Music news

• Why Merle Haggard's If I Could Only Fly is his masterpiece

  06-04-2016 23:45
  
  After the country icon’s death, his big hits such as Okie From Muskogee are getting all the attention, but it was his little known album from 2000 – released on a punk label – that was his last great outlaw statementMerle Haggard obituary: ‘All he really wanted to do was fish and write songs’Merle Haggard, country music giant, dies aged 79Merle Haggard died today. I have more than 30 of his albums; if he’s not my favorite musician, he’s very close. I lov
  
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• Merle Haggard obituary: ‘all he really wanted to do was fish and write songs’

  06-04-2016 23:37
  
  Inventive singer-songwriter who gave common people a forthright voice
  • Merle Haggard, country music giant, dies aged 79
  • Why Merle Haggard’s If I Could Only Fly is his masterpieceMerle Haggard, who has died aged 79, was one of the most resonant figures in country music for almost half a century. Popular, successful, highly influential upon the genre and critically admired both within and beyond it, he also acquired the status of a spokesman for his core audience, his songs Okie
  
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• Country music star Merle Haggard dead at 79: manager

  06-04-2016 20:39
  Country musician Merle Haggard, who emerged from prison to become the poetic voice of the working man with hits such as "Mama Tried" and "If We Make It Through December," died on Wednesday, his 79th birthday, said manager Frank Mull. Haggard's repertoire included songs with traditional country music themes such as drinking and heartache but he also infused them with more insight and tenderness than most honky-tonkers. "Like Muddy Waters in the blues field and only a handful of other performers,
  
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• An air of mystery around Thunderclap Newman: is there something in it? | Letters

  06-04-2016 20:08
  
  In 1969, when Thunderclap Newman’s Something in the Air was top of the charts, a friend and I went to a party in Liverpool where we were introduced to a Brummie student described as a “heavy dude, musically”. Following his snort of derision at our mention of a chart record, he then informed us with a contemptuous sneer that the piano solo on the record was taken from Khachaturian’s piano concerto. It being the 60s, there was certainly something in the air at the party &nd
  
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• Young punks: unseen photos of the Sex Pistols

  06-04-2016 20:07
  
  Forty years ago, art student PT Madden photographed an unknown group playing to a handful of punters. Those early shots of the Sex Pistols have finally come out from under his bedOn 3 April 1976, a young art student called PT Madden positioned himself in front of a deserted stage at the Nashville, a music pub in London’s West Kensington. The place was nearly empty: as he remembers, “There was no audience apart from about 20 rocker types at the bar.” Moving aside the tables in t
  
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• Merle Haggard, country music giant, dies aged 79

  06-04-2016 20:03
  
  The musician, who was known as the ‘poet of the common man’ and defined the west coast country sound of the 70s died at his home in CaliforniaMerle Haggard obituary: ‘all he really wanted to do was fish and write songs’Why Merle Haggard’s If I Could Only Fly is his masterpieceCountry giant Merle Haggard, who celebrated outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride in such hits as Okie From Muskogee and Sing Me Back Home, died Wednesday at 79, on his birt
  
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• Robbie Fulks: one of country music's true 'outsiders' comes back around

  06-04-2016 17:44
  
  He records his albums with Shellac’s Steve Albini, he’s made an album of Michael Jackson songs and exists well outside of the Nashville bubble in Chicago. It’s time people caught up with the counter country starIn country music, “outsider” is often a marketing term meant to give certain artists leverage inside the mainstream, even if they benefit from commercial radio and major label marketing budgets. Bear witness to the rise of Nashville insurgents Chris Stapleton
  
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• 'I never said you should be raped': Azealia Banks apologises to Sarah Palin

  06-04-2016 16:17
  
  The rapper has apologised to the former governor of Alaska, following an offensive Twitter spree, for her ‘crass New York City sense of humour’Azealia Banks has apologised to Sarah Palin for a series of graphic, since deleted tweets which reportedly led the former governor of Alaska to begin “discussions with attorneys”. Banks’s comments were triggered by a satirical, made-up news story in which Palin tells an Alaska newspaper that black people “accepted [slav
  
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• Sibelius: Symphonies Nos 5 & 7; En Saga review – Elder brings care but occasional chill

  06-04-2016 16:00
  
  Hallé/Mark Elder
  (Hallé)Mark Elder’s Hallé Sibelius series has been a leisurely affair. The first disc, containing the First and Third Symphonies, appeared in 2009, the next, featuring the Second, came out in 2013. This pairing of the Fifth and Seventh leaves just the Fourth and Sixth, and hopefully Kullervo, to complete the cycle.The Fifth Symphony is usually seen as one of the more optimistic and outward-looking of Sibelius’s later works, certainly compared wit
  
