Mumford And Sons Page 5

Florence + the Machine and Kendrick Lamar are the latest headliners to be announced for next year’s BST Festival in Hyde Park. The two acts will share the bill on Saturday July 2nd, with Florence headlining the night. Also on the line-up are Jamie xx and Blood Orange.

Florence + The Machine are heading to BST Hyde Park.

Florence + the Machine headlined the Friday of this year’s Glastonbury festival after the Foo Fighters were force to pull out. Their latest album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful hit the number one spot in the UK earlier this year.

Continue reading: Florence + The Machine And Kendrick Lamar Added To 2016 BST Hyde Park Line Up

Mumford & Sons have added another major engagement to their increasingly busy schedule for 2016, confirmed a headline gig at the British Summer Time festival in London’s Hyde Park in July.

The four-piece group, who departed from their trademark folk sound to pursue a more traditional indie rock style on their third album Wilder Mind, released back in May this year, will be supported by American retro rock act Alabama Shakes and British indie newcomers Wolf Alice at the massive outdoor event on July 8th, 2016.

Marcus Mumford will be bringing his vein-bulging singing to Hyde Park in 2016 for the British Summer Time Festival

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Confirmed To Headline British Summer Time Festival 2016

Mumford & Sons have a new album well on the way, and they now unveil a taster in the form of first single 'Believe' - an instant download with all album pre-orders and a significant deviation from the modern 'folk rock' style that made them famous.

Mumford & Sons return with new single 'Believe'

'Believe' is taken from third album 'Wilder Mind' and already gives us some idea that we shouldn't expect material like what we saw in debut album 'Sigh No More' and 2012's number one 'Babel'. This album has been recorded at Air Studios in London and has been produced by James Ford, whose previous work includes that of Arctic Monkeys, HAIM and Florence & The Machine.

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Have A New Single, But 'Believe' Is Not What You'd Expect [Listen]

Reading & Leeds Festival goers will be happy to hear the line up for this year has been released, and it is already looking like an incredible weekend for music enthusiasts. The bank holiday weekend of 28th-30th August 2015 will be hosting one of the UK's biggest music festivals. Across the weekend, bands are being plucked up to offer one of the best line-ups for the festival yet. Mumford And Sons will be headlining alongside Metallica this year, four years after their last performance at the festival. They will be joined by Royal Blood, Bastille, Catfish And The Bottlemen, Hannah Wants, Rebel Sound ft. Chase & Status, Rage, David Rodigan and Shy FX, Years & Years, Wolf Alice, and plenty more yet to be announced.

Mumford and Sons are due to perform at 2015's Reading and Leeds festivals

Mumford and Sons are proving to be a great choice for headline act this year. The bands last performance at Reading & Leeds was in 2010, where they played on the NME/ BBC Radio 1 stage. This will be their first live performance in two years, and with their stage upgraded to the Main stage, they are showing themselves to be a very worthy choice for headline act. 

Continue reading: Reading & Leeds Festival 2015 Line-Up Add Further Names To Line-up

Mumford And Sons have been announced as the headliners for this year's Leeds and Reading Festivals and will share the Main Stage with U.S rockers Metallica. The British band, who have enjoyed huge success across the Atlantic, previously appeared at the festivals in 2010 when they performed on the NME/BBC Radio 1 Stage.

Marcus Mumford will be hitting the Leeds & Festival festivals this summer

After a brief hiatus, the shows will be Mumford and Son's first UK performances in over two years though they'll make their live comeback at the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee in June alongside Billy Joel and Kendrick Lamar. The group headlined the Glastonbury Festival in 2013. 

Continue reading: Twitter Reacts To Mumford And Sons Headlining Leeds And Reading 2015

It's difficult to call Mumford & Sons "clean-cut" given the amount of facial hair in the band, though they're hardly Led Zeppelin.

All the more surprisingly then was news that the London folk-rockers were thrown out of a strip club in Atlanta on Tuesday night (September 10, 2013) for violating one of the golden rules - no cameras!

According to TMZ.com, the band had just performed at ATL's Centennial Olympic Park and decided to celebrate at the city's famous strip club, the Clermont Lounge. It was karaoke night - sounds fun right?

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Ejected From Strip Club For Using Smartphone Cameras

The video begins just like any other Mumford & Sons vid; nothing to suspect here. Rays of sunlight obscure the banjo twanging members as they play in the middle of a country field. There's out of focus striding through long grass and slow motion walking up a dirt track with their folk instruments. There's no reason to believe the band on video could be any other performers than the British folksters themselves.

The Group Let Themselves Be Parodied.

That is, until the sun-streaked dust clears and our suspicions are aroused. Is that really Marcus Mumford? Isn't Ted Dwane's beard looking a bit raggier than usual? Wait a minute - that worn, rustic, wooden instrument isn't really being played. They're fakes!

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Fans Pranked By Masquerading Comedians In 'Hopeless Wanderer' [Video]

The sun is shining, the line-up is terrific; T In The Park 2013 is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary with thousands of fans and seven stages. Performers during the three day festival will include Mumford & Sons, Rihanna, The Killers, Ke$ha, Kendrick Lamar, Emeli Sandé, The Proclaimers, and many more massive mainstream names. The recently revived German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk will also be making their festival debut in a hotly anticipated set that is rumoured to include 3D visuals, as well as My Bloody Valentine.

Kraftwerk To Bring Their Machine-Like Electronica To T In The Park.

T must surely rival similarly huge English festivals Glastonbury and Download for the strongest line-up of the year, with Mercury Prize winning Alt-J, New York's Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Frank Ocean, Paloma Faith and Icelandic newcomers Of Monsters and Men also playing across the weekend to celebrate two decades of the Scottish event. Festival director Geoff Ellis said, according to BBC's Newsbeat, "It doesn't feel like 20 years since we started and it's a milestone." The festival, which has been held annually since 1994 has been held at Balado airfield in Kinross-shire since 1997 and now attracts 85,000 fans and 35,000 campers to the second largest greenfield event in the UK.

