16 h. ago David Byrne: Who Is the Sky? review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Matador)His last album was criticised for being too upbeat during Trump 1.0 but became a phenomenal live show, and the Talking Heads frontman remains sunny – almost to a faultIt is seven years since David Byrne released his last solo album, American Utopia. So much has happened in the intervening period that it’s easy to forget that, initially, the record received a mixed response. There was praise for its expansive and experimental approach: songs built on rhythms by Brian Eno were handed over to a wide selection of producers to tinker with, then Byrne compiled the finished product. Part of a larger multimedia project called Reasons to Be Cheerful, it attempted to engender a spirit of positivity, but there were complaints that this amounted to a blithe abdication of responsibility amid the first Trump presidency. Respectful long-service-medal reviews coexisted with angry fulminating over the complete absence of female contributors.A mixed response was business as usual as far as B...

Politics

36 h. ago Brit winner and former Little Mix star Jade is coming to Bury

The Angel of my Dreams hitmaker is coming to the borough next week for a special album signing

Politics

3 d. ago What to Stream: 'Lilo & Stitch,' 'The Paper,' MTV Video Music Awards and a Hollow Knight sequel

A follow-up TV comedy of “The Office” called “The Paper” and the buddy live action comedy “Lilo & Stitch” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you

Culture

5 d. ago The Jury: Murder Trial to Essex Honey: the week in rave reviews

A TV recreation brings gobsmacking courtroom drama, and gorgeous melodies meet languorous funk on Blood Orange’s latest album. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Wolf Alice top UK albums chart with latest offering The Clearing

Their fourth studio album also sits atop the official vinyl albums chart this week.

Politics

7 d. ago Blood Orange: Essex Honey review | Alexis Petridis’s album of the week

(RCA)Gorgeous melodies ground Dev Hynes’s questing fifth album, via dancefloor rhythms, indie pop and languorous funk – and cameos from Lorde and Zadie SmithDev Hynes’s fifth studio album as Blood Orange opens with a series of unexpected musical juxtapositions. The first track, Look at You, starts out with softly sung vocals over a cushion of equally soft synthesiser chords, before stopping dead, then re-emerging as almost an entirely different song: harmonies over guitar chords strummed so lazily you can hear the plectrum hitting each individual string. The second, Thinking Clean, offers a piano over pattering hi-hats: there’s something anticipatory about it, like an intro that’s about to burst into life, but when it does – complete with dancefloor rhythm – the song swiftly falls apart. The piano becomes increasingly abstract, before everything gives way to scrabbling, apparently improvised cello.It’s a lot to cram into six minutes, but anyone familiar with Blood Orange’s back cata...

Events

9 d. ago Radiohead’s Let Down enters US Billboard charts 28 years after its release

Song from 1997 album OK Computer scores band their fourth spot in the chart after going viral on TikTokRadiohead have entered the US singles chart with a song from their album OK Computer that has gone viral on social media 28 years after its release.Let Down, the third single from the British band’s 1997 album, entered at No 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week after rising in popularity on TikTok. Continue reading...

Economics

1 week ago The tale of two Taylors! From Hollywood showmances to rebelling against studios

Last week, the Pennsylvania-born songstress revealed the second track on the album to the late actress, with whom she shares half her name.

Culture

1 week ago Earl Sweatshirt: Live Laugh Love review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Tan Cressida/Warner Records)With a sunlit disposition and paeans to his daughter, the mood turns lighter on the US MC’s sixth album – but the glitching, crashing beats are as esoteric as everThe launch party for Earl Sweatshirt’s sixth album was, by all accounts, a confounding affair. Some attenders came away convinced that Live Laugh Love contained guest appearances not merely by Vince Staples, but actor/rapper Donald Glover and comedian Dave Chappelle (it doesn’t, although all three contributed to a fanzine produced for the event). At one juncture, the DJ announced the arrival of “my brother, Earl Sweatshirt” before the appearance of someone who was visibly not Earl Sweatshirt – he was Asian, and apparently goes under the winning stage name Gary Underpants – performing a succession of Earl Sweatshirt songs. In the aftermath, at least one online music title didn’t seem sure whether it actually was a launch party for a new album or “an elaborate prank”: would a man whose grim world...

Politics

2 w. ago Wolf Alice announce intimate London gig to launch new album ‘The Clearing’ this week

Wolf Alice announce intimate London gig to launch new album ‘The Clearing’ this week  NME

Politics

2 w. ago How a steamy scene from Nicole Kidman's erotic thriller Babygirl inspired a track on Taylor Swift's new album The Life of a Showgirl

When Taylor Swift announced her new album The Life Of A Showgirl last week she said the 12 tracks were inspired by the 'joyful, wild, dramatic' times in her life.

Culture

2 w. ago ‘The idea was for a Black James Bond’: the making of 50 Cent: Bulletproof

The game’s launch 20 years ago coincided with the rapper’s meteoric success with his album The Massacre. Here, the team that made the shooter reflect on how it all happened The rapper 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson) was inescapable back in 2005. There wasn’t a British classroom without a teenager wearing Jackson’s G-Unit clothing, while his catchy hits Candy Shop and In Da Club dominated the radio. The backstory of this Queens-born New Yorker – how he survived being shot nine times only to become one of the world’s biggest rappers – also made for compelling lore.That year, 50 Cent sold more than a million copies in one week with his sophomore studio album, The Massacre. In a bid to cash in on this superstardom, his label Interscope Records planned a twin strategy: a Hollywood biopic (Get Rich or Die Tryin’) and a licensed video game, 50 Cent: Bulletproof – both to be released by November 2005. “I think the general public are going to be blown away by my game,” 50 Cent told the we...

Politics

3 w. ago Chiefs’ Travis Kelce admits he ‘slipped a little bit’ given off

Tight end says last two seasons ‘not to my standard’Says off-field acting and hosting drew focus from NFLKC star motivated to ‘show up’ for Chiefs this seasonKansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce is the first to admit that his past two seasons haven’t been up to par. His statistics, while still impressive, back that up when considering the standard Kelce set in his previous seven Pro Bowl seasons.As the world knows, Kelce’s life has been in a brighter spotlight given his highly publicized relationship with Taylor Swift – you’ve likely heard of her – and a slate of off-field ventures. The 35-year-old has hosted Saturday Night Live, landed a role in Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie, appeared in Happy Gilmore 2 alongside Adam Sandler, and taken on a hosting gig for Amazon’s Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? He also keeps busy with the New Heights podcast he co-hosts with his brother, Jason, where Swift this week announced her new album. Continue reading...

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