Summary

  • News updates for 4 April 2017

  • Harry Styles solo single to debut on Radio 1

  • The Gossip star Beth Ditto shares new song Fire

  1. Music News. Out.published at 15:51 BST 4 April 2017

    Harry StylesImage source, Getty Images

    So, our time together is at an end for another day.

    Scroll for new videos from Will.i.am, Imelda May and Bjork, some news on this year's Great Escape festival, tour dates from George Ezra and Vanessa White of The Saturdays on her angsty new album.

    We'll leave you with a list of what people most want Harry Styles to talk about on Friday's Radio 1 Breakfast show when he plays his new single.

    See you tomorrow beautiful people.

  2. Vanessa White dials up the anguish on solo recordpublished at 15:10 BST 4 April 2017

    Vanessa WhiteImage source, Omar O'Reilly

    For a singer who was the youngest cog in the brightly packaged, disposable pop machine The Saturdays , it's something of a surprise that Vanessa White has ditched the feelgood factor some something altogether weightier on her new solo album.

    "Everything I'm doing now is so dark," she tells music reporter Mark Savage, "Not like I-want-to-kill-myself dark, but it's quite angry."

    One song, Trust, was inspired by "snaky people" in the music industry - a situation which needed legal intervention and ended up derailing her solo career for almost a year.

    "There were certain songs I loved that I couldn't use any more," she explains. "So I've basically had to start again, which is why it's taken this long."

    Read more

  3. Mount Kimbie and James Blake team up for new songpublished at 14:46 BST 4 April 2017

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    Electronic duo Mount Kimbie have released their first new single since 2013, a collaboration with their old mucker James Blake called We Go Home Together.

    The musicians rose through the British electronic scene at the same time, and helped define the "post-dubstep" sound with their 2013 albums Overgrown (Blake) Cold Spring Thought Less Youth (Mount Kimbie).

    Their new song is more impressionistic and minimal than even those records, their haunting voices supplemented by a primitive tambourine beat and a swirling organ figure.

    It comes with a suitably surreal video, courtesy of director Frank Lebon. Watch or listen in the player above.

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  4. Listen to Matt Maltese in session for Huw Stephenspublished at 14:16 BST 4 April 2017

    BBC Radio 1

    Here is one of those drop-everything-and-sit back for a listen moments, courtesy of singer-songwriter Matt Maltese with Huw Stephens.

    The piano led torch song As The World Caves In sees the Reading singer mix a bit of David Bowie and Elton John.

    Matt is on a UK tour right now 

    You can listen to the full show with Matt and Huw now.

  5. Bjork swims with the fishespublished at 13:48 BST 4 April 2017

    BjorkImage source, Getty Images

    Bjork 's latest video sees the Icelandic star dancing in an ocean full of vibrant creatures and stunning lights.

    Directed by Warren Du Perez and Nick Thornton Jones, the video is available in Virtual Reality - meaning you can don a VR headset and spin around the seabed for yourself, as Bjork's expansive, orchestral epic swirls around you.

    Alternatively, just sit at your desk and watch the static YouTube video over a croissant. Your choice.

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  6. George Ezra to premiere new songs on tourpublished at 13:19 BST 4 April 2017

    George Ezra tour posterImage source, Press release

    It's been a while since we heard from Barcelona hitmaker George Ezra , but he's been beavering away on a new album which, you'll be excited to hear, is almost finished.

    First, though, he wants to road test the new material. To which end, he's announced a 10-date tour of small venues for May and June.

    "There will be a few new band members and we will be working out what the best set list is and what the best way to present the songs will be," he says in a statement.

    "We will focus less on smoke and mirrors and more on building the best show that we possibly can. We will of course be playing all of the classic Geoff Ezra singalong numbers too!"

    (That's not a typo. He often refers to himself as Geoff. The joker).

    The inaccurately-titled Top Secret Tour kicks off in Belfast on 26 May. You can get the full details on George's website, external but shhh, don't tell anyone.

    Media caption,

    George Ezra sings 'Budapest' and talks to Greg James at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival

  7. Joey Bada$$ performs protest song Land Of The Freepublished at 12:58 BST 4 April 2017

    Joey Bada$$Image source, Dee Frosted

    Rapper Joey Bada$$ premiered his funky new single, Land Of The Free, on Martin Luther King Day and released it, with pointed defiance, on 20 January - Donald Trump's inauguration day.

    Although it features a laid-back, spacey groove, the lyrics are sharper than a box of pins.