Continue reading: As Fans Gather For 'T In The Park,' Police Crack Down On Drugs

Mumford & Sons have released the video for the title track of their latest album, Babel. The video is simple in its music hall location and black and white shots yet, cleverly, many Mumfords are shown playing their instruments as the camera pans round the room to reveal the quartet multiplied. The four members of the band are shown playing their instruments with passion as lead singer and guitarist Marcus Mumford sings with vigour "Like the city that nurtured my greed and my pride/I stretched/my arms into the sky/I cry Babel! Babel! Look at me now/Then the walls of my town, they come crumbling down."

Mumford & Sons Release New Video For 'Babel' Track.

It's been a rollercoaster of a few months for the Mumford four - their 2012 album Babel won the Grammy award for 'Album of the year' whilst the band won the BRIT award for 'Best British Group.' They set off on a festival tour of the US only for bassist Ted Dwane to experience a terrifying health scare where a blood clot was found on the surface of his brain, requiring immediate surgery and a string of cancelled tour dates whilst he recuperated.

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Release Video For Latest 'Babel' Single

It's been a rollercoaster of a few months for West London's folk rockers, Mumford & Sons. They've headlined Glastonbury in June but had to deal with bassist Ted Dwane's terrifying blood clot health scare that required immediate brain surgery and several cancelled US festival appearances. Dwane rested until Glastonbury Festival when the quartet resolutely took to the stage armed with their banjos, mandolins, guitars, and even a brass section to show the world the Little Lion Men were unstoppable. They played a barn-storming headline slot, blasting their hits with defiance and making the entire Vale of Avalon take notice.

Mumford & Sons Now Back At No.1 After Glastonbury Success.

Such was the success of the Sunday headliners that many in the crowd were converted to Mumford & Sons' distinctive banjo-tickling ways and rushed home to purchase a copy of their most recent album: September 2012's Babel, despite lead single 'I Will Wait' having premiered nearly a year ago. The album has enjoyed 40 weeks in the charts but Mumford's festival success induced a 384% sales increase, propelling the 12-track record up 15 places to the No.1 roost in the week following the festival and beating Michael Bublé's To Be Lovedby just 125 copies, according to The Independent. Their 2009 debut Sigh No More also climbed to the 12th place after their sunny Somerset hoedown.

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Are Kings Of The Charts After Glasto Success

Well, it’s the middle of the year and about time to recap the big events in music in 2013 – particularly, the best and worst sales numbers of the year. the It turns out, not so surprisingly, that French electronic duo Daft Punk have broken records both for album and single sales this year. However, it’s not just Daft Punk, who are getting a hefty chunk from the retail pie – sales of both singles and albums are up from this time in 2012 – with singles experiencing a 2.5 percent increase, while compilation sales are un 9% (according to the Telegraph). It seems that the music business has didital sales to thank for whatever increase there is in the overall numbers, seeing as how 99% of all UK sales this year have fallen into the digital category.

Unless lightning strikes twice, Daft Punk are set to come out as this year's clear winners.

In terms of singles, it is no secret that Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, featuring Pharrell Williams and Chic's Nile Rodgers easily takes the top spot for sales. Since its release ten weeks ago, the summer hit has passed one million individual sales in the UK. Not only that, but the record has also broken records for number of plays on streaming service Spotify – and it managed to do it in just 24 hours after its release. Clearly, the Frenchmen are on a roll this year, since the full album – Random Access Memories, also broke the Spotify streaming record on its release shortly after. The second single, not so unexpectedly, is Robin Thicke’s single Blurred Lines – also a collaboration with Pharell Williams – with 828 000 copies sold to date.

Continue reading: Daft Punk And Robin Thicke Take Over UK Charts, Mostly Thanks To Digital Sales

The Rolling Stones headlined at Glastonbury on Saturday (29th June) but the viewing public were more interested in watching Bruce Willis' 1988 classic action film, Die Hard, according to The Daily Mail. 2.54 million tuned into the BBC to watch The Rolling Stones' performance whilst 2.78 million watched Bruce Willis punch, kick and shoot in Die Hard. 

Mick Jagger with Ronnie Wood in the background performing at Glastonbury.

The BBC sent over 300 staff members to the Glastonbury Festival, at the cost of £2 million, but more people tuned into watch Bruce Willis' Die Hard than Saturday's (29th June 2013) coverage. 

Continue reading: The Rolling Stones At Glastonbury VS. Die Hard- And The Winner Is...?

Mumford And Sons will definitely be headlining Glastonbury Festival this Sunday, with the mega-popular folk popsters putting to rest any concern that they might not be able to appear as the final act of the festival following bassist Ted Dwane's recent blood clot. The band had already been forced to pull out of their Bonnaroo set last weekend and it was thought they may have to do the same with Glasto, but alas the group will go on as planned.

The band recently announced that they were re-scheduling a number of shows due to take place this August, when the band were initially due to begin their tour of North America, by moving them instead to the end of September. This had caused doubts to arise around their Glastonbury performance, due to take place in Somerset on June 30, but keyboard player Ben Lovett was quick to dispel any potential rumours when he told the Radio Times on Monday (June 24); "All we feel is incredibly grateful and happy that he's going to be OK, and that we're going to get back out on that stage at Glastonbury as four brothers and do what we do."

Dwane suffered a brain clot in his brain and was rushed to hospital to undergo emergency treatment earlier this month. The band had a number of festival appearances and live, solo shows due to take place between then and now and were forced to pull out when he was taken into surgery. Fortunately the bassist has so far made a full recovery and as we will see on Sunday when the band headline the Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm with Dwane in tow.

Continue reading: Mumford And Sons Will Definitely Be Playing Glastonbury Despite Bassist's Health Scare

Thank the lord of folk; Ted Dwayne – the bassist from Mumford And Sons who recently suffered a blood clot in his brain – is safe, sound and out of hospital recovering well.

