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Kev Geoghegan & Paul Glynn

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  1. ...and the the nominations for best BBC Music blog

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    Who are we kidding? Surely there is only one worth taking notice of (that's us btw...)

    That's everything we have for you today but scroll back for you new favorite punk rock band Dream Wife, some lovely message of support for Neil Diamond, who is retiring from live performance, news of Britney visiting some British seaside resorts, a Smiths reunion involving two out of five members and this year's Oscar nominations for score and original song.

    We've already posted the Mary J track (scroll down) so we'll leave you with another of the nominees; the beautiful Mystery of Love by Sufjan Stevens from Call Me By Your Name.

    Back with more tomorrow.

  2. Indie disco in a field anyone?

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    Welsh rockers Catfish and the Bottlemen will headline a night of rock 'n' roll fun at the All Points East Festival in Victoria Park, London on 1 June.

    Tickets for the event, which features Blossoms, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and The Amazons, go on sale on Friday.

    The gig forms part of a series of APE summer gigs, which also includes LCD Soundsystem and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.

  3. Liam Gallagher has gone to find himself

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    After returning to the stage last year to tour number one debut solo album, As You Were, around the globe, Liam G is taking a well-earned vacation.

    He posted plenty of holiday snaps of late, which have included him biking ride around some exotic destination, biting a pepper and wearing a straw hat/hippy bandana (above).

    You can find a selection of funny pics and videos on his Instagram page.

    He's also suggested in some of the captions that he may be... erm ... enjoying himself, shall we say.

    Come back fully-charged Liam and ready to go again in 2018.

  4. Minnie Mouse finally gets Hollywood star... and Katy Perry was there

    Video content

    Video caption: Minnie Mouse honoured with Hollywood Walk of Fame star

    Forty years after Mickey, she's been honoured in LA.

    That's Minnie. Not Katy.

    Fans and celebrities, including Katy turned out to honour the star of the big and small screens.

    Her co-star (and husband - we think?) Mickey Mouse was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 40 years ago.

    We wonder if Minnie had words with Katy about their matching dresses.

  5. Slayer announce final tour

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    One for you metalheads now, thrash legends Slayer have announced their upcoming world tour will be their last.

    The Grammy-winning band formed in California in 1981 and have released 12 studio albums.

    Repentless, their twelfth, was released in 2015 two years after the death of founding member Jeff Hanneman.

    News of the band's future demise has... well, upset people...

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  6. Mary J Blige is up for two Oscars for acting and singing

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    Congrats to the R&B legend who has received two nominations for best supporting actress for the film Mudbound.

    She is up against Alison Janney for I, Tonya, Lesley Manville for Phantom Thread, Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird and Octavia Spencer - The Shape of Water.

    She has also been nominated in the category of best original song for the track Mighty River from the film.

    This is an Oscars first.

    Keep up to date with the Oscars live page.

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  7. BreakingThe Oscars 2018: And the best song nominations are...

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    Mary J Blige's Mighty River from Mudbound gets the nod, alongside Sufjan Stevens' Mystery of Love from Call Me By Your Name.

    Also on the list are Remember Me from the animated Pixar flick Coco and Stand Up For Something from Marshall.

    Last but not least This Is Me from The Greatest Showman - its full soundtrack is currently sitting atop the UK album chart..

    May the best song win.

  8. BreakingThe Oscars 2018: Here are the nominations for best score...

    Jonny Greenwood

    Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and Blue Planet II composer Hans Zimmer will go head to head at this year's Oscars.

    Johnny is nominated for his work with Paul Thomas Anderson on Phantom Thread, while Hand has been shortlisted for Dunkirk.

    Golden Globe-winner Alexandre Desplat is in there for Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water.

    Five-time winner John Williams, at the age of 85, has landed another nod for his musical contribution to Star Wars: The Last Jedi while Carter Burwell completes the line-up for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

    Check out The Oscar nominations LIVE page.

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  9. Newbie Tuesday #11: Dream Wife - Looking out for their 'Bad Bitches'

    Paul Glynn

    Music News LIVE reporter

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    As you might well imagine from a band selected to back The Cribs and The Kills on tour last year, a Dream Wife show can be a rowdy affair.

