Music news

• ‘Translation changes the original meaning’: how 70s psych rockers Happy End ended the ‘Japanese rock controversy’

  26-03-2024 16:40 via theguardian.com
  
  In 1969, Takasshi Matsumoto and Haruomi Hosono opted to defy rock trends by singing in Japanese, not English – paving the way for ‘city pop’ and J-popTakashi Matsumoto and Haruomi Hosono faced a choice when starting a rock band in 1969: should the lyrics be sung in English, the genre’s lingua franca at the time, or Japanese? After a debate, the pair opted for their native tongue, and totally changed the course of their country’s music.Their group Happy End – w
  
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• Taylor Swift equals Madonna’s record of 12 UK No 1 albums

  26-04-2024 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Swift now has joint highest number of chart-toppers for a female artist, as The Tortured Poets Department earns biggest opening week in seven yearsTaylor Swift has tied with Madonna to become the female artist with the most UK No 1 albums, earning her twelfth chart-topper with the global phenomenon that is The Tortured Poets Department.Swift also dominates this week’s singles chart, with three songs in the Top Five including a No 1 for Fortnight, featuring Post Malone. It’s her fourt
  
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• ‘It was only a matter of time for Slim’: Eminem to kill off Slim Shady alter ego on new album

  26-04-2024 15:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Rapper trails summer release of The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) with a fictional crime report suggesting that the antic character will meet a violent endOne of the great alter egos in pop could be meeting a grisly end, as Eminem announces his first album since 2020: The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).Set for release on an unspecified date this summer, the album was announced with a trailer that frames the demise of the antic character, with a crime reporter saying to cam
  
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• Take That review – oddly packaged pop still packs a wallop

  26-04-2024 14:28 via theguardian.com
  
  O2 Arena, London
  There’s some magic amid the cheese as the trio revisit a stacked catalogue of hits – and gamely give their old choreography a goIt’s difficult to say exactly what Take That are going for on their This Life tour: a 41-date behemoth that has shifted more than 700,000 tickets. Video interstitials show the three remaining members doing their very best at acting in retrofuturist infomercials. The set is sometimes done up like a 1950s sitcom, sometimes just with ster
  
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• Pet Shop Boys: Nonetheless review – a great, fan-pleasing album

  26-04-2024 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  (x2/Parlophone)
  The duo’s first LP in four years finds them refining and updating their late-80s heyday sound, with a new producer in towCultural gravity makes certain events inevitable, such as Sean Lennon and James McCartney writing songs together. Or Britain’s most successful pop duo returning to refine and update the sound of their late-80s imperial era. Nonetheless is Pet Shop Boys’s first album since 2020’s Hotspot, which concluded their Stuart Price-produced trilog
  
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• ‘People think I hate pop’: super-producer AG Cook on working with Beyoncé and honouring his friend Sophie

  26-04-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As the boss of PC Music, the godfather of hyperpop confounded critics but won over Beyoncé and Charli XCX. Now, with a supersized new solo album, he’s continuing his mission to make pop more unpredictableEverything about AG Cook is exhausting. As a producer of elasticated outre pop his output is as varied as it is frenetic, taking in everything from bass-rattling electronic workouts for cultural behemoths such as Beyoncé to celestial dreamscapes for underground newcomers
  
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• Post your questions for Billy Idol

  26-04-2024 11:17 via theguardian.com
  
  As a 40th anniversary edition of Rebel Yell is released, the punk rock icon will answer your questionsBilly Idol cried his Rebel Yell 40 years ago this year, and an expanded anniversary edition of the album of the same name is out now. To mark the release, Billy is joining us to answer your questions.Born William Broad and raised in unassuming London suburbs, come the mid-1970s he had morphed into Billy Idol. With blond hair aflame, he fronted Generation X and made punk rock palatable to pop fan
  
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• Porij: Teething review – dance music without drama or daring