With a freshly shaved head – you didn’t expect the doctors to work through that thick mane of hair did you? – Dwayne posted a picture of himself after being discharged from hospital on the official Mumford wesite. Alongside the snap was a message that read: "Bear with a sore head!" it reads. "Thanks so much for all the well wishing, it seems to be working! I’m home."

Mumford and Sons were forced to cancel some tour dates due to their bassists ailment, but are still nailed on to headline Glastonbury having confirmed that there are "no plans to cancel or postpone any other appearances along this current tour".

Continue reading: Normal Service Resumes - Mumford And Sons Bassist Back On Track After Blood Clot

After being hospitalised with a blood clot on his brain that required immediate surgery, bassist Ted Dwayne posted a message on the band's website on Monday (17th June), reassuring fans and thanking them for their support under the headline 'A Message From Ted', reading "Bear with a sore head! Thanks so much for all the well wishing, it seems to be working! I'm home. Ted xx"

Mumford & Sons have been forced to cancel several US performances as a result of Ted's condition: "It is with sadness that we have to announce the cancellation of our scheduled performances at both Bonnaroo and Telluride Festivals, and our show at Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, KS.", due to medical advice stating that Ted needs time to recover before the quartet hit the road again.

US acoustic singer, Jack Johnson had stepped in to take their place at Tennessee's Bonnaroo festival.

Continue reading: "Bear With A Sore Head": Mumford & Sons' Ted Dwayne Is Home After Blood Clot

Popular alt-folk pansies Mumford And Sons had kept their fan's hopes up that they would be able to perform their headlining set at this year's Bonnaroo despite the recent news that bassist Ted Dwane has had to receive treatment this week for a blood clot on his brain. On the day before the performance though (June 14) the band decided, with a heavy heart, that they couldn't go ahead with the performance with Ted in his current state and the band have had to pull out of their scheduled performance.

The band took to their Facebook page to say that their 'Summer Stampede Tour' has come to a premature end, announcing the cancellation of the weekend set and two other sets the band were supposed to perform at before the summer is over. The statement from the band began on a positive note, saying that Ted had been discharged from the hospital and was well on his way to recovery, however the tone of the statement soon shifted as the band announced their plans to pull out of the planned performances at Bonnaroo, as well as Telluride Festival and a solo show at the Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kansas, rather than simply find a replacement bassist.

The statement went on to read, after detailing the decision to drop out of the planned shows and tell fans that Ted is getting better; "On behalf of Ted, and all of us really, we would like to thank every one for their compassion and support at this time and we are very excited to get back out on tour as soon as we can."

Continue reading: Mumford And Sons Pull Out Of Bonnaroo Set Amidst Blood-Clot Drama

After an initial scare, Ted Dwayne – Mumford & Sons bassist – is “recovering nicely” from surgery on a blood clot. The popular band had to cancel a few dates in America, much to the dismay of their loyal fans.

Winston Marshall was kind enough to keep us abreast of his buddies’ state of health on Twitter. He wrote: ‘Ted is recovering nicely from surgery. He's a brave little boy. Thanks for all your support. We are very grateful”. The folk band announced the news about their 28-year-old bandmate in a statement via their website. It read: “Our friend and bandmate Ted has been feeling unwell for a few days, and yesterday he was taken to a hospital to receive emergency treatment. The scans revealed a blood clot on the surface of his brain that requires an operation. Ted is receiving excellent care and we are being assured that he will recover quickly from surgery.” We hope Mr Dwayne achieves a healthy recovery from that scary ailment.

Marcus Mumford and Winston were seen out in Texas as they waited for important news about their bandmate; they were joined by Carey Mulligan: the wife of Marcus. The pair wed a year ago in April after just one year together, having known each other as youngsters when they would write to each other as pen pals. That's nice.

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Bassist On The Mend After Blood Clot

British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons are never ones to disappoint fans, but recently they were forced to cancel a few shows off their US tour, due to bassist Ted Dwayne needing emergency brain surgery. According to Reuters, the Grammy award winning act had announced that Dwayne hadn’t been feeling well for a few days and was hospitalized on Monday.

“Ted is receiving excellent care and we are being assured that he will recover quickly from surgery,” said the official statement on the band’s website. The three postponed shows were to be held in Dallas, Woodlands and New Orleans on the 11th, 12th and 13th of June respectively. Fortunately, the fans who have already purchased tickets will not have to miss out or be refunded, since the shows will be rescheduled as soon as possible, with all tickets purchased previously being honored on the new dates of the gigs.

 Dwayne is a crucial member of Mumford, playing bass, drums, guitar, and even singing with the four-member band that formed in 2007.Apparently doctors are predicting a speedy recovery for the musician, since the band explicitly stated that they are not planning to postpone any additional shows on their current "Summer Stampede" tour of North America that started in Calgary on May 21. The next performance is scheduled for the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee, on June 15.

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Postpone Shows In Light Of Bassist's Illness

Mumford And Sons, who, to the detriment of everything that is good in the world, have been described as ‘neo-folk’, are to delay a few American gigs, which comes as a relief to everyone… except ticket holders for those gigs.

The seriousness of the reason, though, is no laughing matter as their bassist, Ted Dwayne, was hospitalized on Monday (June 10) with a blood clot in his brain. "Our friend and bandmate Ted has been feeling unwell for a few days, and yesterday he was taken to a hospital to receive emergency treatment," said a joint statement from the group. "The scans revealed a blood clot on the surface of his brain that requires an operation. Ted is receiving excellent care, and we are being assured that he will recover quickly from surgery.”

