Music news portal

The bad news is that Neon Neon’s second album is the sound of a band treading water. The good news, however, is that when it comes to Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip’s synth project, treading water means a stylish yet bonkers conceptual pop album about an overlooked historical figure that comes packed with tunes.

Where their debut album, Stainless Style, was an ode to the life of DeLorean Motor Company founder John DeLorean, Praxis Makes Perfect is inspired by maverick Italian publisher and leftwing activist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Yep, if this is treading water then it’s water we’re quite happy to let be trodden on.

The 28-year-old actress and her musician partner James Righton tied the knot at the town hall in Mazan, which is 12 miles from Marseilles, France.

The pair are said to have cemented their love in front of 11 guests shortly before midday, with the ceremony said to have lasted around 30 minutes.

“It was not a long service,” a source told People. “Keira looked beautiful. She wore a very pretty, very elegant dress.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Amkoullel, a 33-year-old Malian rapper, sings about self-image, immigration and respect. He’s among a new generation of young rappers in Mali, mixing traditional instruments with new themes. He has played all over the world, performing with Malian legends Salif Keita, Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate.

Even before Mali’s political upheavals in 2012, he had attracted the attention of the government.

He created an association called Plus Jamais Ça - “never again” - and released the song “SOS.” It was a cry for help to the government, or anyone, to stop what was happening in the turbulent north of his country, where radical Islamists took control last year and banned all music except Quranic verses. Read the rest of this entry »

Toots and the Maytals, we call them, but to the island of Jamaica, they were and always will be simply the Maytals: the rah-Jah Temptations of ska, reggay champions before there was reggae music, the most soulful and sensational vocal group to come out of the Caribbean in the 1960s.

Led by the restive rasp of Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, the original trio (Hibbert, Henry “Raleigh” Gordon and Nathaniel “Jerry” Matthias) fell short of the stateside chart heights and pop-cultural impact of Bob Marley and the Wailers, though a handful of its Jamaican-record 31 No. 1 hits - chiefly “Sweet and Dandy,” “54-46 (That’s My Number)” and “Pressure Drop,” all products of a fertile, rapid-fire recording period from 1968-70 - became ubiquitous cover selections and worldwide rocksteady standards. Read the rest of this entry »

The ‘On The Floor’ singer says it is “hurtful” that people believe she had anything to do with the situation.

Jennifer Lopez has denied claims she had anything to do with a hotel maid being sacked for requesting an autograph from the ‘Goin’ In’ singer.

Pray Dodaj was working as a maid at the Melia Hotel in Dusseldorf, Germany this week, where Jennifer was staying on her current European tour, when she reportedly knocked on the star’s door to ask for an autograph.
Read the rest of this entry »