Music news

• West rants about Trump, Beyoncé before cutting concert short

  20-11-2016 23:25
  
  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Just days after telling fans at a concert that he would have voted for Donald Trump, Kanye West delivered another public screed Saturday night, this time about Beyoncé, Jay Z, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, the radio and MTV at the Sacramento, California, stop of his Saint Pablo Tour.
  
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• Ariel Winter Gets A New Tattoo And Takes Her Sister Who Gets One Too

  20-11-2016 21:46
  
  Sisters that get tatted together and all that.
  
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• Blac Chyna Shows Off Her Super Flat Tummy Two Weeks After Giving Birth

  20-11-2016 21:18
  
  It’s flatter than ours after a roast dinner.
  
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• Insta Trend: Blokes Are Swapping Man Buns For Man Braids

  20-11-2016 20:44
  
  Would YOU try this Instagram trend?
  
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• Sharon Jones: a soul survivor who helped rejuvenate a classic sound

  20-11-2016 18:57
  
  By her own admission, she was an unlikely star who waited decades for her chance – and then became a figurehead for fans seeking true soulAs reports confirmed Sharon Jones’ death on Friday evening, one thing emerged: hundreds if not thousands of fan pictures, selfies taken with Ms Jones from her gigs all over the globe with her band, the Dap-Kings. That is perhaps what is most striking: she was a firecracker, a lioness of a performer, yet completely accessible to her admirers. If you
  
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• Kanye West rants about Beyoncé before cutting concert short

  20-11-2016 18:42
  
  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Just days after telling fans that he would have voted for Donald Trump, Kanye West delivered another public screed Saturday night, this time about Beyoncé and Jay Z at the Sacramento, California, stop of his Saint Pablo Tour.
  
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• Sharon Jones obituary

  20-11-2016 18:19
  
  Powerful soul and funk singer with the Dap-Kings hailed for her stage presenceAlthough she began to achieve success only after she had reached 40, the singer Sharon Jones, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 60, had spent her life working towards a musical career. A passionate devotee of the classic soul and funk music pioneered by the likes of James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner, Jones could have made a perfect fit for record labels such as Motown or Stax had she been born a decade
  
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• Scarlett Moffatt Wants To Have Babies With Boyf Luke When She Leaves The Jungle

  20-11-2016 18:17
  
  Could there be mini Moffatts running around the Gogglebox living room soon?
  
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• Kanye Goes On Another Rant, Criticising Beyonce And Jay-Z, Then Ditches His Own Gig

  20-11-2016 17:36
  
  He’s been a busy boy this week…
  
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• Desiigner review – platinum welcome for rising rap star

  20-11-2016 16:54
  
  Electric Ballroom, LondonThe young Brooklyn rapper signed to Kanye West’s stable is honoured for hit single Panda, and enthustiastically delivers half his set from the moshpit“When I say ‘Panda’, you say ‘Gang’!” cajoles Desiigner’s DJ. “When I say ‘Good’, you say ‘Music’!” From the number of times he repeats it during this brief show, you might infer that Desiigner’s status as one of 2016’s breakout
  
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• Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Sting set for American Music Awards

  20-11-2016 16:51
  
  With new albums to promote, the timing is perfect for Sunday's American Music Awards, where performers include top pop stars such as Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and The Weeknd. Mars released his new album, "24K ...
  
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• Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Sting actúan en American Music Awards

  20-11-2016 15:29
  
  La presentación el domingo de los American Music Awards contará con la actuación de algunas de las principales estrellas pop, como Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars y The Weeknd, que sin duda aprovecharán lña ocasión para promover sus nuevos álbumes.
  
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• Drake looks for first American Music Awards but out of top prize

  20-11-2016 15:02
  Canadian rapper Drake competes on Sunday for his first ever American Music Award on a night that will feature performances by Lady Gaga, Sting, Nicki Minaj, and Justin Bieber. Drake, 30, dominated nominations for the 2016 awards show, earning 13 nods and smashing the record set by Michael Jackson in 1984. The American Music Awards are entirely fan-voted, and the 10 artist of the year nominees were pared down by fans last week to five.
  
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• 26 Of The Steamiest Movie Sex Scenes To Rival 'Fifty Shades Darker'

  20-11-2016 14:49
  
  We love seeing Hollywood’s sexiest celebs bare all... literally.
  
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• Marius Neset/London Sinfonietta review – scorching, soulful and inspiring

  20-11-2016 14:48
  
  EFG London jazz festival, various venuesAn intense live rendition of the saxophonist’s orchestral suite Snowmelt set the scene for a final festival weekend of improv, excitement and surreal groovesA hundred amateur musicians – skilled or not, most of them strangers to each other, and of all ages from 15 on – gathered in the Royal Festival Hall’s Clore Ballroom freespace on 19 September to unveil a piece of communal music they’d created from scratch that morning. On
  
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• Kourtney Kardashian Shares Sweet Snaps Of Kids After Scott Disick ‘Moves Back In’

  20-11-2016 14:36
  
  Reign and Penelope were enjoying all the Saturday vibes.
  
