The musician, whose real name was Paul Spencer, was diagnosed with stage four rectal cancer in 2023

Paul Spencer, the dance music producer known as Dario G, has died at the age of 53.

The musician was diagnosed with stage four rectal cancer in 2023 and regularly posted about his condition on social media.

The likes of Fatboy Slim and Armand van Helden remixed original tracks into mutant dancefloor beasts, but thanks to streaming and risk-averse labels, this artform is threatened

Back in the 1990s, the right dance remix could make – or sometimes resurrect – a career. Fatboy Slim’s mix of Cornershop’s Brimful of Asha took a marginal indie band to the top of the British charts, Andrew Weatherall saved Primal Scream from potential obscurity with his remix of their lachrymose ballad I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have (which became Loaded) and Todd Terry’s remix of Everything But the Girl’s Missing gave the band a new lease of life in electronic music.

Kelli Ali says that Armand van Helden’s 1997 remix of Spin Spin Sugar by her former band Sneaker Pimps – a classic of the early UK garage scene – introduced the group’s music to an audience “who were maybe searching for something to listen to outside the club, when the sun came up.” She says: “It meant that our music crossed over to a whole generation of hardcore clubbers. I still have friends saying they were dancing to the track recently, which is pretty epic in terms of longevity for a remix.”

Whether you want to ask about A Grand Don’t Come For Free, writing and directing his debut feature film or his Fred Again-inspired new fanbase nothing is off the table

Trust Mike Skinner to put it succinctly: “I’ve spent many nights wasted, but not wasted any nights in Fabric over the years,” he said on the announcement of his new mix to celebrate 25 years of the fabled London nightclub. Fabric Presents: the Streets centres on the club’s reputation as “one of the homes of bass music”, said Skinner, “and that’s some of the music I’ve been playing out the most.” His mix opens with a new Streets track, No Better Than Chance, and spans UKG and bassline crew TQD to grime artist Manga Saint Hilare and Fred Again.

The record comes amid a busy period for the 45-year-old rapper, who has a looming set at Glastonbury and last year released and starred in his debut film, The Darker the Shadow, the Brighter the Light, and an accompanying album – entirely written, directed and even financed by himself. “I thought: ‘How hard can it be?’” he told Miranda Sawyer last year. “You know, I’ve done millions of music videos. I do music videos every week. So I was like: ‘It’s what, 90 minutes? That’s 30 music videos … But it’s not like 30 music videos. Because with music videos, you’re not beholden to a story that has to make sense. You just film a load of stuff and pick out what looks the nicest and the music does the rest. You can’t do that with a film.”

In a year of major releases from stars, the British singer has managed to come out on top with Brat: a catchy, internet-consuming album that captures a particular moment

How famous is Charli XCX? Even Charli XCX isn’t sure. “I’m famous but not quite / but I’m perfect for the background” she sings on I might say something stupid, the single slow-ish track off her new album, Brat. She’s not wrong; a good portion of the public knows the British singer, if they know her at all, for a top 10 hit from more than 10 years ago. But to a community of largely women, LGBTQ+ people and music critics, she is the biggest pop star in the world, the one everyone’s obsessed with – a persona Charli has leaned into with uncompromising, deadpan bravado: “It’s OK to just admit that you’re jealous of me,” she taunts on Von Dutch, the lead single off an album whose meme-generating cover is literally green with envy. On the deliriously catchy 360, she sings: “360, when you’re in the mirror, you’re just looking at me”, which references internet “it girls” such as Julia Fox – “I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia.”

And this week, at least online, she’s right. Brat is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year, now one of the top 20 all time on the site Metacritic (score: 95); her sold-out show/rave in Brooklyn this week drew such online fixations as Julia Fox, Lorde, Matty Healy and his new model fiancee Gabbriette, with tickets reselling for $10,000; many have pointed out that fellow pop artists Camila Cabello and Katy Perry are jacking her sound and lo-fi style, evidence of what Vox’s Rebecca Jennings called the “broader XCXification of culture”. A sickly, striking shade of Brat green spread on social media. The 15-track album of nearly straight club bangers, which contains not a single radio nor CVS-friendly track, is slated to debut at No 4 on the Billboard Hot 200 – by far Charli’s most commercially successful album to date, doing similar numbers to the relatively much more streamed (and doctor’s office friendly) Dua Lipa.

Billie Eilish’s third is a triumph, Shabaka goes woodwind and Yunchan Lim makes the most thrilling piano debut of the decade … here are our music team’s picks of the best LPs from the first half of the year

Being called “overproduced” is generally a criticism but BMTH make it a virtue on this ridiculously high-intensity album. The glitched-up production reflects a fiendishly intricate digital world, while frontman Oli Sykes’ emotions are more histrionic – and affecting – than ever. At a time when so many bands are content with tinkering at the edges of what’s been done before, it’s bracing to hear BMTH be so relentlessly ambitious and fused to the present moment. Read the full review. Ben Beaumont-Thomas

The dance music legends are preparing their first live shows without their late frontman. They explain why they can’t replace his voice, but can continue his spirit

In 2002 Faithless were granted a sunset slot on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage, and attracted close to 100,000 people. “England had actually just lost the football, so lifting the crowd took real energy to get people going,” says the band’s Sister Bliss. “It’s a funny coincidence – we’ve played Glastonbury twice before and both times England had lost in a big game.”

The electronic band, then consisting of vocalist Maxi Jazz and production duo Sister Bliss and Rollo, still won the crowd round, thanks in part to two genuine 90s classics: Insomnia and God Is a DJ. The former has frontman Maxi Jazz delivering a monologue racked with anxiety about sleepless nights, but its central line “I can’t get no sleep” became a joyous mantra for nocturnal ravers – and the subsequent synth melody was an instant classic. On 1998’s God Is a DJ, meanwhile, Maxi Jazz delivered a gripping sermon, declaring the club as his church and dance music as offering the same deliverance as religion. Fans duly worshipped them.

It became a Chicago house anthem classic – and it was cooked up in just 30 minutes by four postal workers after a tough shift on the letter-sorting machine

I first heard the term “house music” in Chicago in 1983 when I was working at a post office. There was this girl there who dressed crazy, with her hair different colours. She said she was going to the Music Box, where they played “house music”. I went along and the bass was so loud it physically moved you back a couple of inches. I got into house from that point on. Jesse Saunders made the first house record – 1984’s On and On – but lots of us thought we could do better.