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Live Updates

Sarah Jane Griffiths and Mark Savage

All times stated are UK

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  1. Goodbye for now...

    That's your lot for today but we'll be back, bright and early, tomorrow morning with a whole heap of new music news for your delectation. 

    Scroll down for today's updates on Ariana Grande's new song; Queen Latifah's comments on racism; and news on Joe Perry, Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne and Biffy Clyro. 

    Plus there's a behind-the-scenes chat with Dave Gilmour at his historic gig in Pompeii's Amphitheatre and De La Soul becoming Angry Birds.

    'Til tomorrow...

  2. Christine and the Queens announce UK shows

    Christine and the Queens

    If you weren't at Glastonbury to catch Christine and the Queens (or failed to trudge through the mud in time, like us), a mini UK tour has just been announced for November. 

    The three dates take in London's Brixton Academy, the Apollo in Manchester and Glasgow's O2 Academy, with tickets on sale on Friday

    Christine, aka singer Héloïse Letissier, will be playing songs from her debut album, Chaleur Humaine, which is spending its third week in the UK Top 10, having seen a surge in sales following a Graham Norton Show performance and her televised Glastonbury set.

    Christine and the Queens album cover

    Fans can also catch her at this weekend's Latitude Festival in Suffolk - and she told BBC 6 Music what they can expect: 

    Quote Message: You are about to witness a tiny, angry French thing dancing a lot, along with some really talented dancers on stage... It's really quite minimalistic and just about performing the songs in the best way with my muscles and my energy.
    Quote Message: I'm in this amazing line-up with two of my favourite artists. There is Perfume Genius playing before me and Grimes playing after me and this is like the best sandwich ever. I'm obsessed with those two. And I did a song with Perfume Genius on my album so you probably could expect some kind of duet.
  3. Hear Cassius remix Robyn's Dancing On My Own

    Robyn

    Britian's Got Talent contestant Calum Scott finally broke into the Top 10 last week, 12 weeks after his cover of Robyn's Dancing On My Own made its chart debut.

    That puts it within reaching distance of Robyn's original, which peaked at number eight back in in 2010.

    Fans of Scott's version - the sort of over-emoted dirge that gives Simon Cowell a bad name - may not realise that Robyn's track was a full-throttle pop banger.

    So, to redress the balance, French DJ duo Cassius has given the original a thumping house make-over. Listen to it below.

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    The mix is part of a new project RMX/RBN, which will see new remixes of Robyn's catalogue released every Friday over the summer.

  4. First Aid Kid record new track at Jack White's studios

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    A new First Aid Kit track can't come soon enough if you ask us, and it seems we won't have too long to wait as the duo has posted a picture of themselves at the HQ of Jack White's Third Man Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. 

    The Swedish folk-singing sisters told fans on Instagram they've recorded a new song using White's retro vinyl recording booth, and it "sounds really old".

  5. Crystal Castles share new tune and announce album details

    Crystal Castles have shared a new track, Cha,r and revealed details of forthcoming new album Amnesty (I), which will be released on 19 August.

    The project is carrying on without former singer Alice Glass, with original member Ethan Kath joined by newcomer Edith Frances. 

    Both of them joined Annie Mac in the Radio 1 studio last night to debut Char as the show's Hottest Record. You can listen to the track below: 

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  6. Dave Gilmour performs at Pompeii Amphitheatre

    BBC 6 Music

    Dave Gilmour

    Pink Floyd star Dave Gilmour says getting the chance to perform a gig in the Roman Amphitheatre at Pompeii last week was "an emotional thing". 

    He previously performed there in 1971 in front of just a camera crew while making classic concert film Pink Floyd Live in Pompeii, but on Friday night Gilmour returned for a special Rattle That Lock show with an actual audience. 

    He played two sold out shows for just 2,000 fans from all over the world - the first time a public performance has been staged on the site since 79 AD, 1,937 years ago, when people would have seen gladiatorial battles there.

    6 Music's Matt Everitt got an exclusive chat with Gilmour out in Pompeii, and found out what historian Mary Beard made of it all - you can listen below: 

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    Video caption: Dave Gilmour on performing at Pompeii
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  7. Watch Alessia Cara's empowering new video

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    Alessia Cara's new single, Scars To Your Beautiful, is a song about body image and accepting who you are. 

    "It’s directed at women, but I think men can relate to it as well," the Canadian star told Idolator earlier this year. "It's basically about embracing yourself and finally coming to that conclusion where you feel love and you can love yourself."

    The video features cancer survivors, transgender people and others discussing their insecurities and flaws in between the verses. 

    Cara says it was inspired by earlier videos like Christina Aguilera's Beautiful and TLC's Unpretty.

