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Julian Cross Delivers New Single “Hot N Cold” Featuring Cesqeaux and Notelle

Drum & Bass, a genre known for its rapid breakbeats and heavy basslines, continues to evolve with artists who push its boundaries. Julian Cross, a rising name in the electronic music scene, is one such artist making waves with his innovative approach. Known for blending powerful rhythms with emotive soundscapes, Julian Cross’s latest track, “Hot N Cold,” showcases his ability to infuse Drum & Bass with fresh energy, setting the stage for what’s next in the genre.

Julian Cross, the Amsterdam-based DJ and producer known for his electrifying sound, is back with a new single that promises to heat up dance floors worldwide. “Hot N Cold,” featuring genre-blending beats from Cesqeaux and the soulful, captivating vocals of Notelle, is the latest offering from an artist who has quickly established himself as a dynamic force in the electronic music world. With its pulsating basslines, high-energy production, and emotive lyricism, “Hot N Cold” is set to be a standout in the Drum & Bass scene.

Julian Cross‘s collaboration with Cesqeaux and Notelle is a fusion of styles that elevates the track beyond standard dance music fare. Known for pushing boundaries, Cesqeaux brings his signature blend of diverse genres, adding a unique twist to the track’s hard-hitting beats. Notelle’s powerful voice and evocative lyrics inject an emotional undercurrent, making “Hot N Cold” more than just a club anthem—it’s a track that resonates on multiple levels. Julian Cross expertly weaves these elements into a cohesive soundscape that showcases his ability to craft tracks that are both innovative and accessible.

Julian Cross’s journey from local DJ to main stage sensation has been nothing short of meteoric. Since signing with Afrojack’s WALL Recordings in 2021, Julian has continued to push his artistry to new heights. His debut album, The Stories of the Nebula, solidified his reputation, amassing millions of streams and gaining support from top DJs and radio stations across Europe. With hits like “Antidote,” “All I Need” featuring Afrojack, and “Lose It All,” Julian Cross has shown his versatility in blending emotive soundscapes with hard-hitting electronic beats, a formula that has quickly endeared him to fans and critics alike.

Live performances have also been a crucial part of Julian Cross’s rise. From his early sets in local bars to commanding the stage at global festivals like Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival, and Club Eleven in Miami, his shows are known for their infectious energy and technical prowess. Julian Cross’s ability to connect with audiences, combined with his innovative approach to production, has cemented his place as a rising star in the international electronic music scene.

With the release of “Hot N Cold,” Julian Cross continues to build on his impressive trajectory. Supported by the likes of Afrojack and with growing acclaim from both fans and industry peers, Julian’s distinct sound and relentless creativity keep him at the forefront of electronic music. “Hot N Cold” is not just a testament to his evolution as an artist but also a bold statement of where he’s headed next—a future filled with genre-defying tracks that keep listeners coming back for more. As Julian Cross pushes the boundaries of electronic music, his latest single reaffirms his place among the genre’s most exciting talents.

King Princess covers The Strokes’ ‘You Only Live Once’ with Julian Casablancas

King Princess brought out Julian Casablancas to cover a Strokes classic at her New York gig this week – see footage below.

READ MORE: King Princess – ‘Hold On Baby’ review: introspective slow-burners that could go further

Mikaela Straus headlined the legendary Radio City Music Hall in her hometown on Monday (October 3) in support of new album ‘Hold On Baby’, and welcomed a special guest to the stage.

“We’re in New York, huh? We’re in my hometown,” King Princess told the crowd during the show. “So maybe it’s only fitting that we play a song by the Strokes.

“I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know,” she added. “I don’t know who’s gonna come out here, but… Julian called in sick!”

Casablancas proved not sick at all, joining Straus on stage to play the 2006 hit – check out the performance below.

King Princess’ 2022 headline tour continues tonight (October 5) in Boston at the Roadrunner venue, running through until November 5 in Austin, Texas.

The dates were rescheduled from earlier this year due to the death of the singer’s grandmother. She explained in a statement at the time: “Recently, I got word that my grandmother was going to be receiving in-home hospice care as she approached the end of her life.

“The amount of love I have for this woman, there was no decision to be made – I had to go to upstate NY and be with her during her final time on this earth. That decision, coupled with other unforeseen challenges across the touring landscape, has ultimately forced me to move Leg 1 of the Hold On Baby Tour. I am so sorry for any inconvenience this has caused for anyone.”

See the remaining dates below and buy tickets here.

OCTOBER 2022
5 – Boston, Roadrunner
6 – Portland, State Theatre
8 – Toronto, History
9 – Detroit, The Fillmore
11 – Pittsburgh, Stage AE
12 – Cleveland, Agora Theatre
14 – Madison, The Sylvee
15 – St. Paul, Palace Theatre
17 – Denver, Mission Ballroom
18 – Salt Lake City, Union Event Centre
20 – Seattle, Showbox SoDo
21 – Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom
22 – Portland, Roseland Theatre
24 – San Francisco, The Warfield
26 – Los Angeles, The Theatre At Ace Hotel
27 – Los Angeles, The Theatre At Ace Hotel
30 – San Diego, SOMA
31 – Phoenix, Van Buren

NOVEMBER 2022
2 – Dallas, House Of Blues
3 – Houston, House Of Blues
5 – Austin, Emo’s

Elsewhere, King Princess recently spoke about the “transformative experience” of working with the late Taylor Hawkins on her new track ‘Let Us Die’.

Discussing how she got in contact with the Foo Fighters drummer via producer and collaborator Mark Ronson, Straus said: “I was like, ‘Do you think that you could get Taylor Hawkins to play on my song?’ He’s like, ‘Mikaela, don’t even worry about it’.” Hawkins accepted the offer to collaborate, hailing ‘Let Us Die’ as “a great song”.

King Princess went on: “So he was recording it at their studio and I was in Brooklyn and we were feeding it through the console. So pretty trippy too to be in my childhood home studio, listening to this guy play on my dad’s speakers. And my dad [was] sitting there watching. I can’t even describe it. I was so emotional. It was crazy.

“He took as long as he needed and he did it, and he was so kind and so gracious,” she added. “He was like, ‘I’m just so thankful. I just love this song and I just love playing’. He was just saying he loves playing drums. And to hear that from somebody who’s lived such a life that, at his age and playing for as long as he has in so many different bands and his own projects, for him to just love to play the fucking drums, that to me is just what we should all strive to be. Somebody who does not lose that love of their instrument.”

Julian Casablancas calls The Smile’s Primavera set the “best show I’ve seen in years”

Julian Casablancas has called The Smile’s set at this year’s Primavera Sound the “best show I’ve seen in years”.

Radiohead and The Strokes were both performing last night (June 10) as part of the Barcelona festival’s second weekend.

READ MORE: The Smile live in London: Radiohead side project prove they’re human after all

Casablancas shared a short video of The Smile – comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner – playing on his Instagram page. “Had my fucking mind blown yesterday, best show i’ve seen in YEARS ……The Smile (Thom Yorke / Johnny Greenwood) – shiiiiiiit that was good,” he captioned the post.

“Like modern phillip glass with best of Radiohead or something… idk,” he continued. “An insane festival overall honestly …Tyler / Tame Impala etc. so many more other champions too … thank you thank you & thank you to all of it and all who came to the show.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Julian Casablancas (@minorbutmajor)

The Strokes headlined Primavera Sound last night, performing tracks from across their back catalogue including ‘The New Abnormal’ singles ‘Bad Decisions’, ‘Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus’ and ‘The Adults Are Talking’. The band were also due to headline the first weekend of Primavera, but had to pull out due to a case of COVID-19 in their touring party.

The Smile’s set, meanwhile, was largely made up of tracks from their debut album, ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’, as well as Yorke’s ‘Pulled Apart By Horses’ record and a trio of new songs. The fresh tracks have been premiered across the band’s recent European dates, including ‘Bodies Laughing’ in Berlin and ‘Friend Of A Friend’ in Zagreb.

In a four-star review, NME said of ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’: “In cutting some new shapes, this supergroup have been set loose to make some of the most arresting and satisfying music of their careers. Christ, it sounds like they’re having fun – or, at least, as much fun as can be had in trading in this kind of jazzed-up misery. Still, after just a few listens that seemingly ironic band name makes a lot more sense.”

The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas is curating a new ‘Grand Theft Auto’ radio station

Julian Casablancas is set to curate a radio station for the forthcoming Grand Theft Auto Online game, The Cayo Perico Heist.

The Strokes frontman will feature as part of an update due to drop on December 15, which will bring the game’s classic car-jacking mischief to a lavish island.

The NME Big Read: The Strokes: “Journalists kiss your ass to your face and talk shit when they’re writing the article”

The station – K.U.L.T. 99.1 Vespucci Beach, Low Power Beach Radio – will also feature appearances by Mac DeMarco and comedian David Cross, as well as music from Joy Division, The Velvet Underground, Danzig, and an exclusive premiere of a new Voidz song ‘Alien Crime Lord’.

The update will also feature another new station from the UK producer Joy Orbison dubbed Still Slipping Los Santos, which promises a mix of house, techno, drill, and drum-and-bass and a new feature to the game called The Music Locker, an underground club that features DJ sets from Moodymann, Keinemusik, and Palms Trax.

The heist itself takes place on a private island, and tasks players with infiltrating what Rockstar calls “one of the most secure private islands in the entire world”. It features heavily armed security guards, and players will have the option to either “neutralise” these forces or evade them with stealth.

A host of artists have featured on radio stations on various versions of GTA in the past including one featuring Frank Ocean, Skepta and Headie One.

Meanwhile, The Strokes recently shared their new video for ‘The Adults Are Talking’, the opening track on their latest album, ‘The New Abnormal’.

Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Roman Coppola, who also helmed visuals for Strokes classics ‘Someday’ and ‘Last Nite’, the video features the New York band donning The Strokes-brand baseball uniforms before facing a robotic pitcher, followed by others taking on robots in tennis and boxing.

Casablancas also recently said he became “sick” of playing old songs live, saying “the music doesn’t move you” when playing the same songs repeatedly.

He added: “When you’re growing up and imagining playing music, it is for the excitement, but the one aspect of doing it for a living that is a sadness you don’t anticipate is that you play songs so much, you become sick of them.

“We hadn’t played for a while,” Casablancas says about returning to live performing earlier this year, “so it was still fun, but when you start playing 30 or 40 shows, the music doesn’t move you. You feel phoney. To some extent, that’s why I play with Voidz. I couldn’t care less about playing ‘Last Nite.’”

He continued: “Really, it’s similar to listening to a song. I get sick of songs quickly. Even Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata.’ You listen to that enough, you will get sick of it.”

Vampire Weekend Only God Was Above Us

Cleverness gets you only so far in life, and its limits become clearer with age. Vampire Weekend’s first album in roughly five years deals with that kind of reckoning. Its opening line: “Fuck the world” – spoken in context of a lovers’ sparring match, a geo-political negotiation, maybe both. Ezra Koenig’s vocals are dirty with distortion, draped in coiled feedback, and they build to a panic attack of galloping drums, presto orchestral strings and guitar squeals amid talk of soldiers, police, war and weaponised language. The song, “Ice Cream Piano” (note the “I scream” homophone), is bunker-mentality neorealism, and quite a way from the scenes of privileged youth “in the colours of Benetton” on the band’s 2008 debut, blithely spilling kefir on an accessorising keffiyeh and second-guessing last night’s hookup en route to class.

ORDER YOUR COPY OF THE NEW UNCUT, FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE DAVID GILMOUR INTERVIEW AND A FREE CAN CD!

Fair enough: Vampire Weekend are nearly 20 years in, and these are dark times. Gone too is the wistfully upbeat jam-band vibe of 2019’s Father Of The Bride, an impressive pivot after the departure of co-founder Rostam Batmanglij, long on laidback guitar spirals, pedal steel sparkles, Danielle Haim vocals and their trademark boutique internationalism. By comparison, Only God Was Above Us is off its meds – grimier, sonically and spiritually; more compressed, more stressed. Lyrically, conflict is everywhere, and nothing is stable.

