Music news

• The Sundowners: Cut the Master review – paisley psych from Coral affiliates

  27-04-2017 23:45
  
  (Skeleton Key)Produced by the Coral’s frontman James Skelly in James Skelly’s studio and released by James Skelly’s label, it might be a surprise to hear that Wirral group the Sundowners – who feature two of James Skelly’s family members – bear only a faint sonic resemblance to the work of a certain James Skelly. Some of his psychedelic inclinations do rise to the fore at times – Before the Storm’s driving guitar and spooky keys, for example &ndash
  
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• Pinegrove: Everything So Far review – the journey to lovelorn indie

  27-04-2017 23:30
  
  (Run for Cover)Somewhere between the proto-emo of the likes of the Appleseed Cast and the backwoods folk of Whitney (with a dash of Sufjan Stevens’ banjo work to sweeten the deal), lies New Jersey based outfit Pinegrove, a band who emerged from the depths of Bandcamp to appear on numerous end-of-year-lists with their 2016 album Cardinal. Capitalising on that surprise success, Run for Cover records have rereleased this compilation of the band’s early work. Everything So Far does a nic
  
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• John Mellencamp: Sad Clowns & Hillbillies review – heartening but uneven Americana

  27-04-2017 23:15
  
  (Republic) Occupying the space where Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Billy Joel converge, over the decades John Mellencamp has honed a sort of everyman Americana, representing a more heartening type of populism. Sad Clowns & Hillbillies, his 23rd album and a collaboration of sorts with Carlene Carter (daughter of June), continues this tradition in part – most obviously with Easy Target, a rather elliptical meditation on the lie of post-racism that owes a significant debt to
  
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• Mark Lanegan Band: Gargoyle review – mournful grandeur with hints of black humour

  27-04-2017 23:00
  
  (Heavenly)Gargoyle delves deeper into the former Screaming Trees vocalist’s interest in the English gothic electro-rock of the 1980s, which also fired 2012’s Blues Funeral and 2014’s Phantom Radio. Many of the songs were co-written with Yorkshireman Rob Marshall, and songs such as Nocturne deliver mournful Joy Division bass lines, Echo and the Bunnymen guitar grandeur and Sisters of Mercy-style electro thud. The plangent Goodbye to Beauty could even have sat neatly on U2’
  
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• Mary J Blige: Strength of a Woman review – R&B star conjures some of her old magic

  27-04-2017 22:45
  
  (Capitol/Island)Mary’s back! Queen of the quivery vocal, doyenne of done-me-wrong R&B, teacher of lung-wobbling lessons in love. Strength of a Woman is her 13th studio album, following The London Sessions (2014), on which she showed how good her vocals sound atop British electronic beats. Here she finds a (mostly) sweet spot between contemporary production and her classic sombre-sassy style. If only she had skipped the sub-Beyoncé jam, the Get Lucky-style one and the Rihanna-ish
  
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• Sylvan Esso: What Now review – peppy, irreverent bleep-pop for coffee lovers

  27-04-2017 22:30
  
  (Loma Vista)US pairing Sylvan Esso released their self-titled debut record in 2014, full of oh-so-quirky electropop seemingly engineered for artisan cafes (unapologetically or inadvertently, it even featured a track called Coffee). Now they’ve followed it up with a second, slightly meatier effort – though you can likely still imagine its riffs melding nicely with the smell of a freshly brewed AeroPress. Lead single Radio fizzes with Tune-Yards-style energy, as vocalist Amelia Meath &
  
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• Just Tattoo Of Us Spoiler Video: Ashley Cain STORMS OUT After Wind-Up Stephen Bear Jibes About Having Sex With Ex Chloe Khan

  27-04-2017 21:22
  
  Don't miss brand new Just Tattoo Of Us, Mondays at 10pm - only on MTV!
  
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• Lisa Knapp: 'Til April is Dead – a Garland of May review – dazzling folk wit

  27-04-2017 19:45
  
  (Ear to the Ground)As spring flashes in, this album heralds the season with astonishing power. Lisa Knapp has long been a fascinating folk artist: an ex-raver and Radio 2 folk award-winner who makes traditional songs sing, even as she experiments wildly with the sounds and textures around them. On her third album, Knapp takes 12 tracks on dazzling, occasionally frightening journeys. Hooting owls and Radio Ballad-like descriptions of rituals give opener The Night Before May a sinister edge, while
  
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• Check Out These WTF Sneak Peeks from Just Tattoo Of Us Series 1 Episode #5

  27-04-2017 19:35
  
  Don't miss episode 5 of brand new Just Tattoo Of Us, Monday 1st May @ 10pm - only on MTV!
  
