Music news

• Destroyer: Ken review – indie polymath moves from hurtling shoegaze to blissed-out electronica

  19-10-2017 23:30
  (Dead Oceans)In almost two decades fronting Destroyer, New Pornographers founder Dan Bejar has constantly switched styles, taking in everything from baroque pop to rampaging, Wizzard-style glam rock. His 12th album contains semi-acoustic strumming, hurtling shoegaze and shimmering Italian house, but mostly settles on a blissful, electronic pop sound that’s often reminiscent of a hazier, more beatific Temptation-era New Order. Old analogue drum machines tick, synthesisers soar and Peter Hoo
  
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• Lindstrøm: It’s Alright Between Us As It Is review – back on track with bubbling beats, jazz piano and goth feathers

  19-10-2017 23:15
  (Smalltown Supersound)Oslo producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, already known for being pretty cosmic, went further out than ever before with his last album, a collaboration with Todd Rundgren that turned them both to spaghetti in a psychedelic black hole. He’s now back out the other side, making his traditional “space disco”, but with some beautiful acid-flashback flourishes. Spire and Tensions evoke cocktail hour at an Ibizan villa, before But Isn’t It and Shinin nicel
  
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• Jessie Ware: Glasshouse review – smooth soul, ramped up when the diva lets loose

  19-10-2017 23:00
  (PMR/Island)Emerging at the tail end of the dubstep movement, south London’s Jessie Ware has long been the musical equivalent of a minimalist Scandi clothes store, all restrained vocals thoughtfully draped over barely there electronica. On Glasshouse, she manages to harness her rarely seen diva mode in among the pared-back hallmarks, but the result is a mixed one. Opener – and lead single – Midnight sees her push her vocals in all directions for striking falsetto-propelled soul
  
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• Readers recommend: share your songs about clouds

  19-10-2017 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 23 October We’re looking to the skies this week and for your songs with clouds. For more on how to interpret the theme, keep an eye on the comments.You have until 11pm on Monday 23 October to post your nomination and make your justification. Regular RR contributor George Boyland (who posts as sonofwebcore in the comments) will select from your recommen
  
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• Anouar Brahem: Blue Maqams review – wild card Bates adds intrigue to Brahem's vision

  19-10-2017 20:00
  (ECM)Eight years have passed since oud-improviser and composer Anouar Brahem’s vivid ECM album The Astounding Eyes of Rita, but the silence hasn’t muted the Tunisian maestro’s jazz enthusiasms. This glitzy lineup features his bass-playing soulmate Dave Holland, drums star Jack DeJohnette, and a wild card in the form of the UK’s Django Bates on piano. The result achieves a spellbinding balance between gently melodic Mediterranean song forms and the one-touch rhythmic elast
  
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• Wear what you want to The Marriage of Figaro | Brief letters

  19-10-2017 19:52
  Elitism and opera | Neutron stars | Greek theatre acoustics | Jeremiah and the King James Bible | Three-legged stoolsHoward Jacobson (There is no excuse for a man not to wear a suit…’, Weekend, 14 October) reinforces the view that opera is elitist and unapproachable. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the music moves you it doesn’t matter what you wear. And if Mr Jacobson knew his Marriage of Figaro from his Don Giovanni, he would know that Mozart was one of the most
  
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• Vector Families: For Those About to Jazz/Rock We Salute You review – spontaneous, off-the-wall improv

  19-10-2017 19:45
  (Sunnyside)Amid five very different current UK releases from New York’s open-minded Sunnyside label comes this engagingly off-the-wall collaboration between drummer Dave King – cornerstone of genre-hopping supertrio the Bad Plus – and three experimenters from King’s Minneapolis home turf: improv/psychedelia guitarist and local hero Dean Granros, bassist Anthony Cox, and free-jazz saxophonist Brandon Wozniak. UK listeners might hear echoes of Led Bib or trioVD in these fer
  
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• Margo Price: All American Made review – country contender with nous

  19-10-2017 19:30
  (Third Man Records)All American Made isn’t a celebratory title. As on her debut, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, Margo Price’s America is a country in which life is hard; specifically, it’s a country in which life is hard for women. She tackles the dry subjects of news reporting with humour and vim: the idea of a song about sex discrimination in wages doesn’t sound like fun on paper, until you notice Price’s sharp eye for a killer line – “We’re al
  
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• Laura Cannell: Hunter, Huntress, Hawker review – brutally alive, roaring folk improv

