Music news

• Ireland loves U2, but won’t shout about it | Letters

  16-07-2017 18:37
  
  Bono is one of the greatest ambassadors Ireland has ever produced, says Nick CrawfordDean Van Nguyen’s article on U2 (Ireland’s problem with U2, 12 July) is not a true reflection of the Irish nor their relationship with both Bono and his fellow bandmates.For the record, Bono, leaving aside his band’s music, is one of the greatest ambassadors Ireland has ever produced and I have no doubt he will go down in history as one who did more to elevate world poverty than any other durin
  
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• Dizzee Rascal: ‘I’m the one person who can say, Grime? Nah, I seen it, sorry!’

  16-07-2017 17:30
  
  The rapper changed the face of British music before he went pop. His influence is stamped on the charts, but he’s not impressed by the current crop of stars – or #grime4corbynOn the roof of Google’s offices in Kings Cross, Dizzee Rascal is excitedly taking in the London panorama. “Look, there’s Stratford,” he says, picking out Anish Kapoor’s Orbit sculpture before spinning around with puppyish excitement. “Canary Wharf … Alexandra Palac
  
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• My first night of the Proms: meet the young stars making their festival debuts

  16-07-2017 17:00
  
  The chameleon saxophonist, the competitive composer, the solitary pianist … three young musicians about to make their first appearances at the world’s mightiest music festival tell us how it all began•Our writers picks their highlights of the coming seasonI didn’t grow up around classical music. Mum and Dad own a tea room in Ulverston and used to play Classic FM and Smooth Classics for Babies – to keep the customers calm, Dad would joke, but I’d always ask him
  
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• Every Amazing New Disney Ride, Hotel & Resort Announced At D23 2017

  16-07-2017 16:38
  
  From Toy Story Land to new Guardians of the Galaxy rides, Tron fun and Marvel hotels...
  
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• Woman at Point Zero review – compelling music from unfamiliar sources as Arab voices thrill

  16-07-2017 15:31
  
  LSO St Lukes, London
  Scenes from a new operatic adaptation of Nawal El Saadawi’s novel about an Egyptian prostitute were the centrepiece of this Shubbak festival concertIt took just three jangly notes from the santour, tuned in an Arabic maqam, to signal that you were in for a very different kind of evening. A santour is an Iranian dulcimer, and a maqam is a Middle Eastern scale you can’t play on a piano, but one didn’t need to know either of those things to enjoy the subtle ne
  
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• Disney Parks' New Star Wars Land Is Out Of This World

  16-07-2017 15:09
  
  ‘Galaxy’s Edge’ will immerse fans in the franchise like nothing before...
  
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• Blink-182 review – pop-punk japesters put on a slick, professional rock show

  16-07-2017 14:39
  
  Echo Arena, Liverpool
  They’re in their 40s now – and have a new frontman – but the trio can still get an arena to sing along to songs about untidy bedrooms and mean parentsHaving to replace an iconic frontman didn’t exactly hinder Pink Floyd, Genesis or AC/DC, who enjoyed even greater success after the departures of Syd Barrett and Peter Gabriel and the death of Bon Scott, respectively. However, for numerous bands, from the Doors to INXS, losing a lead singer proved termi
  
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• Louis Tomlinson Just Got Signed To A Record Label

  16-07-2017 14:26
  
  The One Direction star has been welcomed by Epic records
  
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• Lovebox review – Solange amazes but Frank Ocean seems in a field of his own

  16-07-2017 14:19
  
  Victoria Park, London
  The two US R&B stars took opposing but equally successful approaches to wowing a festival whose bill mixed the navel-gazing and the forward-thinking
  Lovebox has always been a festival for the pop omnivore, a glitter-speckled mishmash for weekend hedonists and fancy-dressers. But this year’s edition felt distinctly segregated, and not just because of the VIP loos (accessible with a £15 wristband). Both days were nostalgia-free events, with a focus on new rath
  
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• Blac Chyna's Mum Launches Vile Transphobic Attack On Caitlyn Jenner

  16-07-2017 14:08
  
  Tokyo Toni launched a tirade against Cait on Twitter
  
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• Love Island 2016 Winner Nathan Massey Reckon's He Knows Who Will Win The Show This Year

  16-07-2017 13:49
  
  Nathan predicts one couple will be BLAZIN' their way to the final
  
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• Who is Love Island’s biggest crier? The answer might surprise you...

