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Live Updates

Sarah Jane Griffiths and Kev Geoghegan

All times stated are UK

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  1. We're outta here...

    That's it for today but scroll down for this year's Mobo nominations, new music from Bloc Party and The Voice UK winner and Lady Gaga going wild in a mosh pit - plus DJ Carl Cox marks the end of an era in Ibiza as Radio 1 discusses the future of nightlife here in the UK.

    We'll leave you with a treat - if you watch one thing today, make it up-and-coming artist Rag 'N' Bone Man's stripped back performance of his track Human on Later... with Jools Holland last night - with none other than Jools himself on the keys... 

    Watch the whole episode on the BBC iPlayer to see performances from The Divine Comedy, Jamie T, Madness, Gallant and Beth Orton. There'll be more from all of them in Friday's extended edition of Later... on BBC Two at 23:05. 

  2. Leonard Cohen releases music on his 82nd birthday

    Happy birthday Leonard Cohen, 82 years young today and still releasing new music.

    Ahead of the release of his 14th studio album You Want It Darker on 21 October, he has shared a track of the same name.  

    The album has been produced by Cohen's 44-year-old son Adam Cohen.

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

    View more on youtube
  3. Regina Spektor's career-changing 'white lie'

    Regina Spektor

    With seven albums to her name, plus theme songs for film and television, Regina Spektor is arguably at the height of her powers.

    Yet the quirky singer-songwriter admits she still fought to get noticed when she was a young struggling artist in New York. 

    So she pretended to be on the bill for a small venue, despite having already been turned down.

    "I think this is what con artists do... She would say something like: 'Well, there are a bunch of Sundays that seem open, was your show on a Sunday?' and I would go: 'Yes, it was on a Sunday.'"

    Read how she she got on with her ruse

  4. Bloc Party release unannounced new track

    Pitchfork

    Kele Okereke

    Bloc Party have shared their first new track since their album Hymns.

    Stunt Queen "was an idea that we worked on at sound checks and was one of the first ideas to come along after Justin and Louise joined the band," says singer Kele Okereke.

    You can watch a lyric video here - beware there are a few swearwords.

    View more on twitter

    The band are due to play at the Roundhouse in London next month.

    Meanwhile former bassist for the band Gordon Moakes has also shared a new song, from his new band Young Legionnaire. 

    Disappear is from their forthcoming album Zero Worship.

  5. Alicia Keys brings Sampha out on stage

    Alicia Keys and Sampha

    Up-and-coming British star Sampha has found a fan in Alicia Keys, who brought him out on stage with her at London's Roundhouse last night as she played a storming set at the Apple Music Festival. 

    Sampha joined the US singer (who told fans she's "feeling" his new material) to perform her track Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready) and his new single Blood On Me, with Keys on backing vocals. 

    Playing an upright piano in impressive skyscraper heels, Keys infused the venue with a New York party vibe, offering to throw the crowd a "basement party... it's a good place to grind and groove."

    She showed off that huge vocal range on Alicia classics like You Don’t Know My Name, Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart, Girl on Fire and Fallin’ alongside new tracks like In Common - the first we heard from her forthcoming new album. 

    “I feel like I’m back to life, back in my zone!” she told the crowd, as her DJ / hype man for the evening sampled Soul II Soul hit Back to Life, seguing into her own new song of the same name from Disney film Queen of Katwe.

    Alicia Keys

    Alicia also used her between-songs banter as an opportunity to highlight the refugee crisis - pointing out Apple founder Steve Jobs' dad was a Syrian refugee - as well as the temperature of the room. 

    "You might need a tiny bit more air conditioning in the Roundhouse," she laughed. 

    A rousing closer of Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down got everyone in the upstairs seats on their feet, before she excited the stage, leaving her band to dance to Skepta's Shutdown - a pleasing nod to last week's Mercury Prize winner. 

    Apple Music members can watch the 10 festival performances live and on-demand - tonight it's the turn of OneRepublic.  

    Alicia Keys
  6. Carl Cox plays his final set at Space

    View more on twitter

    Last night marked the end of an era for Ibiza clubbing, as Carl Cox played his final set at Space Ibiza for the closing party of his legendary night Music Is Revolution. 

    The British DJ held his residency there for 15 years and broadcast his final set live on the internet (which you can watch back on the Mixmag site) and across more than 50 radio stations.

    The club will be run by the Ushuaïa Group from next year, but Carl Cox will be moving on to new projects. 

    Space hosts the end of summer closing party of each of its club nights over the next week before a final star-studded closing extravaganza on 2 October. 

    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
  7. How percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie sees Shakespeare through sound

    Award-winning percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie has been revealing her unique way of hearing and interpreting the work of Shakespeare.