  26-04-2024 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  (PIAS)
  The Manchester band sing about edginess and emotional danger, but never manage to give their beats any tensionYou can imagine a private members’ club commissioning Porij as artists-in-residence: the young Manchester band makes dance music so smooth and so inoffensive that I can imagine it goes down a treat among the UK’s young, moneyed finance set. The title of their debut album Teething is a misnomer; even if it implies growing pains or an unsettled genesis, perhaps with a re
  
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• Mad fer it! The young musicians flying the flag for Britpop

  26-04-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Artists from Dua Lipa to Nia Archives are tapping the boisterous energy of mid-90s music – and even embracing the union jack. Can they avoid the genre’s laddish lows?For some, Britpop was a high point for British guitar music: that time when Blur, Pulp, Suede and Oasis thrilled the world with wit and brio. Others argue it has aged worse than Loaded magazine: blokey, beery, conservative and still clogging up the charts. Indeed, there’s perhaps something a bit dismal about the fa
  
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• David Crowell: Point/Cloud review – minimalism that sparkles with joy

  26-04-2024 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  (Better Company Records)
  The New York multi-instrumentalist, who has played with Philip Glass and Steve Reich, shows great flair for making minimalism rich and harmonically complexCrowell has been an in-demand musician around New York for more than a decade – playing saxophone, flute and guitars with the likes of the Philip Glass Ensemble, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Steve Reich and in his own outfits Empyrean Atlas, Spirit Stout and Eco-Tonal – but Point/Cloud foregrounds his work
  
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• St Vincent: All Born Screaming review – the unmasking of a great American songwriter

  25-04-2024 14:10 via theguardian.com
  
  (Total Pleasure)
  Are we finally seeing the real Annie Clark? Replacing alter egos with raw immediacy, she delivers one of her best albums: restlessly inventive and packed with ideasThe cover of St Vincent’s previous album, Daddy’s Home, featured Annie Clark in character: heavy eye-make up, ripped stockings, blond wig – the “benzo beauty queen” who haunted a number of songs.Well, of course it did. Clark once released an album called Actor, and role-playing is very mu
  
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• ‘The working class can’t afford it’: the shocking truth about the money bands make on tour

  25-04-2024 11:39 via theguardian.com
  
  As Taylor Swift tops $1bn in tour revenue, musicians playing smaller venues are facing pitiful fees and frequent losses. Should the state step in to save our live music scene?When you see a band playing to thousands of fans in a sun-drenched festival field, signing a record deal with a major label or playing endlessly from the airwaves, it’s easy to conjure an image of success that comes with some serious cash to boot – particularly when Taylor Swift has broken $1bn in revenue for he
  
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• Estate of Tupac Shakur threatens legal action against Drake over AI diss track

  25-04-2024 10:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Drake used AI to simulate the voice of the late rapper and have him chide Kendrick Lamar, which the estate calls a ‘flagrant violation’The estate of the late Tupac Shakur has sent a cease and desist letter to Drake, following the release of a Drake track that uses an AI version of Shakur’s voice to lambast Kendrick Lamar.As seen by Billboard, the letter instructs Drake to remove the track, Taylor Made Freestyle, within 24 hours, or face legal action. Continue reading...
  
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• Young researchers need greater access to Britain’s rich archives, says curator

  25-04-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Aleema Gray used British Library’s collection to assemble Beyond the Bassline exhibition about Black British musicYoung cultural researchers need greater access to the UK’s rich archival resources so untold stories can be brought to light, according to the curator of an exhibition that documents five centuries of Black British music, from the Tudor court to grime.Dr Aleema Gray has assembled Beyond the Bassline, an expansive tour through the past 500 years of Black British musical hi
  
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• Northern music awards winners call for more help for region’s emerging talents

  24-04-2024 15:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Lisa Stansfield says difficulties young people face in getting a start are ‘disgusting’, at inaugural ceremony in ManchesterMore should be done to help talented emerging musicians from the north of England, top artists have said at the inaugural Northern music awards in Manchester.The awards, run by the music therapy charity Nordoff and Robbins, took place in a packed Albert Hall, with winners including the former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson – who beat Sam Fender and S
  