Of course, anxiety, true perhaps to the band’s New York City roots, suits them nicely. Indeed, Big Apple nostalgia infuses Only God Was Above Us, though it’s not especially comforting. The packaging signals it straightaway with surreal, late-’80s images (by noted urban street photographer Steven Siegel) of wrecked train cars in a subway graveyard. The LP title comes from a 1988 tabloid headline in the cover image, teasing a story about a mid-flight airline explosion. In another image, a magazine cover trumpets a story on “prep school gangsters”, which here titles a song that seems less about junior hooligans than the full-grown ones who fail upwards into staterooms. “Call it business/Call it war/Cutting class through revolving doors,” Koenig sings sweetly over staccato bass and guitar suggesting early New Order, as Dev “Blood Orange” Hynes bashes out abstracted new wave drumbeats.

Flashbacks get conjured everywhere, quite cannily. Koenig has cited admiration for the late-’80s/early ’90s masters of sample surgery, particularly those with NYC pedigrees: RZA’s early Wu Tang work, Paul’s Boutique-era Beastie Boys. Here, abetted by producer and de facto fourth member Ariel Rechtshaid (Haim, Charli XCX, Cass McCombs), the band fold old-school allusions into a sort of OCD indie-rock hyper-pop. “Classical” opens on breakbeats like a vintage Coldcut remix, flanking cartoon electric guitar graffiti, Johnny Marr-ish acoustic strums and a sax solo that conjures a train station busker. “The Surfer”, a holdover co-written with Batmanglij, is a dubby mash-up of David Axelrod orchestral hallucinations, vintage George Martin gestures and King Tubby-ish drum fills.

This approach reaches its peak on “Mary Boone”, cheekily named for the NYC gallery owner who helped make downtown artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel superstars in the ’80s. Koenig sketches a bridge-and-tunnel wannabe watching from the sidelines as art-scene money gets printed, while the arrangement samples Soul II Soul’s indelibly elegant “Back To Life” groove, adding a “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” choir just for the hell of it. It would all be so much showing-off if the narrative ache Koenig displays wasn’t so palpable, and the craft wasn’t so meticulous. These guys listen hard, sometimes applying different processing effects on each word, even syllable. It’s clear why they’ve begun taking roughly five years between albums.

Of course, busy work can help rein in bleak thoughts about the state of things, a dynamic that plays out across Only God Was Above Us. “Blacken the sky and sharpen the axe/Forever cursed to live unrelaxed,” Koenig croons over crisp punk drumming on “Gen X Cops”, whose title nods to the comic Hong Kong action film franchise, while its lyrics suggest how subsequent generations kick social crises down the years, disastrously. The album ends on a hopeful note, rather self-awarely titled “Hope”. It’s a folksy invocation proposing that the only way forward is to, well, move forward. It may be realistically cold comfort, but it’s comfort nonetheless.

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher to host Manchester food poverty gig with James, The Farm and more

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher are set to host a Manchester gig to fight food poverty with James, The Farm and more.

Music Feeds Live will be led by James guitarist Saul Davies and his partner Vanda Guerreiro, where more than 10 artists will perform at the O2 Apollo Manchester on Tuesday, February 27.

Artists confirmed on the line-up include James’ Tim Booth, Jim Glennie and Saul Davies, The Farm, Chicane, Slow Readers Club, Lanterns On The Lake and British poet laureate Simon Armitage with his band LYR, with more due to be announced.

Neville and Carragher are set to host the evening alongside Radio 6 Music presenter Chris Hawkins, while the Joe Duddell Orchestra will collaborate with guests throughout the evening.

Organisers are aiming to raise £150,000 for foodbank charity The Trussell Trust.

Tickets go on sale 9am GMT, Friday (December 15) and can be purchased here.

“Music Feeds Live is about positivity and solidarity,” Davies said in a press statement. We are giving artists an opportunity to use their voice to generate much needed funds and show support to people living with disadvantage.

“Our aim is to raise £150k for foodbanks across the North West and with the help of the public we can do that. We have a brilliant line-up already, but we also have more names to add to that with some very special guests to be announced soon.”

Cuffe and Taylor promoter Julian Murray added: “We’re excited to be working with Saul and Vanda on what is going to be a brilliant show.

“As well as raising money for an incredible charity, Music Feeds Lives will bring together musicians and fans who all have one goal, to help others.”

Music Feeds Live follows the two-day online festival held during lockdown in January 2021, which featured Liam Gallagher, Sam Smith, Fontaines DC and more on the line-up.

It raised £1million for food charity Fareshare and support organisations Help Musician and Stagehand.

Listen to The Voidz’ spooky new single ‘Flexorcist’

The Voidz have shared their spooky new single ‘Flexorcist’ ahead of Halloween this weekend – listen to it below.

READ MORE: Julian Casablancas and The Voidz on ‘GTA Online’, ‘Alien Crime Lord’ and video game design

The new track from Julian Casablancas and co. is nearly six minutes long and sees the frontman sing of “graves lined-up across the hill“, “pistols at dawn” and “friendly face in the firing squad” atop a synthy, indie-pop leaning melody.

“I guess I mighta – sounded a little crazy, maybe / I only think of things I shouldn’t do,” Casablancas sings on the off-kilter new single.

[embedded content]

‘Flexorcist’ arrives with concept art featuring a spectral winged figure staring over a glowing city.

The track also comes ahead of the band’s “immersive” Halloween residency in Brooklyn this weekend.

The Voidz will be taking over the Murmrr Theatre for four nights from October 31 to November 3. The venue will be reopening its doors after three years. Any remaining tickets can be purchased here.

The band previously shared new single ‘Prophecy Of The Dragon’ earlier this year, their first since 2021’s ‘The Eternal Tao 2.0’. Before that, Daft Punk shared a previously unreleased song featuring The Voidz titled ‘Infinity Repeating’.

Speaking about ‘Prophecy Of The Dragon’ in a press statement earlier this year, the band shared: “The track started with a very simple question. What would it feel like if God whispered into your ear ‘You are my most magnificent creature’. What would that feeling sound like? What would its bass line be? With that, Beardo blew The Voidz conch shell, and we assembled from the various corners of the earth to which we had been summoned for previous quests.”

The band’s last LP release was 2018’s ‘Virtue’. In a four-star review of the band’s second album, NME shared: “The Voidz and Julian might not be the most predictable band to pin down, but there are at least some things that we’ve come to expect from them: whatever they do will be interesting, unusual and thought-provoking. On ‘Virtue’, they’ve hit the jackpot with a bonus ball – fun.”

Meanwhile, The Strokes performed at All Points East alongside Yeah Yeah Yeahs this summer.

Check out footage from the ‘Meet Me In The Bathroom’ New York City premiere

Last night (October 30), Meet Me In The Bathroom premiered at New York City’s Webster Hall with performances from Adam Green and Wah Together as well as a conversation with the people behind the documentary. View footage and check out moments from the film discussion below.

READ MORE: The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem and the New Golden Age of New York music: an interview with Lizzy Goodman

Meet Me In The Bathroom, Lizzy Goodman’s 600-page oral history detailing the ’00s New York music scene was released in 2017. The film version of the book, directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace – creators of LCD Soundsystem‘s Shut Up And Play The Hits documentary and concert movie – first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Featuring interviews and never-before-seen archival footage of The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol and more, Meet Me In The Bathroom focuses on how a new batch of rock bands impacted and transformed not only the New York City music scene but went on to receive national and international acclaim.

Following a screening of the film, there was an acoustic set from Green (where at one moment he slipped in the refrain of The Strokes’ track ‘Under Control’) and WAH Together (featuring Phil Mossman of LCD Soundsystem and Vito Roccoforte of The Rapture). After the acts left the stage there was a panel discussion with Goodman, Green, Lovelace and Southern.

#meetmeinthebathroom the film version of @lizzydgoodman’s 600-page oral history of the 00’s New York music scene officially premiered in its hometown of Manhattan last night

here’s a thread of moments from the premiere pic.twitter.com/KE6lmNjKel

— Erica Campbell (@ericacxmpbell) October 31, 2022

Wah Together (which features Vito Roccoforte of @ITSTHERAPTURE & Phil Mossman who used to be @lcdsoundsystem) riling up the crowd pic.twitter.com/ftwKpvAQue

— Erica Campbell (@ericacxmpbell) October 31, 2022

“[The film] drops you into that time, it’s a time capsule really,” Lovelace said, pointing to their decision to not include “talking heads” in the documentary. “[We wanted] to keep it in the moment, and make it feel like it was back then, to feel what it was like to be in New York during that time.”

The directors also discussed having “no idea” about what archival footage existed before they started the film, calling it a “dangerous way to start”.

“We wrote the film before we made it and hoped that the archive was out there to tell the story that we wrote,” Southern added.

Speaking about how they pulled the film together, the directors pointed to the “amazing” footage they found at the eleventh hour, including never-before-seen clips of LCD Soundsystem and Paul Banks of Interpol.

Goodman also talked about moments in the film that feature Karen O and Julian Casablancas struggling with the weight of fame and “the feeling of a coming of age while the world is disappearing beneath your feet. It’s the defining sense of that error, a sense of anxiety mixed with jubilation, whatever the word is for the merging of those two feelings”.

Goodman continued: “[It’s] the feeling of recognizing you’re in the middle of the thing you came to find and also knowing it’s ending before you’re going to be able to process that fact, is a recurring theme in all the interviews that were done for the book.

“The path in front of you disappearing as you’re walking it is pretty foundational to this period of time.”

The documentary is previewed on November 4 in both New York and Los Angeles before opening across the US on November 8. The film will then be available to stream on Showtime starting November 25. Details of a UK and European release are yet to be revealed.

Last week (October 27), The Moldy Peaches reunited for their first live show in over a decade during the film’s Los Angeles premiere.

Public spending body to investigate £120million ‘festival of Brexit’

A public spending body are set to investigate the £120million of taxpayers’ money spent on the ‘festival of Brexit’.

READ MORE: When Brexit is set to cost the UK music industry hundreds of millions, the planned “festival of Brexit” strikes a sour note

The event, which was first touted under Theresa May’s government, was described as a showcase for “the UK’s unique strengths in creativity and innovation” after leaving the European Union – with comparisons being made to the 1951 Festival of Britain.

While critics have consistently questioned the estimated £120m cost of the festival, planning took a step forward in 2020 when organisers called for “daring, new and popular” ideas that will unite the nation. The much-maligned event then rebranded as Unboxed and revealed details of its 2022 event.

Since opening in March of this year despite numerous objections, the festival – dubbed ‘Unboxed: Creativity in the UK’ – has reportedly welcomed just 240,000 visitors, a fraction of the 66 million originally hoped for, and MPs in a cross-party parliamentary committee have asked the National Audit Office (NAO) to look into how the money was spent.

After the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee called for the investigation and called Unboxed an “irresponsible use of public money,” the new committee’s chairman, Conservative MP Julian Knight, said: “That such an exorbitant amount of public cash has been spent on a so-called celebration of creativity that has barely failed to register in the public consciousness raises serious red flags about how the project has been managed from conception through to delivery.”

The cross-party parliamentary committee have raised concerns that taxpayers’ money was “frittered away” on the project while bringing “so little” in return.

Back in early 2021, campaigners called on the government to ditch controversial efforts for the festival and use the money to fund COVID recovery efforts as the pandemic continued.

Last year, the Music Venue Trust also called on the government to cancel the event and use the money to instead secure the future of Britain’s grassroots culture amid the pandemic.

In an open letter and new petition, the Music Venue Trust called upon the government to immediately announce legal measures to temporarily close venues amid the coronavirus outbreak, cancel their planned Festival of Brexit in 2022, and reallocate that money to fund arts spaces through this difficult time.

“What we’ve asked is for them to cancel the Festival Of Britain 2022, for which there is already a £122million culture budget allocated,” MVT boss Mark Davyd told NME. “We want them to take that money and put it into a cultural infrastructure hardship relief fund. That money is sufficient to support venues during a temporary period of closure.”

