Music news

• St Louis rap: a would-be thriving scene struggles amid pervasive violence

  07-12-2016 20:32
  
  The city’s insular scene is full of aspiring talent, but a string of murders involving high-profile stars has led to rappers relocating for their own safetySt Louis’s rap scene has become one of the most interesting in the US over the last decade. In 2000, Nelly’s Country Grammar laid the groundwork, and he was followed by top sellers Chingy and J-Kwon. By 2004 the local hip-hop landscape was so hot that the New Yorker extolled it in a feature profile, comparing it to Motown in
  
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• Tromba marina: the instrument that gave Pepys a real buzz

  07-12-2016 19:21
  
  Immortalised in Samuel Pepys’s diaries, strangely favoured by nuns, but today a curiosity – meet the mysterious and magical tromba marinaOn 24 October 1667, Samuel Pepys, arriving in Charing Cross too late for the theatre, went instead to visit some friends. There he saw “a Frenchman, Monsieur Prin, play on the Trump Marine”, an instrument which “doth so far out-do a Trumpet” and is “most remarkable; and at first was a mystery to me that I should hear a
  
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• Viola Beach: crash that killed band and manager was awful tragedy, coroner says

  07-12-2016 19:19
  
  Inquest into death of four band members and their manager hears detail of ‘inexplicable’ crash and fall from Swedish canal bridgeFour members of a British indie band and their manager died after their car crashed through two motorway barriers before striking a bridge and falling 80ft (25 metres) into a shipping canal, an inquest has heard.Craig Tarry, the 32-year-old manager, was driving the band back to a hotel in Stockholm in the early hours of the morning after they had played at
  
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• ​ICYMI: Mazi Chuckz Shared His EP 'If Not Now'

  07-12-2016 18:27
  
  If you're a fan of Afrobeats then this one could be for you; Mazi Chuckz' EP 'If Not Now'.
  
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• X Factor's Emily Middlemas Hits Back At Nick Grimshaw After 'Nasty' Tweet

  07-12-2016 18:21
  
  Uh oh!
  
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• Asha Breaks Down Sterotypes On 'Medicine'

  07-12-2016 18:18
  
  London based singer-song writer Asha says bye to all those traditional relationship stereotypes in her latest single 'Medicine'.
  
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• Sue Phipps obituary

  07-12-2016 18:14
  
  My mother, Sue, who has died aged 84, was the agent, manager and confidante for the composer Benjamin Britten and the tenor Peter Pears, and was at the heart of one of the most creative periods of English music.The daughter of Marjorie and Arthur Pears, a naval officer, Sue was born in West Malling, Kent, but grew up in Kenya. During the war, Marjorie was in charge of a camp of Italian prisoners of war near Mombasa, but Arthur was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore in 1942 and the
  
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• Ella Frank Fuses Soul & Blues On 'Sugar'

  07-12-2016 18:14
  
  Here's Ella Frank, she's needs more sugar...
  
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• Hailee Steinfeld Plays Would You Rather: High School Edition!

  07-12-2016 18:00
  
  Watch Hailee answer some totally awks High School dilemmas!
  
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• Pixies frontman is troubadour of alt-rock after 30-year career

  07-12-2016 17:59
  By Andrew Heavens LONDON (Reuters) - Pixies frontman Black Francis has been called many things in his time - surrealist poet, alt-rock progenitor and singer in "one of America's greatest bands ever," that last one according to Bono of U2. Sitting backstage at the O2 Academy in London's Brixton before another sold-out gig, the singer tries on yet another label for size as he discusses what drives him 30 years into a career that many argue changed the face of music. If you decide to become ... par
  
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• Kim Kardashian 'Wants A Divorce' From Kanye West Following Breakdown

  07-12-2016 17:46
  
  Are Hollywood's most famous couple headed for splitsville?
  
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• Brahms: Piano Concerto No 1; Liszt: Trois Odes Funèbres CD review – Zoltan Kocsis at his best

  07-12-2016 17:30
  
  Falvai/Hungarian National PO/Kocsis(Celestial Harmonies)The release of these studio recordings, made in Hungary this summer, must have been planned well before Zoltan Kocsis’s death in November. Their appearance now, though, provides a fine memorial to a musician who was much better known, in Britain at least, as a superlative pianist than as a conductor.The pairing of works is a curious one. The sleeve notes – more on which later – offer no explanation as to why one of Brahms&
  
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• Breaking News: Harry Styles Went Candle Shopping Wearing A Yellow Jumper Just Like A Ray Of Sunshine

  07-12-2016 16:57
  
  Happy Wednesday!
  
