news

Foals and Disclosure to co-headline Reading and Leeds

/ James Fenney

foals

Rising indie band Foals and dance duo Disclosure have been announced as co-headliners for this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals, joining fellow headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers. Foals secret set at last year’s festivals was one of the weekend’s highlights and they are quickly establishing themselves as one of the biggest new rock bands in Britain. It is Disclosure’s first ever UK headline slot and the first time an electronic act has headlined since 2002. The third and final headliner has yet to be announced.

Brit Awards 2016 nominations announced

/ James Fenney

brit awards 2016

The nominations for this year’s Brit Awards have been announced. Adele tops the list along with James Bay and Years & Years with four nominations apiece. As is often the case with the Brits the winners are often easy to guess but most of the important categories seem to be in good hands. Some Belwood favourites have been recognised with nominations including Father John Misty, Wolf Alice and Jack Garratt who has already claimed the Critic’s Choice Award. The Eagles of Death Metal have also been nominated for International Group following the attacks in Paris at one of their concerts. The full list of nominations can be found below: Continue reading →

David Bowie passes away

/ James Fenney

One of music’s greatest ever icons David Bowie has sadly passed away aged 69 after a battle with cancer. This follows only a few days after release of his latest critically acclaimed album Blackstar. Bowie was a visionary artist that redefined music. His charismatic stage personas and his fearlessly innovative music made him quite frankly one of the coolest people ever to walk the Earth. He leaves behind an unparalleled legacy including his song being used in the first ever music video in space. I think actor Simon Pegg sums it up best in his tweet: “If you’re sad today, just remember the world is over 4 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie”. It is the end of an era and the world will be a very different place without him.

Music sales rise in UK for first time in over ten years

/ James Fenney

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According to BPI, music sales in the UK in 2015 came to a value of £1.06 billion, compared to 2014’s £1.03 billion. This is the first rise in music sales since 2004. The sales increase is due to the rise in streaming and the vinyl resurgence. Streaming use rose 82% and vinyl sales rose 64% in 2015. The biggest money makers for the industry are home grown artists, with Adele’s ’25’ being the best selling album of the year and Ed Sheeran being the most streamed artist.

Coachella line-up 2016

/ James Fenney

coachella lineup

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, one of America’s greatest music festivals, has announced this year’s line-up. Continuing the tradition of bringing acts out of retirement, LCD Soundsystem and Guns N’ Roses will be headlining Friday and Saturday respectively. This confirms the longstanding rumours surrounding a GNR reunion. The Californian festival will also include sets from Sufjan Stevens, Halsey, Sia, Foals and James Bay.

One record player sold every minute

/ James Fenney

Vinyl-Main

HMV has reported that they sold one record player every minute in the week running up to Christmas. John Lewis also had a 240% boost in record player sales. The vinyl resurgence has also hit online retailers with record players being the best selling audio product on Amazon over Christmas. It is yet more evidence of the growing popularity of the vinyl format which is seeing ever increasing LP sections in HMV stores and the opening of new independent record stores across the country.

Aretha Franklin wows at Kennedy Centre Honours

/ James Fenney

This year’s Kennedy Centre Honours have taken place to praise artistic contribution to American culture. Among this year’s honourees was prolific songwriter Carole King. The ceremony featured Aretha Franklin’s rousing rendition of ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’, which was originally written by King and was a big hit for the both of them. It follows in the ceremony’s tradition of astonishing covers, such as Heart’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ at the 2012 ceremony.

Guns N’ Roses reunion in the works?

/ James Fenney

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Reports from multiple sources have stated that a partial reunion of the classic Guns N’ Roses line-up is scheduled for 2016. They are rumoured to be headlining California’s Coachella festival as well as doing a 25 stop stadium tour across North America over the summer. However frontman Axl Rose has never been the most predictable of people, and he hasn’t played with Slash since 1993.

Lemmy passes away

/ James Fenney

lemmy

Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister has died aged 70. A statement from the band stated that he died from ‘an extremely aggressive cancer’ which he had only learned about two days prior to his death. Lemmy, who started out as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and as bassist for Hawkwind before forming his own band, was well known for his outrageous rock and roll lifestyle and is said to have drunk an entire bottle of Jack Daniels every day. However his health had rapidly deteriorated in recent years, leading to several cancelled shows. He was a singular rock icon and will be sorely missed.

Beatles discography added to streaming sites

/ James Fenney

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Christmas has come early for fans of the Fab Four. The entire Beatles back-catalogue has been added to streaming services worldwide including Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music and Deezer. Thus far ‘Let It Be’ is the most streamed track. ACDC added their music to streaming services earlier in the year, whereas modern artists such as Taylor Swift and Adele have resisted allowing their music on the sites. Odd that it’s the old artists that are more open to embracing the future of music.