Here are the stage times for The Chemical Brothers and Kraftwerk at All Points East 2022

This Saturday (August 20), Field Day takes over All Points East in London’s Victoria Park with The Chemical Brothers and Kraftwerk. Check out the full stage and performance times below.

READ MORE: Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?! – Kraftwerk’s Karl Bartos

Across seven stages, the day also sees performances from Peggy Gou, Floating Points, Daniel Avery and many more.

The Chemical Brothers will close the festival’s East Stage, preceded by a headline performance on the opposite West Stage from Kraftwerk.

See the full stage times for Field Day at All Points East with The Chemical Brothers and Kraftwerk below, and buy your tickets here.

East Stage

The Chemical Brothers – 9.25pm
Peggy Gou – 7.20pm
Floating Points – 6.00pm
HAAi – 5.00pm
FJAAK – 4.00pm
Logic1000 – 3.00pm
Emerland B2B Jossy Mitsu – 2.00pm
Eliza Rose – 1.00pm
Otik – 12.00pm

Ray-Ban West Stage

Kraftwerk – 8.00pm
Carl Craig B2B Moodymann – 6.20pm
Folamour: PTTP – 5.00pm
Erol Alkan – 4.00pm
Artwork B2B CC:DISCO! – 3.00pm
Salute – 2.00pm
Cici – 1.00pm

North Stage

Denis Sulta B2B Mella Dee – 8.10pm
Daniel Avery – 6.50pm
Squarepusher – 5.30pm
Tourist – 4.10pm
Kareem Ali – 2.50pm
Helena Star – 1.00pm

BBC 6music Stage

Jessy Lanza – 8.00pm
Jennifer Cardini & Tijana T – 7.00pm
Juliana Huxtable – 6.00pm
TYGAPAW – 5.00pm
Planningtorock – 4.00pm
Bklava – 3.00pm
Mary Anne Hobbs – 2.00pm
LUXE – 1.00pm

The BMW Play Next Stage

Junior Simba: 4.00pm
Danielle: 3.00pm
Mr Scruff/Moktar: 2.00pm
Melle Brown: 1.00pm

The Firestone Stage

Jasper Tygner: 5.00pm
Anish Kumar: 4.00pm
Suchi: 3.00pm
9th House: 2.00pm
Noudle: 1.00pm

The Kraken Freaky Tiki Bar featuring Foundation FM

Helena Star: 4.30pm
Team Woibey: 3.30pm
Mia Lily: 2.30pm
Just Lil: 1.30pm

The festival begins today (August 19) with Gorillaz supported by IDLES, Turnstile, Yves Tumor, Self Esteem, Femi Kuti, Obongjayar, NewDad, Remi Wolf, Gabriels, Ibeyi, Nia Archives and Willow Kayne. You can buy your tickets here and see full stage times here.

The following weekend sees headline performances from Tame Impala (Thursday, August 25), The National (Friday, August 26), Disclosure (Saturday, August 27) and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (Sunday, August 28).

James Blunt to star in new documentary described as Spinal Tap meets Alan Partridge

James Blunt is set to star in a new feature documentary, which has been described as Spinal Tap meets Alan Partridge.

The new project comes from Lorton Entertainment, who previously produced the BBC film Bros: After The Screaming Stops, the Oasis documentary Supersonic and the soon-to-be-released George Ezra film End-To-End.

READ MORE: Soundtrack Of My Life: James Blunt

The upcoming documentary was filmed on the road during Blunt’s 2022 Greatest Hit Tour, and will explore the singer’s backstory, from his time in the British Army to recording the biggest-selling album of the noughties.

The official synopsis reads: “This the story of an ageing, British popstar, still fighting for relevance some seventeen years after his star momentarily twinkled. No one has a more extraordinary story than James Blunt. The soldier turned singer has one of the most inspiring trajectories in the history of music.

“Filmed on the road during his 2022 aptly named Greatest Hit Tour, director Chris Atkins is given access all areas following James Blunt across Europe. Delving into James’ unique backstory, from witnessing the genocide of the Kosovo War, recording the biggest selling album of the noughties, enduring the harsh backlash that followed his meteoric success, and then tweeting his way back to becoming a national treasure, this is an intimate portrait of James Blunt, as never seen before.

It continues: “Described as Spinal Tap meets Alan Partridge, this is a behind the scenes, brutally honest story of a painfully self-aware, endlessly touring musician, for whom persistence eventually prevails.

The film will be produced by Steven Lappin, Ian Neil and Dom Freeman at Next of Kin Films, as well as Julian Bird, Ed Barratt and Arthur Landon of Lorton Entertainment.

On the announcement of the new documentary, Blunt said: “In hindsight, I’m not sure letting them film this was a good idea.”

A release date is yet to be confirmed.

Earlier this year, Blunt threatened to release new music on Spotify in a bid to have Joe Rogen’s podcast removed from the streaming platform.

TRNSMT announce dates and ticket details for 2023 festival

Glasgow’s TRNSMT festival has announced its dates and ticket details for next year’s event after the 2022 festival wrapped up last night (July 10).

TRNSMT 2022 took place from July 8-10 on Glasgow Green and was be headlined by The Strokes., Lewis Capaldi and Paolo Nutini with appearances from Wolf Alice, Beabadoobee, Sigrid, Sam Fender, Wet Leg, Jimmy Eat World and many, many more.

TRNSMT returned in September last year after the 2020 event was cancelled due to COVID and the 2021 event was postponed from May.

Now, the festival has announced that it will return from July 7-9, 2023, with tickets – frozen at 2022 prices for a limited time – on sale on Friday (July 15) from 9am. Get yours here.

Festival boss Geoff Ellis said in a statement: “What an incredible weekend we’ve had. We had the sun shining on Glasgow Green, a fantastic line up of over 70 artists across four stages and 50,000 incredible fans every day – we really couldn’t have asked for more.

“TRNSMT marks the halfway point in Scotland’s record-breaking summer of music and I’d like to thank the artists, the fans and everyone who works extremely hard behind the scenes to make this festival happen.”

TRNSMT 2023 is a go! ???

We will be back at Glasgow Green from 7th – 9th of July. Sign up for exclusive access to limited early bird weekend tickets at 2022 prices, from 9am Wednesday ?

SIGN UP ~ https://t.co/DdRAPz9JqD pic.twitter.com/fTGwwZwgkF

— TRNSMT Festival (@TRNSMTfest) July 11, 2022

However, fans of The Strokes have expressed concerns online about frontman Julian Casablancas’ well-being following the band’s performance at TRNSMT on Saturday (July 9).

Fans commented on his “worrying” behaviour on stage, saying they felt he needed an “intervention” claiming that he appeared to be heavily intoxicated.

One fan said he feared he’d “just witnessed the end of The Strokes” with “Casablancas genuinely looking like he needs help.” The fan added that “the man looked unwell.”

Some fans commented on how Casablancas didn’t hide his “distain” for the audience after he said that he preferred “Barrowlands” and after referring to the audience as the “Glasgow Children’s Choir”. Others also spoke about the poor sound quality of the gig and wondered if that may have been a contributing factor to the performance.

The Strokes declined to comment when NME approached a spokesperson for a response.

Last year’s event at Glasgow Green saw the likes of The Courteeners, Ian Brown, Liam Gallagher and The Chemical Brothers play to 50,000 people while Becky Hill drew such a huge crowd, organisers had to temporarily close the stage.

Thom Yorke confirms new Smile music is in the works

Thom Yorke has confirmed that Radiohead side project The Smile have some new music in the works.

READ MORE: The Smile live in London: Radiohead side project prove they’re human after all

The band, which features Yorke, his Radiohead bandmate Johnny Greenwood, and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner, released their debut album, ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’, in May. In a four-star review, NME‘s Andrew Trendell described it as “showcasing a melodic, more energetic and free-flowing iteration of the Yorke-Greenwood partnership”.

Last month, The Smile performed at Primavera Sound as part of the Barcelona festival’s second weekend. During their set – which Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas called the “best show I’ve seen in years” – they performed a new song called ‘Colours Fly’.

Today (July 10), the band shared a clip of them performing the song at the festival. Yorke then quote tweeted the performance, telling fans that it was a “work in progress” while adding that there are some other new songs in the works.

“New one … work in progress … there are a few ..,” Yorke wrote. You can see his tweet and the clip from the performance below.

new one … work in progress … there are a few .. https://t.co/jPeNYiNVEz

— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) July 10, 2022

The Smile recently announced their first-ever tour of North America for November and December 2022, in support of their debut album.

The band will begin their debut tour across the continent in Providence, Rhode Island on November 14. The tour will then take them across the US and Canada, including two New York dates at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre and the city’s Hammerstein Ballroom.

See the full list of dates below and get any remaining tickets here.

The Smile’s North American tour dates are:

NOVEMBER 2022
Monday 14 – Prividence, Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Wednesday 16 – Boston, Roadrunner
Friday 18 – Brooklyn, Kings Theatre
Sunday 20 – New York City, Hammerstein Ballroom
Wednesday 23 – Washington D.C., The Anthem
Friday 25 – Montreal, M Telus
Saturday 26 – Toronto, Massey Hall
Monday 28 – Detroit, Masonic Temple Theatre
Tuesday 29 – Milwaukee, Riverside Theater

DECEMBER 2022
Thursday 1 – Chicago, Riviera Theatre
Saturday 3 – Nashville, Ryman Auditorium
Sunday 4 – Atlanta, The Eastern
Tuesday 6 – New Orleans, Orpheum Theatre
Thursday 8 – Dallas, The Factory
Saturday 10 – Denver, Mission Ballroom
Wednesday 14 – Portland, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Friday 16 – Seattle, WaMu Theater
Sunday 18 – San Francisco, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Wednesday 21 – Los Angeles, Shrine Auditorium

Peter Frampton announces three UK dates for farewell tour

Peter Frampton has announced three shows in the UK this November, as part of his ‘farewell’ tour.

The guitarist was forced to cancel a run of British and European shows planned for 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Great news!! I am continuing my PF Finale Tour this November in the UK,” he said in a statement. “My band and I have been chomping at the bit to play and can’t wait to keep our promise to play for you again. Thanks for your patience.”

Great news!! I am continuing my PF Finale Tour this November in the UK. My band and I have been chomping at the bit to play and can’t wait to keep our promise to play for you again. Thanks for your patience.
Tickets on sale March 30th! @RoyalAlbertHall @RegandVic pic.twitter.com/90bQEXVCwf

— Peter Frampton (@peterframpton) March 28, 2022

His British dates can be found below. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday (March 30) at 12pm, and you can purchase yours here.

NOVEMBER 2022
Saturday 5 – Stoke, Victoria Hall
Sunday 6 – Glasgow, SEC Armadillo
Tuesday 8 – London, Royal Albert Hall

Billed as Frampton’s last ever live shows after over five decades of touring, the ‘Finale Tour’ will also embark on a mammoth run of over 50 shows across the US this summer.

“Select dates” on the tour will see Frampton joined by Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, as well as his son Julian Frampton. It’s unclear whether that will include the British shows.

Frampton’s last release was ‘Frampton Forgets The Words’ released last April, consisting of covers of what Frampton called .”ten of my favourite pieces of music”.

It included an instrumental cover of Radiohead’s ‘Reckoner’, plus songs by David Bowie, George Harrison, Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz and more.

Last year also saw Frampton appear at a live show in tribute to John Lennon, marking what would have been the Beatle’s 81st birthday and in aid of War Child. The gig followed on from an album of covers ‘Dear John’, also released last year.

Broadcast Maida Vale Sessions/Microtronics Vol 1 & 2/Mother is The Milky Way

From their earliest singles – a trilogy of beautiful EPs from 1996, compiled on the following year’s Work & Non-Work collection – Birmingham’s Broadcast, a group built around musical and romantic partners Trish Keenan and James Cargill, were voracious explorers and collectors, monstering a bric-à-brac soundworld out of constituent elements: Czechoslovakian new wave film; Italian library music; rural pop psychedelia; academic electronics. Keenan and Cargill knew well that the best music often hides in popular culture’s shadows, hence the significance, also, of the tour-only releases and radio sessions collected and/or reissued on these three sets. Taken together, they’re an object lesson in what can be achieved when pop’s sensuality meets the abandon of experiment.

