Music news

• ‘Only three more songs till I kick your ass!’ Rock’n’roll’s biggest onstage bust-ups

  16-09-2024 18:26
  
  Jane’s Addiction’s future is in doubt after a mid-song spat last weekend – but from the Kinks to Oasis, such squabbles are extremely commonJane’s Addiction cancel tour after onstage fight citing safety concernsLong before they decided All You Need Is Love, even the Fab Four were subject to an onstage bust-up. During their pivotal spell in Hamburg, something Paul McCartney said to bandmate Stuart Sutcliffe about his new engagement to local, Astrid Kirchherr, led Sutcliffe
  
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• Frankie Beverly obituary

  16-09-2024 18:11
  American singer, musician and founder of the R&B band Maze whose sensual voice was at the core of their soundIt was a source of frustration to Frankie Beverly, who has died aged 77, that he and his group Maze never enjoyed huge pop success, though they cracked the mainstream Top 30 with their albums Golden Time of Day (1978) and We Are One (1983). However he could also reflect that the group’s enduring status and faithful audiences allowed him valuable creative freedom.While musical tr
  
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• Post your questions for Ice-T

  16-09-2024 17:24
  
  As his heavy metal band Body Count return, the vocalist and actor will answer questions about his varied careerWith a scorn-dripping voice put to work on everything from classic hip-hop to gnarly heavy metal, Ice-T is one of America’s most iconic MCs – and as he and his band Body Count get ready to release their new album Merciless, he will be answering your questions.Now 66, Ice-T was born in New Jersey but was orphaned as a young teenager and moved to Los Angeles, getting a taste f
  
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• Donald Trump loses legal fight over using Eddy Grant song without permission

  16-09-2024 15:37
  
  Judge rules presidential candidate is liable for damages over unauthorised use of Grant’s song Electric Avenue in animated video ridiculing Joe BidenDonald Trump has lost a legal battle with the singer Eddy Grant over using his 1983 song Electric Avenue in a 2020 ad without permission.The 40-second clip – an animation of Joe Biden travelling in a railroad cart while a Trump-Pence campaign train passes at high speed – was viewed more than 13.7m times on Twitter before it was rem
  
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• Tito Jackson, Jackson 5 member and brother to Michael, dies aged 70

  16-09-2024 15:23
  
  The third of nine Jackson children and last to release a solo project, Tito was ‘an incredible man who cared about everyone’Tito Jackson, one of the brothers who made up the pop group the Jackson 5, has died at the age of 70.Tito was the third of nine Jackson children, including global superstars Michael and Janet. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I’m not a singer but I can just about do Sweet Dreams at karaoke’: Eve’s honest playlist

  16-09-2024 08:00
  
  The rapper and author on belting out 80s synthpop and the verse that changed her life – but which glam-rock classic soundtracked her giving birth?The first song I fell in love withThe first song that really impacted me was Cappucino by MC Lyte. When I saw the video, I had that spark of: “Maybe I could maybe do this. I could be a female rapper.” I just loved her attitude and style.The song that gets me up in the morningI’m on a single with Sia and Chaka Khan, which I can&r
  
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• I’m a devout agnostic. But, like Nick Cave, I hunger for meaning in our chaotic world | John Harris

  15-09-2024 13:34
  
  The spiritual aridity of modern life can be tough to handle. Maybe that’s why the singer, and his new album Wild God, have struck a chordThere is a tension in 21st-century life that may come close to defining how millions of us now live. Whenever we want to commune with other people, we need only reach for an object the size of a Twix and there they all are: scores of acquaintances and a veritable galaxy of complete strangers, offering insights and opinions on a huge range of subjects. But
  
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• Azealia Banks review – thundering bare bones set almost brings down the building

  15-09-2024 12:54
  O2 Academy Brixton, London
  Harlem rapper’s raw and eclectic performance has the whole venue bouncingThe balcony at Brixton Academy is shaking with the volume of 5,000 people screaming “IMMA RUIN YOU CUNT” at the tops of their lungs. It’s the second date of Azealia Banks’s first UK tour in more than five years, and the Harlem rapper has the crowd eating out of the palm of her hand like she’s working a basement club.
  With a career spanning 16 years and just one
  
