Music news

• Tasseomancy: Do Easy review – hypnotic baroque folk-pop

  24-11-2016 23:40
  
  (Bella Union)If Tasseomancy’s name, referring to the act of divining the future with tea leaves, wasn’t enough of a clue as to the stylings of this Toronto two-piece, the title of their fifth album should seal the deal. “Do easy” was a philosophy espoused by beat writer William Burroughs that advocated carrying out tasks in the most relaxed fashion possible, “like a gentle old cop making a soft arrest”. Here, twins Sari and Romy Lightman (formerly of electroni
  
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• Dungen: Häxan review – beautiful silent-movie psychedelia

  24-11-2016 23:20
  
  (Smalltown Supersound)Häxan is Dungen’s eighth album, but their first wholly instrumental set. It evolved from the Stockholm quartet’s score for Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 silent animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, and takes its title – the Swedish for “witch” – from one of the characters. Their psychedelic jazz-rock evokes 70s Italian giallo horror movies, or perhaps Popol Vuh’s soundtracks for Werner Herzog. There are many beautiful tr
  
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• Alex Izenberg: Harlequin review – breathy, bittersweet debut

  24-11-2016 22:55
  
  (Weird World)On his debut album, the LA singer-songwriter Alex Izenberg harks back to a stuffy 1970s studio. Chamber pop is combined with a kind of off-ish folk reminiscent of English pre-glam. Unfortunately,his offerings don’t come with a similar level of showmanship. Instead, Izenberg’s breathy voice gets buried behind perfectly pleasant but usually banal instrumentation. It’s a style that is typified by jauntily bittersweet breakup song To Move On, which is slightly too poli
  
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• Kadhja Bonet: The Visitor review – marzipan-scented soul-folk serenades

  24-11-2016 22:40
  
  (Fat Possum)Those with even the surliest of palettes would struggle to deny their inner-Jilly Goolden on listening to the smooth serenades of Kadhja Bonet: delicate traces of violets, a gentle waft of scented candles and an aroma of marzipan resonate from this soul-folk debut. Although operating on the outskirts of the LA jazz community, she shares the traditional craftsmanship of that thriving scene: mining pastoral British folk of the 1960s and the blossoming symphonic soul of 70s Minnie Riper
  
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• Bruno Mars: 24K Magic review – Barry Manilow in 90s R&B clothing

  24-11-2016 22:30
  
  (Atlantic)Related: Why I love… Bruno Mars “I’m a dangerous man,” whoops Bruno Mars, more in hope than expectation, on 24K Magic’s opening track. As a wildly successful good-vibe merchant, Mars is only a danger to the sensibilities of people who detest his retro-fuelled buoyancy. For those who are on board, however, his third album will further the impression that he’s Barry Manilow in 90s R&B clothing: a writer of bothersomely memorable hooks, and a singe
  
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• Rumer: This Girl’s in Love review – in love with love and Burt Bacharach

  24-11-2016 22:15
  
  (East West)Rumer’s career has rather flatlined since her acclaimed 2010 debut, Seasons of My Soul, with subsequent covers album Boys Don’t Cry and original collection Into Colour proving underwhelming. On the face of it, the last thing the world needs is yet another take on Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s glittering catalogue, but she brings the heart and voice to make it soar. Her producer-arranger husband, Rob Shirakbari, who worked with Bacharach for years, provides the sumpt
  
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• Readers recommend: share your songs about iron and steel

  24-11-2016 21:00
  
  Make your nomination in the comments and a reader will pick the best eligible tracks for a playlist next week – you have until Monday 28 November We’ll take your suggestions and forge them into a playlist for next week – get involved below.
  You have until 11pm on Monday 21 November to post your nomination and make your justification. Regular RR contributor Marco den Ouden (who posts as Marconius in the comments) will select from your recommendations and produce the playlist, to
  
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• 'Punk is a McDonald's brand': Malcolm McLaren's son on burning £5m of items

  24-11-2016 20:06
  
  Joe Corré and his mother, Vivienne Westwood, to light a pyre of rare memorabilia on Saturday in protest over punk ‘conning the young’Proclaiming London’s punk scene dead at the turn of the millennium, Malcolm McLaren, the former manager of the Sex Pistols, declared he would enter the race for mayor of the capital, with a manifesto that promised to legalise brothels and sell alcohol in libraries.Related: Malcolm McLaren's son to burn £5m of punk memorabiliaContinue
  
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• The Memory Band: A Fair Field review – brave and curious sonic kaleidoscope

  24-11-2016 20:05
  
  (Static Caravan)With the Memory Band, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Cracknell sets out to create “a new approach to traditional music” with “an imaginary band built inside a computer and made flesh by the contributions of numerous musicians”. The result is an ever-changing sonic kaleidoscope in which samples are mixed with sturdy instrumentals based around traditional melodies, and songs that veer towards acoustic psychedelia. It starts with memories
  
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• Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel Talk Those Final Four Gilmore Girls Words

  24-11-2016 19:50
  
  And it is EVERYTHING.
  