    "A couple of female artists have done it in the past, and I wanted to put my own spin on it because I feel like you can never have too many reminders and too many songs talking about those things," Cara told Cosmopolitan.

    "It was important to put that in my own words and remind people that they are beautiful no matter what."

  8. FKA Twigs unveils new songs in Russia

    NME

    FKA Twigs

    FKA Twigs could well be performing some new tracks when she plays Bestival in September, after debuting three new songs during a performance at a Russian musical festival at the weekend. 

    The songs, whose titles have yet to be confirmed, were part of her new stage show called 'Radiant Me²', which the singer-songwriter said she was "proud and excited" to be introducing at Moscow's Lastochka Festival.

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    Several fans have published footage of the show on YouTube:

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  9. Three feet high and squawking

    De La Soul as Angry Birds

    Rap legends De La Soul have been turned into birds - Angry Birds - for the latest iteration of the hit video game franchise.

    Posdunos, Dave and Maseo will appear in the game for one week, and confer special powers upon the player.

    They've even recorded a song to mark the occasion. It sounds a little something like this...

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    De La Soul release their new album ...And The Anonymous Nobody on 26 August, following a successful crowdfunding campaign, which saw the three-piece raise almost £400,000 from 11,000 fans. 

    We'll have an interview with Pos ahead of the record's release - so stay tuned.

  10. Regina Spektor teases new music

    Regina Spektor

    The last time we heard new material from Regina Spektor, it was when she released the theme song for Netflix Series Orange Is The New Black in 2013 (creator Jenji Kohan approached the star after writing most of the first series while listening to her music).

    After that, she took a break from music to have her first son - who was born in March 2014.

    But Spektor's official website has just been updated with an animated graphic of the star dancing in what appears to be a flamenco dress, promising there will be "news soon".

    Her fans reacted to the news with a sense of calm and decorum.

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  11. There's a 911 comeback 'coming soon'

    It's the music news few people have been waiting for... 90s boyband 911 have a new single "coming soon". 

    The group posted this picture of themselves dressed like members of a wedding party to tease their new single and video I Do. 

    Lee Brennan, Jimmy Constable and Spike Dawbarn had a number one with A Little Bit More in 1999 and sold millions of records around the world during their heyday. 

    They also featured on ITV reality show The Big Reunion and treated fans to a greatest hits tour in 2014. 

  12. Grandmaster Flash to play Leeds festival

    Grandmaster Flash

    Grandmaster Flash will make an exclusive appearance at Leeds festival over August bank holiday weekend, as part of the late night line-up for the Alternative Stage. 

    The arena's bill for both Reading and Leeds has  just been announced, featuring the likes of DJ Yoda, Rave Karaoke and indie club night Propaganda, as well as a host of comedians from both Russells Kane and Howard to Katherine Ryan and Bill Bailey. 

    Headliners at the festival this year include Foals, Disclosure, Biffy Clyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fall Out Boy. 

  13. Arctic Monkeys have branded an elephant

    The Arctic Monkeys' elephant

    Not a real one. That would be horrific.

    Instead, the band have decorated one of 72 elephant sculptures that are going on display around Sheffield, in a fundraising effort for the Physiotherapy Department at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

    The Arctic Monkeys' design is based on the artwork for their 2013 album AM, and also features the band's signatures.

    You can watch a short film on the making of the sculpture, if you're into that sort of thing.

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  14. Queen Latifah: Racism is 'alive and kicking'

    Queen Latifah

    Rapper Queen Latifah has said "racism is still alive and kicking", while being celebrated at VH1's Hip Hop Honours ceremony for her contribution to music.

    The rapper made the comments in the wake of protests in the US after the killing of two black men by police last week. 

    Five police officers were later killed after a sniper opened fire near a peaceful protest in Dallas.

    "Listen, we all know our world is really tense right now," Latifah at the ceremony.

    "I'm hoping that we can somehow manage to channel all of these emotions that we have in a positive way, and really do something to change our world."  

    You can catch up with her speech and all the tributes at the celebration of the Queens of hip-hop - honouring Latifah, Missy Elliot, Salt-N-Pepa and Lil Kim - on the Pitchfork website.

    Honorees DJ Spinderella, Cheryl "Salt" James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, and Lil Kim
    Image caption: Honorees DJ Spinderella, Cheryl "Salt" James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott and Lil Kim at the ceremony

    Sean Diddy Combs (aka P Diddy (aka Puff Daddy (aka Diddy))) also made a surprise appearance at the ceremony, presenting Lil' Kim with a huge birthday cake and leading a Happy Birthday singalong. 