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• The Best Products for Treating Bacne (AKA acne of the body)

  07-12-2016 16:42
  
  This is a legit lifesaver.
  
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• Teen Mom UK: Check Out These Dramatic Spoilers From Episode 6

  07-12-2016 16:39
  
  Don't miss brand new Teen Mom UK, TONIGHT at 8pm - only on MTV!
  
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• Becky Hill Unveils Video For ‘Warm’

  07-12-2016 16:03
  
  Following an abundance of acclaim towards her latest single ‘Warm’, British sensation Becky Hill returns with the visual the BBC Radio 1 playlisted track.
  
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• Star Slinger Releases His Highly Anticipated ‘We Could Be More’ EP

  07-12-2016 16:00
  
  Hot on the heels of the incredible online reception of Dawn Richard assisted lead single ‘We Could Be More’, Star Slinger returns with his highly anticipated EP of the same name.
  
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• Let's Go Speed Dating With Miles Teller & Aaron Eckhart!

  07-12-2016 15:58
  
  Time to get to know the stars a little better...
  
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• MAAD Releases Powerful New Visual For Latest Track ‘90s Love’

  07-12-2016 15:55
  
  It’s been a pretty exciting year for NYC based artist/dj/model MAAD…
  
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• Shawn Mendes Covered Drake's 'Fake Love' And You Should Listen To It Immediately

  07-12-2016 15:52
  
  NOW.
  
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• London Sinfonietta/Paterson review – new music crammed with striking ideas

  07-12-2016 15:41
  
  St John’s Smith Square, London
  The Sinfonietta blended rigour with expressive depth in Hans Abrahamsen’s Schnee, plus gave striking premieres of works by Morgan Hayes and Simon HoltThe fragile, crystalline sound world of Hans Abrahamsen’s recent music is as distinctive as any in contemporary music. It’s the world inhabited by his Ophelia-inspired song cycle Let Me Tell You, which has brought the composer many new admirers since it was first performed in 2013, but is one t
  
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• 21 Pairs Of Killer Christmas Party Shoes You Can Actually Dance In

  07-12-2016 15:34
  
  Because shoes.
  
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• 'Ocean’s Eight' Villain Revealed

  07-12-2016 15:32
  
  Damien Lewis will play the baddie in the Ocean's Eleven spinoff.
  
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• Made in Chelsea: the blinkered bliss of TV's aspiring pop stars

  07-12-2016 15:28
  
  Call them greedy and vacuous, but the TV show’s legion of would-be musicians have produced songs of heartbreak, courage and perseveranceThere are few creatures greedier than a Made in Chelsea cast member with a narcissistic extracurricular career. Not only are these strange, makeup-caked and champagne-fuelled beings paid to star in a show about on the comfort of their wealth, but to then attempt to increase their riches by luxurious means enters Philip Green levels of commercial gluttony (
  
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• Stephanie Davis Has Hit Back At Jeremy McConnell’s Gross Claim That She Once Pooed Herself When They Were Together

  07-12-2016 15:22
  
  No Jezza. Just no.
  
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• Melvyn Tan review – celebrations and variations of intelligence and refinement

  07-12-2016 14:24
  
  Shoreditch Church (St Leonard’s), London
  The pianist’s very fine recital featured a set of variations written for the festival’s former director, a birthday tribute to Tan himself, and Liszt’s Three Concert Études Melvyn Tan opened his Spitalfields Music recital with Variations for Judith, a set of variations on Bach’s Bist Du Bei Mir, each written by a different composer for Judith Serota, the Spitalfields festivals’ inspirational executive director fr
  
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• Pakistan pop star turned cleric among those feared dead in air crash: official

  07-12-2016 14:14
  Junaid Jamshed, a Pakistani pop star turned evangelical Muslim cleric, was on board an aircraft that crashed into a mountainside on Wednesday, a airline official told Reuters. Jamshed rocketed to fame in Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s as the singer for the Vital Signs rock group, and later launched a solo career, with a string of chart-topping albums and hits. Jamshed retired from music in 2001 and announced that he was devoting his life to Islam, joining the conservative Tableeghi Jamaat relig
  
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• Public Enemy – 10 of the best

  07-12-2016 14:09
  
  From the anthemic to the polemic, here are some of the most influential songs by the self-proclaimed ‘Rolling Stones of rap’ What made Public Enemy so different from their contemporaries, according to Russell Simmons of Def Jam Recordings, was that “Public Enemy didn’t rap about partying … Public Enemy talked about the state of black America, and how every black kid in America was a public enemy.” But leader Chuck D had yet to perfect his fiery blend of rheto
  
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• Popular Vermont punk music venue is closing its doors

  07-12-2016 12:58
  BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A popular Vermont punk music venue, established with the help of the wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, is closing after 32 years.
  