ORDER NOW: Kate Bush is on the cover in the latest issue of Uncut

Perhaps the biggest pleasure of the Maida Vale Sessions is its reminder that Broadcast were fully formed from the get-go. Two sessions from their first phase – a late-1996 Peel Session and a 1997 Evening Session – present Broadcast as a new group building complex pop architectures, featuring lovely songs of longing like “The Note (Message From Home)” and “Look Outside”, the previously unreleased “Forget Every Time”, and an early, bravura take on “Come On Let’s Go”. A second Peel Session, from 2000, has Broadcast exploring the darker terrain of their debut album, The Noise Made By People, highlighted by a heart-stopping “Echo’s Answer”, a hymn to disappearance that’s suspended, uncertainly, in the half-light.

A final Peel Session, from 2003, hinges on the sparkling surfaces of that year’s Ha-Ha Sound; here, however, it’s a throbbing cover of Nico’s “Sixty/Forty” that startles, with guitars overcharged and clanging. That session also offers a nice through-line to the two volumes of Microtronics, originally released as limited-edition 3” CDs in 2003 and 2006, respectively. Originally subtitled ‘Stereo Recorded Music For Links And Bridges’, these 21 short tracks find Broadcast indulging their love of library music – the oft-mysterious ‘stock’ music licensed for use in commercial broadcasting. The sounds here are often rough and brutish, with kaleidoscopic keyboards painting cartwheels as hyperactive drums skitter across the canvas.

Mother Is The Milky Way is the revelation, however. This mini-album appeared in the same year as their collaboration with long-time friend, designer and hauntological advisor Julian House, appearing under his musical cover The Focus Group. Mythologists of modernist Britain, with one keen eye turned to the curiosities of the Continent, House and his Ghost Box label shared both an aesthetic and a politic with Broadcast, and the murky, fantastical worlds uncovered by their collaborative album Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age leaked into Mother Is The Milky Way in productive ways. Keenan once described Mother… as “a children’s sci-fi adventure story collaged from demos that never made it on to previous Broadcast LPs”, and there’s certainly something of the collagist’s magpie vision in the way she and Cargill pieced together its 20 minutes of arcane incident.

It’s also Broadcast’s most compelling, otherworldly suite of songs, as though they were finally freed from the fetters of structure, allowing their music to explore its own unconscious. The breadth of material they invoke here is astonishing, from Goon Show hilarity (Major Bloodnok’s stomach makes a passing appearance) through avant-garde sound poetry (Kurt Schwitters’ Ursonate weaves through Mother…’s tail end) and incantations from occult horror. The 11 tracks here are sutured together as an abstract patchwork, their jump-cut logic recalling late-’60s psychsploitation gems like Friendsound’s Joyride and Andrew Loog Oldham’s Gulliver’s Travels.

The magic here, then, is in the way Cargill and Keenan weave such exploration between and into their open-ended songs. If Mother… is indeed compiled from demos, the duo had left some of their best songs in their archives: from the blasted, eye-glazing psych-folk of “I’m Just A Person In This Roomy Verse” to the pulsing, drone-bound “In Here The World Begins”, these songs are elemental, distilled, but still melodically rich. Keenan’s lyrics are at their most compellingly abstruse, in love with the sound of language itself – “Elegant Elephant” is a list of juxtapositions, and from “sentimental ornament/enamel animal” to the “emotional element”, Keenan’s singing feels more like channelling, opening space in the everyday for the extraordinary: “I keep the wild and free on the mantelpiece”.

It seemed fitting, given the occluded way Broadcast sometimes worked, that Mother Is The Milky Way was originally only available as a tour edition of 750 copies. Whittled down to the core duo of Keenan and Cargill, Broadcast seemed freer and braver still. This newly plotted narrative was cut short, though, after Keenan’s passing in January 2011. Cargill would complete one more Broadcast album, a soundtrack to Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio, and collaborate with House and ex-Broadcast member Roj Stevens on an album as Children Of Alice. You can’t help but wonder, though, what possibly could have come next. Fifteen years in, Broadcast were only just getting started.

Bop Shop 2021 Favorites: Songs From Dawn Richard, Wet Leg, IU, And More

The search for the ever-elusive "bop" is difficult. Playlists and streaming-service recommendations can only do so much. They often leave a lingering question: Are these songs really good, or are they just new?

Enter Bop Shop, a hand-picked selection of songs from the MTV News team. This weekly collection doesn't discriminate by genre and can include anything — it's a snapshot of what's on our minds and what sounds good. We'll keep it fresh with the latest music, but expect a few oldies (but goodies) every once in a while, too. And to close out 2021, we've rounded up some of our favorite bops from the year, just as we did with the 2021 albums you might've missed.

Get ready: The final Bop Shop of 2021 is now open for business.

Dawn Richard: "Bussifame"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxfjLdQAA4I

When Dawn Richard returned this year with "Bussifame," the multi-talented artist used it to showcase the future. Across her latest album, Second Line, hallmarks from hew New Orleans upbringing (like the album's title itself) combine with spaced-out R&B, funk, and glimmering grooves. The action comes together beautifully on "Bussifame," a shapeshifting celebration that obliterates genre entirely. Earlier this year, Richard told MTV News of her hope that Second Line would "open a floodgate so that when you ask the next artists under me who were their inspirations, they can name more than one token Black artist as an inspiration to them in a genre that isn't hip-hop or R&B." —Patrick Hosken
Wet Leg: "Chaise Longue"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9jeJk2UHQ

At this point, "Chaise Longue" is essentially a meme. It's easy to see why: a song so effortlessly catchy with bright hooks and deadpan Mean Girls lyrical references that it's tailor-made for the repeat button. Thank the highly playful and canny British duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, who release music as Wet Leg. So far, they've released four songs ahead of their self-titled 2022 debut LP. The best of them is, of course, the delightful sprinkle of indie-rock sugar that is "Chaise Longue." After listening to it so many times, there's only one question left to ask: Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin? —Patrick Hosken
IU: “Lilac”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7bnOxV4jAc

Either you spent the entirety of 2021 streaming “Lilac,” or you’re very, very lame. As the title track from IU’s critically acclaimed fifth album, “Lilac” served as a nostalgic and whimsical introduction to the K-pop superstar’s new era, which soundtracked many of our respective years. With its bright and airy synths, heavy rhythm guitar, and disco pop-inspired melody, the refreshing track breathed new life into a grim year. Featuring accompanying lyrics that bid farewell to the past and provide hope for a better future, IU inspires fans to look forward with positivity and optimism — a perfect message to convey this year. In “Lilac,” IU may have asked us to “love [her] only 'til this spring,” but I have a feeling we’ll be loving her for much, much longer than that. —Sarina Bhutani
Muni Long: “Hrs and Hrs”

https://youtu.be/okfR_VIbXEQ

Singer-songwriter Muni Long’s latest track “Hrs and Hrs” has ruled the internet for the past week and is setting a cozy new standard for cuffing season. Garnering praise from the likes of Doja Cat and Halle Berry and spawning a remix from August Alsina and numerous compilation videos from fans touting the couple goals the song’s lyrics hint at, the song has everyone online in the mood for love. “Yours, mine, ours / I could do this for hours / Sit and talk to you for hours,” she croons. “When you do what you do I’m empowered / You give me a super power / Together the world could be ours.” Given Long’s writing credits for Rihanna, Mariah Carey, and Fifth Harmony, it’s no wonder the song is a smash. If this is a glimpse of what’s in store from her in the new year, 2022 is already looking promising. —Virginia Lowman
Coheed and Cambria: “Shoulders”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tb_v8MFbF8

It’s been nearly 20 years since their debut album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, but Coheed and Cambria are still finding ways to excite their ever-growing fanbase, as we saw with this year’s release of “Shoulders.” The track, a continuation of the longest-running concept story in music, masterfully pairs heavy metal-infused riffs with sweeping, melodic vocals in a way that only Coheed can. For the music video, the progressive rockers deliver a powerful performance as mysterious, masked figures emerge and remove their masks one-by-one to reveal the people underneath. “As a band, we’ve always been a little outside of the mainstream and that’s helped keep us true to ourselves,” the group said in a statement. “As people, it’s important to focus on your strengths and who you are, and not try too hard for acceptance. Everyone is special and has their own unique contributions and that’s what the video represents.” —Farah Zermane
Michelle: "Syncopate"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE8cTEgAe-E

"Syncopate," by six-piece New York songwriting collective Michelle, sounds immediate and timeless. As the group gear up to drop their majorly leveled-up second album, After Dinner We Talk Dreams, in January, they're spreading the message far and wide. And "Syncopate," with its gentle swagger and undeniable dance-pop sensibility, is the message. Unlike their soul-baring slow burner "Mess U Made," the two-minute "Syncopate" doesn't have a millisecond to spare, cramming in hooks and harmonies from its four vocalists (Emma, Sofia, Layla, and Jamee) and producers (Charlie and Julian). It's mildly nostalgic and completely suited for a bedroom dance party — both make it utterly 2021. —Patrick Hosken
Maisie Peters: “I’m Trying (Not Friends)”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66KvE4Hk3g8

This deceptively chipper cut from English indie-pop singer Maisie Peters packs the sort of oh-so-relatable punch only a solid breakup bop can. Try as she might, Peters can’t bring herself to swallow her pride when she encounters her ex-boyfriend in public. “Not friends / No, we’re somewhere in between / ‘Cause you’re awful and I miss you / And I killed you in my dream last night,” she sings over a clapped-out beat and dainty guitar flourishes. Between Peters’s lilting vocals and airtight songwriting, it’s damn near impossible to resist hitting repeat. And hey, if “at least I’m trying” isn’t a perfect summary of 2021, then I don’t know what is. —Sam Manzella
Claud: “Soft Spot”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjqTrZUL_2U

Claud unleashed the “gay shit” on their first full-length album, Super Monster, back in February, but this especially soft cut has stayed close to mind during the cold winter months. An exceptionally earnest declaration of feelings for a lover long gone, the song and its strumming and slow-thumping chorus is bedroom pop at its finest. “I wish I left all my things at your place / So I could come get them,” they sing, imagining a dream scenario where “we’d do things we might regret,” before resolving that perhaps it’s a hatchet better left unearthed. Still, its dreamy chorus reminds us that a soft spot in the heart stays soft. —Carson Mlnarik
CKay: “Love Nwantiti”

https://youtu.be/MxjrsDV8Aeo

You can’t scroll through TikTok or Instagram without coming across Nigerian artist CKay’s tropical hit “Love Nwantiti.” With 100 million weekly streams, the Afrobeats song is the earworm we’re all playing and dancing to on a loop. And while the love tale CKay sings of — the kind of love that makes your “temperature rise,” that familiar feeling of someone being “like the oxygen I need to survive” — isn’t new, the introduction of an African dialect into mainstream American pop culture is, and it’s a welcome one. “Love Nwantiti” is Igbo and loosely translates to “small love.” Throughout the song, CKay weaves in other Igbo words and Nigerian cultural staples like “Nkwobi,” which he gets cheeky with lyrically. Hip-hop, pop, and reggaeton all draw inspiration from Afrobeats; music continues to be our gateway to exploring and strengthening our own sense of “love nwantiti” for new cultures. —Virginia Lowman
Tkay Maidza: “Cashmere”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSOdz-J0EMw

