Music news

• Beach Slang: The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like Us review – loud, punky alt-rock done right

  17-12-2015 23:45
  
  (Big Scary Monsters) In a year when several young bands – Dilly Dally, Bully and others – attempt to revive the corpse of loud, punky, alt-rock, the Philadelphia quartet Beach Slang were streets ahead of the competition. They’re an unlikely proposition: the usual twentysomethings fronted by a fortysomething, James Alex, who – rather like Guided By Voices’ similarly late-starting frontman Robert Pollard – sounds as if he’s willing himself into the role. T
  
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• Nadia Reid: Listen to Formation, Look for the Signs review – introspection and oomph on indie-soul debut

  17-12-2015 23:30
  
  (Spunk) It took 24-year-old New Zealander Nadia Reid seven years to write the songs for her first album, because “I wasn’t sure how to begin, or if I had it in me.” But this doesn’t sound like an album troubled by musical doubt; Reid’s touch is sure throughout, as is her judgment. Her palette isn’t broad, but it’s expertly deployed – on the modal folk of Call the Days, she’s reminiscent of Laura Marling; on Reaching Through, a full band gives
  
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• Girl Band: Holding Hands with Jamie review – thumping, crashing sound and fury from Dublin punks

  17-12-2015 23:15
  
  (Rough Trade) Related: Chaos theory: meet Dublin's raucous noise rockers Girl Band Full of sound and fury, the debut from this Irish four-piece howls at you from the very start, an unbroken series of thumping, crashing songs strewn with fractured, imagistic lyrics. Singer Dara Kiely has talked about his struggles with mental health, and it is tempting to layer biography over these nine songs, which veer wildly from industrial shocks to math-rock repetition, and place punkish howls alongside mini
  
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• Daylight Versions: the Leaf Library review – melancholy wonder on delightful debut

  17-12-2015 23:00
  
  (WIAIWYA)
  The crepuscular songs on the debut album of London quintet the Leaf Library are typically set outdoors on the coast of southern England, and involve gazing in melancholy wonder at the world. Their lyrics are concerned with time’s repetitions, the movement of the seasons, the rhythms of night and day, and there’s circular motion, too, in the way the spare verses are repeated like mantras. “Seas turn white / By October light / swim away from the summer sun,” sings
  
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• Auntie Flo: Theory of Flo review – heady blend of world music and house

  17-12-2015 22:45
  
  (Huntleys + Palmers) Related: Living the Highlife: the global party scene taking world music into the future Dance music that attempts to incorporate global influences is often as subtle as wearing a Native American headdress to Coachella. Glasgow producer Auntie Flo, however, breathes new life into house by bending his sensitive world music antennae to, among others, West African marimbas, the Niger-Congo language of Ga, 70s Colombian Palenque and Afro-Cuban influences, and these become a heady
  
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• Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts: Manhattan review – anti-folk star still capable of surprises

  17-12-2015 22:30
  
  (Rough Trade)Related: Jeffrey Lewis: 'Seeing these sketches should be like listening to rehearsal tapes' Longtime fans of Jeffrey Lewis treat each of his albums like a returning old friend. We know what to expect by now – scratchy, lo-fi punk and croaky anti-folk – yet we also know his lyrical wit still has the capacity to surprise. Outta Town is a perfect example, a Cribsesque love song that appears at first to conform to standard tropes – “Is it Friday, is it Monday, I
  
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• The Internet: Ego Death review – Odd Future offshoot muse on love and lust

  17-12-2015 22:15
  
  (Odd Future)The Internet were “never supposed to be a group,” according to co-founder Matt Martian. Luckily they stuck it out. On this third album of beautifully crafted, genre-defying R&B-soul, Martian and fellow Odd Future producer Syd tha Kyd – plus musicians Patrick Paige II, Christopher Allan Smith, Jameel Bruner and Steve Lacy – have moved on from the cosmic soul and drug-referencing jams of their 2011 debut, Purple Naked Ladies, to Ego Death’s G
  
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• Thundercat: The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam review – eerie ambience and transcedental grooves

  17-12-2015 22:00
  
  (Brainfeeder) Related: LA jazz: how Kamasi Washington and Thundercat are breathing new life into the west coast scene In contrast to 2013’s more eccentric Apocalypse, Thundercat’s The Beyond is an introverted mini-album that, rather than leaping out of the speakers, tumbles and unfurls. Clocking in at just 16 minutes, the bass virtuoso wrote it in conjunction with his innovative work on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Flying Lotus’ You’re Dead! Amid its tex
  
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• Adele's 56 Date US Tour Sells Out In Minutes

  17-12-2015 21:44
  Scores of Adele fans were left disappointed after tickets for the singer's first US concert tour in five years sold out within minutes. Many expressed their frustration on Twitter at getting stuck on ticketing websites for up to an hour only to find out there were none left. Hashtags #adeletickets and #adelesoldout trended on Twitter, with fans posting memes, messages and GIFs inspired by the Grammy Award-winning singer's lyrics and music videos.
  