  16-07-2017 13:27
  
  There is one Love Island star who literally cannot stop crying
  
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• Justin Bieber In Fresh Law Troubles After Being Stopped By Police While Driving

  16-07-2017 13:05
  
  The pop star was "calm and cooperative" after the cops allegedly caught him driving while using his phone
  
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• Juggalo March on Washington: Insane Clown Posse fans to demand end to 'gang' designation

  16-07-2017 13:00
  
  Demonstration organised by horrorcore band and its label seeks to highlight FBI’s 2011 classification of fans, which they say has prompted discriminationThousands of Juggalos will descend on Washington DC in September, in an attempt to change the FBI’s designation of fans of the band Insane Clown Posse as a “gang”.Related: Juggalo with axe demands radio station play My AxeContinue reading...
  
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• Ex On The Beach Star Che Mcsorley Says She Is Constantly Hassled For Threesomes With Her Twin

  16-07-2017 12:47
  
  The ladies are NOT going to do it
  
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• Charlotte Crosby Shares Her Workout Tips And Reveals Her Favourite Body Part

  16-07-2017 12:22
  
  We think Charlotte looks pretty perfect all over
  
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• Go Behind The Scenes Of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

  16-07-2017 11:56
  
  Footage from the upcoming movie shows new aliens and familiar faces
  
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• Mura Masa: Mura Masa review – a cutting-edge swordsmith

  16-07-2017 10:00
  
  (Anchor Point/Polydor)Electronic wizard Alex Crossan conjures shivers and warmth on his star-studded debutIt gets harder every second for an artist to nail their own signature sound. With every bedroom bleepist tinkering away on Ableton, and with every track that goes up on SoundCloud – there are around 120m on there, as the platform wobbled financially earlier this week – the fewer niches there are to exploit.A veteran poster on SoundCloud, Mura Masa – 21-year-old Alex Crossan
  
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• One to watch: Jen Cloher

  16-07-2017 09:30
  
  The Australian songwriter tackles politics, equality and pride with frank intimacyBefore Jen Cloher started dating fellow musician Courtney Barnett six years ago, the Australian songwriter had spent much of her life single. But no sooner had the couple got together, than Barnett’s career exploded, stealing her away on a tour that lasted four years. “It really pissed me off, like, fuck!” Cloher, 43, laughs. “I’d wanted to meet someone I actually wanted to hang out wi
  
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• Waxahatchee: Out in the Storm review – thrillingly alive

  16-07-2017 09:00
  
  (Merge)A messy postmortem of a bad relationship, Katie Crutchfield’s fourth album as Waxahatchee is thrillingly alive with recrimination, regret and release. Opening with a storm of bright, serrated guitars, it’s also her best, most arresting collection yet. Recorded with Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth collaborator John Agnello, there’s no filler among these 10 songs, from the summer-breezily defiant Silver, via the grungy swing and swagger of Brass Beam, to the rueful Belly-ish b
  
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• The Vamps: Night & Day – Night Edition review – dancey but dull

  16-07-2017 09:00
  
  (Virgin EMI)The Vamps, AKA McFly 2.0, have hit upon a novel way to stay relevant. Night Edition represents one half of their third album, Night & Day, its flip side due in December. So, in theory, this instalment represents the club-friendly portion, the opening two songs (Middle of the Night, All Night) both rudimentary, EDM-light dance songs, the former losing points for failing to include a proper chorus. The album’s much better when they step away from the dance floor and inject th
  
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• Sheer Mag: Need to Feel Your Love review – curiously one-dimensional

  16-07-2017 09:00
  
  (Static Shock)With both feet firmly planted in the 1970s, Philadelphia five-piece Sheer Mag take their cues from, variously, Lynyrd Skynyrd-style southern rock, the sort of obscure AOR championed by the Rock Candy label, long-forgotten British oi! bands and the end of that decade’s sometimes ill-advised rock/disco crossovers. And yet despite those disparate inputs, their debut album is curiously one-dimensional because frontwoman Tina Halladay’s voice appears to have only one setting
  
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• Monoswezi: A Je review – a fascinating Afro-Nordic oddity

  16-07-2017 09:00
  
  (Riverboat)Among the endless varieties of “world fusion”, this Afro-Nordic outfit remain a fascinating oddity. Norwegian Hallvard Godal fell in love with the mesmeric minimalism of Mozambique’s music during a stay in the country, combining it with his own serpentine reed playing. This third album reprises the parched atmosphere of the previous two to good effect, adding fresh flavours from banjo and African ngoni, though the introduction of harmonium from Sufi qawwali proves a
  
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• Geoff Simkins Trio: In a Quiet Way review – joyous interplay

  16-07-2017 09:00
  
  (Symbol)There’s something especially intimate about a small jazz combo without drums, like eavesdropping on a conversation among friends. These three – saxophonist Geoff Simkins, pianist Nikki Iles and bassist Dave Green – are old friends anyway, so in this case it’s more than just an impression. Simkins is often described as a “cool” player, meaning measured, subtle, but by no means placid. There are plenty of surprises in these nine tracks to keep attentive
  