Mumford – a growing band in America following a successful tour or two - were one of the headliners at next weekend's annual Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, a performance that is now in jeopardy too. "Sadly we have to postpone three upcoming headline shows planned for this week in Dallas on Tuesday 6/11, Woodlands on Wednesday 6/12, and New Orleans on Thursday 6/13. All dates will be rescheduled and will be announced as soon as we can; all tickets for this week’s events will be honoured at their rescheduled dates"

Continue reading: Blood Clot Halts Mumford And Sons' American Dates

Ted Dwayne, the bass player with huge-selling British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons, has been hospitalized with a blood clot on the brain. The band issued a statement on its website, saying, "Our friend and bandmate Ted has been feeling unwell for a few days, and yesterday he was taken to a hospital to receive emergency treatment."

"The scans revealed a blood clot on the surface of his brain that requires an operation.  Ted is receiving excellent care and we are being assured that he will recover quickly from surgery," added the statement. Mumford And Sons says it will postpone its next three shows and reschedule "as soon as we can." The shows affected are Dallas, Woodlands and New Orleans. The band adds, "We're all wishing Ted a speedy recovery.We have no plans to cancel or postpone any other appearances along this current tour. We're all wishing Ted a speedy recovery."

Mumford & Songs are set to headline the Glastonbury Festival later this month, alongside Arctic Monkeys and The Rolling Stones. Ted Dwayne, who also provides backing vocals as well as drums and guitar on some tracks, is a founding member of the band which emerged out of the West London with the likes of Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale. After two selling albums they have risen to become one of the biggest bands in the world.

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Bassist Rushed To Hospital With Blood Clot On Brain

“Boo, the Glastonbury line-up’s rubbish … Yaaay, the Glastonbury’s line-up’s amazing.” It happens every year, but so it goes when you’re a festival the size of a large town with about 100 hundred stages which basically means your line-up is anyone in the world on tour. Anyone can manipulate the names to make the bill look brilliant or terrible, watch us do it now: so you wouldn’t get us going to a festival if we were told the line-up was The Courteeners, Newton Faulkner, Hurts, Jake Bugg and Miles Kane. They just don’t float our boat. But tell us that it’s a festival featuring Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Phoenix, The Horrors, Portishead and Foals? We’d probably snap your arm off for a ticket (and we would, if any Glastonbury PR happens to be reading this.)

Mumford & Sons are headlining Glastonbury for the first time

The point? Glastonbury is never just about the headliners and it’s never just about one stage. Sure you could argue that this year’s Pyramid Stage bill toppers amount to nothing more than a dinosaur act merely ticking off the last career accomplishment they’d not yet completed, coupled by a band who woefully under performed last time they headlined and another group who half the country want to start picking up pitchforks and farming for, and who half want to pick up pitchforks and want to start farming their organs, but if you were only going for The Rolling Stones, The Arctic Monkeys and Mumford & Sons then you’ve really missed the point of the festival entirely.

Continue reading: Glastonbury 2013 Line-Up Revealed, But Is It A Let Down?

A Family Guy: Forget Ricky Gervais - who managed to insult MOST people during his stint as Golden Globes host - because Seth Macfarlane just about offended everyone at the Oscars on Sunday. Women, Jews, Mel Gibson, George Clooney and Prometheus were among those feeling the full force of the comedian's quips. He says he'll never host again.

A Silver Lining: It sort of seemed as though the world was against Jennifer Lawrence winning Best Actress at the Oscars. Many plumped for the underdog Emmauelle Riva, while others favoured Jessica Chastain - nevertheless, the Silver Linings Playbook was head over heels with her win - literally.

Continue reading: A Week In News: Seth Divides Oscars Viewers, Jennifer Lawrence Wins Big And It's Goodbye To Affleck's Beard

Winston Mumford is really letting the team down. He's going to have to start carving out a unique new look or begin dressing more Mumford And Sons-sy, after being turned away from his own BRIT Awards after-party this week. Young Winston, feeling on top of the world after his band scooped Best British Group, strode up to the Universal Records bash in the early hours of Thursday but was duly rejected. He's only the banjo player, so it's no biggie.

According to The Sun, poor Winston was left standing in the cold asking if anyone had a spare ticket after bouncers said he wasn't allowed to enter. The musician was eventually granted entry and certainly made the most of it, hitting the dance floor and spending time chatting with Taylor Swift. They even swapped numbers before the party wound up at around 3am.

Harry Styles' ex-girlfriend was manning the decks alongside Brits host James Corden, Rizzle Kicks, Marcus Mumford and wife Carey Mulligan. Elsewhere, Jessie J partied away with Ellie Goulding and actor Jeremy Irvine and, somewhat bizarrely, West Ham player Mark Noble and ex-Spurs defender Ledley King bopped away too. Cool guy Frank Ocean just played it, well, cool.

Continue reading: Best BRITS Moment: Winston Mumford Turned Away From His Own Party

Awards ceremonies are supposed to make you laugh. They’re supposed to make you cry. They’re supposed to make you angry. They’re supposed to shock the living daylights out of you. They are supposed to provide some serious ‘water cooler’ moments for you to talk about at work the next day. Did The Brits do any of these things? Did they heck. The most animated we got last night was when we managed to muster up the energy to actually yawn.

Ben Howard at the Brits 2013, possibly the blandest year ever?

Continue reading: Brit Awards 2013 - Why They Were The Blandest Brits, And Who Should Have Won...

Frank Ocean and Chris Brown provided an interesting subplot at The Grammys; the latter refusing to stand up and applaud his counterpart when he won Best Urban Contemporary Album, but for us, the real story is Ocean’s lack of awards.

Alright, he did win two – that last one and as part of as part of the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration prize – but leading up to the awards, Ocean was mooted to take more than that. Epic-folk perpetuators Mumford & Sons picked up album of the year for their effort, Babel, which is a decision we can’t quite believe. Channel ORANGE was unanimously praised, and even broke new boundaries, suggesting that someone involved in hip hop, RnB and rap might be gay. Ocean deserved album of the year. Best New Artist is another category we can’t get our head around, and for the reasons listed under best album, we think Ocean deserved this one too. Record of The Year we can just about understand. Thinkin’ Bout You isn’t Ocean’s best track, and 'Somebody That I Used to Know' - Gotye Featuring Kimbra is a deserved winner.

