Music News

The Libertines are working with One Direction and Ed Sheeran's producer on their new album.
Carl Barat has revealed the indie band decided to collaborate Grammy Award winner Jake Gosling on their third studio LP - their first release in 11 years - in a bid to modernise their sound.
Explaining why they wanted Jake on board, Carl told NME magazine: "We wanted someone who is getting their thing going, rather than someone who is just going to put us through their machine. This isn't a heritage band making a heritage album."
The band and Jake will work on the majority of the record at Karma Studios in Thailand, the country where co-frontman Pete Doherty has undergone rehabilitation treatment for heroin addiction.
Carl - who is also joined in the group by John Hassall and Gary Powell - admits they turned down the chance to work with several revered rock producers to collaborate with Jake.
He added: "We had wish lists flying back and forth, from the [John] Leckies through to the [Paul] Epworths and Stephen Street. What it boiled down to was that we wanted to try something a bit new with someone who is a bit new."
Carl insists the sessions have gone really well so far and everyone is "firing" after waiting so long to finally create a new Libertines album.
He said: "The feeling's great, we've been sparking. The pistons are all firing. I'm genuinely excited, and can't wait to get this stuff out there. We've all been waiting to write this record for ages."

Zayn Malik told Oritse Williams he wanted to leave One Direction last year.
The 22-year-old singer confided in the 28-year-old former JLS star about leaving the band while on a trip to Las Vegas last September.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, Oritse said: "Zayn spoke to me when we were together in Vegas last year. Niall (Horan) did too. Zayn was talking to me in confidence. I told him he had a great run and to enjoy it. They are very, very blessed guys.
"It's a very special thing and not a lot of artists show gratitude for that. But I told him to be himself and to keep going."
Zayn quit One Direction last month to go solo and return to being a "normal 22 year old", however, he's reportedly in talks with 'Bend It Like Beckham' director Gurinder Chadha to star in a Bollywood movie.
Earlier this week, Gurinder said: "We've met and spoken. He trained as an actor first then became part of the band. So I think what he'll be doing is staying true to his heart - and that's all you can ever do."
However, Gurinder - who is currently working on a Bollywood-inspired 'Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical' - insists she doesn't have a role planned out for the star "just yet".
She explained: "I don't have a part in mind for Zayn just yet but hopefully in the future."

Michael Eavis will skip Kanye West's performance at Glastonbury.
The 79-year-old festival organiser has confessed he won't be watching the 'Stronger' hitmaker perform after booking him for the Saturday night headliners slot on the Pyramid Stage.
When asked if he was going to see the 37-year-old rapper's set, he confessed he was planning on watching sixties favourites 'The Moody Blues' instead.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "They are headlining at the same time as Kanye West. They'll be on the Acoustic Stage. I'll be watching The Moody Blues."
Michael and his daughter Emily, with whom he co-organises the festival, were forced to defend their decision to ask Kanye to perform after a petition appeared online with 100,000 signatures calling for him to be axed from the event at Worthy Farm in Somerset.
However, the petition was ignored by the duo and Emily confessed she can't wait to see his performance.
She explained at the time: "I've realised over the years of announcing line ups that, literally, whoever you reveal will be met with some hate online. I have such faith in humanity, but believe me, some of the vitriol being thrown around this week has made me question the dark underbelly of the web.
"Ultimately, there is no question in my mind that we have got one of the greatest artists of his generation headlining, and we have no regrets at all about booking him.
"And we've got him coming to our farm! In rural Somerset! That's great, right? I certainly can't wait to see his performance."

Rita Ora, Mark Ronson and Primal Scream have won O2 Silver Clef Awards.
The 'R.I.P.' hitmaker will pick up the Best Female prize at Nordoff Robbins' annual awards lunch on July 3, while the 'Uptown Funk' hitmaker will receive the American Express Innovation Award and the 'Rocks' group are the winners of the Investec Icon Award.
Rita said: "I feel honoured to be receiving the Best Female Award at the O2 Silver Clef Lunch. It's great to be recognised by Nordoff Robbins, a charity which uses music to transform the lives of so many people."
And Mark is "proud" to have been recognised by the organisation because he is so "passionate" about the work they do.
The music producer said: "I feel proud to be awarded the American Express Innovation Award. The O2 Silver Clef Awards is an event I've long admired, raising funds for Nordoff Robbins music therapy, a cause which I feel passionate about."
Meanwhile, Primal Scream are looking forward to the forthcoming ceremony.
The band said in a statement: "It's a real honour to be awarded the Investec Icon Award at the 40th anniversary of the O2 Silver Clef Awards. We are looking forward to the event on 3rd July."
Nordoff Robbins has already announced Iron Maiden as winners of the O2 Silver Clef Award and Il Divo winners of the PPL Classical Award.

