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/music BLOG POSTS

Rated Spectacular - Rihanna wows Brixton, with a little help from Jay Z

Posted 3.39 pm Tue Nov 17 by Eddy Lawrence

The Barbadian 21-year-old was certainly in a frisky mood last night. Decked out in a black leotard, circled with crystal, beaded and studded belts, she flirted with the audience, grabbed her crotch in an Michael Jackson-stylee, caressed the fake bulge of one of the silver spray painted mannequins that littered the stage, and all 5,000 of us screamed for more. What was supposed to be an 'intimate' gathering to hear cuts from her new, third album 'Rated R' turned out to be a set for a packed out Brixton Academy. And anyone hooked up to broadband, with the show broadcast on a live stream courtesy of Nokia.

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Making sweet music together: the collaborations that are fun for musicians AND fans

Posted 11.28 am Mon Nov 16 by Chris Parkin

In a year of pop trends, the side-project super-group is matching cynical reformations for ubiquity in 2009. Dead Weather, Them Crooked Vultures, Monsters of Folk... they're all made up of rock 'n' roll full-timers taking sabbaticals from their day jobs to, like, doing something a bit different with kindred spirits. Except the music isn't that different and often sounds like the players involved are having way more fun than the listener.

More ad-hoc and enjoyable, however, are the attempts by The Black Keys and Beck to mimic Bob Geldof and Midge Ure (you decide who plays who). For their own 'projects' they've been gathering an impressive collection of musicians in order to create their own mini-Band Aid.

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Dave Rowntree MP? The Blur drummer vows to sort out London's woes

Posted 5.42 pm Fri Nov 6 by Chris Parkin
© Pennie Smith

With those triumphant summer Blur shows now just a distant memory, the fantastic four have gone back to their day jobs: Damon Albarn to whatever his latest soon-to-be-acclaimed pop project is; Graham Coxon to his acoustic guitar, turps and paintbrushes; and Alex James to tossing back his silky fringe and making cheese. Of them all, though, it's Dave Rowntree who has the busiest post-reunion schedule. He's a trainee solicitor, animator, pilot and, the thing he's concentrating on most right now, potential politician.

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Can Calvin delight Dundee? It's a shoo-in (the eye)

Posted 4.44 pm Thu Nov 5 by Eddy Lawrence
The offending shoe sits centre stage The offending shoe sits centre stage - © The Courier

Hometown hero Calvin Harris received an unorthodox welcome upon his return to Scotland for a show at Fat Sams Live. The chart-badgering producer got as far as 'Hellooo Dundee!' before being hit square in the face by a shoe, causing him to drop to his knees, James Brown-style, clutching his face,  Leona Lewis-style.

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/PROFILES

EDDY LAWRENCE

Eddy has been at Time Out for two years - prior to that he was features editor of Jack for two years, Music Editor of The Big Issue for three years, and Reviews Editor of Select for two years. Formerly known (and still is by many people) as Radion Automatic - he did lots of TV and videogames stuff under that name - it is generally accepted that Eddy has the best taste in music in the world.