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• ‘My whole life’s interconnected’: Neneh Cherry on the relationships that inspire her, leaving home at 15, and the joy of a trashy box set

  15-09-2024 11:00
  
  As her highly anticipated memoir is published, the celebrated musician and all-round creative powerhouse answers questions from Observer readers and famous fans including Michael Stipe, Bernardine Evaristo, Questlove and Sadiq KhanNeneh Cherry, singer, writer, is sipping tea and talking about a party back in the day. “I keep thinking about it,” she says. “It was the first party I brought Naima to. I was 18, Naima was a baby, so it was in the early 80s. The party was at Jeannett
  
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• Nic Cester from Jet: ‘I wrote the majority of Get Born while sitting on the toilet’

  14-09-2024 22:00
  The frontman of the Australian rock band reflects on the last two decades, his worst date and his favourite sandwichRead more 10 Chaotic QuestionsGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailWhat is the best guitar riff of all time?I find joy in simplicity. If you have the capacity to boil something down to essential ingredients, I think that is often more powerful and clever than something complicated. So my answer is potentially banal – but I think it’s the riff from James Bond. Ever
  
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• Astrid Williamson: Shetland Suite review – a beautiful enchantment

  14-09-2024 17:00
  
  (Incarnation)
  Playing, singing and producing, the Scottish musician pays tribute to her homeland and her late mother on this powerfully moving setBorn and raised in Shetland and classically trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, Astrid Williamson was pulled back to her homeland by her mother’s turn to dementia and subsequent death. Shetland Suite, Williamson’s 10th album (including one fronting alt rockers Goya Dress), is an affecting tribute to her mother, a pian
  
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• Jungle review – like a puzzle with a piece missing

  14-09-2024 15:00
  
  Utilita Arena, Cardiff
  The Brit award winners keep their audience in happy shuffle mode with a plush set of disco-flecked retro bangers – albeit one short on the dance and visuals they’re renowned forBands often talk loftily about creating worlds, usually in an effort to elevate a handful of tunes into something greater. Some outfits, though, achieve something close to that aim. Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz – the erstwhile virtual band – are just one who spread out into
  
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• One to watch: Friedberg

  14-09-2024 13:30
  
  The London-based four-piece led by Austrian singer-songwriter Anna F serve up the coolest dance punk this side of LCD SoundsystemFor economic and other practical reasons, it’s increasingly rare for singer-songwriters to seek shelter in a band, but that risky shift has paid off for Anna Friedberg. She grew up learning guitar and writing songs in her bedroom in Austria, then evolved into solo artist Anna F, supported by her side hustle as a sports journalist. Tiring of working alone, five ye
  
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• Herbie Flowers obituary

  13-09-2024 18:11
  
  Bassist who played on an estimated 500 hit songs – the most recognisable being the motif he provided for Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild SideThe bassist Herbie Flowers, who has died aged 86, was one of the most prolific session musicians of the 1970s. He played on an estimated 500 hit songs over the course of his career, laying down the foundations to tunes by three former Beatles (John Lennon was the exception), plus David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Lou Reed, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Cat Steven
  
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• Zoot Money obituary

  13-09-2024 18:03
  Keyboardist and bandleader who rode the wave of the British rhythm and blues movement in the 1960sWhen Georgie Fame called his old friend Zoot Money up on stage to sing at Ronnie Scott’s Club one autumn night in London in 2022 – “Come on Zoot, I can’t do this without you” – they tore the house down.It was a moving moment for both performers, as they joined forces with the Guy Barker Big Band to sing Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, that brought back memories
  
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• Jonas Brothers review – epic 60-song eras set is full of cheesy joy

  13-09-2024 17:53
  Co-Op Live, Manchester
  The former Disney stars’ voices have matured nicely – and they give Taylor Swift a run for her money with this exhilarating trip through their careerWatching the Jonas Brothers’ show, it can feel like siblings Joe, Nick and Kevin asked Taylor Swift whether they could copy her homework. As with the Eras Tour, the show is a career-spanning retrospective with a set neatly partitioned by specific albums. Some might call it plagiarism. Others may call it smart
  