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• Trombone Shorty: Parking Lot Symphony review – New Orleans hellraiser makes Blue Note debut

  27-04-2017 19:30
  
  (Blue Note)His live show – a genre-busting invocation of New Orleans, from marching bands to dirty-south R&B – regularly raises hell on the festival circuit. But Troy Andrews, the trombonist, trumpeter and singer who trades under the name Trombone Shorty, has had difficulty reflecting this live appeal on LP.Related: The New Orleans jazz alchemy of Trombone Shorty gains in statureContinue reading...
  
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• Quercus: Nightfall review – jazz-folk fusions full of quiet surprises

  27-04-2017 19:15
  
  (ECM)The austere and shadowy eloquence of the incomparable folk singer June Tabor has sometimes been escorted by Loose Tubes saxophonist Iain Ballamy alongside Tabor’s regular jazz-piano partner Huw Warren, and as the trio Quercus they were deservedly cheered for their eponymously named 2013 debut on ECM. This fine successor similarly mixes traditional English folk songs (The Manchester Angel, Once I Loved You Dear (The Irish Girl), The Cuckoo) with reappraisals of some timeless mainstream
  
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• Las Cafeteras: Tastes Like LA review – defiantly political but cheerful party folk

  27-04-2017 19:15
  
  (Las Cafeteras)While Donald Trump continues his campaign to build a wall along the Mexican border, some of the best new music in the US is being produced by Mexican Americans. Following on from Arizona’s rousing Orkesta Mendoza come Las Cafeteras from east Los Angeles, who will make their European debut at Womad this summer. A defiantly political but cheerful folk-influenced acoustic band, they are influenced by the son jarocho styles of Mexico’s Veracruz state. They play the guitar-
  
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• Britt Robertson Goes Speed Dating And Reveals Her Best Date With Dylan O'Brien

  27-04-2017 18:53
  
  Also her worst date ever. Gulp.
  
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• Return of the KLF: ‘They were agents of chaos. Now the world they anticipated is here’

  27-04-2017 18:32
  
  Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty hijacked pop in the 1980s and 90s with outlandish antics involving lasers, house music, a Viking longship and a million-pound bonfire. Andrew Harrison revisits the chaos – and talks to their former partners in crime It was towards the end of August 1994 that burnt, tattered and waterlogged scraps of £50 notes began to wash up on the shores of Jura, the mountainous, sparsely populated island in the Inner Hebrides. A few locals tried to piece together bits
  
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• 14 Instagram Approved Swimwear Brands You Need To Check Out Right Now

  27-04-2017 18:31
  
  Can we have them all please?
  
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• Loud and clear: English National Opera dedicated to diction as it looks to future

  27-04-2017 18:22
  
  After a turbulent few years, Daniel Kramer and Martyn Brabbins reveal plans for next season – with works ranging from slapstick to thrillerIt is a regular bugbear for many opera-goers: the music is stunning … just don’t ask what they’re singing.
  The English National Opera is to tackle the problem by recruiting diction coaches for every future production to make sure audiences can both hear the singer – and understand their words.Continue reading...
  
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• Britt Robertson's Guide To Being A Girlboss Behind The Scenes On Her New Netflix Show

  27-04-2017 18:18
  
  For anyone happy, lonely, confused and free at the same time.
  
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• From A$AP Ferg To Carl Craig, Riton Picks Us Some Of His Fave Tracks Ever - Listen!

  27-04-2017 17:46
  
  Get an insight into the 'Money' maker's mind with ten of his fave tracks...
  
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• Michael Pisaro: Sometimes CD review – US composer enjoys the silence

  27-04-2017 17:00
  
  Colectivo maDam
  (Wandelweiser)Wandelweiser music feels extra appealing at the moment. Maybe it’s because the grace and quiet, honest fragility is a tonic against shouty geopolitical absolutism. The US composer Michael Pisaro pinpoints his encounter with his Wandelweiser stylistic brethren in the early 1990s as the most decisive moment in his career: “This literally saved years of my compositional life.” The way Kunsu Shim, Antoine Beuger and Jürg Frey were thinking about s
  
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• Bach: St John Passion CD review – an intense, full-throttle account

  27-04-2017 16:30
  
  Les Musiciens du Louvre/Minkowski(Erato)Conductor Marc Minkowski describes Bach’s John Passion as “the most violent, vivid and dramatic score” of the early 18th century, so it’s not surprising that violence and drama are what we get from his excellent Grenoble-based period band Les Musiciens du Louvre. This passion is brutal from the start: bass notes in the opening chorus are full of threat, a contrabassoon added for extra thud. But it’s also punctuated with sudden
  
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• Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills' Kyle Richards Plays 'How Reality Are You'?