    "Donald Trump is not equipped to take this country over," he rhymes; "In the land of the free, it's full of free-loaders / Leave us dead in the street to be the organ donors / They disorganised my people, made us all loners / Still got the last names of our slave owners".

    Joey, who you might recognise from the Amazon drama Mr Robot, performed the single for the first time last night on Stephen Colbert's US chat show, draped in a stylised US flag.

    Watch below.

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  8. Japandroids felt 'pressure' from fans to deliver a hit record published at 12:35 BST 4 April 2017

    BBC Newsbeat

    Brian KingImage source, Getty Images

    Canadian punk duo Japandroids have kept their fans waiting five years for a new album after announcing, at the peak of their popularity, it was "time for us to disappear into the ether for a while, y'all stay crazy/forever".

    Now, with their third album Near To the Wild Heart of Life garnering some critical acclaim, Brian King from the band has admitted they felt pressure to keep fans happy.

    "You've got all these people waiting for something and there is this pressure to give them that," he told Newsbeat.

    "Even if that's not what the band wants to do.

    "We're unsure of how it's going to go down with the outside world but we're happy with it."

    Read more

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  9. Artists announced to play BBC showcase at Great Escapepublished at 12:11 BST 4 April 2017

    Media caption,

    Marika is joined on stage by The Big Moon to perform blistering track Boyfriend.

    Artists including Marika Hackman , Ibibio Sound Machine and Goat Girl have been added to the line-up for BBC Music's showcase at the Paganini Ballroom in Brighton for this year's Great Escape Festival.

    The annual event, from 18-20 May, is part festival / part industry conference... think SXSW but on the UK's south coast.

    BBC Music will take over the venue for a 3-night musical showcase; 6 Music Recommends, BBC Introducing and Radio 3's Late Junction will each host a night.

    6 Music's Lauren Laverne and Steve Lamacq will also present shows from there, while Mary-Anne Hobbs will speak to Kojey Radical and Tom Robinson will be in conversation with John Grant.

    More artists will be announced soon

  10. Will.i.am sets Fiyah to the Corrie cobblespublished at 11:45 BST 4 April 2017

    Will.i.am in the video for FiyahImage source, Interscope Records

    Rap anglophile Will.i.am decided to make the video for his new single Fiyah on the cobbled terraces of Weatherfield as "an appreciation of British culture".

    (Any suggestion the video was shot next door to the studios of The Voice UK for the sake of convenience is fake news.)

    The clip sees the Black Eyed Peas rocking up to the Rovers Return for a swift half, although in the lyrics he claims he'll "spend a hundred-fifty grand in here," which makes you wonder what else they keep behind the bar.

    His collaborator India Love is later seeing chilling out by the slot machine, before will.i.am heads out on to the famous cobbles with his dance troupe for the closing routine, as flames lick their feet.

    It remains unclear whether Karl Munro started this blaze, but seeing as he's spending four years into a 25-year jail term for his previous arson attack on the Rovers (and murdering Sunita), it seems unlikely.

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  11. Shaquille O'Neal crushes Jimmy Fallon in Lip Sync Battlepublished at 11:28 BST 4 April 2017

    Basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal was the guest on Jimmy Fallon's chat show last night, where he took part in an epic lip sync battle.

    His version of Bobby Brown's My Prerogative has to be seen to be believed. Fallon - despite his elaborate costume change - simply can't compete.

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  12. Midweek Ed Sheeran updatepublished at 11:08 BST 4 April 2017

    Official Charts Company

    Ed SheeranImage source, EPA

    The Official Ed Sheeran Singles Chart have just released their midweek update, external , providing an indication of where Ed will be where when the Top 40 is unveiled on Friday.

    Unsurprisingly, our ginger overlord is destined to be number one in both the singles and albums chart, as he has been for the last 247 weeks.

    Jamiroquai look set to score the highest new entry in the album chart with Automaton - their first album since 2011; while Goldfrapp, Mastodon and Bob Dylan are all on course for a top 10 entry.

    Calvin Harris's new single Heatstroke, which features Pharrell, Ariana Grande and Young Thug, is likely to claim this week’s highest new entry on the singles chart.

    And Little Mix’s No More Sad Songs vaults 33 spots to 18 after the release of its music video last week.

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    Of course, these interim figures could all change by the time Friday comes around. And James Blunt has his own view on how the line-up will look by then.

