The hearing occurred amidst an ongoing period of uncertainty for the Brixton Academy following the devastating crowd crush at an Asake show last December that ultimately claimed the lives of two people and left another in critical condition. The event forced the Academy to shut its doors and led to the venue having its live music license revoked. This in turn led to a backlash amongst fans of the beloved venue, leading to a petition to reopen its doors amassing quite the success.

The first day of the hearing led to the venue refusing the accusation of racial profiling, with AMG’s legal representative Mr Philip Kolvin QC quoted as saying, “My client is probably the leading host of music of Black origin in this country. That’s a position that it values and would like to continue to be. Of the 13 different risks assessed by the Academy, none of them are racial“.

Lambeth Council barrister Horatio Waller QC agreed with Kolvin on the second day of the hearing, saying, “This new process should not lead to a tunnel vision situation where risk is associated with genre or race“.

Waller also confirmed yesterday that the venue could be re-opened if certain conditions were met. He claimed that AMG have performed a “complete overhaul” of their security procedures and attitude towards risk assessments since December and that these were “independently audited” by consultants and commended as “comprehensive and robust“.

Waller also states that “the council supports, in principle, the re-opening of the venue based upon new conditions“, with these conditions including a “new, revised system for ingress entry into the venue” and the “introduction of new barriers positioned on the highway”.

Mr Kolvin QC discussed in his closing argument the installation of strengthened doors at the venue. He stated, “At the time of this incident, the doors were unable to withstand a mass and violent attack. In other words, the premises were not a fortress, they were a concert hall. Even if you consider the doors should have been more robust at an earlier stage, that is a matter of blame which is for other processes to investigate. It does not require these premises to shut down any more than any other public or private premises that are compulsorily closed following accidents, even terrible accidents. The doors have now been strengthened so as to be resilient against pressure, even if it did occur”.

Following the conclusion of the public hearing, Lambeth Council have advised that a decision on the future of the venue will be made “within five working days”, according to NME.

When it came to the unsuspension of the venue’s license, the venue voluntarily decided on extending their closure for another three months. It was considered that an extra few months to unmuddle the problems at stake, in order to ensure the safety that customers deserve, was necessary.

The O2 Brixton Academy has been around for almost a century. Providing a space in South London which has dedicated it’s services as a cinema, a discotheque and a concert hall. It’s a venue which many people have relied on and where artists hold their best memories.

Just a week ago the MET Police claimed to have “lost confidence” in the Academy and have started working towards the official closing down of the venue for good. No doubt this has caused an uproar amongst artists, music lovers and people within the industry.

Many of them have spoken up through social media, expressing their disappointment. The attempt to do this has lead the public to launch a petition on Change.org to bring a halt to the Metropolitan Police’s wishes. In only a matter of hours the petition had over 25.000 signatures and is now at 50.000. The highest signed petition in Change.Org’s history.

People know the crush was caused by people – pointing out that the venue should not take the hit by having to close down. It is a fixable problem. Some even brought up the fact that there have been more deaths at the MET police than the O2 itself. Which is something to think about.

Comments on the matter have surfaced on social media; Some included Tim Burgess comment on Twitter “Lost count of the amount of times we’ve played Brixton Academy – it’d would be a tragedy to lose such an iconic venue”.

Sister Bliss posted “Brixton Academy – @faithless have graced the stage there many times – and yet a terrible tragedy happened there only recently. But it is hugely short sighted to shut the venue permanently- generating jobs, local economy- bringing the best music to London! #SaveBrixtonAcademy”. 

The rock band Garbage also had their say with a simple “Save Brixton Academy #SaveBrixtonAcademy https://chng.it/RFzJKsZF via @UKChange”. 

An endless amount of support for the space has been apparent. It has proved it’s important stance within the industry’s members and how it cannot go unappreciated. Further information will be revealed in the next coming weeks.

Click here to sign the petition.

