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Emeli Sande, Jessie J and Ed Sheeran are all set to play a special memorial service for Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered two decades ago in a racially motivated attack. His death galvanised a nation, furthering the cause of equality in the U.K, and heralded the start of the Lawrence Charitable Trust, founded by his mother, Doreen.

Amongst the other star-studded performers set to commemorate Lawrence’s tragic death are Labrinth, Plan B, Tinie Tempah, Rudimental, Rizzle Kicks and Jamie Cullum. The concert will take place at London’s O2 Arena on September 29th. “I would like Stephen to be remembered as a young man who had a future,” explained Doreen. “He was well loved, and had he been given the chance to survive maybe he would have been the one to bridge the gap between black and white because he didn’t distinguish between black or white. He saw people as people.”

She added: “Our aim is to build hope for the future. Justice for Stephen is about all of us, every one of us, in society having justice. I want young people to feel inspired, be confident and have hope in their own future.” Proceeds from the concert will go towards the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.

Continue reading: Emeli Sande, Jessie J And Ed Sheeran All Confirmed For Stephen Lawrence Memorial Gig

Emeli Sande may be adding to her growing list of accolades as she is newly nominated for two different awards at the 58th Ivor Novello awards.

Her UK number 2 hit 'Next To Me' is nominated for Best Song Musically and Lyrically as well as the Most Performed Work award. Competing in the former category is 'Laura' by Bat For Lashes and 'Two Fingers' by Jake Bugg while the latter category also sees nominations from Olly Murs' 'Dance With Me Tonight' and Coldplay's Paradise. Sande has previously received two Urban Music Awards, three BRIT, three MOBO awards and an ECHO Music Award among several others and she's definitely up for a chance in the Ivor Novellos as her nominated track was apparently the third most listened to track of 2012 - a pretty impressive achievement in itself, though not as impressive as the reception her number one debut album 'Our Version of Events' received!

Other artists nominated in two separate categories are Plan B with 'Ill Manors', which is up for Best Contemporary Song and Best Original Film Score, and Alt-J with 'Fitzpleasure' for Best Contemporary Song and 'An Awesome Wave' for Best Album. The awards ceremony will make its way to the Grosvenor House hotel in London later this Spring on May 16th 2013.

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...

Albums of Note... It looks as though Bruno Mars has stepped things up a gear on Unorthodox Jukebox. From straight-up pop songs, to disco and funk stylings, and a nod to reggae in there too, Mars very rarely fails to hit the mark with these new tracks. “Unorthodox Jukebox is a rich pick and mix of different and colourful elements. His lyrics sometime fall short, but a likeably mischievous personality shines through nonetheless, and so on the whole this is a real step up even from the songs that broke him so hugely two years ago.”

Adding a fresh slant to the out-dated genre of twee-duets, Adam Green & Binki Shapiro release a self-titled album of brief ditties, which may appear cutesy at first glance but soon reveal their darker side, with lyrics such as “I can't be the first to say you're the worst, surely there's one or two? / I care more if you act as though you like me than if you really do.” Adam Green is probably the better known of the two, from his work as part of Moldy Peaches and of course his solo work, too. Binki Shapiro already has indie cred from her other band, Little Joy. “Like everything the pair have done individually, together they have made a record that's short, sweet, and maturely macabre; a late contender for an album of the year.”

Continue reading: A Week In Music: Bruno Mars Steps Up A Gear, Ke$ha Delivers Bonkers Pop, The Killers Release Bizarre Xmas Video And Much More!

As the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize 2012 draws near, we have a look at the shortlist and the likelihood of each act actually walking away with the prize. There’s no such thing as a done deal when it comes to the Mercury Music Prize; the ones that you think are the favourites never seem to walk away the title, the judging panel is very hard to second guess. But hey, that’s not going to stop us giving it a try!

Alt-J: An Awesome Wave

These quirky popsters have crept up on the public throughout 2012, and with their debut album garnering critical acclaim in all corners of the press, they’ve been pegged by many as the favourites to win. A recent survey conducted by Spotify showed that Alt-J’s tracks had been streamed more times that any other nominated artist. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to walk home with the prize though.

Continue reading: Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize 2012: Our Predictions

The Mercury Prize is set to be awarded tomorrow (1st Nov. 2012), and true to form and tradition, many of the artists in the nomination lists are ones that you may never have heard, or even heard of. As such, we thought it'd be useful to give you a brief breakdown of three acts topping the list of favourites, Alt-J, Richard Hawley and Jessie Ware. 