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• Readers recommend: songs about mountains | Peter Kimpton

  17-12-2015 21:00
  
  Bluegrass to country, Motown to soul and much more, it’s time to put on your musical boots, rope up and scale your shelves for songs that hit heady heights
  “Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills,” said Dolly Parton, flashing that ever radiant smile, and cleverly refreshing both a cliche and a metaphor. Let us not forget also that mountains are sometimes amply twinned with valleys. Yet, hailing from Tennessee, Parton’s talent for songwriting has oft
  
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• Music Review: Chris Brown is multi-dimensional on 'Royalty'

  17-12-2015 20:45
  
  Chris Brown, "Royalty" (RCA)
  
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• Jürg Frey: Third String Quartet CD review – an audaciously fragile performance

  17-12-2015 20:15
  
  Bozzini Quartet
  (Edition Wandelweiser Records) Swiss composer Jürg Frey said recently that all good music should be felt in some part of the body, and that his music is intended to be felt just inside of the ear drum. It’s a neat image from the master of calm instrumental textures – a Wandelweiser group composer who explores silence as much as sound and writes egoless music that feels as though it’s always existed. Montreal’s Bozzini Quartet gave a virtuosically stil
  
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• Wretch 32 & Avelino Share Official Video For New Track ‘Hulk Hogan’

  17-12-2015 20:06
  
  Wretch 32 & Avelino Share Official Video For New Track ‘Hulk Hogan’
  
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• The East Pointers: Secret Victory review – smart, stomping maritime folk

  17-12-2015 20:00
  
  (East Pointers)The East Pointers are a trio from Prince Edward Island, on Canada’s east coast, who mix stomping rhythms and virtuoso instrumental work. Fiddler Tim Chaisson and his banjo-playing cousin, Koady Chaisson, come from a family who have been musicians for seven generations. The duo are remarkable for writing songs that rework their Scottish and Irish influences, and they specialise in instrumentals that sound like tuneful Celtic standards, with banjo and fiddle both taking the le
  
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• Kudirka: Beauty and Industry CD review – slow and starkly beautiful

  17-12-2015 20:00
  
  Apartment House
  (Another Timbre)This album opens with the 53-second Tender: sweet, husky, tentative sounds circling in space like a mobile. Later, there is Tender (Second Version) – just 47 seconds this time, but now with more tremble and more pain. Michigan-born experimental composer Joseph Kudirka uses simple terms to say significant things. His music is considered; he doesn’t shout or clutter the edges or overfill the gaps. The piece 21st Century Music is a slow and starkly beaut
  
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• John Kirkpatrick: Tunes from the Trenches review – veteran squeezebox master's album of war songs

  17-12-2015 19:45
  
  (Fledg’ling)John Kirkpatrick is the veteran squeezebox maestro of the English folk scene, and an impressive singer. Shirley Collins said he could “move me to tears with a song”. His latest project, a collection of war songs, is in danger of being overlooked following the blitz of folk albums that marked the centenary of the start of the first world war, though Kirkpatrick’s approach is slightly different: these are songs from both the first and second world wars, ranging
  
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• Janáček: Moravian Folk Songs CD review – clear, candid voices

  17-12-2015 19:45
  
  Jankova/Král/Kahánek
  (Supraphon)Leoš Janáček wrote thousands of rural Czech songs; he loved the twisting modal tunes, the jagged lyrics. The title of his most important published collection – Moravian Folk Poetry in Song – hints at the attention he paid to the rogue rhythm of the words as well as the melodies. His settings never over-prettify the music, keeping vocal lines direct and a strong flavour of cimbalom, organ, fiddle and stomping feet in the
  
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• Giovanni Guidi Trio: This Is the Day review – sensitive piano jazz mutations

  17-12-2015 19:30
  
  (ECM)The second album for ECM by young Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi takes the sensitive empathy of his multinational trio (with New York bassist Thomas Morgan and Portuguese drummer João Lobo) a few soft steps further on from its fine predecessor. The atmosphere is mostly quiet again, but there’s a growing intensity to Lobo’s Baiiia, after its ghostly percussion overture and bass variations; a conversational, Paul Bley-meets-Jarrett jangle to The Debate; Guidi’s Trilly
  
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• Chopin: Preludes; Sonata No 2, etc CD review – ravishing performances

  17-12-2015 19:30
  
  Seong-Jin Cho
  (Deutsche Grammophon)With a massive following in the far east just waiting to snap it up, Deutsche Grammophon has been quick off the mark with its debut disc from the winner of this year’s Chopin competition in Warsaw, compiled from Seong-Jin Cho’s performances during the recital stages of the competition in October. It gives a sense of what this hugely talented 21-year-old South Korean has to offer, apart from the performance of Chopin’s E minor Concerto with whi
  
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• Lil Durk Releases New Mixtape, '300 Days, 300 Nights'