The Music Walk Of Fame founder Lee Bennett has given the following statement concerning Bowie’s induction, “David Bowie is a global influence, one of the ultimate influencers, and sooner or later we had to have him on the Music Walk Of Fame. Our intention is for this to be the highest honour a music figure can receive in the UK and beyond; the unveiling of David’s stone ensures that legacy. We have huge plans for the future, but for now let’s celebrate one of the greats of music.”

The legendary artist’s influence and legacy is firmly cemented within modern popular music; Bowie’s presence is also felt in all avenues within arts, culture and the entrainment industry. Born David Robert Jones in 1947 in London, the late singer would have celebrated his 75th Birthday this year. The singer tragically passed away in 2016 from cancer just days after releasing his 26th and final album, Blackstar.

Bowie’s posthumous induction into the Music Walk Of Fame means that the singer joins the ranks of the UK’s most beloved artists. Those already incorporated within the curated experience include The Who, Soul II Soul, Ska group Madness and iconic singer and Camden favourite Amy Winehouse. The Music Walk Of Fame first opened its doors in November 2019; the first act to receive a stone was The Who, the “Pinball Wizard” group was inducted during its launch. The following year, Madness and Amy Winehouse were honoured with a stone on the popular Camden walk.

MOONAGE DAYDREAM ALBUM PRESS RELEASE – See the film then listen to the musical accompaniment. Go here https://t.co/lXqBTQ5m8q or see LinkTree for full press release with tracklisting and pre-order links. #BowieMoonageDaydreamFilm #BowieMoonageDaydreamAlbum pic.twitter.com/ubjnU1gjF0

— David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) August 25, 2022

After Bowie’s upcoming induction ceremony, the new film Moonage Daydream will hold its exclusive release in IMAX cinemas. The forthcoming feature will start its initial cinematic release at IMAX theatres on 16th September 2022; Moonage Daydream will be available to watch at UK cinemas on 23rd September 2022. Directed by Brett Morgen, the film has been described as a “feature-length experiential cinematic odyssey” which “explores Bowie’s creative, musical and spiritual journey.”

A statement concerning the upcoming release states, “Moonage Daydream illuminates the life and genius of David Bowie, one of the most prolific and influential artists of our time. The motion picture reveals the celebrated icon through his own voice and features 48 musical tracks, mixed from their original stems.”

A press release for the film describes Moonage Daydream as “a project that shows how Bowie himself worked across several disciplines, not just music and film but also dance, painting, sculpture, video and audio collage, screenwriting, acting and live theatre.”

Morgen is best known for his recent work within Montage Of Heck, the new Kirt Cobain documentary. In November 2021, it was reported that Morgen had dedicated four years to viewing and researching exclusive footage of Bowie for an upcoming project profiling the late artist. The press release states that Morgen was bestowed “unfiltered access to Bowie’s personal archives, including all master recordings, to create an artful and life-affirming film that takes the audience on a journey through Bowie’s creative life. Morgen has constructed a sublime cinematic experience that will provide audiences with unrestricted access to Bowie’s personal archives.” 

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Ten years ago, Desertfest was birthed in the UK and since then has committed to providing its unique celebration of heavy music that encompasses such genres as stoner rock and doom, now the Festival is back and larger than ever to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Desertfest has announced a line-up full of over 75 bands, which will be split between six of Camden’s most famed venues and various stages. The event will not just feature a line up full of music’s most powerful bands but will also return with a new stage called PowerHaus. The new stage will feature acts such as, Gnod, Slift and Hey Colossus, a rock outfit from London whose 2020 LP ‘Dances/Curses’ was released to great applause.

The line-up also includes three bands who played the initial event in 2012, Corrosion of Conformity, Orange Goblin and Truckfighters. As well as some exclusive UK performances including the Swedish doom metal band, Witchcraft, who will also be returning to the UK after ten years, making the festival their only UK performance in a decade. The event will also see the doom metal band Khemmis play their first UK performance, plus many more acts from the 2020 line up. The festival will also see a UK debut appearance on the heavy metal Black Heart stage from Spirit Adrift, the American heavy metal band whom Kerrang! has included in their list of top ten American bands from the 2010s.