Jessie Ware's album 'Devotion' is nominated and 3rd in the favourites. Ware used to be a vocalist with drum and base act SBTRKT. Some of that synthy influence can be heard in this album, but the vocals hark back to the '80s and early '90s, though with her own twee stamp. 

Richard Hawley comes in second. He was originally in the Britpop band Longpigs and also played with Pulp for a few years before launching his solo career. He's nominated for his whimsically titled album 'Standing at the Sky's Edge'. Despite that whimsy, he has described this album as 'angry', to the Guardian. The guitars and vocals are verging on gritty, but angry? Not quite. 

Continue reading: A Brief Run Down Of The Mercury Prize Favourites

This Thursday (November 1, 2012), the winner of the Mercury Music will be announced. As a precursor to the official event, Spotify have taken a look at the streaming figures for all of the nominees, on their online streaming service and Alt-J have attracted more listeners than any of the other Mercury Music Prize nominees.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Mercury judging panel will have the same taste as Spotify’s listeners and Alt-J face fierce competition, even if they have pretty much been tipped as likely winners since the list was announced. Jessie Ware’s another newcomer with a strong chance, as is Lianne La Havas. Plan B and Richard Hawley are among the more experienced artists in there that also stand a strong chance. You should never count on the obvious choice when it comes to the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize, after all. Remember the year that Dizzee Rascal won? How many of you saw that one coming?

Even Alt-J aren’t counting their chickens just yet. The band’s drummer Thom Green placed his expectations of the band winning the prize at a lowly 8.3% and admitted “We’d been tipped to win before we’d even been nominated, so the pressure was on.” A spokesperson for Spotify, Will Hope, said “We can't predict who the judges will pick to win this Thursday's Mercury Prize, but if it were up to music fans on Spotify, Alt-J would be the band picking up the award. Ben Howard is a close second based on recent streaming habits we've seen. We wish all nominees the best of luck!”

Continue reading: Is It A Sign? Spotify Users Vote Alt-J Favourites For Mercury Music Prize

When Mumford & Sons performed at the iTunes Festival, they probably didn't expect some of the U.K's biggest stars to attend, but that's exactly what happened according to The Sun.

Adele, Chris Martin, Simon Pegg and Emma Watson were all in attendance as the folk-pop quartet bashed out tunes from their latest album, Babel. Company indeed! "We've been all around and now we're home, it feels so good," said Frontman Marcus Mumford. "This is our album launch party, celebrate with us." The band have been touring for years now, and experienced some tough times in some of the far corners of the earth, so they'll be glad to be playing in front of home crowds again. A review of their Roundhouse gig in The Telegraph says: "The show's highlights were when the band loosened their grip on the anthemic jugular. A shimmering Timshel was played unplugged, and the band displayed an enviable mastery of the crowd, who fell deathly silent." Their new album, Babel, which the band describes as "an advert for our live shows" has received mixed reviews, to put it lightly. The Guardian gave their follow up to the incredibly popular debut album, Sign No More, 2 stars. But over in America, where the band is making significant inroads, The Huffington Post described it as "a joy".

The iTunes festival represents 30 days of free music in London, with fans vying for tickets on a competition basis. Acts include One Direction, Lana Del Ray and Plan B.

Plan B and Emeli Sande have both received 5 nominations for the 2012 Mobo awards, making them the joint leading nominees, reports The Telegraph.

Having already been nominated for the 2012 Mercury Prize for Ill Manors, Plan B’s hugely successful album, which shares its name with the film in which he starred and directed, is making waves on the MOBO scene. Nominations include Best Male, Best Hip-hop/Grime act, Best Video, Best Song and Best Album: a successful haul for Ben Drew, who has enjoyed a successful renaissance of sorts, since he reinvented his style from U.K grime to retro-chic. Sande, who performed at both the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics, is nominated for Best R&B/Soul Act, Best Video for My Kind Of Love, Best Song for Next To Me, and Best Album for her debut Our Version of Events – which was snubbed by the Mercury Prize judging panel.

Elsewhere, Rita Ora and Labrinth are both nominated for four awards each, while Mercury Prize nominees Jessie Ware, Lianne La Havas and Michael Kiwanuka are also all nominated. Last year Jessie J dominated the event, which will take place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on November 3. She won four MOBO awards, while US R&B act Boyz II Men were recognised with a special award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.