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  13. Now you can wear Bruce Springsteen's sweaty hand-me-downspublished at 10:48 BST 4 April 2017

    Bruce Springsteen

    Good news for fans of creepy collectibles: You can now bid to become the owner of the flannel shirt Bruce Springsteen wore on the cover of his The River album.

    It's one of more than 300 Springsteen lots being offered by US memorabilia merchants Moments In Time. They're calling it the Ultimate Springsteen Collection, external , and it's a snip at just $7.5 million (£6m).

    That's not just for the shirt we should add.

    Amongst the items on offer are: 

    • Springsteen's 4F card excusing him from service in the Vietnam War
    • Different drafts of the lyrics for Born to Run
    • A temporary drivers license from 1974
    • The Boss's 8th grade report card, in which he mostly got Ds

    Moments In Time previously put up for sale the car in which Biggie Smalls was murdered.

    No buyers have come forward at the time of writing.

  14. Imelda May shares Women's March-inspired videopublished at 10:20 BST 4 April 2017

    Imelda May video shootImage source, Press

    Irish singer-songwriter Imelda May has shared the video for her next single Should've Been You.

    The promo was inspired by the recent Women’s Marches in response to Donald Trump's US presidency - and sees the singer lead a group of women through Brixton Market in south London.

    She said: "I wanted to ask the question, 'Who takes care of us? We are 50% of the world and it’s the people in power’s responsibility to take care of women as well.

    "It still seems like it’s a man’s world and in 2017 that’s shocking."

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    You can still catch her in session last month for Jo Whiley.

  15. Bradley Walsh has a new album on the waypublished at 10:02 BST 4 April 2017

    Bradley Walsh

    As some readers may remember, the biggest-selling debut artist of 2016 was Bradley Walsh . Yes, that Bradley Walsh, the one who hosts ITV gameshow The Chase.

    Chasing Dreams, a collection of songbook classics, outsold the likes of Zayn Malik and Jack Garratt and, back in February, he told Music News LIVE that a sequel could be on the cards.

    "I'm sitting on Sony Music's table at the Brits, so I'm going to find out if I get a second album there," he said. "They're my bosses, so I've got to go and sit in there and make sure I eat with the right cutlery and all that stuff".

    Well, it turns out his table manners were perfect, as the star has been granted a second album. And he's letting fans choose one of the songs he'll cover - as he explains in this video message.

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    The person who picks the winning song will also get to join Bradley in the studio. You can submit your choices on the 56-year-old's official website, external .

    Here's looking forward to Bradley's next single, Run To The Hills.

  16. Beth Ditto is on firepublished at 09:38 BST 4 April 2017

    Not literally, of course, that would be deeply upsetting.

    But the former Gossip singer is back with an incendiary new solo single, called Fire, from her forthcoming album Fake Sugar.

    It was premiered on Radio 1 last night, where Mistajam made it his "hottest record".

    The singer said she recorded 80 songs in the process of putting together her new album, before settling into a groove with producer and songwriter Jennifer Decilveo.

    "There wasn't a genre I had in mind," she said. "I tried to be very uncool about it - and I think I succeeded, in a very good way".

    Listen to the song and Beth's interview above. Or - if you prefer - watch her Skype chat with Mistajam via the embedded tweet below. SO. MUCH. CHOICE.

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  17. Harry Styles solo song to debut on radio 1 on Fridaypublished at 09:19 BST 4 April 2017

    Harry StylesImage source, Getty Images

    That's right, the least popular one* out of One Direction will debut his new solo single Sign of The Times is to get its first play on Radio 1's Breakfast Show on Friday.

    Not to be confused by Prince's Sign O' The Times or indeed The Belle Stars' Sign of The Times, external .

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    We have no idea what it will sound like but, last year, Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid suggested the singer's new songs will "blow the socks off the world".

    So best make sure you double up on Friday morning, lest you get chilly toes.

    *we have no evidence this is true

  18. Welcome backpublished at 09:10 BST 4 April 2017

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    It feels like only yesterday since we last saw you.... Oh wait, it was.

    Anyway, in today's glorious line-up of musical goodies we have the debut single from the newly solo Beth Ditto - who you probably known better as the Janis Joplin-esqu vocal talent of noughties indie band The Gossip.

    Plus new videos from Bjork and Imelda May, Japandroids talk about their 'secret' third album and a Radio 1 Harry Styles exclusive for this New Music Friday.

    Oh and of course Chance the Raptor above, any more dinosaur-based rappers? Get in touch and let us know.

    Lets crack on, shall we?...