Camden’s most popular rock club, The Underworld, will play host to such bands as Integrity, Switchblade, Huntsmen and London’s own Green Lung. The Devonshire Arms will be home to the scene’s finest underground acts held over three stages, where ticket-holders can expect to see such acts as Gurt, another hometown band and doom rockers 1782.

Due to COVID restrictions, the last two years were unfortunately cancelled but now the festival promises to bring their celebration of music back and better than ever. The complete list of acts performing at Desertfest can be seen in the festival’s full line up.

Click here to buy tickets.

This is part of the artists reissue series, which has been ongoing and will now feature her 5th studio album and will be available on February 26th, 2021. The feminist-punk musician has previously released the records Dry, To Bring You My Love, Dance Hall at Louse Point and Rid of Me in the year 2020.

This month will see another release that is part of that reissue series, the new vinyl edition of Is This Desire? which will come with a demo vinyl as well. Another album of hers which will be released this year as part of her reissue series will be The Hope Six Demolition Project, her documentary ‘A Dog Called Money’ follows the creation of that album and screened in December 2020.

Harvey has released the demos for Dry, among other previously released demo vinyl’s last year and the track The Mess Were In. The demos are available in vinyl and also for streaming on YouTube as of yesterday January 5th, 2021.

Despite the promotional effort with the 2020 and 2021 album and demo reissue series, PJ Harvey has not had any recent performances or new music and does not have any shows coming in he 2021 year as of yet. This is likely due to safety concerns surrounding the growing global health crisis Covid-19, especially with the new lockdown laws that were announced last week in the UK

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Four Tet and Madlib have been in collaboration on this album for many years, says Four Tet in a social media post back in December and he stated that he put this concept to [Madlib] when we were hanging out eating some nice food one day and we decided to work on this together with him sending me tracks, loops, ideas and experiments that I would arrange, edit, manipulate and combine. I was sent hundreds of pieces of music over a couple of years stretch and during that time I put together this album with all the parts that fitted with my vision.

On discussing Sound Ancestors Four Tet stated that the record is not made into beats for vocalists to use but instead arranged into tracks that could all flow together in an album designed to be listened to start to finish. The singles Hopprock and Road of the Lonely Ones have been released before the full album but as mentioned, Four Tet suggests it will be better heard as part of the full album.

2021 https://t.co/v9YM9QDc5d

— Madlib (@madlib) December 14, 2020

The artists have separately released other collaborations last year with the release of Four Tet’s tracks Her Revolution and His Rope, with two other artists Burial and Thom Yorke. Madlib collaborated on Noname’s Song 33,and worked with Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire and Oh No.

The collaborative album from Madlib and Four Tet, Sound Ancestors, will be released sometime this month through Madlib Invazion. The single Road of the Lonely Ones is available on streaming platforms and now the latest single Hopprock is available everywhere and can be listened to above. Read mxdwn.uk ‘s Madlib and Four Tet Announce Collaborative Album ‘Sound Ancestors’ for more information on the coming album.

This a special performance because Smith will be paying tribute to the UK’s NHS health-care workers that have fallen victim to Covid-19 in their fight to heal those suffering in the pandemic. When discussing her decision to honour health-care workers, Smith stated that it’s just so sad when we lose people who work so hard to rebuild our world.

Patti Smith has been focusing less on her music and more on activism since her last album release Banga in 2012. The majority of her activism has been centered around climate change, playing multiple shows, making speeches and raising money and awareness around the subject.

Smith has also taken up poetry in the last decade, performing poetry live often and releasing her own written poetry as well. To honour her love for poetry and combine it with her activism surrounding climate change, at the NYE showcase she will also be reading a poem dedicated to the climate change activist Greta Thunberg who will be celebrating her 18th birthday in the coming month. Smith wanted to honour Thunberg because she pretty much sacrificed her childhood for all of us.