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• The Weeknd: Dancing in the Flames review – another apocalyptic romance, and another surefire hit

  13-09-2024 15:54
  
  (XO/Republic)
  Abel Tesfaye revisits his usual theme of nihilistic love and his beloved palette of 80s synths, but it’s melodically solid and there are some tweaks to the formulaWhen the Weeknd released his last album, 2022’s Dawn FM, it carried a certain sense of finality. A grand concept album filled with both starry and august special guests – Jim Carrey, Quincy Jones, Beach Boy Bruce Johnston – and intimations of death, apocalypse and the afterlife, it was accompanied
  
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• ‘Instantly a very different vibe’: the glory and controversy of Linkin Park’s explosive comeback

  13-09-2024 13:56
  On hiatus since the 2017 suicide of Chester Bennington, the rockers have had huge success with return single The Emptiness Machine – but there is disquiet over the frontman’s replacementOasis may have sold a lot of tickets, but for many music fans there’s an even bigger rock comeback this year: Linkin Park, whose first three albums went 25 times platinum between them in the US alone, have dramatically ended a seven-year hiatus which followed the 2017 suicide of co-frontman Ches
  
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• The Jesus Lizard: Rack review – Chicago punks return with pyrotechnics undimmed

  13-09-2024 13:00
  
  (Ipecac)
  The Nirvana peers’ first album in 26 years is a masterclass in tightly controlled chaosA split single with Nirvana made feral Chicago-based punk four-piece the Jesus Lizard unlikely UK chart stars in 1993, but they suffered diminishing returns after signing to a major label a couple of years later, and had disappeared with an uncharacteristic whimper by the end of the decade. Thankfully, Rack, their first album in 26 years, has far more in common with the thrillingly out-there run
  
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• Fousheé: Pointy Heights review – a Caribbean-facing new direction

  13-09-2024 12:30
  
  (RCA)
  The in-demand US singer-songwriter’s second album takes its cue from her Jamaican heritageAmerican singer-songwriter Brittany Fousheé’s music is often unpredictable. An in-demand collaborator, her soft-toned R&B vocals feature on singer Steve Lacy’s 2022 track Sunshine from the Grammy-winning album Gemini Rights, while her solo work spans the intimate, whispered R&B of 2021 EP Time Machine and 2022’s explosive debut album, Softcore, which harnessed ra
  
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• Daniel Inzani: Selected Worlds | John Lewis's contemporary album of the month

  13-09-2024 10:00
  
  (Hidden Notes/Tardigrade)
  In his first major solo release, the pianist and composer explores the very different sides to his musical personality across three contrasting but connected LPsSelf-taught pianist and composer Daniel Inzani has been a pivotal figure on the Bristol scene for more than a decade. He leads a neoclassical outfit, Spindle Ensemble, co-curates the excellent Hidden Notes festival in Stroud, and he’s worked with a baffling array of outfits, playing Ethiopian funk, Indones
  
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• Wendy Eisenberg: Viewfinder review – insightful jazz voyage into life after laser eye surgery

  13-09-2024 09:00
  
  (American Dreams)
  Instrumental interludes and unexpected shifts in pace mix with Americana and jazz, while the singer-songwriter’s distinctive guitar sound drives a song cycle like no otherI got my first pair of glasses recently – a light prescription I didn’t think I would notice, but they delivered such a sharpening of the world that I’m having to learn to look again. These experiences – how we adjust when sight is corrected; how eyes heal – are what concern
  
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• Social media have blurred the boundaries between fans and celebrities – with disturbing results | Hannah Ewens

  13-09-2024 09:00
  
  If entitled fans treat famous people as fodder for their Instagram feeds, they risk losing a connection to them altogetherA few months ago, I watched a video of apex predators close in on and devour a pair of zoo animals. Sorry – a clip of some young women interrupting a cuddling Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco on a picnic in a New York park. They didn’t ask about Gomez’s work or acknowledge her personal space, and instead went straight for what mattered: the photo. A vulnerably
  