    With that in mind, the newcomers from Brighton have been working with Girls Against to ensure that their gigs remain riotous, fun and - most importantly - safe spaces for their female fans... aka the 'Bad Bitches'.

    "We were realising there were a lot of young girls coming to our shows," explains Icelandic frontwoman Rakel Mjoll, whose band's self-titled debut album arrives on Friday.

    "So, we have a responsibility to those girls to feel safe and a have a good time.

    Quote Message: The best mosh-pits are ones made by girls. They're so much fun and so safe. They're perfect. It's a good kind of aggression.
    Dream Wife

    Their track Somebody (above) carries the beautifully simple feminist refrain:

    I am not my body / I am somebody

    "There's a part of the show when we ask the 'Bad Bitches' to come forward and I point out women and girls in the crowd that I see to come forward and take the space.

    "By doing that, you acknowledge they are there by saying 'I see you over there with the pink hair' and I want you to come forward and join me. Even though we might not have much in common, what we do have is that we are 'Bad Bitches' and when the song is gonna drop we are gonna go wild.

    "That's when the mosh-pit starts! You walk off stage feeling great and after that get to meet all these amazing women."

    Listen out for what Rakel spies 'with my little eye' on incendiary album closer F.U.U... (B.B's of course)

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    The singer adds: "We met two girls and it was the first gig they'd ever seen! What an honour to play to a bunch of moshing 15-year-old girls, and also men in their 70s - old rockers - moshing on the sideline too.

    "Coming from Iceland, The English gig culture is incredible because of this."

    Rakel's native country this month became the first in the world to make it illegal for men to earn more than women for the same job and the post-punk rocker believes that rather than this being the solution to gender equality, the move is just the start.

    "A lot of things that I think are the norm are not the norm in other cultures, when it comes to equal pay and other things.

    Quote Message: Iceland is a very feminist forward-thinking country but it's only 350,000 people and even then Iceland still has a lot of work to do.
    Dream Wife

    "It's easier to change a norm than it is in a culture with millions of people. But a small community can try to influence a bigger community."

    The Scandinavian and bandmates Alice and Bella may be about to rock your world with their first LP release but they actually began life as a fake band for a Brighton Uni art project - in order to blag a trip to Canada.

    "We didn't start this band to conquer the world!," she admits.

    "We were just having fun and playing around and messing with people.

    "I don't know how we managed to book a tour around Canada - that's a bit ridiculous looking back. But we didn't know any better.

    "It's quite nice that now we have that ethos of not taking ourselves that seriously, but of course taking the music seriously, and it works for us."

    It certainly worked for Radio 1 listeners a few weeks back when they delivered their fun rocked-up cover of Dua Lipa's New Rules for Annie Mac - or No Rules as they call it.

    Listen out around 22 minutes into their session.

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    The Wives toured with Sleigh Bells, The Cribs and The Kills last year "which taught us to step up our game" and have a pretty packed touring schedule again in 2018.

    Which means Rakel will not get to see much of her new pad, after DW re-located to London.

    "I just moved into an apartment and I realised I'm not going to be here!

    "It's important to know that you have a bed and your record collection somewhere though - even if it's just for a few days!

    "But that's why you make records to tour them."

    Guitarist Alice - or Alice Go to give her her full rock 'n' roll name - even had the recent honour of one her own guitar heroes calling her out on stage.

    Quote Message: The first song Alice learnt on the guitar was a Cribs song and Ryan came out on stage and was like 'Alice is much better than me now!'

    "It's really funny when your teenage idols are telling you that you're better than them now!"

    With riffs like those in Hey Heartbreaker and Let's Make Out (both above) it's not hard to see why.

    Rakel however, one senses, is not easily starstruck - but for one exception perhaps...

    "It's just a bunch of people in music. I come from a family of musicians, actors and artists, so it's a profession.

    "But if I meet Dolly Parton I'll be on the floor crying! I've read all three of her autobiographies!"

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    The girls - who first uploaded their music to BBC Music Introducing London in 2016 - will host an album launch party on Friday in their new home city, so all you 'Bad Bitches' best bring your A-game - and the fellas too.

