Music news

• Phosphorescent: C'est La Vie review – an alt-rock original in full command

  05-10-2018 11:30 via theguardian.com
  Dead OceansThe first words Matthew Houck sings on the seventh Phosphorescent album are “I rode all night,” on top of a chord pattern borrowed from the triumphant sax climax of Thunder Road. Are we in for peak Bossdom here? No: the chords of C’est La Vie No 2 are played on layers of keyboards and acoustic guitar, and there’s no triumphalism. It’s one of a couple of places on C’est La Vie where one is put in mind of another artist trading under a group name who
  
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• ‘Nobody believed I sang it’: how Move Your Body blew dancefloors away

  10-06-2024 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  It became a Chicago house anthem classic – and it was cooked up in just 30 minutes by four postal workers after a tough shift on the letter-sorting machineI first heard the term “house music” in Chicago in 1983 when I was working at a post office. There was this girl there who dressed crazy, with her hair different colours. She said she was going to the Music Box, where they played “house music”. I went along and the bass was so loud it physically moved you back a c
  
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• Beth Gibbons review – otherworldly presence transcends light and dark

  10-06-2024 12:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Barbican, London
  The singer’s voice remains almighty in an intense and sometimes thunderous set, but ultimately what steps out of the tumult is her unswerving humanity
  Beth Gibbons is visible only as a silhouette, backlit against blood red lighting. Flanked on three sides by her musicians, she stands several feet away and isolated at centre stage as an expectant hush gives way to the stark guitars, brooding drums and low clarinet of Tell Me Who You Are Today. For the rest of the show, whil
  
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• Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer review – mismatched 90s rockers bore and charm

  10-06-2024 11:39 via theguardian.com
  
  O2 Arena, LondonBilly Corgan’s band are bloated with self-importance, but Rivers Cuomo and company continue to dole out witty power-pop with elanCo-headline tours of this ilk can allow relatively long-in-the-tooth artists to pool their fanbases and play large venues that they would not necessarily be able to fill on their own. Nevertheless, this particular pairing of two bands who arrived in the wake of the early 90s US grunge rock scene appears decidedly incongruous.When Weezer (★&#
  
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• ‘You’re Beautiful by James Blunt is terrible!’: Paloma Faith’s honest playlist

  10-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The singer hates a certain James Blunt megahit and feels empowered by Chaka Khan, but which Aussie bard does she think wrote the best song of all time?The first song I remember hearingMy mum was a massive fan of Nina Simone but she’s got dyspraxia. She was always having dinner parties, but she’d always make people dance. I just have an image of her clapping out of time to Simone’s song Baltimore.The first single I boughtEspecially for You by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue, on
  
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• It’s OUR team: Euro 2024 anthem strikes a chord for England’s diversity

  09-06-2024 16:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Rappers team up with the Black Footballers Partnership for a song calling out racism while backing England“Football and music are the biggest influences in the country,” says the artist CreezOn, also known as Cree Amory Reid. “I think that they are vehicles of expression that have been put there for us to explore.”The 20-year-old features on the recently released Euro 2024 anthem It’s OUR Team alongside another up-and-coming rapper, Keaton Amory (Ke4t). Th
  
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• Frothy, fun and hard to resist: is Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso the song of the summer?

  09-06-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The US singer’s hit has all the elusive qualities that can elevate a tune into a touchstone for sunny memoriesHave you heard the Sabrina Carpenter song Espresso? Even if you don’t know it by name, you will have done. It’s honeyed but arch (“That’s that me, espresso”). Frothy, hooky, with a lyrical sting (“My ‘give a fucks’ are on vacation”). The coquettish hyper-real video has the US singer draped over speedboats and surfboards like a S
  
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• Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove review – a soundtrack for the world, from the Sugarhill Gang to Kanye West