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• Panic! At The Disco Bring The Hits To Their Sold Out London Show

  20-11-2016 14:11
  
  We sang every word to every song.
  
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• Don Giovanni review – NI Opera's cruise with Mozart sets a wicked course

  20-11-2016 14:01
  
  Grand Opera House, BelfastDirector Oliver Mears pilots a witty production that deftly balances comedy and seriousness, and packs a surprise in the swimming poolIn his catalogue of his works, Mozart listed Don Giovanni simply as a comic opera, but as Northern Ireland Opera’s director Oliver Mears – slated two months ago as successor to the Royal Opera’s Kasper Holten – points out in his programme note to this staging, commentators and interpreters have regularly viewed it
  
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• Jemma Lucy Just Confirmed She’s ‘In A Relationship’ With Charlotte Dawson

  20-11-2016 13:27
  
  The Ex On The Beach babes are hooking up according to Jemma!
  
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• Kylie Jenner Poses Topless With Tyga To Celebrate His Birthday

  20-11-2016 12:47
  
  Lucky bloke got a pair of presents!
  
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• Keaton Henson review – songwriter's self-torture yields pain and pleasure

  20-11-2016 12:42
  
  London PalladiumTrembling with emotion, at times sitting with his back to the audience, the musician holds his chronic anxiety at bay long enough to deliver an impassioned and mesmerising performanceWith ecstatic applause raining down on him, Keaton Henson calls for hush. “The sooner you stop, the sooner I can go home,” he says in a wispy voice. “I want to go home.”He’s not joking. The 28-year-old artist, poet and disconsolate singer-songwriter suffers from chronic
  
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• Susan Boyle shows off dramatic weight loss as she talks about her new music

  20-11-2016 10:46
  
  The Britain’s Got Talent singer is releasing her first new music for a while.
  
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• Laura Mvula review – playing it safe for the seated masses

  20-11-2016 10:00
  
  Albert Hall, Manchester
  The Mercury-nominated star has overcome some personal demons this year but now needs to throw caution to the wind“I’ve got a couple of anxieties,” confesses Laura Mvula a few songs into an assured set. The twice-Mercury-nominated, Mobo-winning star has just shimmered on Overcome, a highlight of her second album, The Dreaming Room, released earlier this year. She has soared on Let Me Fall, a jubilant, jazzy outing. Projecting a regal presence – you
  
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• Bruno Mars: 24K Magic review – blinged-up funk

  20-11-2016 10:00
  
  (Atlantic)
  Bruno Mars charms his way through these opulently produced 90s-style R&B tunesBy any metric, Uptown Funk – Bruno Mars’s 2014 collaboration with Mark Ronson – is a brutally tough act to follow. Even if the song’s ongoing copyright cases prove expensive, this sharp funk throwback remains a record-breaking bestseller, an accolade with enhanced swag in a sales-poor era. The second most famous American to have grown up in Hawaii is also trying to equal or better
  
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• Sheku Kanneh-Mason: ‘I’ve always felt that I fitted in’

  20-11-2016 09:00
  
  This year’s BBC Young Musician winner on diversity, Britain’s Got Talent, and why he picked up the cello in the first placeSheku Kanneh-Mason, 17, is a cellist who in May won the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition. He lives with his parents and six musician siblings in Nottingham, attends Trinity College Catholic school and also studies at the Royal Academy of Music’s junior academy. Kanneh-Mason is the subject of Young, Gifted and Classical: The Making of a Maestro, which air
  
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• Metallica: Hardwired… to Self-Destruct review – thrillingly direct

  20-11-2016 09:00
  
  (Blackened Recordings)It’s testament to the enduring appeal of Metallica’s early work that in recent years their live setlists have included almost nothing recorded after 1991’s Black Album. To that end, their 10th album is an attempt (and a more successful one than 2008’s patchy Death Magnetic) to replicate the glories of their first three. The back-to-basics approach serves them well. Recent single Hardwired is a thrillingly direct opener, almost matched in ferocity by
  
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• Martha Wainwright: Goodnight City review – joyful versatility

  20-11-2016 09:00
  
  (Pias)In many people’s minds, Martha Wainwright remains the confessional singer-songwriter who castigated her folk icon dad on her eponymous debut. But she’s tried plenty of other musical personas since, and her sixth studio album shows her versatility at its best, its songs not so much genre experiments as joyful costume changes. Wainwright moonlights variously as folksy singer-songwriter (Traveller), jazz crooner (Before the Children Came Along) and electropop chanteuse (Look Into
  
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• Justice: Woman review – a nicely escapist sweat-fest