Ed Sheeran has achieved two billion streams on Spotify.
The 'Thinking Out Loud' hitmaker is the first British artist to reach the incredible milestone and only the second artist in Spotify's history to achieve the feat, the first being American rapper Eminem.
Kevin Brown, Spotify's head of label relations for Europe, said: "Breaking the two billion streams barrier on Spotify is evidence - were it needed - of Ed Sheeran's enormous popularity among the 60 million music fans on the service. Ed Sheeran is quite simply one of the best-loved artists on Spotify globally, and we are thrilled that he has achieved this milestone.
"Ed and Atlantic truly embraced the power of the Spotify platform with the launch strategy for 'x'. This made a significant contribution to the phenomenal launch success of the album on Spotify through connecting it with the widest audience possible. That it continues to be enormously popular with our users almost a year later and is still winning new fans is testament to the quality of the album and the enduring appeal of Ed as an artist."
Mark Mitchell, General Manager of Atlantic Records UK, added: 'Ed achieving two billion streams on just two albums is a phenomenal achievement. It not only highlights the popularity of his timeless sound and the explosive growth of his army of fans, it also demonstrates how great music can be successful on all formats."
Meanwhile, Ed is to become the first genuine solo artist to play stadium shows in Australia.
The 24-year-old musician has announced he will head Down Under with just his guitar and loop pedal to play the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on November 28 and the NIB Stadium in Perth on December 2.
He said: "I don't think the loop pedal is a common thing outside the club circuit, I don't think it's been done in stadiums yet. It's a unique selling point people talk about, so I'm going to continue building on it and exploring it more."

Sharon Osbourne says rock 'n' roll is a "shell of what it used to be".
The 62-year-old star famously managed her husband Ozzy Osbourne's career and has decades of experience in the music business.
But Sharon isn't excited by any of the modern rock bands and thinks the genre may have peaked.
Speaking on 'The Late Late Show', she said: "I hate to say this, but I fear that we have seen the greats in that genre. I keep looking and searching - where is the next great artist in that genre? And I don't know any, I really don't. I honestly think it's the shell of what it used to be. It's really sad."
Sharon thinks the problem with the new crop of bands is that they're all too "squeaky clean" and don't get involved in any wild hellraising antics.
She added: "It hurts my heart, because it's been my life forever. Everybody's too nice and squeaky clean, it's just a whole different world out there."
Sharon's husband Ozzy famously bit the head off a bat while on a stage at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, and but the head off a dove after he signed his first solo record deal.

Dave Grohl bonded with his daughter over Beatles vinyl records.
The Foo Fighters frontman was thrilled when his nine-year-old daughter Violet started listening to The Fab Four's music but her first experience of their songs was via a tablet computer.
As a gift, Grohl bought Violet the band's albums on original vinyl and watched in delight as she listened to them for hours on end.
He said: "She had 'Yellow Submarine' on her iPad, so I came home one day with the Beatles vinyl box set. Violet was like, 'Daddy, what is that?' I said, 'They're records!' I pulled them out and her eyes widened. She was like, 'I can hold music!'
"I got the record player and taught her how to do it. An hour later, I walked in and she was sitting on her floor with all the record covers around her. She was reading the lyrics and listening to 'Let It Be', the same way I used to do it. It was an incredible bonding experience."
Grohl - who has three daughters, Violet, Harper, six, and eight-month-old Ophelia, with his wife Jennifer Youngblood - spent much of his childhood listening to records and has revealed there was one particular track that "changed" his life.
Speaking to PEOPLE, he revealed: "We didn't have a lot of money; my mother was a public school teacher. On the weekends, she would bring home a record player from the school and we would listen to it. I'd go to the local record store and buy music. I'd earn money mowing lawns and then buy music with it. My first record was a K-Tel collection called '20 Original Hits' by the Original Stars. It had people like KC and the Sunshine Band on it. But there was one song called 'Frankenstein' by The Edgar Winter Group. It's an instrumental, and it was amazing. It really changed my life. I listened to it, and suddenly I was seeing music, not just hearing it. The record became my prized possession."

Haim were big fans of Calvin Harris before they collaborated with him.
The three sisters, Alana Haim, Danielle Haim and Este Haim, have been lovers of the DJ's music from the very start of his career and used to go to "all his shows".
The girls were thrilled when Calvin asked them to appear on his album 'Motion' because it was their dream to work with him and they are very pleased with their track 'Pray to God'.
During an interview with Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS FM radio show, Este said: "We've known Calvin for a while. He put out a record in like 2008 or 2009 like back in the day, and I used to go to all of his shows and I was a big fan. We just kind of linked up. I think he knows how much of a fan I am."
Out of the three siblings, Alana revealed Este is the "best" at meeting artists and stars she likes and she isn't afraid to just go and approach people at showbiz events.
Alanda said: "Este is also, out of all three Haims, the best at getting what she wants. Like, basically if she wants to meet someone, Este is [the best.] Like me and Danielle are like, 'We're scared, we don't know what to do!' "

Rihanna's new album is "soulful and aggressive".
The 'Diamonds' hitmaker has been working hard on her eighth studio LP - the follow-up to 2012's 'Unapologetic' - and is incredibly proud of her efforts so far, in particular the musical interludes.
She said: "Dude, I'm in love with my interludes. This one called 'James,' joint is on constant repeat.
"[The album is] soulful and aggressive, whether it's lyrically, musically, or just the tone of my voice."
Despite it being some time since she released new music, Rihanna insists she has been busier than ever.
Speaking to the new issue of V magazine, she explained: "I didn't actually take time off. The past two years are the hardest I've ever worked. I've been working on two albums, an animated film, shooting for multiple magazines, designing for Puma and Stance [socks], a new line of fragrances, a summer tour, I launched my first annual Diamond Ball at the end of last year, and I've also been developing several projects to be revealed in the near future."
Meanwhile, the 27-year-old singer has been praised by her former collaborator Calvin Harris.
Responding to a tweet which read "Did you know that Calvin Harris wrote and produced the #1 hit "We Found Love" [sung by Rihanna] on his own?(sic)", Calvin replied: "Wouldn't have been a hit if anyone else had sung it tho.(sic)"