Australian singer-songwriter Tkay Maidza confronts her deepest thoughts alongside smooth hip-hop and soulful synth stylings on her EP Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3, but no track better describes her dualities than “Cashmere.” A heavenly chorus precedes a bopping beat, highlighting the Zimbabwe-born singer’s velvety voice as she admits she’s both soft and tough — like cashmere — in the midst of a spiraling relationship. And what its dreamy and colorful video lacks in sweaters, it makes up for in bold artistic vision and wildfire spirit. —Carson Mlnarik
Vincint: “All Over Again”

https://youtu.be/LdmU0_oOgl8

If there was one album that I played on repeat and danced to with reckless abandon, it was Vincint’s There Will Be Tears. A master of heartbreak pop, Vincint has an uncanny ability to layer vulnerable lyrics over an uptempo beat and yield a song that is both a mirror and a cheerleader in your most emotional hours. Though I didn’t experience a breakup this year, spending a year indoors in 2020 definitely put a lot about life and love into perspective, and as this year comes to a close and another few months of quarantine are likely on the horizon, who isn’t questioning what they hope to “do over again” and do better this time around? —Virginia Lowman
Flock of Dimes: "Price of Blue"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWRjozAXqaw

One of the best lead-guitar lines of 2021 is thankfully attached to one of the year's best songs, period. Both the ascending ax work and the tune construction come from Jenn Wasner, half of indie stalwart group Wye Oak and Bon Iver member who records solo as Flock of Dimes. Her wraithlike vocals make "Price of Blue" instantly memorable, but her work with producer/Sylvan Esso talent Nick Sanborn to create layers and build upon a skeleton of scuzzy guitar noise transforms it. Thanks to a deceptive chord progression, the song keeps climbing higher like a freed balloon until it's fully out of view. Six and a half minutes feel like a blink. When you open your eyes again, Wasner has quieted — but "Price of Blue," and the rest of her great album Head of Roses, will linger well into 2022. —Patrick Hosken
Drinking Boys and Girls Choir: “There Is No Spring”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q_xru3TiSQ

When Korean skate-punk band Drinking Boys and Girls Choir returned this year with Marriage License, they simply had no time to waste. The excellent and urgent LP crams 11 songs into 22 minutes, exploding out of the gate while still managing a few wistful and even borderline progressive moments. The best song on it, "There Is No Spring," combines all those elements in a sneak-attack single that shows how much they've matured since 2019's equally kick-ass Keep Drinking. The promise of their future is potent enough to get drunk on. —Patrick Hosken

Mac DeMarco shares cover of Bing Crosby’s ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’

Mac DeMarco has shared his annual Christmas cover for 2021 – listen to his version of Bing Crosby’s ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ below.

READ MORE: Mac DeMarco: “I would love to make my own fucked up version of a Michael Bublé album”

Across the last five years, the musician has shared a festive cover every December, with 2020’s version coming in the shape of a rendition of ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’.

The new version of ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ comes alongside an official video which sees an inflatable Christmas tree wandering through a town before eventually finding its home in amongst a host of other – much more real – trees.

Check it out below:

DeMarco’s last studio album, ‘Here Comes The Cowboy’, was released in May 2019. Since then, he’s released two sets of demos, ‘Here Comes The Cowboy Demos’ and ‘Other Here Comes The Cowboy Demos’.

Late last year, DeMarco said that he isn’t planning on releasing a new album while the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing.

Speaking to Julian Casablancas for a feature in Interview Magazine, DeMarco said that the limitations on life that have been enforced by the pandemic haven’t inspired him to write any more prolifically this year.

“It’s weird right now. We’ve got this coronavirus bullshit,” he said. “People ask: ‘Oh, you must be making all of these records.’ And it’s like: ‘No, I haven’t.’ There’s a block for me. I need things with definite ends.”

The singer did share a new collaboration this month though, linking up with Jean Dawson for the single ‘MENTHOL*’.

Muse and The Strokes to headline Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds 2022

Muse and The Strokes will headline Berlin’s inaugural Tempelhof Sounds festival in 2022 – check out the line-up so far below.

READ MORE: The Strokes’ world-changing ‘Is This It’ at 20: “They had a ‘last gang in town’ mentality”

The event takes place at the German capital’s disused Tempelhof Airport – which ceased operating back in 2008 – between June 10 and June 12 next year. Tickets are available here from €79 (£67.25).

Joining the aforementioned bill-toppers are the likes of Wolf Alice, Alt-J, Interpol, London Grammar, IDLES, Royal Blood, Mac DeMarco, Parcels and Fontaines DC. According to organisers, a third headliner is to be revealed “soon”.

“We are very excited to make this special festival format possible in the capital together with our partners,” said Stephan Thanscheidt, CEO of FKP Scorpio. “Our guests can expect an event that combines top international acts with an extraordinary open-air experience.”

GERMANY- we’ll be in Berlin next summer for Tempelhof Sounds, happening June 10-12, 2022!

Tickets and info at https://t.co/wJ29YCA72y pic.twitter.com/xYL9mQ8pGo

— The Strokes (@thestrokes) October 4, 2021

Further down the initial line-up are rising acts Holly Humberstone, Griff and Baby Queen, who will join Anna Calvi, Black Honey and Big Thief across the three days.

Headliners The Strokes will also perform at both editions of Primavera Sound 2022, the second of which takes place on the same weekend as Tempelhof Sounds. Julian Casablancas and co. will then return to the UK for performances at TRNSMT and Lancashire’s Lytham Festival in July.

Meanwhile, Muse are scheduled to headline next year’s Isle Of Wight Festival alongside Kasabian and Lewis Capaldi.

Harry Styles, Lewis Capaldi and Celeste lead nominations for Ivor Novello Awards 2021

Harry Styles, Lewis Capaldi and Celeste are among the leading nominees at this year’s Ivor Novello Awards.

The 2021 ceremony will take place at Grosvenor House in London on September 21, with the awards set to honour British and Irish songwriters and screen composers.

Styles is up for Songwriter of the Year along with his regular collaborator Kid Harpoon, while the singer is also nominated twice in the PRS for Music Most Performed Work category. Capaldi’s two nods also come in this category.

Celeste has been nominated for Songwriter of the Year (along with her co-writer Jamie Hartman) as well as in the Best Song Musically and Lyrically category along with the likes of Arlo Parks, Headie One and Marina.

The likes of Fontaines D.C., AJ Tracey, Pa Salieu, Laura Marling and Dave have also been nominated – you can check out the full nominations list for the 2021 Ivors below.

Best Album

A HERO’S DEATH
Written by Grian Chatten, Thomas Coll, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Carlos O’Connell
Performed by Fontaines D.C.
Published in the UK by Domino Publishing Company

LIANNE LA HAVAS
Written by Matthew Hales and Lianne La Havas
Performed by Lianne La Havas
Published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music

SEND THEM TO COVENTRY
Written by Felix Joseph, Alastair O’Donnell and Pa Salieu
Performed by Pa Salieu
Published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing, Neo Songs-BMG UK and Sony Music Publishing

SONG FOR OUR DAUGHTER
Written by Laura Marling
Performed by Laura Marling
Published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing

WHAT KINDA MUSIC
Written by Yussef Dayes, Tom Misch and Rocco Palladino
Performed by Tom Misch + Yussef Dayes
Published in the UK by YD Music-Kobalt Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing

Fontaines D.C. (Picture: Valerian7000 / Press)

Best Contemporary Song

CHILDREN OF THE INTERNET
Written by Dave and Fraser T Smith
Performed by Future Utopia feat. Dave & Es Devlin
Published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Kobalt Music Publishing

DAISY
Written by Ashnikko and Slinger
Performed by Ashnikko
Published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Copyright Control

ENERGY
Written by Kwes Darko, Felix Joseph, Mahalia, Alastair O’Donnell and Pa Salieu
Performed by Pa Salieu feat. Mahalia
Published in the UK by Young Songs-Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing, Neo Songs-BMG UK and Sony Music Publishing

GIVE ME A REASON
Written by Rachel Chinouriri and Tom Henry
Performed by Rachel Chinouriri
Published in the UK by Reservoir Reverb Music

TOP SCHEME
Written by David Balfe
Performed by For Those I Love
Published in the UK by September Music Publishing-Universal Music Publishing

PRS for Music Most Performed Work

ADORE YOU
Written by Amy Allen, Tyler Johnson, Kid Harpoon and Harry Styles
Performed by Harry Styles
Published in the UK by Artist Publishing Group West-Kobalt Music Publishing, Concord Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing

BEFORE YOU GO
Written by Tom Barnes, Lewis Capaldi, Pete Kelleher, Ben Kohn and Phil Plested
Performed by Lewis Capaldi
Published in the UK by BMG UK and Hotel Cabana-Sony Music Publishing

HEAD & HEART
Written by Jonathan Courtidis, Dan Dare and Robert Harvey
Performed by Joel Corry feat. MNEK
Published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing and Minds On Fire

SOMEONE YOU LOVED
Written by Tom Barnes, Lewis Capaldi, Pete Kelleher, Ben Kohn and Sam Roman
Performed by Lewis Capaldi
Published in the UK by BMG UK and Sony Music Publishing

WATERMELON SUGAR
Written by Tyler Johnson, Kid Harpoon, Mitchell Rowland and Harry Styles
Performed by Harry Styles
Published in the UK by Concord Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing

Songwriter Of The Year

AJ Tracey
Celeste and Jamie Hartman
Kamille
Kid Harpoon and Harry Styles
MNEK

AJ Tracey shot by Joe Bishop for the cover of NME

Best Song Musically and Lyrically

BLACK DOG
Written by Gianluca Buccellati and Arlo Parks
Performed by Arlo Parks
Published in the UK by One Two Many Songs-Sony Music Publishing and Young Songs-Sony Music Publishing

GANG
Written by Fred again.. and Headie One
Performed by Headie One & Fred again..
Published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing

GOD’S OWN CHILDREN
Written by Barney Lister and Obongjayar
Performed by Obongjayar
Published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing and Beggars Music

MAN’S WORLD
Written by Marina
Performed by Marina
Published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music

STOP THIS FLAME
Written by Celeste and Jamie Hartman
Performed by Celeste
Published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Reservoir Reverb Music

Best Original Film Score

CALM WITH HORSES
Composed by Blanck Mass
Published in the UK by BMG UK

FOUR KIDS AND IT
Composed by Anne Nikitin
Published in the UK by FKAI Productions

SAINT MAUD
Composed by Adam Janota Bzowski
Published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Composed by Daniel Pemberton
Published in the UK by KMR Music Royalties II SCSP

TWO BY TWO: OVERBOARD!
Composed by Craig Stuart Garfinkle and Eimear Noone
Published in the UK by Accorder Music

Best Original Video Game Score

GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
Composed by Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi

LITTLE ORPHEUS
Composed by Jessica Curry and Jim Fowler

ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS
Composed by Gareth Coker

Best Television Soundtrack

A SUITABLE BOY
Composed by Alex Heffes and Anoushka Shankar
Published in the UK by Bright Notion Music-Decca Publishing, Anourag Music Publishing, Lookout Point-BBC Studios Distribution

DEVS
Composed by Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury and The Insects
Published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing

DRACULA
Composed by David Arnold and Michael Price
Published in the UK by Bucks Music Group and Sony Music Publisihng

NOUGHTS + CROSSES
Composed by Matthew Herbert
Published in the UK by Bucks Music Group and Sony Music Publishing

US
Composed by Oli Julian
Published in the UK by Concord FTV

Spirits Rejoice African Spaces

Jazz has always had a strong resonance for millions of South Africans. It might have been music that was created 8,000 miles away but the underlying themes – an artform born out of struggle, a stylistic fusion created in the face of segregation, an attempt to create joy in the face of racism and oppression – had a strong pull for a nation living under apartheid. By the early 1960s, Cape Town, Johannesburg and their surrounding townships had become established centres of a new form of fusion that blended US jazz with indigenous kwela, mbaqanga and marabi music.

ORDER NOW: The August 2021 issue of Uncut

But in a land where musicians of different races were restricted from working with each other and where black people were prevented from gathering in groups, many of the country’s biggest names had trouble making a living and ended up fleeing the country, with many not allowed back in until the end of apartheid. Some, such as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim and Hotep Galeta, found fame and fortune in the United States; others, such as Chris MacGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Harry Miller, Louis Moholo, Julian Bahula and Mongezi Feza, became cult figures in London. Some settled in different parts of Europe, such as Switzerland (drummer Makaya Ntshoko) and Sweden (bassist Johnny Dyani); still more (such as the trombonist and composer Jonas Gwangwa) set up base across the border in Botswana. All led the fight against apartheid in exile.