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• Odd futures: how hip-hop shook off its macho image and got weird

  06-04-2016 15:59
  
  From ecstasy-guzzling language-mangler Young Thug, to the many alter egos of Nicki Minaj and Kendrick Lamar’s experimental jazz affiliations, these days it pays to be strangeYou used to know where you were with rappers. Sure, there were unique and interesting characters among them, but there were definite and powerful strands of convention: competitiveness, combativeness, a certain cocksure sense of self, insistence on “realness” and a relatively limited area of subject matter
  
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• Geordie Shore's Charlotte Crosby Responds To Chloe Ferry's Comments About Her 'Hairy Growler' In The Best Way

  06-04-2016 15:54
  
  There's no denying that last night's Geordie Shore was an absolute shocker...
  
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• Pop band breaches Buckingham Palace security

  06-04-2016 15:50
  
  Cat’s Eyes blag way into Queen’s gallery to perform track from new albumAn alternative pop duo, best known for their soundtrack to the erotic film The Duke of Burgundy, managed to breach Buckingham Palace security and perform in front of unwitting guests after blagging their way in disguised as a Renaissance music ensemble.In a publicity stunt captured on video the group, Cat’s Eyes, are shown performing a track from their new album at a private art talk at the Queen’s ga
  
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• Let's Throwback To That Time Zoella Was In Harry Potter

  06-04-2016 15:25
  
  Well, almost.
  
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• Mogwai webchat – as it happened

  06-04-2016 15:09
  
  Stuart and Dominic from the Scottish post-rock band answered your questions on everything from football and politics to Bowie, bullets and Buckfast wine 2.09pm BSTMogwai sayThanks everyone for sending the questions in. See you all soon - cheers! 2.08pm BSTPete Fellows asksWhat’s your opinion of your German EDM almost-namesake and have you told him to get an original moniker?S: I don't know much about his music, but I think he's been using the name longer than we have. We've managed to peac
  
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• A Ranking Of The Geordie Shore Cast’s Most Jaw Dropping Naked Selfies

  06-04-2016 14:44
  
  The art of taking an eye opening selfie...
  
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• BXRBER Shines Bright On Latest Track ‘World End’

  06-04-2016 14:39
  
  After winning audiences over with his refix of Ray BLK’s ‘Talk To Me’ late last year, R&B visionary BXRBER returns with his latest release ‘World End’ and a banger of a remix.
  
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• Mick Jenkins Treats Listeners With New Track 'The Artful Dodger'

  06-04-2016 14:19
  
  Mick Jenkins has been busy putting together his highly-anticipated studio album, and he’s dropped a little treat for listeners, just to wet our appetites for the forthcoming project.
  
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• ScHoolboy Q Shares Cinematic Visuals for ‘Groovy Tony’

  06-04-2016 14:11
  
  Back in January, ScHoolboy Q teased us with a preview of ‘Groovy Tony’, resulting in speculation as to whether this is hinting towards his next studio album.
  
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• Philharmonia/Temirkanov/Lugansky review – first-rate playing

  06-04-2016 14:06
  
  Royal Festival Hall, London
  Conductor Temirkanov and pianist Lugansky gave striking interpretations of Brahms, Beethoven and Elgar, building towards a powerful, emotional finaleDuring last summer’s Proms, the pianist Nikolai Lugansky and conductor Yuri Temirkanov gave a performance of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with the St Petersburg Philharmonic which, for me, was close to definitive. Returning to London for a Sunday matinee with the Philharmonia Orchestra, they tackled Bra
  
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• These Are The Biggest Selling Albums Of The Year So Far...

  06-04-2016 14:04
  
  Is it be Biebs? Adele? Bowie? Find out...
  
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• Itzhak Perlman review – a packed-out love-in celebrates the violinist's 70th

  06-04-2016 14:04
  
  Barbican, London
  Perlman was breathtaking in Stravinsky and Franck, and no matter that his tone slipped elsewhere – his audience remains devotedItzhak Perlman has had a five-star career, made five-star recordings and remains indelibly a five-star presence on the concert platform. This Barbican recital, nominally to mark Perlman’s 70th birthday last August, was a rare chance to pay homage to indisputably one of the great violinists.What it was not, though, was a five-star recital. And
  
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• Jorja Smith Returns With Brand Maverick Sabre Assisted New Video ‘A Prince’

  06-04-2016 14:01
  
  Following her astronomical rise to universal acclaim thanks to debut release ‘Blue Lights’, 18-year-old newcomer Jorja Smith has been the name on everyone’s lips for the past few months...
  
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• P Money X Vortex Shell On 'Straight Bars'

  06-04-2016 13:53
  
  There's no slowing down P Money, who drops those distinctive grime bars yet again on this Swifta Beater producer beat.
  