  20-11-2016 09:00
  
  (Ed Banger/Because)Heralded by a series of unannounced DJ sets around Europe, this third Justice album might just be the sort of escapist sweat-fest party people sorely need right now. Safe and Sound, the album’s opener, comes garlanded with 70s-era violin swirls, courtesy of the London Contemporary Orchestra; throughout, vintage discoid shapes combine with the pounding of dance-rock and lashings of the aerated funk perfected in Paris in the 90s. Naturally, this mix has its cheesier iterat
  
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• Diana: Familiar Touch review – criminally boring

  20-11-2016 08:55
  
  (Culvert/ILS/Caroline)Fairly or otherwise, the 80s are a musical era long defined by irony and inauthenticity, a triumph of alloy over purity. Canadian trio Diana’s first album, Perpetual Surrender, had fun playing with these tired themes, taking an intriguing if unexceptional gauzy approach to synth-pop: the sound of Phil Collins flying between Live Aids, as heard from the baggage hold. This follow-up is a huge disappointment, a criminally boring collection of overlong stadium pop homilie
  
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• Alison Rayner Quintet: A Magic Life review – a beautifully integrated band

  20-11-2016 08:55
  
  (Blow the Fuse)Purposeful, full-toned and melodic – those are the qualities of Alison Rayner’s music, in her roles as both bass player and composer. Jazz today takes so many forms, and incorporates so many diverse influences, that it takes a strong musical voice, such as Rayner’s, to stand out clearly amid the surrounding din. She has a beautifully integrated band too. The whole thing has that loose feeling which is the mark of musicians who have been working together for some
  
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• Vivaldi, Mozart, Handel: Dixit Dominus CD review – a curio from Jordi Savall

  20-11-2016 08:50
  
  La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations/Savall(Alia Vox)Jordi Savall’s ingenious programmes often make unusual juxtapositions: here he brings together three settings of the same Vespers psalm, Dixit Dominus. But who influenced who? Though Vivaldi was older than Handel, Handel’s youthful masterpiece is earlier, dating from his Italian years, around 1707. Vivaldi’s setting has some original moments, especially the solo-trumpet Judicabit, but is not top-notch; Handel
  
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• Simplicius Simplicissimus; Oreste review – there will be blood

  20-11-2016 08:45
  
  Sadler’s Wells; Wilton’s Music Hall, London
  Two compelling operas about societies riven by war were driven by committed vocal performances and visceral shocksIt’s been no week for the faint-hearted (and we’re not talking about world politics… although, inevitably, we are). Two new productions of operas notable for their evocation of deadly tyranny made their London audiences gasp and wince – but also sent them away reflecting on the dark evolution of societie
  
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• Gillian Welch: Boots No 1: The Official Revival Bootleg review – a dream debut revisited

  20-11-2016 08:45
  
  (Acony) (2 CDs)Gillian Welch’s 1996 debut, Revival, is one of the era’s most influential albums, its retro stylings and bleak evocations of the dust bowl era marking the transition from alt-country to Americana. Welch’s revivalism was no Carter Family copyism; here was a startlingly good songwriter who could put you in the place of a barroom girl or mountain moonshiner with a few piercing images. David Rawlings’s impeccable picking and harmonies sealed the deal. This 20th
  
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• Schubert, Sibelius: Quartets CD review – Ehnes and co excel

  20-11-2016 08:24
  
  Ehnes Quartet
  (Onyx)From the opening chord, firm, precise, pliant, this quartet knows its collective mind when it comes to Schubert’s much loved “Death and the Maiden”, D810. James Ehnes leads with that brilliance of technique and musical intelligence always evident in his solo career. He has fine, equally meticulous colleagues in Amy Schwartz Moretti (violin), Richard Yongjae O’Neill (viola) and Robert deMaine (cello). They avoid exaggerating the Viennese lilt, keeping a
  
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• Purcell: Dido and Aeneas CD review – a scholarly live recording

  20-11-2016 08:19
  
  Raffaella Milanesi, Richard Helm, La Risonanza, Coro Costanzo Porta/ Bonizzoni(Challenge)There are many good reasons to enjoy this live recording: delightfully pungent playing from La Risonanza, crisply articulated chorus work from Coro Costanzo Porta and some fine solo singing are just some, but what really marks it out is its scholarly approach. Using scores prepared for a 1704 London performance, Fabio Bonizzoni recasts the Sorceress as a bass and the Sailor as a soprano. Why? Because the ope
  
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• Adele to take on Drake, Justin Bieber and Rihanna at American Music Awards

  20-11-2016 07:27
  
  The award-winners are chosen by the public.
  
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• Classical ‘factory line’ takes the joy out of Beethoven and Brahms, says Nigel Kennedy

  20-11-2016 01:05
  
  Lazy tutors are creating musical clones by putting too much emphasis on technique, says violinistViolin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy has accused music colleges and record companies of producing “factory lines” of pianists and violinists that end up all sounding the same.In being made to focus too heavily on technique and the pursuit of perfection, gifted musicians have become so terrified of playing a wrong note that individuality is being stifled, he claims. Continue reading...
  
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