  27-04-2017 16:28
  
  Is the Queen of drama or will she disappear from our screens without a trace?
  
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• PartyNextDoor Just Unfollowed Zayn Malik And Deleted All Mention Of Their Collab Track 'Still Got Time'

  27-04-2017 16:22
  
  What on earth is going on?!
  
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• Schubert: Fantasie in F Minor, etc CD review – Staier and Melnikov create a warm, intimate vibe

  27-04-2017 16:15
  
  Staier/Melnikov(Harmonia Mundi)
  Schubert played piano duets in living rooms, with friends, for friends. To me, it feels a bit weird seeing these pieces on big stages under concert lights, so I love a recording that takes them back to a living-room vibe. Andreas Staier and Alexander Melnikov play a nut-warm, sweet-voiced fortepiano modelled after the kind of instrument Schubert would have known (for the cognoscenti: it’s a Graf copy by Christopher Clarke).Continue reading...
  
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• Gorillaz: Humanz review – a party album for a world gone mad | Alexis Petridis' album of the week

  27-04-2017 16:00
  
  Covering everything from mental health to military interventions, Damon Albarn and his celebrity friends deliver an inspired party album for a world gone madIt is easy to forget that, on arrival in 2000, Gorillaz looked suspiciously like a self-indulgent novelty turn, the kind of project record labels feel impelled to let rock stars do when they’ve shifted so much product that “no” isn’t really an option any more.It was a Britpop frontman and his artist flatmate’s s
  
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• Brahms: Piano Pieces CD review – Volodos' playing is gently controlled and subtly shaded

  27-04-2017 16:00
  
  Arcadi Volodos
  (Sony Classical)For all the flawless magnificence of his keyboard technique, the sharply contrasted aspects of Arcadi Volodos’s playing are sometimes hard to reconcile. There is the insistent, brittle way in which he sees off bravura pieces, as though the sheer accomplishment of meeting their challenges so effortlessly were an end in itself, and communicating with the audience were very much a secondary consideration. On the other hand, he is capable of playing of the most e
  
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• Who Is Elettra Lamborghini? Everything You Need To Know About The Geordie Shore Star

  27-04-2017 15:57
  
  All the information.
  
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• What You Missed In Music: You Can Be In Lady Gaga’s New Film, Glastonbury Additions & More

  27-04-2017 14:03
  
  HAIM ARE BACK.
  
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• Kim Kardashian Breaks Down As She Opens Up About Paris Robbery In First TV Interview: "I Know It Was Meant To Happen"

  27-04-2017 13:49
  
  It changed her for life.
  
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• Chris Clark Is Officially Back Together With Ex Amber Dowding Weeks After Split From 'Heartbroken' Jesy Nelson

  27-04-2017 13:12
  
  Reunion.
  
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• Does Ross Butler's Riverdale Exit Mean A 13 Reasons Why Season 2 Is On The Way?

  27-04-2017 13:11
  
  DOES IT?
  
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• Mary J Blige Reveals Trailer For 'Strength Of A Woman' Documentary

  27-04-2017 13:08
  
  Allowing fans to gain an insight into her life, Mary J Blige has unveiled a teaser trailer for her 'Strength of a Woman' documentary, which highlights the formulation behind her new album.
  
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• Readers recommend playlist: your songs about mathematics

  27-04-2017 13:00
  
  Our reader adds up your suggestions and divides them into a well calculated playlist – Kate Bush, Little Boots and They Might Be Giants all featuring
  Here is this week’s playlist – songs picked by a reader from your suggestions after last week’s callout. Read more about how our weekly readers recommend series works at the end of the piece.At its most elementary, mathematics is about how numbers relate to each other – certainly that’s what most of us are first
  
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• Get To Know: LANY

  27-04-2017 12:56
  
  This week's featured artist are LANY, get to know them in our exclusive interview...
  
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• Harry Styles Was Forced To Sit Through A Montage Which Included His X Factor Audition And Zayn Quitting The Band

  27-04-2017 12:39
  
  Poor guy.
  