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• Nigel Price Organ Trio: Heads & Tales, Vol 2 review – straightahead jazz with real punch

  24-11-2016 19:30
  
  (Whirlwind)Skilful British guitarist Nigel Price has given his fans more of the straightahead guitar-Hammond-drums mix that made 2014’s Hit the Road a pleasure, but broadens the soundscape here by adding an excellent pair of bebop saxophonists (Alex Garnett and Vasilis Xenopoulos), playing separately and together on this double-CD’s first disc, with the guitarist playing unaccompanied or in overdubbed duets on the second. (93) The shapeliness of Price’s improvising is apparent
  
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• ARQ/Alison Rayner Quintet: A Magic Life review – spirited, eloquent and graceful

  24-11-2016 19:15
  
  (Blow the Fuse)British bassist and composer Alison Rayner’s 2014 debut album, August, was an expected reminder of her warmth and alertness as an ensemble player, but also the unexpected emergence of a vivid new compositional voice. A Magic Life retains the same fine band (Diane McLoughlin on saxophones, Deirdre Cartwright on guitar, Steve Lodder on keys and Buster Birch on drums), and a similarly open and accessible mix of jazz, folk and classical ingredients. Celtic, eastern European, jaz
  
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• Steve Tilston and Jez Lowe: The Janus Game review – brave British folk

  24-11-2016 19:10
  
  (Tantobie Records)Unexpected collaborations are among the great strengths of the current British folk scene, and this is one of the most intriguing to date. Steve Tilston and Jez Lowe are long-established soloists, respected for their skills as singer-songwriters and instrumentalists, but this is the first time they have written together. Their finest compositions are the bravest. Crosses, Crescents and Stars tackles religion and religious wars, while Tattered and Torn is a pained but thoughtful
  
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• Perrie Edwards Slaps French Radio Host In The Face After He Admits Dumping A Woman Via Text

  24-11-2016 18:43
  
  Little Mix star Perrie Edwards slapped a French radio host after he admitted dumping a woman via text in the past. Zayn Malik did the same to her...
  
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• Best Xbox One Deals For Black Friday

  24-11-2016 18:16
  
  Looking to fill out your game collection or upgrade to an Xbox One S? Now's the time.
  
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• Vicky Pattison Left Unimpressed After Ex Boyfriend Mouths Off About Her New Relationship

  24-11-2016 18:09
  
  Ex Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattinson responded after an ex called Jordan Wright attacked her new relationship with John Nobel
  
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• Slick Rick: ‘You learn from prison time – what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’

  24-11-2016 17:58
  
  His morality tales of ghetto life made the Anglo-American rapper famous – and chillingly predicted his imprisonment for attempted murder. Now, 13 years since he was last released, he reflects on his legacyRicky Walters is famous – notorious, even – for several reasons. There is his reputation as one of the finest-ever MCs from hip-hop’s golden age. Then there is his eyepatch, concealing an injury caused by a shard of glass from a broken window when he was 18 months old &n
  
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• Best PS4 Deals For Black Friday

  24-11-2016 17:50
  
  Best PS4 Deals For Black Friday
  
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• Stephanie Davis Gets Playful With Her Baby Bump After Surviving Pregnancy Health Scare

  24-11-2016 17:34
  
  Celebrity Big Brother star Stephanie Davis got playful in a unicorn onesie after surviving a terrifying health scare
  
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• Crowded House review: 'What a glorious night to be alive on the planet'

  24-11-2016 17:06
  
  Sydney Opera HouseNeil Finn’s band returns to the scene of their 1996 farewell show, with two hours of hits and jamming in front of 6,000 enraptured fansThe decision as to when to call time on a band must be a truly wretched one. Delay it and a once beloved outfit risks becoming a cash-grabbing karaoke machine, enlivened only by merch sales and the umpteenth greatest hits compilation. Equally, a band’s promise can be cut short all too soon by an acrimonious falling out or something m
  
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• What You Missed In Music This Week: T in The Park Skips A Year, Chance The Rapper's New Album & More

  24-11-2016 17:04
  
  Also, we've got tips on how you might want to spend your May Bank holiday weekend...
  