  09-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Roots drummer, DJ, author and director is the ‘Ken Burns of black music’, and his personal reflections on a genre that last year turned 50 are full of wisdom and charmHip-hop officially turned 50 last year. It is generally accepted that it was born on 11 August 1973, when 18-year-old DJ Kool Herc first cut up breakbeats at a party in the Bronx and his friend Coke La Rock rapped along, but this DJ-driven art form, which evolved parallel to disco, took another six years to spawn it
  
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• On my radar: Billy Corgan’s cultural highlights

  08-06-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Smashing Pumpkins frontman on bonding with his son over Miyazaki, the genius of Mozart’s Requiem, and the world’s biggest Bozo the Clown collectionBorn in Chicago in 1967, Billy Corgan is the frontman of the Smashing Pumpkins. The band have released 12 studio albums, including Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts (2022–2023); he has also released music solo and with the supergroup Zwan. He owns the National Wrestling Alliance, and is the subject of US reality TV series Billy Co
  
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• Liam Gallagher/ Definitely Maybe 30th Anniversary review – 90s anthems still shake without their maker

  08-06-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Utilita Arena, Cardiff
  Noel may be absent, but so is the chaos of early Oasis, leaving Liam free to get the detail right in a volley of on-point anthems As a defining image, it’s an unexpected choice: a sizeable portrait of Burt Bacharach sits in front of the drum riser, drawing the eye as a giant digital clock counts back the years to 1994. A songwriter of classic pop who died last year at age 94, the US artist seems an unlikely totem for a band – Oasis – whose general disdain
  
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• Girls Aloud on public bullying, getting older and reuniting after the loss of Sarah Harding: ‘I keep expecting her to burst into the room’

  08-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  When their bandmate was diagnosed with terminal cancer, it was her dying wish that the tour would go on. Now, the biggest-selling British girl group of the 21st century are making good on their promiseCheryl has a wind problem. We’re meeting at rehearsals for Girls Aloud’s comeback tour, standing in what will later become the Gift Wrapped Kitty Kat VIP Zone – essentially a pit next to the stage named after a ludicrous lyric in their equally ludicrous 2004 single Love Machine. I
  
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• Taylor Swift review – as all-powerful as a pop star can be

  08-06-2024 00:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Murrayfield stadium, Edinburgh
  ​The audience is overwhelmed by an astonishing, risk-taking, strangely intimate extravaganza – and Swift in turn is overwhelmed by themAs Cruel Summer fades away and she surveys the audience, Taylor Swift looks startled. She clasps her hand to her chest and shakes her head in disbelief. They cheer louder. “That went straight to my head!” she exclaims, apparently unable to take in the vociferousness of their reaction.Of course, this is hokum
  
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• Céline Dion says illness has caused muscle spasms that broke her ribs

  07-06-2024 16:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Singer describes symptoms of stiff person syndrome, the rare illness she was diagnosed with in 2022, including a feeling of strangulationCéline Dion has said she has suffered muscle spasms so strong that her ribs were broken as a result, as she lives with the condition stiff person syndrome.Speaking in her first TV interview since the diagnosis, to Hoda Kotb on NBC News, Dion said: “I had broken ribs at one point, because sometimes when it’s very severe …” Kotb as
  
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• Guess who’s back? How Eminem is storming to the top of the charts again

  07-06-2024 14:46 via theguardian.com
  
  His new song Houdini is set to be the fastest-selling single of the year, eclipsing even Taylor Swift – despite being ignored by rap fans and radio stations alikeLast Friday, Eminem released his 62nd single, Houdini. Reviews were lukewarm to woeful. “Eminem loses the magic,” ran the headline in the New York Times, while website Stereogum went for the more straightforward “Eminem’s New Song ‘Houdini’ Is Really, Really Bad”, criticising everything fr
  
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• Peggy Gou: I Hear You review – sparkling 90s-inspired dance

  07-06-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  (XL)
  Irrepressible tracks abound on the hugely popular Korean DJ-producer’s debut albumKorean DJ-producer Peggy Gou is one of the most successful women in her field. She’s about to headline a huge outdoor party in London and reckons she’s played to a million fans in the past year. As often in the dance industry, success precedes suspicion: Gou’s first break came when a promoter saw her photo rather than heard her DJ; she’s into fashion as much as music; her songs of
  