    The profoundly deaf musician says she hears the sounds in the words of the characters. 

    Watch as she explains how she translate plays like The Tempest into music...

    Video content

    Video caption: A BBC/ The Open University/ British Council collaboration
  8. New Jamie Lawson video unveiled

    Jamie Lawson has unveiled the "heart-tugging" visuals for his track Don’t Let Me Let You Go. 

    The video stars former EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing star Louisa Lytton, packing up the entire flat while a completely oblivious Jamie plays his guitar...

    View more on twitter

    Jamie will play his biggest show to date at London’s Brixton Academy this autumn.

  9. Simian Mobile Disco sneak out new track ahead of album

    Simian Mobile Disco

    Electronic band Simian Mobile Disco have shared a new track for their forthcoming album.

    Far Away From A Distance is the first new music to be released by the band since 2014's Whorl.

    The new album, Welcome to Sideways, is due out in November.

    Writing on their Facebook page, James Ford and Jas Shaw said: "Like our previous Delicacies album, it's aimed squarely at the dancefloor".

    View more on Soundcloud
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  10. Radio 1 debates the future of British clubbing

    BBC Radio 1

    B Traits

    Radio 1 took a closer look at the closure of London superclub Fabric last night in a special documentary presented by B Traits, exploring the future of nightlife in the UK. 

    She spoke to representatives from the club, DJs, the leader of Islington council and the police before a live discussion on the future of clubbing hosted at Fabric. 

    The panel included the club's co-owner Cameron Leslie, Saul from Chase and Status, writer and DJ Bill Brewster, promoters and the Night Time Industry Association - with drug testing and how to keep clubbers safe among the topics up for discussion.

    Fabric debate

    Newsbeat also took a tour of Fabric - take a look at their photos and videos of the club's now empty dancefloors and DJ booths.  

    Listen back to Fabric and the Future of Clubbing

    View more on twitter
  11. Ravi Shankar's only opera Sukanya to tour the UK

    Anoushka Shankar, Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Shankar
    Image caption: Anoushka Shankar (l) with her parents Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Shankar

    A production of Ravi Shankar's only opera Sukanya, which he was composing when he died and which has been completed with the help of his daughter Anoushka, is to tour the UK next year. 

    The pioneering opera, inspired by Ravi's wife Sukanya and the story of her name, explores the common ground between the music, dance and theatrical traditions of India and the West.  

    The co-production between The Royal Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Curve will have its world premiere at Curve in Leicester on 12 May, before performances at The Lowry in Salford (14 May), Birmingham's Symphony Hall (15 May) and the Royal Festival Hall in London (19 May).

    Conductor and collaborator David Murphy - who worked with Shankar for many years  - completed the opera along with Anoushka, calling it "an amazing journey"

    “It thrills me that this final project of my father’s, about which he was so passionate, is finally coming to life," said Anoushka Shankar.

    "Even in his final years, he was the first to think further, to want to push even more boundaries, and bring Indian classical music to the context of opera."

    The late composer's wife Sukanya was also at the launch of the opera and said: 

    Quote Message: My husband, an enigmatic genius, was a cluster of energy, creativity, love and inspiration who never ceased to surprise me in all our time together and has done it again! This opera is a standing testimony to the ultimate in the amalgamation of East Meeting West as natural as can be.
  12. The Voice winner Kevin Simm shares new single

    Been wondering what the winner of The Voice UK has been up to since the show finished in April? Recording his album, that's what...

    Kevin Simm - once of Liberty X fame - has shared an acoustic performance of new single Wildfire.

    The track follows debut single All You Good Friends earlier this year, which reached number 24 in the UK chart, and was written with One Direction songwriter Ed Drewett. 

    His new album Recover is due at the end of next month.

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

    View more on youtube
  13. Kate Tempest is Brighton Festival's guest director for 2017

    Kate Tempest

    Award-winning poet, Mercury Prize-nominated songwriter, rapper, novelist, playwright, artist - Kate Tempest has already got a pretty impressive CV and now she's adding Brighton Festival guest director to the list.

    At 31, she'll be the youngest ever director and follows in the footsteps of Laurie Anderson (2015), Anish Kapoor (2009), Brian Eno (2010) and Aung San Suu Kyi (2011). 

    Tempest - who will help shape three weeks of cultural events kicking off in Brighton next May - said "the arts should be social, not elitist":

    Quote Message: They should be part of our everyday life. They should be in our communities, not only on elevated platforms or behind red velvet ropes. Music, literature, theatre, film - these things are so important, they bring us together into the same space, they give us ourselves, they bring us to life, they beam our humanity back to us in all its hideous beauty.
    Quote Message: And in these times, with the fear spreading everywhere and the divisions between us deepening daily, we desperately need to remember that we are all part of the same thing. Nothing does that for me more profoundly or joyously than standing in the crowd watching a gig, or a play, or a painting. It's like a little victory you get to keep forever. I want us to offer that experience to everyone.