  19-10-2017 19:30
  (Brawl Records)On the dark edges of folk music lingers Laura Cannell, a violinist and recorder player who uses traditional instruments to evoke unearthly, ageless narratives. Her fourth album is a series of improvisations recorded in a church on the crumbling coast of Covehithe in Suffolk, roaring into life under her fiddle’s curved, baroque bow. This technique involves the four strings being played simultaneously and the effect is aggressive, unsettling, but also primordially beautiful, t
  
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• Orchestre Les Mangelepa: Last Band Standing review – esteemed African big band goes international

  19-10-2017 19:15
  (Strut Records)It starts with a horn fanfare, then eases into lilting Congolese rumba, Kenyan-style, with three singers backed by a rock-solid rhythm section, intertwining guitars and horns. From the opening bars of Kanemo, it’s evident that Orchestre Les Mangelepa are as potent today as they were in the 1970s, when they sported platform shoes and became dancefloor heroes across east Africa. Originally from eastern Congo, they moved to Nairobi and succeeded by mixing the massively popular
  
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• Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition: Agrima review – flexing Indian rhythms and jazz with swagger and wit

  19-10-2017 19:00
  (Mahanthappa’s Music)Jazz musicians have been integrating Indian ragas into their improvisations for more than half a century, but few do so as comfortably as New York-based alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. Instead of taking his cue from John Coltrane’s mystical fusions, Mahanthappa plays with the puckish, cheeky tone of Charlie Parker, negotiating unusual Indian scales and modes with a bebop swagger. Rumbling away throughout is witty drummer Dan Weiss, who lurches between tabla
  
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• Taylor Swift Teases New Single 'Gorgeous' Featuring A Singing Baby

  19-10-2017 18:39
  The '...Ready For It?' singer is dropping the third 'Reputation' song tomorrow...
  
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• 18 Of The Raunchiest Celebrities On Instagram

  19-10-2017 18:15
  Warning: NAKEDNESS
  
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• Justin Bieber and Julia Michaels Are Dropping A 'Friends' Remix Tomorrow

  19-10-2017 18:11
  The 'Issues' singer is jumping on the BloodPop collaboration...
  
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• MTV Are Searching For More Brave Participants To Put Their Trust To The Test On Just Tattoo Of Us

  19-10-2017 17:52
  Don't miss brand new Just Tattoo Of Us, Mondays at 10pm - only on MTV!
  
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• Stephen Bear Fears The Wrath Of 'Psycho' Charlotte Crosby: She's In A Raging Hump

  19-10-2017 17:28
  Yikes.
  
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• Shawn Mendes Announces MTV Unplugged Album Ahead Of EMAs Performance

  19-10-2017 16:58
  You loved the 'Mercy' singer's set so much that he's now made it an album...
  
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• Vicky Pattison Cradles Ferne McCann's Baby Bump After Learning She Won't Be Godmother

  19-10-2017 16:52
  Not going to happen this time.
  
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• Kelly Clarkson Finds The 'Meaning Of Life' On Brilliant New Song

  19-10-2017 16:43
  The 'Love So Soft' singer brings the soul on the title track of her new album...
  
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• Niall Horan: Flicker review – awwww-inspiring Radio 2 filler

  19-10-2017 16:00
  The One Directioner drifts towards the middle of the road with a debut album apparently designed to punctuate rounds of Ken Bruce’s PopMaster It would appear that at some point towards the end of their career as the World’s Biggest Boyband, One Direction were quietly ushered into a room and told they had to face the future. A hat of some description was solemnly produced and the band members told to draw lots from it, in order to see which one would pursue which standard post-boyband
  
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• Just Tattoo Of Us Host Charlotte Crosby Reveals Why Trolling Is The Worst Thing About Being Famous: 'We've All Got Feelings' - EXCLUSIVE

  19-10-2017 16:00
  Don't miss brand new Just Tattoo Of Us, Mondays at 10pm - only on MTV!
  
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• Get to Know: Pale Waves

  19-10-2017 15:55
  We caught up with the exciting new group to find out a little bit more about them and their music...
  
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• Zara Larsson's 'So Good' Album Just Went Gold

  19-10-2017 15:53
  The 'Lush Life' singer's second album continues to slay months later...
  
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• WhatsApp Launch Feature Enabling Users To Share Their Location With Friends

  19-10-2017 15:52
  A pretty handy update.
  
