Music news

• Road name honour for music 'pioneer' who helped craft Doctor Who theme tune

  27-11-2016 20:53
  
  Delia Derbyshire, who composed the Doctor Who theme tune, was a pioneer of electronic music.
  
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• Ensemble Modern/Berman review – vibrant world premiere of new Goehr

  27-11-2016 17:14
  
  Wigmore Hall, London
  Jonathan Berman led a debut of new work in Alexander Goehr’s Manere series, rounded out with modern classics by Knussen and StockhausenNew in this programme by the Frankfurt-based contemporary music group Ensemble Modern were two of three pieces called Manere by Alexander Goehr, heard alongside the first, which was written in 2008.Goehr is, at 84, still adding to a body of work whose aesthetic parameters are wide ranging, though its density and rigour derive from a Eur
  
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• Kefaya review – a one-night musical trip around the world

  27-11-2016 16:42
  
  Rich Mix, London
  This debut album launch featured very few of the musicians from the recording studio, but a host of stand-out artists from India to Senegal to AfghanistanKefaya are one of the most intriguing new bands of the year. They started as a four-piece, with the Italian guitarist Giuliano Modarelli and keyboard player Al MacSween joined by bass and drums, but have developed into a global collective with a fluid lineup of musicians. There’s nothing wrong with that, but too much chan
  
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• Princess Beatrice 'accidentally cut Ed Sheeran's face with sword'

  27-11-2016 16:15
  
  Singer-songwriter Ed is said to have gone to hospital to have stitches.
  
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• Kanye West To Return Home With Kim Kardashian From Hospital Tomorrow?

  27-11-2016 15:15
  
  Kanye West to be discharged from UCLA Medical Centre on Monday with Kim Kardashian after mental breakdown
  
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• Nelly Has Finally Revealed Why Kelly Is Texting Him Using A Spreadsheet In The Dilemma Video

  27-11-2016 15:06
  
  Nelly has spoken about the 2002 duet Dilemma with Kelly Rowland and why she uses a spreadsheet to text him
  
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• Danielle Armstrong Has Quit TOWIE To Try And Get Over Ex Boyfriend James Lock

  27-11-2016 14:48
  
  The Only Way Is Essex star Danielle Armstrong has quit the show to get over boyfriend James Lockie Lock
  
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• Ed Sheehan Stabbed In The Face By Princess Beatrice In Party Prank Gone Horribly Wrong

  27-11-2016 13:47
  
  Ed Sheehan needed stitches on his face after Princess Beatrice accidentally stabbed him with a sword
  
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• Adele Is Going Back To The BRIT School To Be A Teacher

  27-11-2016 13:33
  
  Adele is set to take up a teaching post at the prestigious Brit school after she finishes her current tour
  
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• James Arthur Is Too Scared To Go On Tinder Because Of Catfishing

  27-11-2016 13:22
  
  James Arthur admits he is afraid he will be fooled - or even killed - by catfishing lovers on apps like Tinder
  
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• Jessie J Leaves Her Fans Stunned With Her Wild New Hairstyle

  27-11-2016 13:13
  
  Jessie J has been trying out new hair styles and impressed fans with a new long-locks selfie
  
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• Honey G Attacked On X Factor During Dramatic Live Stage Invasion

  27-11-2016 12:07
  
  X Factor contestant Honey G was attacked by members of prankster group Trollstation during Louis Loves week on The X Factor 2016
  
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• The Weeknd: Starboy review – the attentive boyfriend you can’t ignore

  27-11-2016 10:00
  
  The musically omnivorous Abel Tesfaye has mainstream stardom in his sights with this overlong but persuasive albumCanadian R&B singer the Weeknd pulled out of Rihanna’s European tour back in March to record more music – a move that flew in the face of contemporary pop economics. Recorded music doesn’t make much money – touring does.A year on from Beauty Behind the Madness, his Grammy-winning, US triple-platinum pop rebirth, Starboy shows off the fruits of a solid busi
  
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• Sampha live review – in the spotlight at last

  27-11-2016 10:00
  
  The A-listers’ go-to vocalist previews tracks from his debut album in a powerful hometown gigCan you be secretly famous? South London singer-producer Sampha Sisay is about as wildly successful as it is possible to be in music without actually being a household name or filthy rich.In September, this shadowy star put out what is – incredibly – his first ever video, for a new track called Blood on Me. It’s about being hunted down in a nightmare, and when Sampha plays it toni
  
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• Sun Ra: Singles review – a cosmic ride

  27-11-2016 09:00
  
  (Strut) (3 CDs)Celebrated for his cosmic themes and avant-garde “space jazz”, the late Sun Ra had a terrestrial side that’s revealed on this three-CD compilation of his singles, most of them issued in tiny runs to be sold at gigs. Here you’ll find Ra and members of his proto-Arkestra in the 1950s providing backing for doo-wop groups and R&B singers while exploring standards such as Round Midnight. Later came instrumental Arkestra odysseys like Saturn Moon, though Ra n
  