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• Kaytranada: Timeless review – guaranteed to make you move

  07-06-2024 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  (RCA)
  The Canadian dance producer doesn’t lack for guests on a banger-filled, club-focused albumCanadian producer and DJ Kaytranada has spent the past decade perfecting the art of the bounce. Since his dancefloor-focused rework of Janet Jackson’s 1993 track If went viral in 2013, Kaytranada – real name Louis Celestin – has released three albums characterised by a rhythmic swing that lands between the beats to produce an infectious swagger.After 2023’s funk-fuelled c
  
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• Tems: Born in the Wild review – the Afrobeats artist levels up in style

  07-06-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  (RCA)The Lagos-born singer’s rocket-fuelled rise to stardom continues on a debut album peppered with swaggering bangersTemilade Openiyi’s three-year rise from Lagos buzz to international contender has been vertiginous. The vocalist/producer has already scored one Grammy, plus further Grammy and Oscar nominations for her work with Future, Beyoncé and Rihanna.After two well-received EPs, Tems’s debut album drops with 18-track swagger and a tiny handful of guests (Asake and
  
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• Surprise songs, secret guests and hidden details: the ultimate guide to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour

  07-06-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As Eras reaches the UK this week, brush up on what to expect, from the likely setlist to the bewildering array of merch optionsIt’s certainly the biggest pop music tour of all time by revenue, and arguably also by the more nebulous measure of pop-cultural heft. We’re 97 concerts in, and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour has already grossed well over a billion dollars, generated nearly as many friendship bracelets, caused a series of massively viral fits of weeping and screaming and now
  
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• Zara McFarlane: Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan review – terrific tribute to a jazz legend

  07-06-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  (Eternal Source of Light/!K7 Records)
  The British jazz singer pays homage to Vaughan with earthiness and spontaneity: an animated reinvention of these classicsThe great African American double bass player Richard Davis used to note that it had been “the university of Sarah Vaughan” – his life on the road from 1957-63 with the jazz singer dubbed The Divine One – that taught him everything worth knowing about timing, improvisation and making every sound count.Vaughan’
  
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• ‘I wish I had enjoyed success more’: Jon Bon Jovi on megahits, marriage – and his fears for his career

  07-06-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  For years the frontman couldn’t enjoy the rock star ride – and now that he finally is, a vocal injury could end it. He explains how he stays upbeat, even with the US ‘at a precipice’In 1982, Jon Bon Jovi recorded a song called Runaway during his downtime while working at a New York recording studio. Every record company he approached rejected it, but a radio DJ encouraged him to enter an unsigned band competition, which he won. Not long after, Bon Jovi was driving back to
  
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• Dolly Parton announces Broadway musical: ‘You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll clap’

  06-06-2024 19:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Hello, I’m Dolly, a stage show inspired by the superstar’s life, will include her classics and new songsDolly Parton is heading to Broadway with the musical Hello, I’m Dolly.The star is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life – a stage show that she hopes to land on Broadway in 2026. Continue reading...
  
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• Charli XCX: Brat review | Laura Snapes' album of the week

  06-06-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  (Atlantic)
  Beyond the sleaze, grinding bass and it-girl in-jokes, the British visionary’s sixth album is a masterpiece that understands how a hard persona can offer protectionCharli XCX’s last album was designed to reach as many people as possible. Satisfying the contract she signed with Atlantic as a teenager, 2022’s Crash was a conceptual go-for-broke by a pop star who had made her name as a refusenik, save a few uneasy youthful flirtations with the mainstream. She swapped he
  
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• TV channels once championed music. Why have they given up so completely?

