Tom Odell Page 2

Rick Astley has scored his first UK number one album in 29 years with his latest release 50. The 50-year old, who is best known for his 1987 single 'Never Gonna Give You Up', managed to beat Tom Odell to the top spot on Friday, after a close race all week.

Rick Astley is on top of the UK album chart.

Speaking to OfficialCharts.com, Astley said: "It's amazing, it's incredible, it's been a very, very, very long time since this happened before, I'm ecstatic, I couldn't be happier!" The singer added that he’s already received words of congratulations from his friend Elton John.

Continue reading: Rick Astley Scores First Number One Album In Nearly 30 Years

The newest additions to Open'er Festival 2015 arrive in the form of Flume and Tom Odell, who are joining an already stellar line-up including Alt-J and Kasabian for some fantastic Polish fun this summer. Further additions are yet to be announced.

Australian electronic musician Flume and one of the UK's favourite singer-songwriters Tom Odell are the latest additions to the fourteenth Open'er Festival, held at Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport in Gdynia, Poland from July 1st - 4th 2015. They'll be playing alongside the likes of Main Stage acts Alt-J and Kasabian, Tent Stage musicians Jose Gonzalez and St. Vincent and Alter Stage visitors Swans. 

Continue reading: Open'er Festival 2015 Continues To Grow With More Exciting Line-Up Additions

2014's John Lewis Christmas Advert is racking up views on YouTube like there's no tomorrow, thanks to Tom Odell and a cute penguin. Advertising is such an intrinsically part of everyday life, that the general public have all but condemned shopping adverts to white noise in the background. While products like 'Old Spice' and 'The Natural Confectionary Company' have been able to implant something memorable in our heads, more often than not, the only adverts anyone care about nowadays are the specialised Christmas adverts for various companies. 

Last year's advert featured Lilly Allen singing 'Somewhere Only We Know'

Years ago, the Christmas season didn't begin in some people's eyes until the bright red adverts of 'Coka Cola' showed up on their television screens, yet nowadays 'John Lewis' are one of the new standards of greatness where Christmas Adverts are concerned. This year's marketing campaign has introduced the world to Monty the Penguin through their adverts socialised on the retail company's Twitter account.

Continue reading: John Lewis Christmas Advert: Experience Real Love For Monty The Penguin [Watch]

London Grammar lead the honours at last night's 59th annual Ivor Novello awards in London. The trip-hop trio, Dominic Major, Hannah Reid and Daniel Rothman, won Best Song Musically and Lyrically for their track 'Strong.' The award was significant for the band, who met each other at Nottingham University, because it demonstrates a change of fortune when compared to them being ignored at the Mercury Music Prize.

London Grammar Proved Their Worth At The 59th Ivor Novello Awards.

Speaking before the show, vocalist Reid said of the awards: "It feels really good because it's a songwriter's award and that's why we do what we do, it's a little more chilled than the BRITs as well, it's great."

Continue reading: Ivor Novellos Victory For London Grammar As Mercurys Snub Forgotten

Alabama's sun-soaked, sold-out Hangout Music Fest begins officially today (May 16th 2014) following yesterday's kick-off party - and there's almost too much fun to take in.

Set against the glorious backdrop of Gulf Shores' pure white beaches, this festival truly is the place to 'hang out' this weekend with top headliners The Black Keys, The Killers, Outkast and Jack Johnson leading the talent-studded bill. Acts such as Jack Antonoff's latest project Bleachers, CLASSIXX and Bonobo's DJ set went down a storm at the Discover Great Thursday Kickoff Party, but don't worry if you missed it because things are getting even better over the rest of the weekend.

Headliners The Black Keys open the festival today

Continue reading: Experience Sun, Sand And Sensational Sounds At Hangout Festival 2014

All set for the BRIT Awards this evening? Indeed, Britain's biggest night of music awards will take place today and we're feeling pretty excited for the ceremony, which is set to be as spectacular as ever. Of course, if it was purely based on sales, most of the awards would go to One Direction, who have sold 3.19 million albums in the past year. Luckily that's not the case and the awards look set to be handed out to a diverse range of acts who've made their mark on music this year.

Nominated 'International Female Solo Artist' Will Be Bringing Her Pop Hits To Tonight's Ceremony.

This year's musical entertainment will be provided by Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, Ellie Goulding Arctic Monkeys, Rudimental, Bruno Mars, Bastille, and Lorde but a rumour has arisen that Prince may make a surprise performance with his band, 3rdEyeGirl. The funk singer has been delighting Londoners with surprise gigs over the past week so it's highly plausible that he'll make the BRIT Awards his final London date.