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• LEAK: Pokémon GO To Get 100 New Pokémon This Week

  07-12-2016 12:56
  
  Here are all the details.
  
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• These Are The Highest-Paid YouTube Stars Of 2016

  07-12-2016 12:39
  
  Dollar dollar bills everywhere.
  
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• The First Trailer Is Here For 'Transformers: The Last Knight' & It Looks Like The Biggest Transformers Movie Ever

  07-12-2016 12:37
  
  MOST EXPLODEY TRAILER EVER?
  
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• Niall Horan's New Year Plans Are To 'Fall Off The Face Of The Earth'

  07-12-2016 11:41
  
  WHY NIALL?
  
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• Rainbow Glitter Hair Is The Ultimate Christmas Party Look

  07-12-2016 11:38
  
  NEED IT.
  
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• Demi Lovato Gets A Shout Out From Her Ex After Grammy Nomination

  07-12-2016 10:56
  
  Congrats Demi!
  
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• The Ultimate Beauty Lover's Christmas Gift Guide 2016

  07-12-2016 10:51
  
  Dear Santa, we'll take one of EVERYTHING.
  
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• WCW: Iskra Lawrence

  07-12-2016 10:49
  
  Find out why we've got a MASSIVE girl crush on model Iskra Lawrence this week.
  
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• Barbados: 15 Ways To Live It Up Like RiRi

  07-12-2016 10:40
  
  MTV shares our top tips on how to be a badgal (or badman) in Barbados...
  
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• 11 Fairly Rude Festive Chat Up Lines You Probably Shouldn't Use This Christmas

  07-12-2016 10:39
  
  'How about we make this night a not-so-silent night?'
  
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• The Most Retweeted Posts Of 2016 Involves Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson And Taylor Swift

  07-12-2016 10:04
  
  Just when you thought Haylor had finally died.
  
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• Madonna on the US election: ‘It feels like women betrayed us’

  07-12-2016 09:36
  
  ‘Women hate women. That’s what I think,’ says pop star crowned Billboard’s woman of the year – and once photographed in Trump’s bedMadonna has described her feelings of “heartbreak” and “betrayal” in the wake of Donald Trump’s US election win, claiming: “It feels like women betrayed us.”During her interview with Billboard, which has crowned her Woman of the Year, the pop star compared her despair regarding the results
  
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• Cruz Beckham Signs With Justin Bieber's Manager And Releases Debut Christmas Single

  07-12-2016 09:33
  
  Even better, all proceeds from the song go to charity.
  
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• Drake tops year-end music lists on iTunes

  07-12-2016 09:10
  
  The Canadian star’s album Views was the best-seller on iTunes, while One Dance was the most popular single.
  
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• Best albums of 2016: No 8 Chaleur Humaine by Christine and the Queens

  07-12-2016 09:00
  
  In the year of Bowie’s death, Héloïse Letissier’s triumphant crossover record was a salutary reminder that pop can be inspirational and comfortingMore of the best albums of 2016More on the best culture of 2016One of the year’s more heartening success stories was that of the Frenchwoman who, depressed, lonely and insecure, fell under the wing of a group of Soho drag queens in London. The performers saw in Héloïse Letissier a kindred spirit and nurtured he
  
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• Sticky Fingers' Dylan Frost may have a mental illness, but that's no excuse for violence | Alex McKinnon

  07-12-2016 06:51
  
  It’s good the band’s frontman has acknowledged he is struggling, but it’s time we stopped allowing mental illness to change the narrativeDo mental health issues excuse bad behaviour?That’s the question dominating Australia’s music scene this week, after high-profile Sydney band Sticky Fingers announced an indefinite hiatus. Their statement followed a more personal one from frontman Dylan Frost, who acknowledged recent “unacceptable” behaviour that had af
  
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• Drake tops iTunes' year-end music lists

  07-12-2016 04:36
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Drake was all over Apple Music this year, so perhaps no surprise the rapper tops the iTunes music lists as well.
  
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• 11 Grammy facts: Beyonce's a rock star, Amy Schumer gets nod

  07-12-2016 01:46
  
  A look at interesting factoids during the Grammy nominations, announced Tuesday: ______ BEYONCE IS A ROCK STAR Beyonce set a record for earning nominations in the rock, pop, R&B and rap categories in the ...
  
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