  17-12-2015 19:16
  
  Lil Durk Releases New Mixtape, '300 Days, 300 Nights'
  
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• Federal Jury Finds Cox Communications Guilty of Willful Copyright Infringement

  17-12-2015 18:39
  
  Updated: 3 pm PT; 6 pm ET to include Cox statements on the ruling.
  Cox Communications is one of the largest broadband ISPs in the world.
  Cox Communications just lost one of the largest copyright infringement lawsuits ever litigated.
  The Virginia-based access provider has been embroiled in massive litigation over its customers’ illegal downloading for the past year, with arguments see-sawing over whether Cox should be liable.  Cox, like many other ISPs, has argued that it merely offer
  
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• Brit Awards 2016: Adele will perform at ceremony before kicking off 25 world tour

  17-12-2015 13:28
  
  The Brit Awards 2016 will welcome music royalty to the stage with superstar Adele confirmed to perform. The Hello singer will entertain thousands at the annual ceremony, marking her first appearance at the awards for three years. The 27-year-old diva is the first act confirmed to perform at the Brits, which will be taking place at London's O2 Arena on 24 February 2016.
  
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• Here's Ex On The Beach's Scott Timlin & Megan Mckenna Ice Skating In Their Swimsuits

  17-12-2015 13:12
  
  Because, why the heck not?
  
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• #2015WithMTV: 9 MTV Music Moments From 2015 That Made Us Love Life

  17-12-2015 12:50
  
  From Biebs' teary VMA performance, to Ed Sheeran's 'Storytellers' here's some of our fave moments from the past 12 months...
  
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• Adele Is Going To Perform At The 2016 Brit Awards And We're Already Crying

  17-12-2015 12:40
  
  Yay!
  
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• The Victoria’s Secret Angels Reveal Their One Flaw As They Sing 12 Days Of Christmas

  17-12-2015 12:37
  
  Because NOBODY can be good at everything.
  
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• Chris Brown Admits He's 'Made Mistakes' In The Past In Revealing Interview

  17-12-2015 11:50
  
  He's opened up ahead of his new album.
  
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• Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid Help Launch Homeless Guy's Modelling Career

  17-12-2015 11:47
  
  Side note: he's BEAUTIFUL.
  
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• Selena Gomez Teases Project With Controversial Kylie Jenner Photographer In Gorgeous Bikini Selfie

  17-12-2015 11:42
  
  OOOH, secretive.
  
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• Ferne McCann Is Feeling The Effects Of The Warmest Winter We’ve Had In Years

  17-12-2015 11:34
  
  AKA Ferne takes a half naked selfie.
  
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• 8 Of The Weirdest YouTube Challenges Of 2015

  17-12-2015 11:13
  
  The Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge, Clown Contouring and more madness
  
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• MTV Crashes Plymouth 2016 Tickets Go On Sale Monday!

  17-12-2015 10:58
  
  Christmas just came early...
  
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• Selena Gomez competing with Taylor Swift? Justin Bieber's ex-girlfriend 'would like to make 2016 her year'

  17-12-2015 09:43
  
  American singer/actress Selena Gomez has some strong new year goals. According to Hollywood Life, Justin Bieber's former girlfriend is hoping to make it big like her best friend, Taylor Swift. "She has told friends that the start of next year is her Taylor Swift year.
  
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• Pandora’s 2016 Royalty Bill Just Increased by $100 Million…

  17-12-2015 08:56
  
  What does a ‘compromise’ costs these days, anyway? About a hundred million…
  Instead of lowered recording royalty rates, the deeply-feared US Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has now raised Pandora’s streaming royalty rates a considerable notch.  Specifically, Pandora and other streaming radio providers will be required to pay 17 cents per 100 song streams for every recording for non-subscribers, an amount that doesn’t even cover remaining pub
  
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• Rappers N.W.A, metal band Deep Purple to join Rock Hall of Fame

  17-12-2015 08:35
  California rap group N.W.A., British metal band Deep Purple and rock-pop group Chicago are among the musicians chosen to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, organizers announced on Thursday. Singer Steve Miller, who crosses multiple genres from blues to pop, and 1970s rock band Cheap Trick will round out the five 2016 inductees, which were chosen by fans and more than 800 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Artists are eligible for inclusion in the Cleveland, Ohio-based
  
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• Adele to perform at 2016 Brit Awards

  17-12-2015 08:27
  
  The singer is set to have a busy year in 2016.
  
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• Get Ugly [Explicit]

  17-12-2015 04:23 via mtv.co.uk
  
  Get Ugly
  
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• Judges hike rates for music streamers; Pandora shares jump

  17-12-2015 02:09
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — A panel of copyright judges on Wednesday raised the amount Internet music streaming services like Pandora must pay to record labels next year and beyond.
  
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• Craig David & Bloc Party Will Headline Our Brand New For 2016 Gigs!

  17-12-2015 01:01
  
  Eeeeeeeeeeeee!
  
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