The challenge for musicians who remained in South Africa, however, was greater. Not only did they have to fight the system from within and lead a quiet musical resistance without attracting the wrath of the authorities, but their music had to serve as a balm for those suffering under apartheid. Some, like the alto saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi and the pianist Gideon Nxumalo, were broken by this struggle and – hounded by authorities for supporting the fight against apartheid – ended up dying tragically young; others had to jump through hoops in order to make a living. Few South Africans were allowed to tour abroad and their records were hard to obtain in Europe and the US. But many musicians, such as Philip Tabane’s group Malombo – endeavoured to absorb the advances in jazz, funk and fusion as they heard them played on the radio.

A lesser-known name to emerge from Johannesburg in the mid-’70s is that of Spirits Rejoice. Most committed jazz aficionados won’t be aware of their work but many of the band’s alumni became very famous in their own right. The two occupants of the band’s piano seat – Bheki Mseleku and Mervyn Africa – later moved to the UK as part of the second wave of SA exiles who arrived in the 1980s, alongside the likes of Brian Abrahams and Claude Deppa. Robbie Jansen, a saxophonist in the band’s last incarnation, ended up forming Juluka with Johnny Clegg. Their drummer Gilbert Matthews had already played in the US with the likes of Ray Charles and Sarah Vaughan – in the 1980s he moved to Sweden, where he played with dozens of avant-garde Scandi-jazz bands. Their bassist Sipho Gumede formed the Zulu jazz outfit Sakhile and led the house band at the mammoth 1990 Wembley Stadium concert celebrating the 70th birthday of Nelson Mandela. One of Spirits Rejoice’s vocalists, Felicia Marion, formed the R&B vocal trio Joy, whose 1980 single Paradise Road topped the South African chart for months and became a massive anti-apartheid anthem. And, in the early days of the controversial Sun City resort in 1979 and 1980, all of Spirits Rejoice were often called on to accompany visiting US and British musicians such as Clarence Carter, Leo Sayer and Dobie Gray.

But the two albums that these musicians recorded under the Spirits Rejoice banner – their 1977 debut and its self-titled 1978 follow-up – are quite unlike anything that any of these band members did before or since. It’s effectively the sound of musicians who had grown up with the township jazz of Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela now embracing the fiddly jazz-rock of Weather Report and Miles Davis and the herky-jerky funk of Sly Stone and James Brown. Usually, the appeal when listening to such faithful tributes is identifying the points where they “get it wrong”, where the clunky errors inadvertently create something entirely original. But here the musicianship is too refined for that. Some of the uptempo funk tracks, such as Joy and Sugar Pie, are reminiscent of Britfunk bands like Hi-Tension or Beggar and Co, and Russell Herman’s jagged FX-laden rhythm guitar playing often has an almost punky quality. But where the horn lines on Britfunk tracks (and even a lot of US R&B) are often martial and aggressive, here the brass arrangements are silky smooth, tightly harmonised and filled with space for elegant improvisation. Bassist Sipho Gumede plays with a remarkable agility, dancing around the length of his fretboard, harmonising wildly, playing fiddly countermelodies.

The more self-consciously jazz-rock tracks such as Mulberry Funk are filled with the complex, chromatic, slightly aggressive riffs that recall Chick Corea’s Return To Forever or Soft Machine. The episodic, stop-start narrative of Savage Dance And African Spaces sounds like a dialogue between South African township jive and Anglo-American fusion, like the Mahavishnu Orchestra engaged in a soundclash with a mournful ballad. Electric Chicken is a wonderfully angular piece of jazz-funk that’s reminiscent of Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters album. It’s such an effective and compelling piece of jazz fusion that the album’s essential “African-ness” only starts to become apparent after repeated listening. Where some Afro-jazz fusion sees bebop and funk riffs played over African-inspired rhythms, here it’s the melodies and the improvisations that borrow from myriad African sources.

Race in South Africa was never just a strictly black/white thing; Spirits Rejoice featured a mix of musicians from across the country and from several ethnolinguistic groups. The core of the band – pianist Mervyn Africa, guitarist Russell Herman and drummer Gilbert Matthews – were mixed-race English speakers from Cape Town and were thus classified, under apartheid’s strict racial laws, as Cape Coloureds. Sipho Gumede was a Zulu from a predominantly Indian area of Durban; others were Xhoso speakers from the Cape, Sotho speakers from the Orange Free State and isiZulu speakers from Durban and the Natal. Meanwhile, folk melodies from all parts of the country were incorporated into Spirits Rejoice’s music. Mervyn Africa recalls how shocked he and other bandmembers were when they tried to incorporate certain traditional melodies into compositions, only to be told these were sacred phrases that could not be replicated outside of religious rituals.

African Spaces is as good a piece of funky fusion as anything that was coming out of North America in the mid-1970s. But it’s more than that. It is a document of a nation’s musicians creating a new path for themselves in the absence of their most famous names. It is the sound of a nation desperately wanting to make contact with the outside world. It is a symbol of music’s ability to both assert regional characteristics and also create a universal language.

MPs demand urgent action to save music festivals from another “lost summer”

A group of MPs have demanded urgent action to save music festivals from another “lost summer”.

READ MORE: UK Festivals on testing, vaccine passports, line-ups and what to expect from the summer: “Safety is all we think about”

A cross-party committee of MPs has said, in a 42-page report that is due to be published today (May 29), that ministers must implement a government-backed insurance scheme for music festivals now, to avoid further cancellations this summer.

The report, written by the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said unless urgent action is taken by the government, many festivals risk cancellation and further losses.

The committee chair, Julian Knight, said the music sector had been “treated as the poor relation by the government” for an industry that brings £1.76billion to the UK economy and supports over 85,000 jobs.

Knight added: “It has been made very clear to us that the vast majority of music festivals do not have the financial resilience to cover the costs of another year of late-notice cancellations.

“If the commercial insurance market won’t step in, ministers must, and urgently: events need to know now whether the government will back them, or they simply won’t take place this year. There’s still time to get the music playing, but no more room for excuses.”

Glastonbury Festival in 2019 (Picture: Getty)

In response to the report, a government spokesperson told the BBC: “We are continuing to work flat out to support festivals and live events.

“Our Events Research Programme has explored how festivals can get back up and running safely and festival organisers have received more than £34 million from our unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund, with more support on the way.

“We will continue to look at what assistance may be required as we move cautiously but irreversibly through the roadmap, including looking at the issue of indemnity cover.”

A quarter of festivals with a capacity of 5000 or more have already been cancelled, including events like Glastonbury and BST Hyde Park, while many others have pushed back to later dates in the year in the hope restrictions will have been fully lifted by then.

Earlier this month, The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) said they hit a “brick wall” in talks with the government, after a lack of festival insurance sparked the widespread cancellation of events this summer.

In response to this and growing numbers of festivals cancelling their events, AIF issued a “red alert” warning, predicting that up to 76 per cent of the remaining festivals in July and August could quickly cancel if immediate action wasn’t taken by the government.

“We’re issuing a red alert because many festivals will be reaching the point where they decide whether to go ahead, and we’ve had crisis meetings with many other festivals who have already had to sadly cancel,” AIF CEO Paul Reed told NME. “There will be more to follow.”

Reed continued : “It’s extremely frustrating because it does feel like we’ve hit a bit of a brick wall with this issue. We’ve been providing evidence to government for over six months now on the urgent need for intervention and we’ve provided every shred of evidence and we’ve pointed them towards the various governments across Europe that have intervened in this way.”

Post-Brexit touring campaign announces ‘Day Of Action’ UK-EU summit

Post-Brexit touring campaign Carry On Touring has announced a UK-EU summit, Day Of Action.

Set to take place on Thursday, May 20 between 2pm-4pm BST, the event is being held in a fresh bid “to demonstrate support for creative touring professionals and artists” whose livelihoods will be impacted by the UK’s departure from the European Union.

READ MORE: “I don’t know if I can afford it” – artists speak out on the future of European touring post-Brexit

“Our UK-EU Summit is designed to unite support across the UK and EU and call on the UK Government and EU representatives to get a deal done that supports real people, real lives and real jobs,” an official description reads.

“It simply makes no sense to block touring artists and professional’s ability to earn and pay tax in an industry that brings pleasure to millions of people.”

It continues: “This is not an issue that just affects the UK. Europe has experienced many challenges and upheavals in recent months and years. The value of this cultural exchange is huge to both economies and social wellbeing. We should be working to resolve this issue together and to create rich new collaborations for the generations to come.”

Those wanting to get involved with the Day Of Action can register their attendance here, and receive further details by emailing [email protected].

How will touring musicians survive after Brexit? Credit: Getty

Organisers added: “We can find a workable solution and, together, we can work it out.”

As per its official website, the Carry On Touring campaign “brings together voices from across the touring, cultural and creative industries sector to secure political and public support for Tim Brennan’s petition“.

At the time of writing, the aforementioned government petition has reached 285,882 signatures.

News of the upcoming Day Of Action comes after prime minister Boris Johnson pledged to fix the work permit issue that could impact UK touring musicians and crew members post-Brexit.

READ MORE: “It’s going to be devastating” – here’s how Brexit will screw over British touring artists

The PM’s Brexit trade deal, which was passed last December, failed to secure visa-free travel for UK artists and their crew as well as Europe-wide work permits. It is feared that acts will face huge costs for future live tours of the continent, potentially preventing rising and developing artists from being able to afford to do so.

Johnson said last month that the government was working “flat out” to find a solution. “It is hugely important and they are also a massive export industry. We must fix it,” he told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) chair, Julian Knight.

Earlier in March, the House of Lords released a report urging the government to seek “a bilateral and reciprocal” touring agreement with the EU.

Meanwhile, the DCMS Committee will question Cabinet Office Minister Lord Frost over the UK government’s failure to secure visa-free travel and Europe-wide work permits for UK musicians and their crew in June.

Social media reacts to Spotify CEO wanting to buy Arsenal FC: “Pay the artists first”

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has expressed an interest in buying Arsenal FC if it was ever to go up for sale.

READ MORE: Spotify’s Daniel Ek wants artists to pump out ‘content’? That’s no way to make the next ‘OK Computer’

It comes after thousands of angry fans amassed outside the club’s Emirates Stadium prior to its game against Everton on Friday (April 23) to protest its current owner, American billionaire Stan Kroenke.

Arsenal were one of six Premier League clubs that initially agreed to join a newly constructed European Super League, a breakaway competition designed at rivalling the Champions League. The controversial move was met with widespread criticism and protest from fans up and down the country. The club has since pulled out of the league.

Following the protests, Ek, who is reported to be worth in the region of $4.7billion, said he would be interested in buying the club if it ended up on the market.

“As a kid growing up, I’ve cheered for @Arsenal as long as I can remember,” he wrote. “If KSE would like to sell Arsenal I’d be happy to throw my hat in the ring.”

As a kid growing up, I’ve cheered for @Arsenal as long as I can remember. If KSE would like to sell Arsenal I'd be happy to throw my hat in the ring.

— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) April 23, 2021

Many have taken to social media to respond to Ek’s tweet, including Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess, who wrote: “Could we ask that you get things sorted out with musicians before jumping in with footballers??”

Could we ask that you get things sorted out with musicians before jumping in with footballers?? https://t.co/8IIghEZm4O

— Tim Burgess (@Tim_Burgess) April 23, 2021

Continuing along the same lines as Burgess’ tweet, many users alluded to the criticism Spotify has faced in recent years that it doesn’t compensate artists enough for their work, even joking that Arsenal players wouldn’t accept being paid “0.000007p”.

“Nah fuck Spotify. Pay the artists first, then consider buying Arsenal,” one user said, while another wrote: “If the Spotify CEO buys Arsenal does that mean the players don’t get paid anymore?”