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• Geordie Shore's Chloe Ferry Looks Proper Mint As She Shows Off Her Kardashian Inspired Bum

  24-11-2016 16:58
  
  Why-aye.
  
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• Ellie Goulding Laughs Off Claims She Threatened To 'F**king Punch' A Woman at Charity Party

  24-11-2016 16:47
  
  Ellie Goulding took to Twitter to laugh off claims she threatened to punch a woman at a charity ball in London on Tuesday
  
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• A musical tour of Europe's great cities: Berlin

  24-11-2016 16:42
  
  Our series ends in the German capital with Berg, Busoni, Bowie and Bernstein.In putting Berlin under the microscope in the last of our post-Brexit tours of the great cities of Europe, it seems that all roads lead to Kurt Weill. “Berlin will forever be associated with the turbulent times of the 20th century,” says @abkquan, whose suggestions have been a mainstay of these surveys. “The Weimar period produced the definitive Berlin work – Weill’s Threepenny Opera with i
  
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• Busted on reforming: ‘People don’t get why we are here again … they know how it ended’

  24-11-2016 16:30
  
  A lot of drink, drugs, rehab and bitterness have gone under the bridge since the band split in 2005 – but they’re back with a new album, Night Driver. Are they not worried it might turn bad all over again?It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say Charlie Simpson has had a change of heart. After he left Busted in 2005, he compared his time in the pop-punk boy band to “torture” and insisted he would never, under any circumstances, rejoin. Last May, though, he found himse
  
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• Brian Friedman Let Slip That Liam Payne And Cheryl Are 'Having A Baby Together'

  24-11-2016 16:22
  
  Oops.
  
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• Tom Misch Shines At His Sold Out Village Underground Show – Live Review

  24-11-2016 16:21
  
  Give Tom Misch a listen. You won't regret it.
  
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• The Snuggest Pyjamas And Loungwear To Chill Out In Over The Festive Season

  24-11-2016 16:19
  
  Stretchy fabrics ftw.
  
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• Get To Know: Eats Everything

  24-11-2016 16:18
  
  This week's featured artist is Eats Everything...
  
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• The Rolling Stones: Blue and Lonesome review – more alive than they've sounded for years | Alexis Petridis

  24-11-2016 16:00
  
  Mick Jagger’s voice and harmonica drive an album of blues covers that returns the Stones to their rootsLast week, a US journalist interviewing the Rolling Stones offered up a 21st-century spin on the old ‘Can white men sing the blues?’ argument. Wasn’t the Stones’ early repertoire, heavy on the songs of Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo, Muddy Waters et al, just an example of cultural appropriation, he asked? You might charitably describe Keith Richards’ re
  
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• The Rolling Stones: Blue & Lonesome review – more alive than they've sounded for years | Alexis Petridis

  24-11-2016 16:00
  
  Mick Jagger’s voice and harmonica drive an album of blues covers that returns the Stones to their rootsLast week, a US journalist interviewing the Rolling Stones offered up a 21st-century spin on the old ‘Can white men sing the blues?’ argument. Wasn’t the Stones’ early repertoire, heavy on the songs of Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo, Muddy Waters et al, just an example of cultural appropriation, he asked? You might charitably describe Keith Richards’ re
  
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• Love Island Star Cally Jane Beech Celebrates Her Baby Bump With Stunning Naked Selfie

  24-11-2016 16:00
  
  Love Island star Cally Jane Beech and footballer boyfriend Luis Morrison are expecting their first baby in 16 weeks
  
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• Jazzie B’s 10 best 80s anthems: Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Cameo and more

  24-11-2016 16:00
  
  The Soul II Soul leader picks his favourite songs from a pivotal decade
  ‘To be fair, asking for 10 tracks is totally taking the piss,” says Jazzie B, with a chuckle. The DJ, producer, broadcaster and Soul II Soul leader has had difficulty narrowing down the tunes that define what was, for him, a pivotal decade.“The 60s and 70s must have been incredible, but I think the 80s was the best time,” he says. “I don’t keep my records in any order other than eras &ndas
  
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• T in the Park festival to take a year off

  24-11-2016 15:50
  
  Organisers blame the decision not to go ahead with the music event in 2017 on regulations imposed in the wake of a change of site in 2015T in the Park, the huge music shindig that has been Scotland’s answer to the Reading and Leeds festivals, is to take a year off, its first break since being founded in 1994.The organisers say the move was forced by increasing pressure from the authorities. In 2015, the festival was forced to change sites from Balado airfield to Strathallan Castle, and sin
  
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• 14 Movie & Video Game Xmas Jumpers To Prove You're A True Fan

  24-11-2016 15:41
  
  If festive Deadpool is wrong, we don’t wanna be right.
  