So Mr. Ocean will have to make do with one major award, but given his prodigious talent, we predict that next year he’ll clean up song and album of the year easily. Unfortunately, the best new artist gong has passed him by forever. 

Continue reading: Why Did Frank Ocean Not Win More At The Grammys?

A Week in Videos...The popularity of Unknown Mortal Orchestra has been on a slow burning rise for some months now. Taken from their forthcoming second album, helpfully entitled II, ‘So Good At Being In Trouble’ sees the band in a particularly catchy mode, a lilting melody lifting the trademark stoner vibe. The video features the actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse (you’ll know him as McLovin’ from the movie Superbad) causing a scene and trying to snatch a hippy from a scene that could well be set in a 1960s era Venice Beach.

In this video, Nina Simone talks about freedom and love, before the film cuts to a grainy performance of her performing ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free.’ One of music’s legendary performers, Simone’s rendition of the song showcases her warm and passionate vocal. On the subject of freedom, Simone insists that she couldn’t possibly describe how it feels to be free, just as much as its impossible to describe the feeling of being in love. To hear her perform the track, though, you get just a glimpse of what freedom might feel like.

Continue reading: A Week In Music - My Bloody Valentine Make Victorious Return, Mumford And Sons Take Home Top Grammy Award

British folk types Mumford & Sons have caused a minor surprise at the 2013 Grammy Awards to beat off strong competition and take home the much-coveted Album Of The Year for Babel.

The banjo-playing, farm-loving Mumfords beat out the likes of Frank Ocean, The Black Keys, Jack White and Fun. to take the top prize at the glossy awards show, and were presented their gong by last year’s Stateside-breaking Brit, Adele. Up for six awards, the folk group were never likely to match Adele’s winning total of the same number last year, but nevertheless their achievement is an impressive one, and also indicative that their brand of nu-folk – prominent for a couple of years in their native UK now – is catching on in a big way Stateside.

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons The Surprise Of The Grammy Awards 2013 With Album Of The Year Win

Sting, Alabama Shakes, Neil Young, Elton John Mumford & Sons and John Legend all paid tribute to Bruce Springsteen as he was named Musicares Person of the Year for 2013 at last night's pre-Grammy award show. 

The event recognises a star's philanthropic work as well as their efforts as an artist, something that "The Boss" - as Springsteen has become known - can't separate. "Whatever philanthropy I've ever done usually involved playing the guitar," he said. "I was going to play the guitar anyway." In attendance were some previous honourees: Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett and Bonnie Raitt. Springsteen is a deserving honoree "because he lives his life in such an exemplary way," Raitt said before the gala. "He's committed to his art. He's a good family man. He's a real inspiration for how to give back. I couldn't fault him in any aspect of his life."

Springsteen said of receiving the award, "It's kind of a freaky experience. This is the huge Italian wedding Patti and I never had. I had one of the loveliest nights of my life ...John Legend made me sound like Gershwin. Neil Young made me sound like the Sex Pistols. What a night." He also talked about the power and magic of music, adding, "The Taliban will never win, not now or ever, by banning music and dancing. The minute you do that, you label yourself a tyrant and your cruel days are numbered."

Though Frank Ocean is going to win every award, it might be worth tuning in to the Grammy Awards this Sunday (February 10, 2013) if only to witness the possibility that Taylor Swift might bump into fellow country star Carrie Underwood. According to an insider, Grammy executives have been ordered to keep Swift, 23, and Underwood, 29, "from crossing paths." Their reason? "They hate each other!"

The feud appears to have begun when Underwood and Brad Paisley mocked Swift's split from Conor Kenned while hosting the Country Music Association Awards in November. "The greatest trade of the year had to be the Kennedy family. They somehow traded Arnold Schwarzenegger for Taylor Swift," Paisley joked about Swift dating the 65-year-old bodybuilder's nephew through marriage. When Underwood whispered in his ear that the young couple had split up, Paisley feigned disbelief "What? Why don't I ever hear about these things?...I'm the last one to know. Are they ever gonna get back together?" Underwood, of course, said, "Never, ever." The whole thing was rather cringe-worthy, but was enough to get Taylor's back up, according to the insider. A source close to the singer - known for writing songs about her failed relationships - told US Weekly magazine, "Taylor feels Carrie is always rude to her, so she steer clear of her."

It's set to be a big night for Swift in particular, who will open the show at Los Angeles' Staples Center on Sunday." What's interesting is we presented this performance to the Grammy committee . . . and they said, 'Okay, cool, you have a performance spot.' And then like a week ago they call us and are like, 'Oh, by the way, you're opening the show," Swift told Ryan Seacrest Thursday. Despite her prominent live slot, it's unlikely that Swift will walk away with anything too prestigious at the biggest night in music, with Frank Ocean, Fun, Mumford & Sons and Goyte likely to lead the charge for the major prizes. 

Continue reading: Grammys Preview: Taylor Swift Plans To Avoid Carrie Underwood, Why?

Annually, the Grammys is one of the biggest events for music across America and in Europe. In fact, it has dubbed itself 'music's biggest night'. Celebrating the best in pop, hiphop, soul, R&B and much of what comes in between, it never fails to be a veritable who's who from the Spotify playlists of the masses. And this year will be no different. Not only are the nominees ones to look out for, absences are worthy of note, as are this year's presenters and some very special performances.

As Yahoo report, this year's presenters include Grammy royalty, Prince, Beyonce, and Jennifer Lopez, all of whom have been nominated or won Grammys before.  