    And while we may not know art, we know what we like and suggest you give their album a considerable spin this weekend.

    If you love The Cribs, Blondie and Bjork then Dream Wife might just be your new dream band.

    Read more: Newbie Tuesday #10 - Maisie Peters is living the dream... almost.

  10. Smashing Pumpkins bassist appears to confirm reunion... but says she isn't included

    Smashing Pumpkins

    Former Smashing Pumpkins bass later D'Arcy Wretzky has apparently confirmed a band reunion will take place though says she hasn't been invited to play.

    Awkward.

    Frontman Billy Corgan set tongues wagging last week when he posted the below photo, appearing to suggest the band were getting back together.

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    Now, D'arcy has said the other three members have decided to use someone else for a tour in July.

    “My apologies to all of the Smashing Pumpkins fans out there who are excited about this oncoming reunion tour of the original members of the band," she said via text to Blast Echo.

    "I know this is a huge disappointment for me, as well, but it’s not going to happen [with me].

    "I only just found about yesterday that the band has decided to go with a different bass player.”

    There's been no word yet from the Corgan/Pumpkins camp.

  11. Lunchtime Listen: First Aid Kit in session

    BBC 6 Music

    Now this is always a treat.

    Sweden's finest country singing siblings returned on Friday with their "dark, break-up album" Ruins.

    Klara and Johanna Söderberg spoke to 6 Music DJ Lauren Laverne about their musical catharsis, being apart for the very first time (and missing each other) and learning to say no.

    Check out the full session and enjoy their performance of Fireworks from the album above.

  12. Famed South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela dies aged 78

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    Legendary jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela, a leading figure in the struggle to end apartheid and "the father of South African jazz", has died aged 78.

    His family said he had "passed peacefully" in Johannesburg "after a protracted and courageous battle with prostate cancer".

    Masekela gained global recognition with his distinctive Afro-Jazz sound and hits such as Soweto Blues.

    The 1977 song became synonymous with the anti-apartheid movement.

    In 1974, the musician helped organise the Zaire 74 music festival in Kinshasa to coincide with Muhammad Ali's 'Rumble in the Jungle' against George Foreman.

    South African President Jacob Zuma said his death was "an immeasurable loss to the music industry and to the country at large".

    Read more

  13. New music klaxon! Julian Casablancas and Migos

    Julian Casablancas

    Not together mind... what on earth would that even sound like?

    First up The Strokes frontman and his other band The Voidz are back with a new track Leave It in My Dreams.

    It's their first work since 2014 album Tyranny and you can find it now in all the usual places.

    The band have got an album on the way this year and in case you missed it last month they've had a wee name change.

    After all there's no I in team.

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    US rappers Migos (below) have dropped a synth-heavy new track too from their upcoming third LP Culture II.

    The new track is a bit too sweary for Music News LIVE but you can find that now on YouTube.

    Rapper Offset apologised earlier this week for any offence caused by his apparently homophobic lyrics.

    He was offended that he offended anybody.

    The album out on 26 January and includes collabs with Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, as well as tracks produced by Pharrell Williams.

    Migos
  14. Childish Gambino signs new deal and a new album could out this year

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    Man of all talents Donald Glover has signed a new record deal with RCA under his recording name Childish Gambino.

    According to Variety, the writer, actor and director will share some new music “later this year”.

    In a statement, he called the new deal “a necessary change of pace.”

    Last year, he suggested his album Awaken, My Love! - one of the albums of 2016 - would be his last.

    He's performing at this year’s Grammys, where he is up for five awards. And we'll be covering the whole event here on Music News LIVE so tune in from around midnight on Sunday.

  15. Ed Sheeran added to War Child lineup

    Ed Sheeran

    Fresh from announcing his engagement to the world, Ed Sheeran has been added to this year's War Child BRITs week lineup.

    He will headline a show at Indigo at The O2 on 19 February.

    With a capacity of less than 3,000, its one of the smallest venues you're ever likely to see the stadium-filling singer play.

    The weekly line-up also incoudes the likes of Rag 'n' Bone Man, Jessie Ware, Laura Marling and Wolf Alice.