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• Jack Garratt Brought His ‘Phase’ Tour To London & It Was Incredible

  24-11-2016 15:10
  
  We LOVE JG
  
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• Scarlett Moffatt Slams Tess Daly As 'A Blonde Lady With Boobies'

  24-11-2016 13:56
  
  I'm A Celebrity and Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffatt slams Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly for 'sucking the life out of everything'
  
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• BBCSO/Gaffigan review – Brecht and Weill to devastating effect

  24-11-2016 13:54
  
  Barbican, London
  Singer Storm Large evoked obscenity and heartbreak brilliantly amid the sleaze and sardonic humour of The Seven Deadly SinsExile and renewal were the themes of James Gaffigan’s concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which focused on Weill and Korngold, composers uprooted from 1930s Europe who went on to forge successful careers in the US. Brecht and Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins was the main work, and the evening will surely be remembered for a devastating performa
  
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• Hugh Masekela review – old favourites in thrilling new guises

  24-11-2016 13:51
  
  Ronnie Scott’s, London
  At 77, Masekela still likes to surprise in this memorable return to the club he first played in the 80s‘This is a wonderful nightmare,” said Hugh Masekela, as he looked out at the Ronnie Scott’s crowd, “because nothing has changed.” He first played here in the 80s, when he bravely insisted on a smoking ban. These days he concentrates on concert halls and festivals, so watching South Africa’s most celebrated musician return to this
  
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• Vicky Pattison Puts Her Trolls To Shame As She Posts Red Hot Swimsuit Selfie

  24-11-2016 13:30
  
  Vicky Pattison has hit back at her body shaming trolls.
  
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• How To Catch Ditto In Pokémon Go

  24-11-2016 13:17
  
  Ditto's tough to catch - here's how you do it.
  
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• Those Joe Jonas And Sophie Turner Romance Rumours Are Heating Up - And The DNCE Singer Has Been Talking S&M!

  24-11-2016 13:06
  
  DNCE singer Joe Jonas and Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner relationship is heating up in wake of Joe's S&M confessions
  
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• Readers recommend playlist: your songs with the accordion

  24-11-2016 13:00
  
  A reader bellows out a playlist from your suggestions, with accordion-backed tunes from the Pogues, Paul Simon and BeirutHere is this week’s playlist – songs picked by a reader from your suggestions after last week’s callout. Thanks for them all. Read more about how our weekly readers recommend series works at the end of the piece.Accordions are everywhere. From Odessa in Ukraine to Odessa in Texas, from Mombasa to Mumbai, you’ll hear them on street corners and in concert
  
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• Niall Horan Drops ‘This Town’ Lyric Video But Of Course We Already Know All The Words

  24-11-2016 12:56
  
  It's SO cute...
  
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• The 50 Best Christmas Jumpers Of 2016

  24-11-2016 12:30
  
  Ugly sweaters, sparkly sweaters and Stranger Things sweaters.
  
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• Taylor Swift Gets Kinky As She Stops By To See Todrick Hall On Broadway

  24-11-2016 12:21
  
  Oh-er!
  
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• Kanye West to 'spend Thanksgiving in hospital' following 'breakdown'

  24-11-2016 12:18
  
  Kanye West will be joined by Kim Kardashian in hospital for Thanksgiving 2016 after the rap star suffered a "mental breakdown"
  
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• This Pokémon Sun And Moon Hack Will Fill Out Your Pokédex

  24-11-2016 12:10
  
  Here's how to properly catch 'em all.
  
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• The Weeknd On Working With “Genius” Kendrick Lamar & Putting His Chopped Off Hair In A Safe Somewhere

  24-11-2016 12:09
  
  The singer also spoke to Zane Lowe about holding onto his sobriety and MORE.
  
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• 27 Most Iconic Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Moments Of All Time

  24-11-2016 11:58
  
  Including *that* iconic Ariana Grande face.
  
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