A third wrote: “Don’t think they’d accept 0.000007p mate.”

Nah fuck Spotify. Pay the artists first, then consider buying Arsenal.

— #KROENKEOUT (@MrSnrub28505684) April 23, 2021

If the Spotify CEO buys Arsenal does that mean the players don’t get paid anymore?

— Tim Stillman (@Stillberto) April 23, 2021

Don't think they'd accept 0.000007p mate.

— Andy P (@ArcticReviews) April 23, 2021

Others looked at the bright side of Ek taking over ownership of Arsenal. Journalist Constantin Eckner tweeted: “Arsenal fans getting Spotify Premium for free!”

One fan said they would cancel their Apple Music subscription in favour of Spotify if Ek became owner in order to help fund transfers.

“The moment you buy Arsenal, I’m definitely canceling my Apple Music subscription and getting a Spotify one,” they wrote. “That way I know that my money is going to help sign Haaland and Mbapp.”

Arsenal fans getting Spotify Premium for free! https://t.co/7ZGjoyUxga

— Constantin Eckner (@cc_eckner) April 23, 2021

The moment you buy Arsenal, I’m definitely canceling my Apple Music subscription and getting a Spotify one. That way I know that my money is going to help sign Haaland and Mbappe ?? https://t.co/bm9wUFDPk2

— A miracle walking✨ (@Godfrey__Tembo) April 23, 2021

See more reactions to Ek’s interest in taking over Arsenal below:

As a musician – I would like to warn people in football not to give you the chance of fucking up their entire industry as well … you've done enough damage to music already.

— John Spiers (@squeezyjohn) April 23, 2021

As a Spotify Premium member, I WILL be adding “Arsenal shareholder” to my bio like all the Real Oviedo crowd in 2012 https://t.co/dIXWIVLv40

— Paddy (@PaddyArsenal) April 23, 2021

Omg the owner of Spotify wants to bid for Arsenal ???

— Anita (@FLWN_) April 23, 2021

Spotify’s owner has tweeted suggesting he wants to buy Arsenal.

To be fair, the £0.0000006 he pays performers per play would still be generous for Willian. https://t.co/fNwUDfMXAJ

— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) April 23, 2021

Arsenal fans listening to Spotify ads so we can fund Grealish in the summer. #KroenkeOut pic.twitter.com/eBDrdb7srw

— Cal ? (@Arsecal) April 23, 2021

Maybe you should focus on paying musicians fairly first?

— Secret Drug Addict (@ScrtDrugAddict) April 23, 2021

But would you let the fans own the 51%?

— Moh Haider (@ArsenalMoh8) April 23, 2021

Spotify gonna buy Arsenal?

Players won’t like it when they get paid £0.000006 per match.

— arseblog (@arseblog) April 23, 2021

CEO of Spotify supports Arsenal

All of you with Apple Music know what to do

— viørel (@viorel433) April 23, 2021

Music to my ears

— P™ (@SemperFiArsenal) April 23, 2021

I’ll actually drop Apple Music and get Spotify if he buys us ?

— KZ (@afcKZ_) April 23, 2021

Bro I’m begging you buy arsenal and I’ll PayPal you £1.50

— Luca (@lucasteer_) April 23, 2021

Spotify CEO after watching Arsenal vs Everton #ARSEVE pic.twitter.com/JAHIm3jkYC

— Akhil G (@akhilg06) April 23, 2021

#KroenkeOut
Arsenal fans listening to music on Spotify: pic.twitter.com/moDsgKYBkg

— Nikhil Aradhe (@Arsenalbell97) April 24, 2021

Imagine the Spotify owner buying Arsenal the pre match music could be lit ???

— LJRC (@LiamCrook1) April 23, 2021

Spotify owner saw this and said fuck that I'm buying Arsenal pic.twitter.com/JnUn3z5KX3

— PME ? (get KROENKE out) (@mariEscobarStan) April 23, 2021

[reading that the spotify man wants to buy arsenal football club]: im sure this time, this guy will turn out to be one of the Good Billionaires

— Stan Cross (@tristandross) April 23, 2021

Stream on Spotify lads, let’s pump this net worth https://t.co/8SMfvrJAG9

— Calum (@CalArsenal) April 23, 2021

Can’t wait for Arsenal to buy players based on players we have liked in the past. #spotify https://t.co/7mAYXdBHuc

— ◎ Phil Chambers ☀️ (@phil_chambers) April 23, 2021

Meanwhile, Apple Music has sent a letter to artists and labels saying that it now pays double what Spotify does per stream on average.

According to figures from last year, in the US Spotify paid $0.00437 per stream on average while Apple Music paid $0.00735 on average.

In the letter, which was sent to labels and publishers and posted on the platform’s artist dashboard, Apple Music said it now pays one cent per stream on average. However, it adds that rates vary according to subscription plans and the country listeners are streaming in.

Last year, musicians told MPs that streaming payments are “threatening the future of music” at the first evidence session for the economics of music streaming inquiry.

Speaking ahead of the inquiry, Department of Culture, Media And Sport Committee Chair Julian Knight MP said: “While streaming is a growing and important part of the music industry contributing billions to global wealth, its success cannot come at the expense of talented and lesser-known artists.

“We’re asking whether the business models used by major streaming platforms are fair to the writers and performers who provide the material. Longer-term we’re looking at whether the economics of streaming could in future limit the range of artists and music that we’re all able to enjoy today.”

Boris Johnson looks set to unveil passport trials for venues next month

Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks set to unveil new passport trials for venues.

READ MORE: UK Festivals on COVID testing and vaccination passports this summer: “Safety is all we think about”

According to The Daily Mail, the trials could start as early as next month and would see theatres and stadiums piloting the new passports initially, followed by pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and cinemas later on.

According to The Mail, the “pilot schemes will begin after work is completed on an updated version of the NHS Covid app” where users will be able to show whether or not they have been vaccinated.

Reports suggest Johnson will give the passports the go-ahead from Monday.

Nightclubs are yet to reopen (Picture: Getty)

Last week, the PM responded to questions about the reopening of the UK’s performing arts sector during a 90-minute questioning from senior MPs.
Speaking to the Liaison Committee today on March 24, Johnson was asked by Conservative MP and chair of The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Julian Knight whether he would support government-backed insurance for festivals forced to cancel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Johnson did not say whether he would back the idea, but said: “We’ve got 1.57 billion that we’ve put into the sector to support it in all sorts of ways.”

He also said that he hoped for “A proper return to our cultural life in the autumn in a way that everybody would want.”

“I think one thing I don’t want to see is people unwilling to take risks on productions or performances on events,” Johnson continued, “because you think about what happened last year when we thought we could get things open. And then sadly, because of the way the pandemic went, we couldn’t move forward.”

He added that getting the industry up and running by the autumn will take “a huge amount of time, preparation and expense, and I totally get that. So that’s why we’re looking at what we’re doing to top-size some of the 1.57 billion to see if we can be useful in that way.

“There are difficulties with this whole business of indemnifying the entire sector, but that’s what we’re looking at.”

San Francisco is trialling giving local artists $1,000 monthly basic income

The city of San Francisco will run a six-month trial this year, paying local artists $1,000 (£725) a month in a bid to better support its creative community.

The money is to be paid in cash from May this year to 130 local artists “whose artistic practice is rooted in a historically marginalised community,” reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the pilot program on Thursday (March 25), saying it’s to help artists survive the coronavirus crisis and embolden their work moving forward.

“This new program is an innovative effort to help our creative sector get through this challenging time, and come back even stronger and more resilient than before,” Breed said on the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) website. “The arts are critical to our local economy and are an essential part of our long-term recovery.”

The pilot is open to those working across the arts and entertainment sectors, which includes music, theatre, film, dance, creative writing, visual art, performance art, installation and photography. An income qualification must be met should art teachers and craft workers want to be counted.

According to the YBCA, San Francisco’s artistic community generated $1.45billion (£1.05billion) prior to the crisis and employed shy of 40,000 local residents.

“There are people living in challenging circumstances right now,” Deborah Cullinan told the Chronicle. “We want to move as quickly as we can to get them the resources they need.”

The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas last year discussed the concept of universal basic income in an interview with former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

Boris Johnson says getting the performing arts sector up and running will take “a huge amount of time, preparation and expense”

Boris Johnson has responded to questions about the reopening of the UK’s performing arts sector during a 90-minute questioning from senior MPs.

READ MORE: UK Festivals on COVID testing and vaccination passports this summer: “Safety is all we think about”

Speaking to the Liaison Committee today (March 24), the Prime Minister was asked by Conservative MP and chair of The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Julian Knight whether he would support government-backed insurance for festivals forced to cancel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Johnson did not say whether he would back the idea, but said: “We’ve got 1.57 billion that we’ve put into the sector to support it in all sorts of ways.”

He also said that he hoped for “A proper return to our cultural life in the autumn in a way that everybody would want.”

Festival crowds in the UK (Picture: Getty)

“There are difficulties with this whole business of indemnifying the entire sector, but that’s what we’re looking at.”

On March 1, independent festivals across the UK warned that they could be forced to cancel their 2021 events if they fail to receive Government-backed insurance and VAT intervention by the end of March.

READ MORE: Festival bosses speak out on how COVID will impact on line-ups this summer

Johnson’s comments follow those of Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage earlier today, who said that the Government is reluctant to introduce an insurance scheme for music festivals this summer, due to fears that the sector will be given false hope before “pulling the rug out from underneath them again”.

Festival bosses have said in recent weeks that they are reluctant to designate huge sums of cash towards planning events this year because they face financial ruin if events are cancelled without insurance.

Earlier this week, meanwhile, NME spoke to a number of festivals about how COVID will impact on line-ups this summer when it comes to booking international acts.

“Festival organisers have been talking for several months about alternative line-ups and what they might look like for the obvious reasons of travel restrictions,” CEO of the UK’s Association Of Independent Festival Paul Reed said. “I think the general sense out there is that it won’t really matter to audiences this year in terms who headlines and who’s playing.”

Musicians protest outside Spotify offices worldwide for ‘Justice At Spotify’ campaign

Protests were held outside Spotify offices worldwide yesterday (March 15) in a fight for greater transparency within the streaming service and a move towards a user-centric payment model.

The protests came from The United Musicians and Allied Workers Union (UMAW), who started a new campaign titled ‘Justice at Spotify’ last October, which, among other goals, is demanding that the platform raise its average streaming royalty from $.0038 USD to a penny per stream for all artists.

Since the campaign was launched, it has gained over 28,000 signatures from artists including Thurston Moore, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Frankie Cosmos, Deerhoof, Julianna Barwick, JD Samson, DIIV, Alex Somers, Zola Jesus and more.

READ MORE: Spotify’s Daniel Ek wants artists to pump out ‘content’? That’s no way to make the next ‘OK Computer’

In a statement regarding the protests, UMAW organiser Mary Regalado said: “Spotify has long mistreated music workers, but the pandemic has put the exploitation into stark relief.

Regalado, who also plays in punk band Downtown Boys, added: “The company has tripled in value during the pandemic, while failing to increase its payment rates to artists by even a fraction of a penny. Musicians all over the world are unemployed right now while the tech giants dominating the industry take in billions. Music work is labour, and we are asking to be paid fairly for that labour.”

Incredible day today seeing musicians across the globe protesting a giant industry that remains out of touch with the needs & financial well being of the artists they exploit.

Honoured to be part of an amazing all artist led union like @UMAW_ #paytheartists #JusticeAtSpotify pic.twitter.com/BWD2FkZpH1

— Heba Kadry (@hebakadryy) March 16, 2021

Toronto demands #JusticeAtSpotify https://t.co/E10iCcSwI3

— Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (@UMAW_) March 16, 2021

We did it! Music workers took action all over the world today to demand #JusticeAtSpotify. Musicians have never put on this kind of protest before, and I'm very very proud of everyone at @UMAW_ We started as a far-fetched idea on a zoom call a year ago and did a big thing today pic.twitter.com/R0XKpZbFQx

— La Neve (@JoeyQuits) March 16, 2021

Earlier this year, a petition set up by musician Evan Greer asked Spotify to permanently triple its royalty rates for artists following the loss of earnings that arose due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In April, PRS director Tom Gray shared data collected by The Trichordist showing how many streams artists need to earn minimum wage on each streaming platform. Musicians promoting their music on Spotify would need 3,114 plays to earn one hour of UK Minimum Wage (£8.72).