    Tickets go on sale at 09:00 GMT on Friday.

  16. Camilla Cabello joins exclusive ladies list

    Rolling Stone magazine

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    Camila Cabello is the first woman since Meghan Trainor in 2015 to top the US album chart with her debut album.

    The former Fifth Harmony singer's self-titled record sold 119,000 copies in its first week of release.

    Other female singers to have achieved the feat include Gwen Stefani, Beyoncé, Stevie Nicks and Lauryn Hill.

    Camila's album unseated the Greatest Showman soundtrack from the top of the chart where it had spent two weeks.

    Her single Havana is also top of the singles chart for the first time too.

    She tweeted saying her was "speechless but my heart is saying a million words at a time".

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  17. The Smiths: Andy Rourke denies involvement in classic 'reunion' tour

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    Morrissey and Marr were never in, but now Andy Rourke - who was allegedly in - is also out.

    The Manchester band's former bass player has denied he will reunite with ex-drummer Mike Joyce and 'fifth Smith' Craig Gannon to perform a series of orchestral gigs this summer.

    While the Classically Smiths shows may still go ahead, as planned, apparently they'll now do so without Rourke.

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    He contacted Rolling Stone to say he never gave his consent for the shows, especially in the week that he mourns the death of his friend and former D.A.R.K. bandmate Dolores O'Riordan, also of The Cranberries, of course.

    Quote Message: I am deeply saddened that during the week of the death of my dear friend Dolores O'Riordan, that false statements are made on my behalf,

    Rourke was quoted yesterday by the Press Association as having said: "To have been there the first time round and seen it first hand, and to still be such a big fan of The Smiths today, I am both thrilled and excited to be involved in Classically Smiths.

    "I’m really proud of the band’s work, and being able to present those songs again in this particular production format promises to be a real +gift for audiences everywhere."

    However, Rourke's representatives told the US music mag: "At no point in time did Andy Rourke agree to participate or otherwise license or authorise the use of his name, likeness or any personal quotes in any manner in connection with this Classically Smiths project."

    So was it all a miserable lie? Or just a misunderstanding?

  18. Britney Spears: Coming to a seaside town near you

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    Britney is set to make Brighton rock by bringing her Las Vegas show to a town near(ish) you in August.

    As part of the Piece of Me tour, the singer will headline Brighton Pride and also perform in Scarborough.

    Eeh by gum, I did it again...

    Brighton Pride tweeted: "We are thrilled to announce that legendary pop icon Britney Spears will be the headline act for Pride on Sat 4th Aug".

    While Britney in Bangor, Blackpool or Broadstairs doesn't appear to be happening, the 36-year-old singer will also perform in Manchester, Glasgow and London this summer.

    The Brighton show will be the first time Piece of Me has been performed in Europe.

  19. Tributes to Neil Diamond who is retiring from touring due to Parkinson's

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    Singer Neil Diamond has announced he will retire from touring, after a recent diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

    Diamond, who turns 77 on Wednesday, cancelled his March tour dates for Australia and New Zealand on medical advice.

    The Sweet Caroline singer was midway through his 50th anniversary tour.

    In a statement he said he took the decision "with great reluctance and disappointment.

    Quote Message: I have been so honoured to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years.

    "My sincerest apologies to everyone who purchased tickets and were planning to come to the upcoming shows."

    Music stars have lined up to pay tribute and offer support to the singer with Nancy Sinatra tweeting: "Keep fighting, old buddy. You've got a long way to go yet."

    Read more.

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  20. Hola amigos

    Camila Cabello

    Yo yo yo.

    We wake up to the news that Camila Cabello is the toppermost of the poppermost in the States.

    We'll have more on that plus Britney's pride at big Brighton gig (and one in Scarborough!)and sad news from the Neil Diamond camp.

    Meanwhile, Drake stands accused of theft and comparing himself to a dictator, The Smiths 're-union' has a big name pull-out, Migos put out a new track and we'll bring you a 6 Music session from First Aid Kit.

    Plus later on a Newbie Tuesday that will rock your socks off and possibly break your heart.