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• French Montana: Jungle Rules review – cleverly curated bangers

  16-07-2017 09:00
  
  (Black Butter)The rapper’s cohesive second album nods to 2017’s most zeitgeisty sounds: swirling trap on Migo Montana with Quavo, sultry R&B on She Workin with Marc E Bassy, even dancehall with the air horn-heavy Formula, featuring Alkaline. Montana understands how best to capitalise on features – Pharrell rapping on Bring Dem Things is glorious – yet simultaneously, when drawing on his Moroccan roots with Arabic-style beats on Famous, this is an artist trying to keep
  
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• Coldplay review – charge of the bright brigade

  16-07-2017 09:00
  
  Principality Stadium, Cardiff
  Just about pulling off their late-career rave reinvention, Coldplay deliver a tireless, eye-popping showBits of coloured confetti are stuck to Chris Martin’s brow, giving him the air of a dad roped into a messy play session. In fact, the lead singer of Coldplay is banging away at the piano on Yellow, their career-defining love song, in front of a sell-out crowd.Martin is slick with sweat, as drenched as the crowd who have braved sodden queues outside the Princ
  
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• Shabazz Palaces: Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star review – magnificently eccentric

  16-07-2017 08:59
  
  (Sub Pop)Now that mainstream hip-hop has gone jazz – witness Kendrick Lamar’s association with Thundercat, for one – the premise of this release by Seattle Afro-futurists Shabazz Palaces (one of two linked long-players) might not seem so out-there. Quazarz is an interstellar traveller, seriously unimpressed with how they do things in “Amurderca”. But even with the paradigm shift, Shabazz Palaces remain magnificently eccentric, enlisting Thundercat on Since CAYA, quo
  
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• 16 Lovers Lane review – love of the Go-Betweens overcomes patchy performances

  16-07-2017 08:53
  
  Forget Augie March, even Paul Kelly, 16 Lovers Lane remains one of the most literary albums ever made by an Australian bandBrisbane 30 years ago was on the cusp of change. Joh Bjelke-Petersen and the repression and conservatism that characterised his long rule was on the way out (he had been in power since 1968 and would go in 1987). Chris Master’s ground breaking ABC Four Corners program on graft and Queensland’s corrupt police system had just aired – instigating a wide-rangin
  
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• Dvorák; Schubert: String Quartets CD review – pinpoint accuracy

  16-07-2017 08:24
  
  Dragon Quartet(Channel Classics)Formed in 2012, this Chinese string quartet prides itself on introducing rarely heard works and contemporary music. Here they have chosen, in contrast, two of the most famous works in the chamber music medium. If you don’t already have recordings and want this combination, these are fresh, played with pinpoint accuracy, well paced and free from excessive vibrato (noticeably in the opening bars of the Schubert). If “Death in the Maiden” feels a li
  
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• Bach: French Suites CD review – Ashkenazy keeps things simple

  16-07-2017 08:20
  
  Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano)
  (Decca) Related: Musicians must keep Britain in tune with EU after Brexit, says Ashkenazy No one has recorded longer for Decca than the fine pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, who turned 80 earlier this month. As well as a large celebratory offering of reissues, there is this one new recording. Pursuing his long interest in Bach, Ashkenazy tackles the French Suites, which may well have been written for Bach’s sons (and are not too technically demanding). A
  
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• Here’s How Thor Meets The Guardians Of The Galaxy In FIRST Avengers: Infinity War Trailer

  16-07-2017 02:25
  
  The first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War has been unveiled.
  
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• Music you missed: 10 Australian underground releases from Cable Ties to Au.Ra

  16-07-2017 01:50
  
  Our quarterly music column returns to dig up the best releases you may not have heard in the past three months Despite my lack of interest in theming this column, a theme has bubbled up. Half the acts listed here are living overseas.It could be because Australia is a tough country to live in as an artist. That notion has floated about for ages and was finally anchored last year when a survey pointed to serious health and wellbeing problems in an entertainment industry in “severe distress&r
  
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• 29 New Kingdom Hearts 3 Pics That Will Make Any Disney Fan Hyped AF

  16-07-2017 01:13
  
  Here's your first look at Kingdom Hearts 3's new Toy Story world.
  
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• New TOY STORY World Unveiled For Kingdom Hearts 3 With 2018 Release Date

  16-07-2017 00:36
  
  The release date, an entirely new Toy Story world and more has been revealed for Kingdom Hearts 3.
  
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