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• 'Numb the pain with the money': how hip-hop turned nihilistic

  19-10-2017 14:28
  Post Malone’s rockstar, the No 1 song in the US and UK this week, is a tale of drugs and loveless sex – and joins similarly empty-sounding hits from 21 Savage, Future, Lil Uzi Vert and more. Why has mainstream rap become so bleak?After releasing his single rockstar in mid-September, the US rapper Post Malone, accompanied by fellow MC 21 Savage, broke Apple Music’s streaming record with 25m plays in a single week. Since then, the pair have reached No 1 in the US charts, and now
  
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• Demi Lovato and Christina Aguilera Spark Collaboration Rumours

  19-10-2017 14:05
  Could we be getting a duet from these two legends?
  
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• Rihanna's Songwriter Says Her New Album Is "Absolutely Insane"

  19-10-2017 14:04
  The follow-up to 'ANTI' might be coming much sooner than we thought....
  
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• 11 Celebrities Whose Plastic Surgery Shocked Their Fans To The Core

  19-10-2017 13:43
  "She has a different face!"
  
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• These Single AF Spoiler Pics From Episode 1 Need To Be Seen RN!

  19-10-2017 13:42
  Don't miss BRAND NEW SHOW Single AF, starting Tuesday 24th October at 10pm - only on MTV!
  
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• It’s Spirit Day! Here’s How You Can Support The Cause

  19-10-2017 13:23
  Around 85% of LGBTQ students report being verbally harrassed...
  
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• The 2017 MTV EMA Ticket Ballot Is Now Open!

  19-10-2017 13:17
  Register now for the chance to get tickets to this year’s show…
  
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• Readers recommend playlist: your songs about pride

  19-10-2017 13:00
  A reader combs through your suggestions on the theme of self-satisfaction – but will songs from the Ramones, Taylor Swift and Jimmy Cliff come before a fall?Here is this week’s playlist – songs picked by a reader from hundreds of suggestions on last week’s callout. Thanks for taking part. Read more about how our weekly series works at the end of the piece.Pride is a funny thing: there’s nothing wrong with a little self-satisfaction in a job well done, but too much v
  
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• 2017 EMA: Demi Lovato, Camila Cabello, Stormzy & More Announced To Perform!

  19-10-2017 13:00
  MASSIVE LINE UP ANNOUNCEMENT!
  
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• Channing Tatum QUITS New Movie

  19-10-2017 12:58
  Channing Tatum has cancelled his new movie as the Harvey Weinstein scandal continues.
  
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• Camila Cabello Is Teaming Up With Daddy Yankee For 'Havana' Remix

  19-10-2017 12:50
  Sorry, Young Thug. This song is about to get even better...
  
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• Tom Jones says he faced sexual harassment in the music industry

  19-10-2017 12:00
  ‘What’s tried on women is tried on men as well,’ singer tells BBC during conversation about Harvey Weinstein repercussionsTom Jones has said sexual abuse is widespread in the music industry, and talked about the harassment he faced in the early days of his career. Jones was discussing the Harvey Weinstein allegations with a reporter from BBC 5 Live’s Afternoon Edition when he mentioned an incident from early in his career, which he said made him feel terrible.Continue rea
  
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• Kendall Jenner Gets Seriously Cheeky In This High-Legged Swimsuit

  19-10-2017 11:37
  Also reminds the world that she isn't pregnant.
  
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• Heavy

  19-10-2017 11:30 via mtv.co.uk
  Heavy
  
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• Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato Rekindle Friendship Over 'Simply Complicated'

  19-10-2017 11:09
  The former BFFs had the sweetest exchange ever - then re-followed each other on Insta...
  
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• Blac Chyna Is Suing The Kardashian Family Over Claims They 'Destroyed Her Career'

  19-10-2017 10:57
  Says the gang "slut-shamed her" and sabotaged her E! show.
  
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• Demi Lovato Speaks Out About An Eating Disorder Relapse Over The Summer

  19-10-2017 09:46
  "There are issues that I haven't conquered yet that I know I won't conquer if I'm relying on somebody else to take care of the loneliness"
  
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• Daryl Braithwaite to be inducted into Aria hall of fame as The Horses enjoys revival

  19-10-2017 04:32
  Sherbet were inducted into the hall of fame in 1990 but now he will be acknowledged as a solo artistDaryl Braithwaite, the singer of perennial karaoke favourite The Horses, is the latest Australian star to be inducted into the Aria hall of fame.The honour comes 45 years into Braithwaite’s career, which began in the 1970s with the rock band Sherbet. Continue reading...
  
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