Music News

Albert Hammond Jr. "almost wishes" The Strokes were over.
The guitarist and keyboard player admits he feels as frustrated as the group's fans do about the lack of certainty over their future, and there's a part of him that wants them to split so they can draw a clean break, but he thinks that would be a waste.
He said: "It's terrible. Half of you almost wishes the band was over, so you could mourn it, and the other half of you is like, 'Why are we wasting such an amazing opportunity?'
"We are so good together and it's hard to find that connection with people.
"I would love to know about the future of the band as much as you would. We would all like to know."
Albert went on to suggest the group's management is at fault for most of the uncertainty and doubt.
He added to NME magazine : "Our managers make the first contact - they're running the machine.
"We went into the studio, but it seems silly to even speak about that because nothing is set.
"The machine behind us is even further behind wherever we were - at the beginning of writing I guess."

Carly Rae Jepsen wants Twitter "beef".
The 29-year-old star has revealed she felt left out when she saw Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift feuding online earlier this week as she's never got into an online argument.
Speaking to Nick Grimshaw on BBC Radio 1, she quipped: "I wanna have a beef! Pick someone for me to have a beef with."
However, the 'Call Me Maybe' hitmaker doesn't believe in all of the celebrity rows which the media reports on and thinks the media are always exaggerating any comments stars make to each other.
She explained: "I actually feel like there is kind of a new age and women are much less competitive. I feel like the media does that too [exaggerates] sometimes, like back in the day when Britney Spears was against Christina Aguilera and it's like, is that really real? Or are they [the media] just trying to cause trouble?"
However the star - who recently premiered her new single 'Runaway With Me' - insisted she is focusing on her own music at the moment with her third studio album 'Emotion' and teased she is planning to tour later on in the year.
She said: "I believe we're doing something for the late-fall, but I don't have dates yet."

Prince's new album features "so many hits".
The 57-year-old musician has completed his 38th studio LP, which will be titled 'The Hit & Run Album' in reference to his latest tour, and his backing band 3RDEYEGIRL have teased it sounds "phenomenal".
They said: "It's phenomenal; there are so many hits on this album. It's super experimental."
The 'Little Red Corvette' hitmaker released his last albums 'Art Official Age' and 'PLECTRUMELECTRUM' last September and trailed his upcoming collection by premiering new single 'Hardrocklover' online earlier this month.
And speaking about what fans can expect from the iconic musician, 3RDEYEGIRL went on to say it will please lovers of his classic albums because it features "hit after hit".
Speaking to radio station BBC 6 Music, the trio said: "Super hardcore Prince fans that know every song he's ever recorded - we refer to them as 'The Purple Collective' or 'The Purple Army' - this album is absolutely for them, because it's super funky.
"It's weird, there's a lot of experimental sound. It's just hit after hit and definitely caters to those fans who just love to hear what Prince has to say, rather than wanting to always hear that classic 'Purple Rain' Prince sound."

Will Young thinks Kanye West is "a really good musician".
The 36-year-old singer insists he is a fan of the 'All Day' rapper after he recently described him as "awful", saying his "arrogance completely over-runs him as a musician."
Clarifying his comments, he explained: "I just shoot my mouth off sometimes.
"I'm always honest and hopefully not rude, but I just think I don't really like those ostentatious ways of being. I think he's really talented, Kanye West, it's just a shame that some of the things he says aren't so talented.
"I think he's a really good musician and I think what he says clouds what his music is."
The former 'Pop Idol' contestant - who recently released his sixth studio album '85% Proof' - continued to say he wants to see what's "underneath" the 21-time Grammy Award winner's arrogant persona because he's keen to discover who he is as "a real person".
Speaking on ITV's 'Loose Women', he explained: "Arrogance just isn't attractive. It's a shame, what I said is actually underneath that [arrogance], I'm actually more interested in that because that's vulnerability and that's what music is. And I think that arrogance always hides insecurities and I'm interested in insecurities because that's a real person."

Noel Gallagher believes rock 'n' roll is "in hibernation".
The 'Ballad of the Mighty I' singer thinks the genre is currently experiencing a lull because he can't see any new bands emerging who are as good as rockers such as Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian who launched over a decade ago.
Asked if rock 'n' roll is dead, he said: "Not as long as I'm still going, it's f**king not!
"It's there but it's certainly lacking the re-generation process.
"Since the Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Razorlight and The Libertines there has been nothing. You name me one band since them.
"So that's ten years ago. So the evidence is that it is kind of in hibernation."
The 48-year-old former Oasis musician continued to say the band were part of "the old world" before the internet revolutionised the music industry.
He added: "Oasis was the last band from the old world. We happened before the digital age."
But Noel said he believes the internet has actually had a negative impact on rock because less people seem to be interested in it and record labels don't want to invest in up-and-coming bands like they did when Oasis launched.
Speaking on BBC Four's 'What Ever Happened to Rock 'n' Roll?' he explained: "In theory the internet and YouTube should be helping new bands get off the ground but it hasn't - it's got worse. The record labels just aren't interested in working-class bands any more."