When discussing the poem, Smith said that some of the work I did in my bedroom, some in a recording studio and some at my desk. I had to teach myself how to use Photo Booth on my computer and film myself reading a poem. She continued by joking about the creative process, saying I’m sure there are 14-year-olds who can do this in five minutes but it took me quite a while. But I got there and I’m so proud of myself.

When discussing her struggles during the covid-19 isolation, for which she needed to isolate because of lung issues, she said it was very difficult for her to overcome. She stated that she had so much responsibility and a true purpose. To be in limbo almost 10 months, for a person like me who doesn’t like sitting in the same place, it’s been very challenging. I feel like I’m part-wolf, roaming from room to room.

It is fitting that Smith will be honouring those who have sacrificed their lives considering she has spent the last decade sacrificing hers to make the world a little cleaner. YouTube’s Circa will showcase Patti Smith throughout January at 20:21 GMT at Piccadilly Lights, London, leading up to the special NYE tribute performance.

The new video for Caroline is of particular importance to Park in that it gave her the ability to write in a different compacity than songwriting. On speaking about the new video, Parks stated in a social-media post that she was really inspired by the idea of people watching and empathy and I’ve been writing short stories since I was about 7 or 8 so it was incredible to be able to come back to that original first love in terms of writing.

Brock Neil Roberts worked closely with Parks on this video and she made sure to mention that it was an honour to work with him on this video. Parks went on to describe their creative process, saying they both really love the idea of creating these really human, visual portraits and we were inspired by photographers such as Nan Golding, Wolfgang Tilman and Ren Hang.

When discussing her upcoming album, Parks credited her love for writing and storytelling once again, saying that the album is a series of vignettes and intimate portraits surrounding my adolescence and the people that shaped it. It is rooted in storytelling and nostalgia – I want it to feel both universal and hyper specific. Caroline is a perfect manifestation of the attempt to tell a story and recreate adolescence.

Parks is ending the year with a triumphant new single and music video, however she began 2020 just as busy at the height of her career. She embarked on her first headlining tour in Europe in early Spring before the virus was in full swing, and eventually had to cancel the bulk of her Summer tour-dates due to safety concerns surrounding Covid-19. The tour is officially canceled and Parks looks ahead to 2021 to tour her new album Collapsed In Sunbeams.

You can watch Park’s newest music video for Caroline above, and the latest single is available on all streaming platforms today; this includes her number hit single Black Dog. Her album Collapsed in Sunbeams will be available world-wide January 29th and tickets for Park’s European tour can be purchased now.

as well as the song, I want to announce my debut album “Collapsed in Sunbeams” it’ll be with you on 29th of January 2021. I poured my tears, blood and joy into this project. https://t.co/TBcIrJT1Lu pic.twitter.com/E6elyrZmOB

— Arlo Parks (@arloparks) October 20, 2020

 

Arlo Parks European Tour-Dates 2021

09/04/2021 – Le Botanique Orangerie – Brussels
10/04 – Rotondes – Luxembourg
12/04 – Mojo – Hamburg
13/04 – Hotel Cecil – Copenhagen
14/04 – Columbia Theatre – Berlin
15/04 – Ampere – Munich
17/04 – Mascotte – Zurich
20/04 – Ninkasi – Lyon
22/04 – Apolo 2 – Barcelona
24/04 – Independance – Madrid
26/04 – I.Boat – Bordeaux
29/04 – Trabendo – Paris
30/04 – TivoliVrendenburg – Utrecht
01/05 – Melkweg Oude Zaal – Amsterdam
02/05 – Gebäude 9 – Cologne
03/05 – Le Grand Mix – Tourcoing
12/05 – Gorilla, Manchester
18/05 – Mash House – Edinburgh
19/05 – St Luke’s – Glasgow
21/05 – Chalk – Brighton
22/05 – Whelans – Dublin
25/05 – Hare & Hounds – Birmingham
26/05 – Belgrave Music Hall – Leeds
29/05 – Rescue Rooms – Nottingham
30/05 – Thekla – Bristol
02/06 – Village Underground – London

The previously released singles off the new album are the tracks Magic, Say Something and I Love It. The new album has an additional 9 more songs, making it a 12 track album. Kylie has also released a Deluxe Version of Disco which has an edition 4 more tracks Till You Love Somebody, Fine Wine, Hey Lonely and Spotlight. 