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• Megan Thee Stallion accused of ‘abusive work environment’ including sexual harassment

  24-04-2024 14:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Former employee Emilio Garcia alleges chart-topping rapper had sex in front of him in a moving car, and made abusive comments and employment law violationsMegan Thee Stallion has been sued by a former employee who alleges she withheld payment and created an “abusive work environment”, including having sex with a woman next to him in a moving car.Cameraman Emilio Garcia alleges “severe” and “pervasive” harassment by the chart-topping rapper following the incide
  
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• From Taylor to Ariana, pop’s overreliance on gossip is choking the life out of it

  24-04-2024 11:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Today’s pop stars are cramming songs with so much biography they need footnotes – and they’re in danger of alienating all but their hardcore fansWhen Taylor Swift released Reputation in 2017, she self-published an accompanying magazine while avoiding interviews. “When this album comes out, gossip blogs will scour the lyrics for the men they can attribute to each song, as if the inspiration for music is as simple and basic as a paternity test,” she wrote in an essay.
  
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• Sampha, Yussef Dayes and Daniel Pemberton top Ivor Novello award nominations

  23-04-2024 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Sampha and Dayes get nods for best album and share in nomination for Sampha’s song Spirit 2.0 at awards for British songwriting and compositionNeo-soul singer Sampha, jazz drummer Yussef Dayes and composer Daniel Pemberton have topped the nominations for the 2024 Ivor Novello awards, which recognise the best in British and Irish songwriting and composition for the screen.Sampha and Dayes are individually nominated for best album, while they share a joint nomination for co-writing Sampha&rs
  
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• Jovial, randy and anything but dark: Johnny Cash’s surprise return single Well Alright reviewed

  23-04-2024 18:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Rescued from Cash’s low ebb in the early 1990s, this fun, lightweight song is a long way from the moody recordings with Rick Rubin he soon turned towardsIn the great American saga of Johnny Cash, the early 90s are held to be among his lowest ebbs: the lull that made the triumphant final act of his career – the American Recordings series with Rick Rubin, critical acclaim, Grammy awards, platinum sales and all – seem all the more startling. He’d been dropped by Columbia Rec
  
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• ‘Reagan gave us something to rap about’: how hip-hop has interacted with US politics

  23-04-2024 17:37 via theguardian.com
  
  New documentary Hip-Hop and the White House looks back at how presidents have rejected or embraced those within the genre, from Reagan to TrumpAt the 1985 presidential inauguration ball, a made-for-TV black-tie affair that was something in between a concert and a roast, an expectant Ronald Reagan looked on from the dais for Jimmy Stewart to bring up the next act. “And now,” a grizzled George Bailey intoned, “to present the excitement of youth, the sights and the sounds of a big
  
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• ‘Like eating too much chocolate’: Guardian readers on Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department

  23-04-2024 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Bland’ or ‘absolutely breathtaking’? Our readers are divided over Swift’s epically long, richly detailed new albumAs someone who has been a Swiftie for over a decade, my initial impression is that this album is one of her best lyrically, but production-wise it can get a bit repetitive by the end. While Folklore, Evermore and Midnights were full of either fictional tales or vague reminiscences, The Tortured Poets Department is a clear return to her old style of extr
  
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• ‘A lot of rich guys arguing’: inside the rap beef of the decade with Drake, Kendrick Lamar and more

  23-04-2024 11:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Future, Rick Ross and Kanye West are among those currently being drawn into one of the fieriest disputes in rap history. Is it good for the culture – and could it depose Drake from the top?One rapper is accused of being derivative while another is mocked for his height. This jibe leads another to join in and accuse the taller man of having buttock implants. A fourth man decides to join in, but quickly retracts his comments for the sake of an easier life. And so it goes on, a feud labelled
  
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• ‘Nothing is going to stop me’: Celine Dion details life with stiff person syndrome