In terms of performances to look forward to, this year we have some unusual and largely unexpected pair ups. Elton John and Ed Sheeran will take to the stage together. An unusual pairing, they're both Brits with unusual song writing talent. While John is a true showman and is well known for his intereSting outfits and outrageous glasses, Sheeran is distinctly more low key. We're not sure how this is going to work, but we're guessing it'll be great. Bruno Mars, Sting and Rihanna will all also perform together, as will Alicia Keys and Maroon 5, and Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert. 

Continue reading: 55th Grammys Preview: 'Music's Biggest Night' Wont Fail To Impress

Live performers were sent a warning email ahead of the 55th Annual Grammys Awards this Sunday (February 10, 2013), requesting that all “talent appearing on camera adhere to Network policy concerning wardrobe.” The main problem areas for the Grammy organizers seem to be the breasts, the buttocks and (we would say this is a given, really) the genitalia. In fact, the email, which was obtained by Deadline.com is really quite specific when it comes to the organisers’ expectations in those areas.

“Please be sure that buttocks and female breasts are adequately covered. Thong type costumes are problematic.” Male breasts, it seems, are off the hook at the Grammys. “Please avoid exposing bare fleshy under curves of the buttocks and buttock crack.” Now, looking down the list of performers, here, we’re imagining that that the Grammys organizers probably had Rihanna in mind when they wrote this list. We can’t see Mumford & Sons taking to the stage in cut off denim hot-pants, somehow. “Bare sides or under curvature of the breasts is also problematic. Please avoid sheer see-through clothing that could possibly expose female breast nipples.” Fair enough, they’ve got Justin Timberlake in the house and we know how much he likes wandering around exposing ladies’ nipples.

This next bit though: “Please be sure the genital region is adequately covered so that there is no visible ‘puffy’ bare skin exposure.” We have no idea quite what genital-exposure-related traumas these people have suffered in the past but this sounds truly horrific. Puffy bare skin exposure? Yuk! Keep your junk hidden, performers! We want none of this! 

Continue reading: What Are The Grammys Scared Of? Performers Banned From Baring Breasts And Buttocks

Mercury Music Prize winners Alt-J have been given their first BRIT Award nods, after being nominated for three awards: Best British Group, Best British Album and British Breakthrough.. Still, despite earlier success the band have admitted that they were still taken by surprise with the announcement of their recognition.

Speaking to NME, keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton described the news as "incredible," but admitted that he and the rest of the band were taken by surprise by the announcement, saying: "thought this this wouldn't be for the likes of us."

Last year the group's debut album, An Awesome Wave, received wide-spread acclaim and was awarded the title of BBC Radio 6's Album of 2012 as well as the Mercury Award and with the BRITs constantly vying to remain relevant and 'cool' it looks like the group might also be in contention to take away at least one gong at February's awards show, regardless of what the modest group members may think of their chances.

Continue reading: Alt-J Taken By Surprise By BRIT Nominations

This year’s Brit Awards nominations look as though they were concocted by a group of strangers, with wildly different cultural backgrounds, on a drunken night out. Is this a sign that the mainstream music world is finally starting to accept that it’s becoming more and more acceptable to have diverse musical tastes? Or are the organisers of the BRITS simply trying to spark controversy? have they lost the plot? Or is this an honest reflection of the mindset of a 2013 British music buying public? Let’s take a look at the evidence, and scrutinise some of the more baffling categories…

British Female Solo Artist Nominees – One of the more sensitive and contentious issues, here, in the British female solo artist category. Of the five nominees, only four of them were alive this year. We understand that Amy Winehouse has a lasting legacy in British pop music. We understand that she was – and, in many ways remains - a tour de force. But, for the sake of the awards, we simply have to ask, at the risk of sounding flippant, what has Amy Winehouse done for British music in the last 12 months? Sadly, nothing. Her posthumous album (released in December 2011, we should add), Lioness: Hidden Treasures was politely and quietly denounced for being little more than cuttings from the studio floor. We simply can’t get our heads around her inclusion on this list. With Bat For Lashes throw in as the ‘alternative’ wild card, to lend a touch of outsider cool to the category, it’s between Emeli Sande, Paloma Faith and Jessie Ware to catch this one, we reckon. 

Watch Jessie Ware's video for 'Sweet Talk'

Continue reading: BRIT Awards 2013 Nominees Announced: Diverse? Or Just Weird?

To say that the Grammys have attracted a star-studded line-up is a bit like saying there might be a couple of handy actors knocking around the Oscars next month. However, once again it is the crème de la crème of mainstream music that will be attending the annual music ceremony, with the first batch of performers being announced for the event on February 10, 2013.

Many of the nominees for this year’s 55^th Grammy Awards are set to put in a turn performing. MTV reports that leading the list are six time nominees and the only act honored in each of the so-called Big Four categories, Record and Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best New Artist, Fun. British folk duds Mumford & Sons will also perform – the group are also up for six categories this year - while five-time nominees the Black Keys and three-time nominees Rihanna and Taylor Swift will also be taking a turn each. Studded with stars as you can see.

LL Cool J’s been doing a pretty bang up job of hosting the huge event in recent years, and it’ll be he who once again guides everyone through the evening, with plenty more stars still to be confirmed to perform. Hopefully this will be a year where the event won’t be befallen by tragedy, as it did on the eve of last year’s when Whitney Houston passed away in her hotel room.

Continue reading: Weighty Line-Up Announced For The Grammys; Rihanna, Taylor Swift And Fun Set To Play

It's no real surprise that sales of CD albums have dropped by 19.5%, with the rise of mp3 players and everyone using laptops, phones, and tablets along with the internet for all their musical needs, the CD is fast becoming redundant. However, as the BBC reports, overall album sales have dropped by 11.2% while fans opt to download singles (sales of which have risen by 6%) rather than an artist or band's full set of new music. 