In August, Spotify’s Daniel Ek was widely criticised by musicians after the CEO said it “wasn’t enough” for artists to “record music once every three to four years”.

In the original interview, Ek said there was a “narrative fallacy” about the idea that Spotify doesn’t pay enough for artists to live on.

“It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans,” he said. “I feel, really, that the ones that aren’t doing well in streaming are predominantly people who want to release music the way it used to be released.”

Over the past few months, an inquiry at the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has been looking into the financial impact of streaming on artists, with musicians such as Radiohead‘s Ed O’Brien, Elbow‘s Guy Garvey and Nadine Shah telling MPs that unfair streaming payments were “threatening the future of music” during the first hearing in November.

DJ and producer SOPHIE has died, aged 34 the world of music pays tribute

Scottish DJ and producer SOPHIE has died following a sudden accident this morning (January 30).

An official statement from the artist’s team has confirmed the news to NME. SOPHIE was 34.

“It is with profound sadness that I have to inform you that musician and producer SOPHIE passed away this morning around 4am in Athens, where the artist had been living, following a sudden accident,” the statement reads.

“At this time respect and privacy for the family is our priority. We would also ask for respect for her fanbase, and to treat the private nature of this news with sensitivity.”

“SOPHIE was a pioneer of a new sound, one of the most influential artists in the last decade. Not only for ingenious production and creativity but also for the message and visibility that was achieved. An icon of liberation.”

SOPHIE performing at Coachella 2019 — SOPHIE. Image credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty

Tributes are being shared online in the wake of SOPHIE’s death. “Sophie was a stellar producer, a visionary, a reference,” Christine and the Queens tweeted in tribute.

“She rebelled against the narrow, normative society by being an absolute triumph, both as an artist and as a woman. I can’t believe she is gone.

“We need to honor and respect her memory and legacy. Cherish the pioneers.”

Sophie was a stellar producer, a visionary, a reference. She rebelled against the narrow, normative society by being an absolute triumph, both as an artist and as a woman. I can’t believe she is gone. We need to honor and respect her memory and legacy. Cherish the pioneers. pic.twitter.com/3kyRl1KabY

— Chris (@QueensChristine) January 30, 2021

Activist Munroe Bergdorf also paid tribute to SOPHIE, writing: “Our community has lost an icon, a pioneer and a visionary bright light. Heartbroken. SOPHIE you will be missed.

“Thank you for sharing your talent with us. I hope we get to meet again one day. Rest in peace sister.”

Our community has lost an icon, a pioneer and a visionary bright light.

Heartbroken.

SOPHIE you will be missed. Thank you for sharing your talent with us. I hope we get to meet again one day. Rest in peace sister ✨ pic.twitter.com/ATZONIGgMY

— Protect Trans Kids / BLM ✊? (@MunroeBergdorf) January 30, 2021

Shygirl, who shared her new SOPHIE-produced track ‘SLIME’ last October, added: “tell people you love them when you can.”

tell people you love them when you can.

— SHYGIRL (@0800shygirl) January 30, 2021

Berlin-based label PAN also paid tribute, writing: “Rest in Power you incredible human,” while Mogwai guitarist Stuart Braithwaite hailed SOPHIE as a “huge talent” and that the death was “dreadfully sad news”.

Rest in Power you incredible human ? pic.twitter.com/qnxHwivvYw

— PAN (@PAN_hq) January 30, 2021

This is dreadfully sad news. What a huge talent. https://t.co/rClGvjVpGw

— stuart braithwaite (@plasmatron) January 30, 2021

“Thank you for the creations you left us with in this world,” Kelly Lee Owens added. See a number of tributes to SOPHIE below.

RIP SOPHIE. A huge loss. Thank you for the creations you left us with in this world ?

— Kelly Lee Owens (@kellyleeowens) January 30, 2021

RIP a queer icon and a musical pioneer, SOPHIE you changed people's lives ?

— GIRLI (@GIRLImusic) January 30, 2021

Sorry to hear about the passing of Sophie. A phenomenal artist I loved playing. I was lucky to meet her at the Aim Awards when she won the Innovator awardin 2018 and got to tell her how much I loved her productions. My thoughts are with her friends and family. RIP. https://t.co/aPQECw79Su

— Huw Stephens (@huwstephens) January 30, 2021

was lucky enough to share a stage w sophie twice in my lifetime, & even beyond her music, her energy, such a kind person, a joy to watch perform. i always think of her playing at the moma w bubbles floating thru the air anytime i listen to her music lol. i don’t wanna believe it

— BIGMUTHA ? (@bbymutha) January 30, 2021

RIP SOPHIE. Tragic news

— Daniel Avery (@danielmarkavery) January 30, 2021

so saddening to hear about SOPHIE. she will be so missed but her influence will last and grow.

— Declan McKenna (@DeclanMcKenna) January 30, 2021

what a privilege it was to share moments with u backstage at Pop 2 London ? thank u SOPHIE for everything pic.twitter.com/wZ5aNIwtlL

— RINA SAWAYAMA (@rinasawayama) January 30, 2021

I’m heartbroken.
Thank you Sophie Rest In Power!
You will always be remembered as a true game changer, powerful presence and an incredibly original producer ! Your music and production brought me so much joy! pic.twitter.com/VZ1v9UNSb5

— Peaches (@peaches) January 30, 2021

Absolutely heartbreaking. Rest in peace Sophie ? pic.twitter.com/CWiNOwaC5Q

— SG Lewis (@SGLewis_) January 30, 2021

From the moment I discovered @SOPHIEMSMSMSM , Sophie’s work has been a profound source of inspiration & reference to me. Incredibly stimulating, pure proof that any genre can still be pushed in untapped ways, it was impossible not to be stimulated by Sophie once acquainted.

— Oliver Sykes (@olobersyko) January 30, 2021

I’m devastated to hear of @SOPHIEMSMSMSM ‘s passing. R.I.P

— Oliver Sykes (@olobersyko) January 30, 2021

i am very saddened to hear the news of sophie's passing today. she was a true visionary https://t.co/a7oRlUQuyV

— Kele Okereke (@keleokereke) January 30, 2021

Born in Glasgow, SOPHIE released a number of singles and projects on labels such as Numbers across the 2010s. The artist’s debut album ‘OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES’ was released via Transgressive back in 2018, and subsequently nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2019 Grammys.

SOPHIE was also a prominent part of the PC Music label, and has worked on music with Madonna, Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras, Arca and many more.

Last summer, SOPHIE debuted new music at a livestreamed show, contributed to the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack and launched a new project called Analemma with Juliana Huxtable.

Government “must act now to save festivals,” ministers warn after Glastonbury cancellation

The government have been issued with a stark warning to “act now” to save the UK’s festival scene after today’s cancellation of Glastonbury.

READ MORE: When and how could festivals and gigs return in 2021? Industry insiders and medical experts speak out

After the coronavirus pandemic proved devastating for last year’s festival, it is feared that a similar run of cancellations could have a much more longterm impact on the circuit. At the start of January, The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee heard from organisers of Parklife and Boomtown that many summer festivals could be cancelled as soon as the end of this month without urgent government clarity, assurances on what might be possible and help with insurance. Many festivals will not otherwise be able to afford to return and risk being wiped out forever.

“If the government don’t help with insurance then the smaller festivals are going to drop away,” Sacha Lord, co-founder of Parklife, said. “Social distancing does not work at any of these events. It’s a festival.”

Now, ministers have marked Glasto’s cancellation as an urgent wake-up call for the government.

“The news that the UK has lost the Glastonbury Festival for a second year running is devastating,” said DCMS Committee Chair Julian Knight MP. “We have repeatedly called for Ministers to act to protect our world-renowned festivals like this one with a Government-backed insurance scheme. Our plea fell on deaf ears and now the chickens have come home to roost.

“The jewel in the crown will be absent but surely the Government cannot ignore the message any longer – it must act now to save this vibrant and vital festivals sector.”

UK Music Chief Executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin agreed that this marked a watershed moment for action.

“This cancellation is devastating for all of us on both on a personal and professional level,” he said. “It will have a serious impact on thousands of jobs right across the country and many jobs in the supply chains for Glastonbury.

“There is now a huge cloud of uncertainty hanging over the whole summer festival and live music season with the entire industry left in limbo and thousands more jobs in jeopardy. It is absolutely critical that the Government look at more financial support for the music industry and those who work in it as a matter of urgency. Without more Government help, there is a real risk that some of our world-leading music scene will disappear forever.

He continued: “The music industry is desperate to get back on its feet when we can operate safely. When the time comes for the post-pandemic recovery, we can play our role in our country’s economic and cultural revival. But until that point, we need more financial support to keep us going.

“If that support is not forthcoming, we will risk losing some of our finest emerging talent with the fear that Covid could rip a giant and permanent hole in the UK’s music scene and our cultural fabric.”

Wolf Alice at Truck Festival. Credit: Giles Smith

Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, agreed that more needed to be done to help the festival and entertainment scene.

“Devastating announcement today from Glastonbury Festival, such an important date within the Festival calendar for many, and will be devastating for festival-goers and businesses looking at the summer season, and the opportunity to trade in 2021,” he said.

“The Government must recognise the impact of the negligible levels of support given to the festival and events sector, and work through a solution that will safeguard the sector, and allow the 2021 festival and events season to take place across the UK.”

While echoing comments from Reading & Leeds boss Melvin Benn and Isle Of Wight Festival’s John Giddings that there was still time to put measures into place to ensure that festivals could happen safely (provided that at least 60% of the population had been vaccinated, according to medical experts) Association of Independent Festivals’ Chief Executive Paul Reed told NME that the cut-off point for key decisions for many events was fast approaching.

“There’s a real danger that the public health situation will change dramatically in the spring and there could be a confidence in gatherings and festivals taking place, but the failure of insurance would heighten the risk too much for a festival to happen,” said Reed.

“Businesses will collapse and all the economic and human consequences will follow. What we have now is a vaccine and vaccine roll-out plan. We’re hoping that means the government can give us a clear idea of the road map for live music.”

UK Music shared a report, Let the Music Play: Save Our Summer 2021, earlier this month outlining their recommendations for how to restart the UK’s live music industry once it is safe to do so with government support.

Watch The Voidz perform ‘Alien Crime Lord’ on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’

The Voidz performed their new song ‘Alien Crime Lord’ on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (December 17) – check out their performance below.

The Julian Casablancas-led band dropped the track earlier this week to tie in with the arrival of the frontman’s new radio station on the latest update on Grand Theft Auto Online.

Read more: From Gorillaz to The Last Shadow Puppets: the 10 best side projects in indie

The Voidz performed ‘Alien Crime Lord’ on last night’s Tonight Show while surrounded by glitching and psychedelic video screens, and you can watch the full performance below.

Speaking about ‘Alien Crime Lord’, the Voidz said in a statement that they “wanted to make a song that sounded like Jean Claude Van Damme standing up on a speeding motorcycle while firing perfect bullets through the windshield of an oncoming nemesis, then finishing the job with a controlled flip over the top of the vehicle that ends in a maelstrom of denim and flames”.

Casablancas’ GTA radio station – dubbed ‘K.U.L.T. 99.1 Vespucci Beach, “Low Power Beach Radio”’ – will include guest appearances from Mac DeMarco and David Cross and feature music by the likes of Joy Division, The Velvet Underground and Danzig.

Earlier this month, Casablancas revealed in an interview that he’s been “trying to do something” with Daft Punk again following their collaboration on 2013’s ‘Instant Crush’.

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