  23-04-2024 11:20 via theguardian.com
  
  The chart-topping singer’s career has been on hold since she was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition in 2022Celine Dion has opened up about life with stiff person syndrome (SPS), a debilitating condition that she was diagnosed with in 2022.SPS, an extremely rare autoimmune neurological disorder affecting an estimated 8,000 people worldwide, causes muscle spasms and stiffness and can cause a loss of mobility. In Dion’s case, she has previously said that the illness is “causi
  
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• A musical tour of Manchester: from the Hallé to the Happy Mondays

  23-04-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Every genre of music has made its mark on Manchester, including dialect ballads, classical, TV theme tunes and all the strands of post-punk. Welcome to the north-west soundMyth distorts any city’s musical history, and in Manchester myth looms as large as the new Co-op Live, a £365m, 23,500-capacity mega-venue that opens today and will soon be staging big-name acts, including Take That. So, for every occasion a music fan mentions the hit-making boy band or, for that matter, 10cc or th
  
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• Taylor Swift fans flock to London pub apparently referenced on new album

  22-04-2024 17:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Staff at the Black Dog in Vauxhall ‘100% certain’ theirs is the pub mentioned in song of the same nameLast Thursday was shaping up to be a normal day for the Black Dog pub in south London, until its social media traffic mysteriously started ramping up.The reason was that Taylor Swift’s new album had leaked, featuring a song that shared its name. Within an hour of its release, the small venue was deluged with excited fans, while its staff scoured CCTV for a sighting of the world
  
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• Montreal metallers Big Brave on doom, despondency and Emily Dickinson: ‘We’re sick as a species’

  22-04-2024 15:33 via theguardian.com
  
  For their latest album, the heavy trio delved into poetry archives to foreground work by female writers and tell stories of the ‘subjugation of femininity’ across nature and humanitySince their inception in 2012, Big Brave have amplified the torrential sound of clawing oneself into being. The Montreal trio found their early audiences in metal and post-rock – recording their sophomore album a decade ago with Efrim Menuck of agitprop heroes Godspeed You! Black Emperor and signing
  
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• Cher, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest among 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

  22-04-2024 11:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Cher finally recognised 60 years after her first recordings, while Mary J Blige, Peter Frampton and Dave Matthews Band are among the other inducteesCher, Ozzy Osbourne, Mary J Blige and A Tribe Called Quest are among the stars to be added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year – many of them rather overdue.Artists can be added to the US institution 25 years after their first recording, but Cher – who once described her snub by the Hall as “kind of rude” – has h
  
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• ‘They’re not ashamed of their bodies’: Sean Bankhead on his raunchy dances for Beyoncé, Cardi B, Lil Nas X and more

  22-04-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  He’s the world’s hottest choreographer, the man who cooks up steamy videos and stage shows for giants of music. But does the Atlanta star ever think he goes too far? Quite the opposite …This year’s Super Bowl was watched by more than 120 million people in the US, almost as many as watched the moon landings. And in the half-time show, right behind R&B superstar Usher, there was Sean Bankhead dancing. “It was a really overwhelming sensory experience,” says
  
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• Sunday with Shirley Manson: ‘I impersonate my mother by making a chicken dinner’

  21-04-2024 07:45 via theguardian.com
  
  The Garbage singer talks about church in childhood, her need to enjoy life and her favourite arty amusement parkSundays growing up? We’d go to Saint Bernard’s in Edinburgh, which had beautiful blue velvet carpets and wooden pews. Upstairs there were little wooden gates, which I found fascinating, but church was boring and dull. I’m not a believer. I like a fun Sunday as opposed to a boring one.Sunday achievement? I’ve got to the point where I’m aware that my life sp
  
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• Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry: ‘I was fixated with death… I needed to live in reality’

  20-04-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The frontwoman of the Scottish synth-pop trio had a dream music career, but it came with years of online misogyny and artistic frustration. As she prepares to release her debut solo album, she discusses going her own wayA graphic novel company recently sent Lauren Mayberry a pitch asking if they could use her likeness. The comic was to be set in a post-apocalyptic Scotland (Mayberry is from Glasgow and was born in Stirling) and it featured Lauren, feminist firebrand, as one of a group of women w
  
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