The British Phonic Industry (BPI) have released the data, and their Chief Executive, Geoff Taylor, commented on the statistics, Like all other industries in the nation, the Olympics helped out. "The Jubilee celebrations and the London 2012 Olympics provided a great showcase for British music internationally," he said, adding that "market conditions at home remained difficult and pressure on the 'leisure wallet' impacted music sales on the high street." Indeed, numerous artists saw as much success overseas as at home, including One Direction, Mumford & Sons and Adele, all of whom have enjoyed number one albums in the USA. The highest selling album artists of the year were Adele with 2011's album 21, Emeli Sande's Our Version of Events, and Ed Sheeran's +.

The final week of December saw the highest downloads of the year with "more than 1.3m albums and 5.6m singles" being downloaded. Streaming music has also become increasingly popular, while "UK music fans streamed more than 3.7 billion tracks in 2012." Most streamed tracks included  Somebody That I Used To Knowby Gotye ft Kimbra, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen and Titanium by David Guetta ft Sia. 

All eyes will be on Bruce Springsteen during Grammy’s week, as the New Jersey rocker will be the recipient of the MusiCares Person of the Year award. To celebrate the honour, a Bruce Springsteen tribute concert will take place in Los Angeles on February 8, 2013, featuring some of the biggest names in rock and pop and hosted by Jon Stewart.

The event, which is already sold out, will feature musical highlights such as Elton John, Kenny Chesney and Mumford And Sons. A whole host of musicians of varying genres and eras have been included in the line-up. Patti Smith, with whom Bruce co-wrote the hit ‘Because The Night’ will be there, as will Faith Hill, Emmylou Harris, as well as Alabama Shakes, Eddie Vedder and Neil Young. Proceeds for the concert will go to MusiCares, an organisation set up to provide support for struggling musicians in financial, medical and personal need.

The annual MusiCares Person of the Year award is attributed to a star whose artistic accomplishments are as worthy of merit as their philanthropic work. Previous winners of the award include Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney and Bono.

Every single publishing industry, from music, to academic journals, to books have fretted enormously over the impact that digital publishing and online streaming may have on their revenues. Spotify has been part of revolutionising the legal streaming of music, and has come under great fire from a variety of musicians for being a catalyst in the breakdown of how lucrative the music industry is.

However, as Rolling Stone report, using Mumford & Sons second album Babel as a case in point, Spotify have shown that their impact is not a negative one: Babel sold 600,000 albums in one week, and also broke Spotify records for most streams in a week. 

Metallica is one band that has criticized similar streaming platford, notoriously suing Napster in 2000. Lars Ulrich, from Metallica, was at the Q&A that Spotify held this week, as was the ex- Napster owner Sean Parker (who was famously played by Justin Timberlake in The Social Network), and the two managed to kiss and make-up. "This was never about money," Mr. Ulrich said, quoted by The NY Times. "It was just about control." Now that they have control the Enter Sandman band have chosen to allow their music on Spotify.

Continue reading: Spotify Proves Financial Worth To Artists, And Give QandA About New Features

The nominations for the 55th Grammy Award Nominations in 2013 have officially been announced by the award's organisers. Here’s a run down of some of the main awards, and our tips for Grammy's Glory.

Album Of The Year:

El Camino — The Black Keys

Continue reading: Grammy Nominations 2013: Who Will Win? Who SHOULD Win?

T In The Park have announced their 2013 headliners and they’ve got some of the biggest players in the world of rock and pop at the top of their bill next year. Both Rihanna and Mumford & Sons – responsible for two of the most significant album releases of 2012 – will be headlining separate days of the festival, which celebrates its 20th birthday. And what a way to celebrate!

Also announced are this year’s Mercury Music Prize winners, Alt-J, everybody’s favourite flame-haired nutcase, Paloma Faith and highly-lauded newcomer Jake Bugg. T in the Park has long been the most significant event in the Scottish festival calendar and its organisers have erred towards the mainstream in more recent years; a move which has clearly paid off and seen crowds flock to the festival in their thousands. On Friday (December 7, 2012), a limited number of tickets will be available at 2012 prices – a move that echoes an announcement from the organisers of Reading and Leeds festivals who are doing the same, in an attempt to secure early business from cash-strapped music fans.

The festival’s director, Geoff Ellis, said “it seems like only yesterday that the first band took to the stage at Strathclyde Park for our inaugural T in the Park in 1994, now here we are in 2012 announcing two of the world's biggest and best acts to headline our 20th edition.” T in the Park 2013 will take place in Balado, Scotland, on July 12 – 14.

UK folk-popsters Mumford And Sons have hit out at claims that they are an unauthentic package during an interview with The Guardian, claiming that Bob Dylan - a supposed influence on the band - was as 'unauthentic' as they come.

Despite being the voice of numerous generations and possessing more storytelling and songwriting ability in his little finger than the whole of Mumford and Sons, that didn't stop frontman Marcus Mumford said, "Not since I came to the realization that Dylan, who's probably my favorite artist ever, the richest artist for me, didn't give a sh*t about authenticity... [He] lied to everyone about who he was."

Mumford and Sons, known for making songs of the same quality, and same sound, with the same lyrics and chord progression over and over, have also shot down claims that they are not a religious band either, despite their spiritual lyrics and Christian background. Bass player Ted Dwane said, "We're not all religious. In fact none of us are, really. We, er, we have a full spectrum of beliefs."

Continue reading: Mumford And Sons Claims Bob Dylan Was Unauthentic

It's been less than two months since Mumford And Sons released their number one selling second album 'Babel', but the folk band have already begun to create a new set of songs for album number three. 

Banjo player Winston Marshall revealed to NME that they plan to write a lot more music following their remarkable success. 'We've started working on new songs, got a rehearsal studio', he said. 'Got a few new tunes out of it. It was great, sounds really cool. They're bones [of songs] but really exciting bones. Sturdy bones.' In a recent interview with The Guardian, he also insisted that their latest sound shares similarities to The National and The Band 'without doing either of them justice' while bass player Ted Dwane likened it to 'the glory-days Elton John'. 