  06-06-2024 15:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Channel 4 has axed music video channels such as The Box and Kerrang! amid falling revenues. They were once vibrant and full of gems – and there’s very little to replace themYou may not live near a record shop or live venue, but if you want more music, chances are you own a television: this was the alluring promise of linear TV music channels, which, two decades after their peak period, came to a decisive end this week.Channel 4 have announced the closure of The Box, 4Music, Kiss, Mag
  
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• From pillowy pop to foot-stomping beats: The Supremes’ 20 best songs – ranked!

  06-06-2024 14:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Sixty years on from their first US No 1, Where Did Our Love Go, we rate the Motown group’s greatest singles – sung with and without Diana RossThe final Supremes album, Mary, Scherrie and Susaye, flopped on release and has been overlooked ever since. This is a mistake, as underlined by the impossibly euphoric, warp-speed disco of Let Yourself Go. For more of the same, check out the album’s equally fabulous closer Love, I Never Knew You Could Feel So Good. Continue reading...
  
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• Inside ∄ – the secret Kyiv techno club that ‘does not exist’

  06-06-2024 12:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Once predicted to rival Berghain, wartime has seen the queer-friendly club find new purposes as a bomb shelter and frontline fundraiser. But can it survive Ukraine’s new mobilisation drive?As Anastasiia Syradoieva awoke to the sound of air raid sirens and missile strikes in Kyiv on 24 February 2022, the first place she thought to seek shelter was ∄, the techno club housed in a former brewery she has run since its opening in 2019. “This building has survived two world wars,&rdqu
  
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• Taylor Swift is everywhere! Could I avoid her and her music for the whole month of May?

  06-06-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  She is bringing her Eras tour to the UK this week. But just how easy is it to steer clear of the world’s biggest pop star? The Guardian’s stage editor finds outPlaying Cluedo, I realise I’ve cracked. There’s something about my Miss Scarlett card – that glint in her eyes, the knowing smile. Or maybe this is what happens when you have spent an entire month on an impossible mission to avoid the planet’s biggest pop star. You see, hear, simply sense Taylor Swift e
  
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• Thirty Seconds to Mars review – Jared Leto gives half-empty arena his full attention

  05-06-2024 13:09 via theguardian.com
  
  O2 Arena, London
  The Hollywood actor may not be the world’s greatest rock star, but his committed, fan-friendly performance has charmThe first sense that this might not be the busiest show in the O2 Arena’s history comes in the concourses: no one is having to queue at the bar before the show. Inside, the top tier is closed, and the arena floor is bizarre: a packed back third, of general admission, and a vast golden circle that is barely a third full. It looks awful, and visitors to t
  
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• Simon Cowell launches search for new boyband – by highlighting potential solo career

  04-06-2024 18:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Music mogul aims to replicate success of previous charges One Direction, but acknowledges ‘high degree of risk’ in ventureNearly a decade on from the end of his blockbusting global phenomenon One Direction, Simon Cowell is going back into the fray to discover a new boyband.His campaign was launched in London with a billboard featuring a sunglasses-clad Cowell evoking Lord Kitchener’s 1914 recruitment poster with the words: “Simon needs you! Future megastars wanted for new
  
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• Kanye West sued for sexual harassment by former assistant

  04-06-2024 16:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Lauren Pisciotta says she is owed $3m after enduring intentional infliction of emotional distressKanye West and his Yeezy sneaker business are being sued for sexual harassment, breach of contract and wrongful termination by a former assistant of the rap star who claims she is owed $3m after enduring intentional infliction of emotional distress.In a lawsuit, Lauren Pisciotta alleges West – whose legal name is now Ye – sent her lewd texts and performed sex acts while on the phone with
  
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• In the key of 5G: the ‘dimensionalist’ who wrote a symphony for 1,000 phones

  04-06-2024 16:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Mobiles are usually hated at concert halls. But Huang Ruo wants Mancunians to start using theirs on the way in – and not stop. The Chinese-American explains why the sounds of rain and traffic are all part of the experienceSymphony concerts aren’t supposed to be like this. This week, the audience for the world premiere of Huang Ruo’s City of Floating Sounds will download an app and stand at one of four designated starting points on the streets of Manchester. Then they will selec
  
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