    Tempest's new album Let Them Eat Chaos is due out on 7 October.

  14. Kano and Laura Mvula lead Mobo nominations in four categories

    Kano

    Mercury nominee Kano is leading the pack with four nominations at this year’s Mobo Awards.

    He is in the running for best male, best album, best song and best grime act. 

    Fellow Mercury Prize shortlisted artist Laura Mvula also has four nominations for best female, best album, best R&B/soul act and best video. 

    And of course this year's Mercury Prize winner Skepta has also been recognised for best male, best album and best grime act. 

    Comeback king Craig David has earned two major nominations for best male and best song for When The Bassline Drops (featuring Big Narstie), while Michael Kiwanuka is also up for two for best album and best R&B/soul act.

    This year's Mobo Awards will take place in the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on 4 November.

    Laura Mvula

    Go to the Mobo awards site for the full list of nominations.

  15. Eminem praises 8 Mile director Curtis Hanson who has died aged 71

    Billboard magazine

    Eminem

    Eminem is among those paying tribute to director Curtis Hanson, who has died at the age of 71.

    The Oscar-winning writer and filmmaker died of natural causes. A report said he had retired in recent years due to Alzheimer's.

    Hanson won an Oscar in 1998 for best adapted screenplay for LA Confidential. 

    He gave Eminem his break as an actor by casting him as a struggling Detroit rapper in 8 Mile, a part loosely based on the rapper.

    In a statement released to Billboard, Eminem said: "Curtis Hanson believed in me and our crazy idea to make a rap battle movie set in Detroit. He basically made me into an actor for 8 Mile. I'm lucky I got to know him."

    Read more 

  16. BBC Music joins forces with The Great Escape for First Fifty event

    Lady Leshurr

    New artists such as soul singer Ray BLK, urban folkies L.A. Salami and Manchester's brilliantly-named Cabbage have been picked out to play as part of a new event which sees BBC Music teaming up with Brighton's Great Escape festival.

    The First Fifty - happening over 22-24 November - sees the first crop of artists booked to play next year's Great Escape, perform a series of gigs over three days in east London.

    BBC Music Editor James Stirling said: "Helping to establish British artists on both a national and global stage is a primary objective for BBC Music, so working with one of the world’s premiere new music festivals on this unique new venture is a hugely exciting opportunity."

    Last year's Great Escape featured peformances from the likes of Let’s Eat Grandma and Lady Leshurr (pictured above). 

    For more info on the event and tickets.

  17. Lady Gaga shares video for Perfect Illusion

    Lady Gaga has released the video for the first track off her new album, Perfect Illusion - and it features the track's co-producers Mark Ronson, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker and BloodPop. 

    The video sees Gaga kicking things off in the sun-soaked desert before joining the others in a frenetic mosh pit for singing, dancing and crowd-surfing.

    The singer announced last week her new album Joanne, her first since 2013's Artpop, will be out on 21 October.

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

    View more on youtube
  18. AC/DC bassist announcement retirement in emotional video

    AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams has announced his retirement following the end of the group's Rock Or Bust World Tour.

    "It's time for me to step out, that's all," he said, noting the departures of long-time members Malcolm Young, Phil Rudd and singer Brian Johnson.

    However, he said AC/DC has been dealing with such tumult since the death of original singer Bon Scott in 1980...

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

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  19. Adele dedicates New York concert to demise of Brangelina

    It seems that it isn't just us normals who are devastated about the impending divorce of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt...

    Adele dedicated her show at Madison Square Gardens in New York to the former Hollywood power couple...

    View more on twitter

    Adele told her audience: "I don't like gossiping and private lives should be private but I feel like it's the end of an era.

    "I don't know them at all but I was shocked when I woke up this morning." 

    TMZ, who broke the divorce story, caught the whole thing on camera.

  20. Morning folks...

    Happy Wednesday! And welcome along on this, the last official day of summer 2016, as we attempt to ease the pain through the medium of music news. 

    Today we'll bring you the new Lady Gaga video, news on Kate Tempest, Bloc Party and AC/DC, plus all the nominations for this year's MOBO Awards which are announced this morning. 

    Don't forget to catch up on yesterday's page for news on Paulo Nutini, Danny Brown, DNCE and Warpaint, plus a prestigious award for Canadian producer Kaytranada and find out why Busted are embracing 80s nostalgia.