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• Nigel Price Organ Trio: Heads & Tales Vol 2 review – mind-boggling

  27-11-2016 09:00
  
  (Whirlwind)Guitar virtuoso Nigel Price leads his trio (organist Ross Stanley and drummer Matt Home) through a mind-boggling set of contrafacts – original tunes based on the harmonies of standards. That’s the first disc of this two-CD set. On the second he plays the standards themselves on solo guitar, sometimes overdubbed. For brilliance of execution I can’t imagine anyone surpassing either set, but this is not just for guitar buffs. Inventiveness, originality and ensemble play
  
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• Bear Hands: You’ll Pay for This review – the not-so-difficult third album

  27-11-2016 09:00
  
  (Spensive Sounds)In an age of hyped then quickly discarded blogosphere bands, Bear Hands are a cheering anachronism. They formed in 2006 but first found real success in 2014; their hit single Giants was a reward for resilience. You might assume that their songs are slowburners too, but the opposite is true. Their third album is dominated by hooky, disposable guitar and synth-pop, well suited to indie dancefloors, even better suited to daytime radio playlists. In their favour, the band have a bro
  
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• Busted: Night Driver review – hear Charlie Simpson roar

  27-11-2016 08:55
  
  (East West)Your enjoyment of former pop-punk trio Busted’s first album in 13 years depends on how you feel about returning hero Charlie Simpson’s voice. Ditching the fizzing guitars for percolating, Kavinsky-esque synth pop (the spectre of Drive hangs over the music and the album’s artwork), it’s Simpson’s huge larynx that dominates; he’s a honking presence on the expansive New York, while the chorus to Without It is practically pulverised into submission. Tha
  
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• Kate Bush/ The KT Fellowship: Before the Dawn review – highlights abound

  27-11-2016 08:50
  
  (Fish People)It’s fair to say that Kate Bush’s long-awaited return to live performance in 2014 met all the lofty expectations, with its stunning, multisensory delivery and genuine sense of spectacle. Two years on comes a live album recorded during that 22-night residency at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. Split over three CDs, with one disc each largely devoted to The Ninth Wave (from Hounds of Love) and A Sky of Honey (Aerial), it offers a faithful representation of the show, sav
  
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• Huddersfield contemporary music festival; Bath Mozartfest – review

  27-11-2016 08:30
  
  An opera you feel through a pillow is par for the course in Huddersfield. Plus, an intimate Firebird for four hands in BathLie on the floor. Mat provided. Wrap yourself in the soft white blanket if you like. Open the black box in front of you. Retrieve and insert the foam earplugs. Put on the eye mask. Clasp the oddly bumpy pillow, in crisp cotton pillowcase, to any part of your body. Try not to sneak a look at your hundred or so fellow audience members doing the same (my additional instruction
  
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• The Kreisler Story CD review – Daniel Röhn channels Kreisler

  27-11-2016 08:25
  
  Daniel Röhn (violin), Paul Rivinius (piano)(Berlin Classics)The career of violinist Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), famous for his short, virtuosic salon pieces, coincided with the growth of recording. Daniel Röhn has this music in his blood, through his grandfather Erich Röhn, leader of the Berlin Philharmonic under Furtwängler, who heard Kreisler play. Here, Kreisler’s celebrated Liebesfreud, all the schmaltz and grace of another age in a mere few minutes, sits alongside
  
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• CPE Bach: Der Frühling CD review – excellent, tight-knit playing

  27-11-2016 08:20
  
  Café Zimmermann, Rupert Charlesworth (tenor)
  (Alpha Classics)Zimmermann’s cafe was the scene of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum concerts during the 1730s, and it is easy to imagine the talented Carl Philipp Emanuel being presented along with his younger siblings by their proud father, Johann Sebastian. Most of the music here dates from later in Emanuel’s European career, and it ranges fascinatingly from the bold and eccentric in the A minor Sinfonia, to the sweet and sentimental
  
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• Henselt: Piano Works CD review – sends the senses reeling

  27-11-2016 08:15
  
  Daniel Grimwood (piano)
  (Edition Peters)Hailed as the equal of Liszt and Chopin and dubbed “the hero of the pianoforte” by Schumann, the Bavarian Adolph von Henselt (1814-89) is all but forgotten today, but his virtuosic compositions have found a modern champion in British pianist Daniel Grimwood. Titanic variations, lilting waltzes, thundering impromptus and reflective nocturnes send the senses reeling in a blizzard of dazzling pianism, Grimwood admirably demonstrating why Henselt,
  
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• Tasseomancy: Do Easy review - preposterous and beguiling

  27-11-2016 08:00
  
  (Bella Union)As all good goths know, tasseomancy means divination by tea leaf: a majestic word for a miserable waste of time. At first contact, this Canadian collective’s third album seems equally pointless. Heart-shrinkingly twee, it drips from the speakers with its inexcusable song titles (Jimi Infiniti, Dead Can Dance & Neil Young), occasionally being mistaken for a tropical-house remix of Wuthering Heights. About halfway through the beautiful title track, it becomes obvious that th
  
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