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• ‘Singing about faith was scary. I wanted to be cool’: Michael Kiwanuka on God, fatherhood and his secret to great art

  13-09-2024 06:00
  
  As he announces ‘understated’ fourth album Small Changes, the Mercury-winning musician explains how he went from ‘slight weirdo’ to wowing Glasto – and why more of us are turning to religionAt the start of the summer, Michael Kiwanuka played at Glastonbury. A warm-up show in Halifax aside, it was the first gig he had played in Britain for a couple of years, a chance to debut songs from his forthcoming fourth album, Small Changes. A malfunctioning vintage synthesiser
  
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• Maze’s Frankie Beverly united Black America with his everyman brilliance | Alexis Petridis

  12-09-2024 16:13
  The funk and soul singer, who has died aged 77, was part of Black family life in the US while being a cult sensation in the UK – and his smooth but never slick music rightly enduresThe online tributes to Frankie Beverly in the wake of his death on Wednesday offered a fascinating study in contrasts. Black Americans wrote about his band Maze as a fact of life, invoking memories of family parties, summer barbecues and picnics to which they had inevitably provided the soundtrack: “Any ti
  
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• Florence and the Machine: Symphony of Lungs review – one crescendo of ecstasy after another

  12-09-2024 13:27
  
  Royal Albert Hall, LondonAn appropriately maximal reading of debut album Lungs, made with Jules Buckley’s orchestra at Prom 69, provides a grand stage for Welch’s even grander voiceWill it surprise you to learn that Florence Welch’s orchestra features not one, but two harps? That there is a lute and a rainstick, and a violin solo so furious that it feels like a devil is being conjured? As the grand high witch of maximalism, the Proms is the ideal way for Welch to revisit the pa
  
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• Tindersticks: Soft Tissue review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

  12-09-2024 13:00
  
  (City Slang)
  From 70s soul to glowing strings, the cult outfit continue to illuminate the fringes of pop music, celebrating the beauty in small thingsIt’s easy to see the initial part of Tindersticks’ career as a missed opportunity. There was a brief moment, around the time of their eponymous 1995 album and its successor Curtains, where it looked as if the Nottingham band’s lushly orchestrated, emotive songs might find a wide audience: the former briefly reached the Top 20, the
  
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• ‘They put Cork on the map!’: what the kids behind rap sensation The Spark did next

  12-09-2024 11:00
  
  Theirs was the feelgood song of the summer – praised by Stormzy and reaching hundreds of millions of listeners online. But what’s it like to go on the road when you’re still at school?It may be called Harbour View Road – but there is no harbour and not much of a view in this patch of suburb outside Cork city, just a row of nondescript houses in a sea of housing estates. The doors of the 202 bus, which trundles here from the city centre, emit a little sigh when they open.A
  
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• ‘This janitor’s daughter became a state deputy’: Leci Brandão, the Brazilian samba star turned communist lawmaker

  11-09-2024 17:17
  
  Born in poverty, Brandão became a socially conscious samba singer who satirised Rio’s bourgeoisie – then a politician championing gay rights and Black culture. As she turns 80, she recalls a remarkable lifeAs soon as she arrives at the headquarters of Rosas de Ouro, a popular samba school in São Paulo, Leci Brandão apologises for being late. Coupled with the megacity’s usual traffic, her agenda at its legislative assembly kept her busy longer than expected.
  
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• ‘My old label said I was more annoying than lucrative’: painter-musician Issy Wood on her singular, insular world

  11-09-2024 12:05
  The British-American artist has turned down gallery mogul Larry Gagosian, walked away from a deal with Mark Ronson – and earned a big fanbase for her uncanny, intimate workAfter a stint in the commercial music world and amid a prolific career as a highly celebrated painter, Issy Wood accidentally released her second album in July. “Four days before it was meant to be, just by not making the files private on SoundCloud,” she says over cigarettes in her spacious east London studi
  
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