    "I flew in here tonight to honour my sister, Lil' Kim," he said.

    "The way you walk, the way you talk. You always pushed the envelope. There's only one Queen Bee," he added, throwing a bit of shade in Beyonce's general direction. 

    "As soon as I heard her rhyme, it was something I had never seen or hear before. I knew she was going to be a superstar."

    Puff Daddy and Lil Kim
  15. Pre-Proms excitement spreads ahead of Friday's first night

    It's the week many classical music fans have been waiting for - the BBC Proms kicks off at the Royal Albert Hall this Friday. 

    On the cards this year, are a Strictly Prom, a David Bowie tribute and the first ever Prom in a car park.

    The new head of the Proms, David Pickard, and Radio 3’s breakfast presenter, Petroc Trelawny, previewed the two-month-long season on Steve Wright's Radio 2 show yesterday afternoon. 

    They told him: "Everybody wants to be a part of the Proms and that atmosphere in the Albert Hall."

    Listen to them explain why below:

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    Video caption: David Pickard and Petroc Trelawny from BBC Radio 3 get us excited about the BBC Proms

    For more pre-Proms excitement, you can listen back to conductor John Wilson on In Tune on Radio 3, after he paid the show a visit to talk about his forthcoming performance and his new Gershwin album.

  16. Is Stormzy remixing the Haribo theme?

    Mark Savage

    Music reporter

    Stormzy

    Apropos of nothing, Grime star Stormzy started tweeting Haribo last night, in the hope of opening some sort of dialogue.

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    What's it all about? We have nothing to go on but wild, baseless speculation, but let's assume he's about to spit some rhymes over the iconic "kids and grown-ups love it so" Haribo theme.

    Watch this space.

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  17. Lyricist for million-selling Sukiyaki single dies

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    Prominent Japanese lyricist Rokusuke Ei has died at the age of 83.

    The composer of Chinese descent was best known for his work on the 1963 worldwide smash hit Ue wo Muite Arukō (known in the West as Sukiyaki), which protested against continued US military presence.

    The song was released in 1961 and topped the US Billboard charts, selling more than 13m copies worldwide.

    Relatives said Mr Ei suffered from Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer and died peacefully at home.

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  18. Ariana Grande releases song for Black Lives Matter movement

    Ariana Grande

    Ariana Grande has teamed up with her longtime friend and collaborator Victoria Monet to write a song in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

    Called Better Days, the song reacts to the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, as well as the five police officers gunned down in Dallas.

    "I’m praying for the people right outside my window / hoping they find peace at night," sing the duo on the reflective ballad - which is an updated version of a song Monet released after the attack on Orlando's Pulse LGBT nightclub last month. 

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    "During this challenging time, we have to remember that the only way we will progress is if the overruling force is love," wrote Grande on Instagram. 

    "Too many precious lives were taken from us this week, this month, this year. Rest in peace #AltonSterling. Rest in peace #PhilandoCastile#BlackLivesMatter. And the police that were peacefully guarding the #BlackLivesMatter rally in Dallas…. Rest in peace."  

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  19. Biffy Clyro album 'outselling rest of top five'

    Biffy Clyro's Ellipsis album cover

    Biffy Clyro's new album Ellipsis is looking like a dead cert for number one this week - as long as Beyonce doesn't drop a surprise album, of course. 

    The Scottish rockers' seventh LP is outselling the rest of the top five combined - with its nearest rival being Adele's 25. 

    It may, or may not, have anything to do with the fact the trio made like John Lennon and Yoko Ono and stripped off for the cover - a decision singer Simon Neil explained in our interview last week. 

    "I came up with the idea almost as a joke, us being human ellipses, it was like we were reborn and starting again and shedding old skin," he said. 

    If the record continues to sell, it would give Biffy their second number one, after Opposites topped the chart in 2013.   

    Other new entries in the mid-week top ten include The Avalanches long-awaited comeback Wildflower and Aphex Twin's Cheetah EP. The Official Chart will be revealed on Greg James' Radio 1 show on Friday afternoon from 16:00 BST. 

  20. Lil Wayne says seizure reports 'false alarm'

    Lil Wayne

    Rapper Lil Wayne has downplayed reports that he was taken to hospital following his third seizure in two months.

    According to TMZ, the 33-year-old rapper spent time in an intensive care unit over the weekend, after falling ill immediately before he was due to play in Las Vegas. 

    But the star took to Twitter to say the episode was a "false alarm".

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    Wayne’s private jet made two emergency landings last month after he suffered seizures during a flight across the US. 

    The artist said in a 2013 interview that he suffers from epilepsy and is "prone to seizures".