The pop princess has already received massive critical praise for her 15th studio album and has been very busy promoting Disco around London throughout the day. Kylie’s day began celebrating the album release at 8am on BBC Radio 2.

The singer went on to perform acoustic live-versions of 4 songs off her new album for The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. She was then scheduled to co-host The Top 10 right after on The Greatest Hits Radio with Mark Goodier at 10am.

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A post shared by Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue) on Nov 6, 2020 at 12:00am PST

Later in the day Kylie has expanded to American audiences with her performance of her track Say Something on the show Good Morning America at 1:30 UK time. Since, she has also released a slew of media posts promoting the new release and thanking different music outlets and fans for the overwhelming praise and support.

The Australian born singer is hosting a ‘Disco Listening Party’ tonight for the new album and a special Q&A for the fans. The show is going from 5pm and on indeterminately, the gig will be hosted by Facebook as a platform.

Notably, among the promotional events Kylie has been attending today, she is also hosting a ticketed livestream concert tomorrow, Saturday November 7th. The virtual live-show is scheduled for 8pm in the UK and will be called ‘Kylie: Infinite Disco’, the gig will see the singer performing her new pop tracks to a global audience and calling it a  ‘worldwide performance spectacular’.

Tickets are still available to order here. Kylie has not scheduled any live in person shows for 2020 or 2021 yet due to safety concerns surrounding the Covid-19 global pandemic. Kylie’s new and highly praised album Disco is out now on all streaming platforms.

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A post shared by Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue) on Oct 29, 2020 at 2:09pm PDT

Lovesick is a song inspired by women experiencing disrespect within their relationships. Over an R&B sound and a hip-hop beat, Ray BLK features as a powerful force for revenge in this brand new Labi directed music video. The combination of the British singer’s soul vocals and skilled rap verses gives Lovesick a modern London sound that has made her so popular this year.

The African-born singer debuted her first EP in 2015 called Havisham, named after the character Miss. Havisham in Charles Dickens’ epic, Great Expectations. This best of times/worst of times musical-literary take on the heartbroken nature of women in this Dickens’ novel was inspired by Ray BLK’s graduating degree in English literature at Brunel University.

In 2016 she debuted her first micro-album Dirt which catapulted her to popularity with a feature from the famous artist Stormzy and went on to help her win the BBC’s Sound of 2017 contest. Ray BLK was the first unsigned artist to do so in history. While Ray BLK was hesitant to sign with a label for fear of losing the rights to her music, she did eventually sign with Universal Island Records UK in 2018.

The success she found throughout 2016-2017 and her new label connections gave Ray BLK her biggest career opportunity to date by landing an opening-act for Nicki Minaj’s Nicki Wrld Tour in the United Kingdom for 2019. This experience helped Ray BLK gain a dense following and therefore her first full length album is highly anticipated for the coming year.

Ray BLK has received critical praise for her previously released EP’s and singles and many well-known musicians in the community have expressed their respect for the artist. Collaborations with Stormzy and Nicki Minaj have given her the platform to be recognized by Janet Jackson and recently Cardi B. has praised Ray BLK on all social media platforms.

After a a few successful EP releases without the help of a label, collaborations with well-known artists and the anticipation of her first full-length album, Ray BLK is officially on the upward climb in the R&B genre and community. Ray BLK has no upcoming events or tour dates for 2020 or 2021, making her popularity boost a virtual one. Lovesick is available on all streaming platforms and her new music video is now available through YouTube’s official VEVO channel.