Marshall is also desperate to get the band together for the Glastonbury Festival next year having missed 2012's - the first year they've missed since their first appearance in 2008. 'We've done every Glastonbury that we could have and I've been every year since I can remember', he said. For now though, they have their Tour Of Two Halves to beat beginning in Torquay's Princess Theatre on November 21st 2012.

Taylor Swift’s latest album Red has remained steadfast at the top of the Billboard albums chart for a second week. Swift’s popularity appears to know no bounds, as she has made a successful and seamless transition from her country roots into the pop arena. She seems equally at home at the Grand Ole Opry as she does wooing a crowd of teenagers at an MTV Awards event. This dual appeal has translated nicely into CD sales for Swift, who shifted 344,000 copies of Red in the last week in the United States.

The rapper Meek Mill made a seriously impressive dent in the chars with his major label debut, Dreams and Nightmares, and sold approximately 165,000, according to MTV News (sourced from Nielsen Soundscan). It may be a long way off Swift’s total, but it still landed him the number two slot, in a week where sales were affected by Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast of America. The previous week, it had been another rapper snapping at Taylor’s heels (albeit from a distance!). This week, Kendrick Lamar has slipped down to number five with good kid, m.A.A.d. City, making room for Rod Stewart’s Christmas album Merry Christmas Baby.

Mumford & Sons, who impressed with their initial ascent to the top of the US charts with Babel, have dropped to number seven with sales of 44,000. We’re predicting a third week at the top for Taylor; this week’s releases seem to contain little in the way of a threat to the 23 year-old global star.

Both Idris Elba and Mumford & Sons are absolutely at the top of their game, so their collaboration in a music video for the band, though somewhat unexpected, is a really good idea on paper. The surprise pairing reflects the equally surprising role that Elba is in in the partnership as he took up the non-standard role of director.

Being a Golden Globe winning actor for his role in Luther, Elba's appearance in the video is genuinely affecting. Nevertheless, despite stunning cinematography, an interesting concept and the absolutely beautiful surroundings of Pembrokeshire, where it was filmed, there is a distinct disconnect between the video and the song. Unlike some of the most iconic music videos in history, such as Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' or the lesser known, but captivating video for Mars Volta's 'Televators', in which both the video and the song come together as one and truly compliment one another, Elba's offering gives very little to the Mumford song. Nevertheless, both are absolutely excellent examples of what they are alone- film making, and music. 

Quoted in the Sun, Mumford said  "We are huge fans of Idris's work, as he's the most badass British actor since RICHARD BRIERS. So we trusted him... We've been fortunate to work with some great directors but we've never really enjoyed being in videos... making a video that we're not in made it a lot more fun. What [Elba and writer Dan Cady] directed we are proud to present."

It’s a mixed bag for UK albums, as the release schedule starts to slow in preparation for the big race for the Christmas sales market. This week, Jake Bugg toppled Mumford & Sons from what looked to be a pretty comfortable reign at the top of the albums chart. But can he stay there for a second week or do any of this week’s releases have what to takes to shift him?

The strongest competition for Jake will be coming from across the pond, in the shape of the fourth studio album from Taylor Swift entitled Red.

She performed on the X Factor results show here last weekend and her last album, 2010’s Speak Now reached number six. Her profile has increased considerably since then, though – thanks in no small part to her contribution to the Hunger Games soundtrack. If anyone can shift Bugg from the top spot, we reckon it’s Taylor.

Continue reading: UK Album Releases, October 22, 2012: Taylor Swift, Swedish House Mafia, Dappy, Kate Rusby

Ellie Goulding's Halcyon hits shelves on Tuesday (October 9, 2012) and has its sights firmly fixed on the upper echelons of the Billboard chart. It seems domestic success isn't good enough for the Hereford born star and Goulding is likely to emulate the recent US success of British offerings from Mumford And Sons, and One Direction.

The majestic lead single from the record, Anything Could Happen, has already featured in a commercial for Beats By Dre and looks likely to chart high in the U.S. singles chart. However, in conversation with MTV News, Goulding revealed her more far-reaching ambitions for the track, "I'm hoping it will make people go out and propose to their girlfriend and do that holiday they never ended up doing," she said, adding, "I hope it will provoke positivity as opposed to making people really sad." Though her 2010 debut 'Lights' suggested Goulding would continue down the EDM path, the 25-year-old appears to have moved in a different direction with her sophomore effort, "I've got more influences and different influences.I think it's a different sound. It is kind of a bit more tribal, a bit more anthemic.

Goulding will begin a mini-tour of the United States and Canada in New York on October 11, 2012, before heading to the Sound Academy in Toronto (14th), the Troubador in Los Angeles (16th) and Amoeba Music (17th).

Mumford and Son’s second album, Babel is the fastest selling album of the year, in the UK and the US. A report from The Guardian today reveals that Babel sold 159,000 copies in its first week on sale in the UK and landed itself at the top of the UK albums chart in the process. In the US, they sold a staggering 600,000 copies and also topped the Billboard album chart in the States as well.

As if that wasn't enough success for Mumford And Sons to achieve in one week, the band have also beaten Spotify’s record for the number of streams from an album in a single week. Spotify users reportedly streamed “around eight million listens” from the record in its first week of release, beating the previous record by ‘a factor of three.’ Spotify’s chief content officer, Ken Parks told Billboard that one in every 10 Spotify users in the United States streamed a track from Babel last week. These results have somewhat quashed the popular theory that streaming services have a detrimental effect on CD sales.

Some major bands, such as Coldplay, have withheld their album releases from Spotify during the first week of release, fearing that it will impact negatively on people purchasing the album. Daniel Glass of the Mumford and Sons’ US label Glassnote commented “Spotify is a huge form of exposure, and they're not stealing…It's retraining people to buy music through streaming services. Could we be getting better compensation? Yes, but I'm not going to hold it back from them. That's old thinking.”