innovative griot Ballake Sissoko delivers a delicate, thoughtful album with the aid of French cellist Vincent Segal, writes Robin Denselow
Barry Harris: Live in Rennes

This live recording of Detroit's 80-year-old piano ace – and friend of Thelonious Monk – is not immaculate, but it does make it feel like he's playing in your front room, writes John Fordham
Various Artists: Larkin's Jazz

This 4-CD guide to jazz according to poet Philip Larkin's tastes - ie, forget about anything after 1945 - puts you right there at one of his gin-fuelled home soirees, writes John Fordham
Cheikh Lô: Senegal's Sufi guitarist gets nostalgic

With his love-it-or-hate-it guitar style, soaring voice and Sufi spiritualism, Senegalese star Cheikh Lô has always been a one-off. Rose Skelton met him
Dudu Pukwana: Night Time Is the Right Time

These unearthed recordings of all-night jam sessions at Ronnie Scott's in London in 1967/8 are a good showcase for alto saxist Dudu Pukwana's searing sound, writes John Fordham
Josefine Lindstrand: There Will Be Stars

This expectation-twisting album from Swedish singer and cohort of Django Bates sets words by US poet Sara Teasdale to a set of wistfully slow, remarkably sung tunes, writes John Fordham
Wizz Jones, Dave Evans, Steve Tilston and others: Ghosts from the Basement

The beginnings of psych-folk are on show in this fascinating set of lost songs from Bristol's busy early-70s folk scene, most of which have never been released on CD before, writes Robin Denselow

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Bach: Mass in B minor

Working with a small group of singers and orchestra, John Butt conjures a performance of lightness and vitality, says Andrew Clements
Schnebel: String Quartets

Influenced initially by Webern and later by Cage and experimentalism, this compelling recording should bring the work of Dieter Schnebel to a wider audience, says Andrew Clements
Haydn: Symphonies Nos 93-104

This period-instrument orchestra gives a good account of 12 Haydn symphonies, but some contrived elements may prove wearing, says Andrew Clements
Bringing Wagner to Gloucestershire

It's not quite Bayreuth, but Martin and Lizzie Graham's converted barn can still cope with the Ring Cycle. Tom Service travels to Longborough to find out more
Mahler: Symphony No 2

Detail and precision are fine, but not at the expense of dramatic momentum, which is why this account of Mahler is underwhelming, says Andrew Clements
Scriabin: Piano Sonatas Nos 1-10

The Russian pianist came out of retirement to record these sonatas, but the varying tempi and lack of delineation mean they never quite burst into life, says Andrew Clements

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First sight: We Love

The Italian duo's artsy pop sits where the old world meets the new and offers a multisensory experience
Tom Cruise

David Thomson: He may be a small man pushing 50 with limits as an actor but, as Magnolia reminds us, he shines playing characters facing failure. He should do it more