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• JMSN Sings About A Break Up On 'Most Of All'

  06-04-2016 13:50
  
  Gearing up for the release of his long awaited album 'It Is', Michigan crooner JMSN sings about what he misses on 'Most Of All'.
  
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• 'Scunthorpe' is a four-letter word: Facebook stops band from promoting Lincolnshire gig

  06-04-2016 12:45
  
  The social network’s oversensitive content filters have blocked posts about a forthcoming tour by alternative rock band October DriftFacebook censors have prevented a band from promoting a gig in Scunthorpe. As a result of the four-letter profanity spelt out in the middle of the word, the alternative group, called October Drift, were blocked from posting news about their show in the North Lincolnshire town. The social network does not ban profanity, but it does identify and filter swearwor
  
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• LA LA LAND (Ft. Delaney Jane) [Explicit]

  06-04-2016 12:21 via mtv.co.uk
  
  DVBBS & Shaun Frank - LA LA LAND (Ft. Delaney Jane) [Explicit]
  
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• Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements by Bob Mehr review – how a great band destroyed itself

  06-04-2016 12:00
  
  The Replacements’ third album Let It Be is hugely acclaimed, yet they never really made it – though there was much rock’n’roll defiance, drink and bad behaviour along the way‘We happened to … like all of the funky quirks of the classic rock bands – the Who, the Rolling Stones, the Ramones,” notes Paul Westerberg in the epilogue to American music writer Bob Mehr’s exhaustive biography of the Replacements, the band Westerberg led. “We di
  
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• Pearl Jam – 10 of the best

  06-04-2016 12:00
  
  We look back at the Seattle grunge-rockers’ finest tracks, from soulful ballads to political rants with riffs that could awaken the deadAmong the first groups from Seattle’s underground rock scene to sign to a major label, glam-rockers Mother Love Bone were poised for success until their flamboyant frontman, Andy Wood, fatally overdosed on heroin days before their debut album, Apple, was due for release. In the aftermath, Chris Cornell – singer with grunge originators Soundgard
  
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• Gotta Let You Go

  06-04-2016 11:30 via mtv.co.uk
  
  Dominica - Gotta Let You Go
  
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• 5050

  06-04-2016 11:24 via mtv.co.uk
  
  RAY BLK - 5050
  
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• Girls Like (Ft. Zara Larsson) [Explicit]

  06-04-2016 11:20 via mtv.co.uk
  
  Girls Like (Ft. Zara Larsson)
  
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• NO

  06-04-2016 11:10 via mtv.co.uk
  
  Meghan Trainor - NO
  
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• Kanye West pays tribute to Phife Dawg at memorial service

  06-04-2016 10:06
  
  Late Tribe Called Quest member’s music ‘made that walk to study hall so short’, says Kanye WestKanye West made an impassioned tribute to Phife Dawg at a memorial service to the A Tribe Called Quest rapper, saying: “Tribe made Kanye West. Made the kid with the pink Polo. Made it so I could dress funny.”West was one of many paying tribute to Phife Dawg – real name Malik Taylor – during the four-hour service, which was held at New York’s Apollo theatr
  
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• Carmen with cha-cha-cha: adaptation with all Cuban cast opens in Paris

  06-04-2016 08:00
  
  Reimagined in 1950s Cuba and directed by Christopher Renshaw, Carmen la Cubana will open at the Théâtre du Châtelet over 140 years after Paris debutIt is Carmen, but not as we know it, and almost certainly not as French composer Georges Bizet intended. A new version is mixing opera and the Broadway adaptation with some Latin American cha-cha-cha thrown in for good measure. Continue reading...
  
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• Apra awards 2016: Courtney Barnett breaks Sia's winning streak to take top songwriting prize

  06-04-2016 03:01
  
  Tame Impala, Peking Duk and Birds of Tokyo also win top prizes at Apra awards, as Cold Chisel accepts a lifetime achievement prize ‘A rare privilege’: artist Ben Quilty’s heartfelt ode to Cold Chisel at Apra awardsMelbourne singer Courtney Barnett was awarded songwriter of the year at the Australian Performing Rights Association (Apra) awards, which were held at Carriageworks in Sydney on Tuesday night. Related: Courtney Barnett on why everything yet nothing has changed: I&rsqu
  
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• Beyoncé sues Texas company over clothing with 'Feyoncé' label

  06-04-2016 01:08
  
  Singer’s lawsuit targets company selling clothing and coffee mugs, saying label confuses consumers and those behind it have ignored her requests to stopBeyoncé is suing a Texas company to stop it from selling clothing and other items bearing the word “Feyoncé”, which she says is too close to her own trademarked name.In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Beyoncé accused Feyoncé Inc and three individuals, all from San Antonio, of “braz
  
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