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• All The Best Denim To Shop This Spring

  27-04-2017 12:05
  
  Need some inspo for your spring/summer wardrobe? Find all the best denim pieces over at MTV.co.uk.
  
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• Celebs Who Have Admitted To Being Sex Addicts

  27-04-2017 12:04
  
  You might find the list surprising...
  
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• Kyle Christie's Ex Chelsea Barber Admits That She Was Relieved Holly Hagan Quit Geordie Shore

  27-04-2017 12:02
  
  It might've been awkward.
  
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• Jeremih's 'I Think Of You' Gets The Visual Treatment With Chris Brown And Big Sean

  27-04-2017 12:01
  
  Joining forces with Chris Brown and Big Sean, you just can't go wrong can you!?
  
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• Katy Perry Is Dropping New Song ‘Bon Appétit’ This Week, Featuring Migos

  27-04-2017 11:33
  
  We. Can't. Wait.
  
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• New Lana Del Rey album will include Stevie Nicks collaboration

  27-04-2017 11:31
  
  Legendary Fleetwood Mac singer will appear on Lust for Life, which also features appearances from the Weeknd and Sean LennonFleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks will appear on Lana Del Rey’s forthcoming fifth album, Lust for Life. It will be one of several collaborations on the album. Del Rey has already premiered the title track, which features the Weeknd, while the album will also include a Sean Lennon collaboration, Tomorrow Never Came. The lead single, Love, was released in February. Cont
  
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• Geordie Shore Spoiler Video: Newbie Chelsea Barber Breaks Down After Confrontation About Her Marnie Simpson Betrayal With Aaron Chalmers

  27-04-2017 11:30
  
  Don't miss brand new Geordie Shore: New Radgie Rampage, Tuesdays at 10pm - only on MTV!
  
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• There's A Secret Message In '13 Reasons Why' Which Explains A Lot About The Ending

  27-04-2017 11:25
  
  Well, kinda.
  
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• Beyonce Placing A Restaurant Order Is The Latest Meme To Bewitch The Internet

  27-04-2017 10:56
  
  Of course it has.
  
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• David Byrne pays tribute to Jonathan Demme: 'He was open, warm and energetic'

  27-04-2017 10:48
  
  The Talking Heads frontman, who collaborated with Demme for the 1984 classic Stop Making Sense, recalls a director whose films were ‘different and special’David Byrne has paid tribute to director Jonathan Demme, who has died at the age of 73. The Oscar-winning film-maker behind The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia also directed Stop Making Sense, the 1984 film of Byrne’s band Talking Heads in concert, which is regarded as one of the most inventive and influential live reco
  
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• Sgt Pepper: listen to an unreleased outtake of the Beatles' classic

  27-04-2017 10:00
  
  To celebrate 50 years since the release of the Fab Four’s masterpiece, we have an exclusive recording from the legendary sessionsIt was 50 years ago today that Sgt Pepper taught the band to play. Which means it must also have been just under 50 years ago today that Sgt Pepper told the four lads in his band to have another crack at recording his title track: “This time a bit rougher and without the horns … Oh, and lads, maybe add a bit of random chatter at the end, see how that
  
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• Kim Kardashian And Kylie Jenner’s Lip Glosses Have Been Mistaken For Bacon, Sort Of

  27-04-2017 09:50
  
  Well someone has made a pig’s ear out of this…
  
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• We Just Don't Care (Ft. Shingai)

  27-04-2017 09:19 via mtv.co.uk
  
  We Just Don't Care (Ft. Shingai)
  
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• God Damn

  27-04-2017 08:35 via mtv.co.uk
  
  God Damn
  
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• At My Best (Ft. Hailee Steinfeld)

  27-04-2017 08:35 via mtv.co.uk
  
  At My Best (Ft. Hailee Steinfeld)
  
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• Little Dragon: the Swedish psych-pop stars show off their songs – and weightlifting bruises

  27-04-2017 08:00
  
  The Gothenburg band behind Ritual Union are back – with a new album and a baby on board. We catch up with them at CoachellaPioneertown in California looks exactly how it sounds, which is like an old western movie set, which is what it was when it was founded in the 1940s. It is the kind of place you can imagine drinking the heat away with Gene Autry. Instead, I am discussing the joys of speedskating with Swedish electro band Little Dragon.“It’s just a very nice thing to have in
  
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