James Morrison is making a comeback.
The 30-year-old singer/songwriter is set to relaunch his career four years after he released his third record 'The Awakening', having taken time out to go camping and to spend time with his daughter Elsie.
He revealed: "I took a year and a half out. I spent a year just going camping, hanging out with mates and looking after my daughter."
James originally shot to fame in 2006 with his debut album 'Undiscovered' which featured his hit single 'You Give Me Something' and led to him winning the Best British Male Brit Award in 2007.
But the 'Broken Strings' hitmaker is now ready to return to his life as a chart-topping star following an 18-month break and has completed his fourth studio album which will be released in October.
He explained: "I was in a dark place but I'm out of it now. The album is out in October and the first single in September."
And the singer/songwriter has had no shortage of inspiration, penning over 75 tracks for the LP during his time out of the spotlight.
He told The Sun newspaper: "I wrote 75 songs and I've picked 15 for the record."

The Maccabees find it "hard" making an album.
The 'Unknow' hitmakers are nearly ready to drop their latest album 'Marks To Prove It' and singer Orlando Weeks has revealed the process reminded them just how difficult it was to make an LP.
He shared: "The main thing we learned was how difficult making an album is. You would think we'd remember because making the last album was difficult. But I think we forgot because we had such a good time after it was released.
"But it all came back, how hard it is making a record how you want it to sound."
And for the indie rock band, their struggle to produce the record was due to their wish of making it a "perfect middle ground" between all the band members.
He added: "We put this pressure on ourselves and making the record took a while because we were trying to find this perfect middle ground between us and no one exactly knew what that was."
And bandmate Felix White has admitted winning an Ivor Novello award and being nominated for a Mercury Prize gong gave them a new audience to please.
He explained to The Sun newspaper: "That record opened us up to a new audience. We'd always had crowds that were the same age as us, until that point then they started getting younger.
"It was like the audiences warped - you had people younger than us at the front, people older than us at the back. You don't see how you change as a band, as it's not tangible, but the personnel shifting at gigs was the most noticeable thing."

Disciples think Calvin Harris is a "great person to have around".
The electronic music trio revealed they have become pals with the musician - who is dating 25-year-old chart-topper Taylor Swift - over the years and have taken inspiration from his success, leading to their collaboration with the 'Feel So Close' hitmaker, 'How Deep is Your Love'.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, producer Gavin Kool revealed: "He's more a friend. He showed a big interest in our music and careers so he does have that side to him but he's just a great person to have around. We've all been influenced by him in different ways over the years."
The 29-year-old DJ - along with Luke Mac, 24 and Duvall, 29 - continued to say they were excited by the superstar DJ's enthusiasm for their music even though there was "a lot of going back and forth" while they made their single, which is currently in the top 10 in over 30 countries.
Gavin recalled: "We were working in the studio on 'How Deep is Your Love'. We sent it to him to get some fresh ears and some thoughts on it and he loved the track so much that he proposed working on it and collaborating on it together.
"We were really excited that he wanted to put out a record with us and wanted to be part of the track.
"It's a lot of going back and forth. A lot of the stuff is us, a lot of it is him, we go back and forth and see what sounds we like. It's been a real 50/50 collaboration with this record."

Guns N' Roses guitarist Richard Fortus claims the band's future is "up in the air".
The 48-year-old musician - who joined the band in 2001 - has admitted he is unsure of their future having not had any discussions with fellow members Axl Rose, Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Chris Pitman, Frank Ferrer, Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal or DJ Ashba for some time.
He told About.com: "The current state of GN'R is pretty up in the air. The last I heard they wanted to finish up the recordings that we have and put them out next year and start touring. But it has been a while since I've heard from anybody in that camp as far as management or Axl. So I really don't know."
However, the news comes just a week after he teased fans could expect to hear new music from the rockers - who haven't released a studio album since 2008's 'Chinese Democracy' - in the near future.
He previously said: "We're going to be doing stuff next year. We're not going to have anything out this year. Next year it should be out and we'll be touring."
Meanwhile, DJ Ashba recently revealed their forthcoming record is their "main focus", ahead of another tour.
He explained: "We were talking about doing another huge tour. Our main focus right now is putting together the next Guns record. We've got tons of material - it's just a matter of sitting down and sifting through all the pieces. It looks like we're going to be doing a lot more touring."