Continue reading: Tonight's BRIT Awards Preview: Who's Performing, Who's Up For A Prize?

We're almost halfway through an incredible 30-day iTunes Festival with some legendary shows still to come from the likes of Elton John, Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry.

One of London's most fabulous concert venues, The Roundhouse, is holding the biggest artists of the year between September 1st - 30th and it's only going to get better from here.

The festivities kicked off with Lady GaGa, who certainly garnered much 'Applause' with her electric set which saw her don little more than seashells in strategic places as she bellowed out a taster of her upcoming album 'Artpop'.

Continue reading: Get Ready For The Second Half Of London's 2013 Star-Filled ITunes Festival

Prime Minister David Cameron has promoted young British musicians by giving all the G8 leaders a 10-track USB stick containing songs from Alt-J, Conor Maynard, Laura Mvula and Gabrielle Aplin with a very prominent theme of love.

Perhaps the Tory party leader is attempting to up his "cool" factor or seem down with the kids - the voters of tomorrow - having also recently been seen at Oxfordshire's Cornbury Festival and regularly sharing his music taste with reporters. The ten songs weren't selected by the busy PM however, rather the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) assembled the tracklist presented to each of the G8 leaders on a USB stick.

Cameron Taking Some Time Out Of Parliament To Soak Up The Sun At Oxfordshire's Cornbury Music Festival.

Continue reading: David Cameron Gives Romantic Mixtape To G8 Leaders, Who's On It?

A week in music videos... We finally get the first glimpse of what's in store for Kings Of Leon's sixth album 'Mechanical Bull' with their new single 'Supersoaker'. It's probably one of the most highly-anticipated albums of the year following their 2010 offering 'Come Around Sundown' which reached the top spot on the UK album charts and number 2 in the US. If you're a fan of awesome, driving rock anthems, then after listening to 'Supersoaker' you'll be the first to grab a copy of the new album in September. Listen to Supersoaker here.

Just as fresh and anthemic is London band Bastille, who stole the hearts of the nation with their debut album 'Bad Blood' earlier this year - an easy chart topper responsible for such tracks as 'Pompeii' and 'Laura Palmer'. They have now released a moving video for their emotional track 'Things We Lose In The Fire' which also managed to chart despite not being released as a single. Bastille are currently on a major world tour and will appear at the likes of Japan's Summer Sonic Festival, Leeds and Reading Festival and Berlin Festival this summer. Watch the video for Things We Lost In The Fire here.

Continue reading: A Week In Music, Kings Of Leon Unveil New Album's First Taste 'Supersoaker', Tom Odell Plays Mesmerising London Gig And Mazzy Star Make A Long-Awaited Return

It's been a rollercoaster of a few months for West London's folk rockers, Mumford & Sons. They've headlined Glastonbury in June but had to deal with bassist Ted Dwane's terrifying blood clot health scare that required immediate brain surgery and several cancelled US festival appearances. Dwane rested until Glastonbury Festival when the quartet resolutely took to the stage armed with their banjos, mandolins, guitars, and even a brass section to show the world the Little Lion Men were unstoppable. They played a barn-storming headline slot, blasting their hits with defiance and making the entire Vale of Avalon take notice.

Mumford & Sons Now Back At No.1 After Glastonbury Success.

Such was the success of the Sunday headliners that many in the crowd were converted to Mumford & Sons' distinctive banjo-tickling ways and rushed home to purchase a copy of their most recent album: September 2012's Babel, despite lead single 'I Will Wait' having premiered nearly a year ago. The album has enjoyed 40 weeks in the charts but Mumford's festival success induced a 384% sales increase, propelling the 12-track record up 15 places to the No.1 roost in the week following the festival and beating Michael Bublé's To Be Lovedby just 125 copies, according to The Independent. Their 2009 debut Sigh No More also climbed to the 12th place after their sunny Somerset hoedown.

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Are Kings Of The Charts After Glasto Success

And that's it. Another year passes and Worthy Farm closes its gates on the Glastonbury Festival revellers for another 12 months. Though there's always the distant murmur of someone professing it "the best Glastonbury ever," there was a palpable feeling that this year's festival was among the finest in history. Firstly, there was heightened anticipation given the fallow year in 2012 and secondly, the sun came out. Oh, and The Rolling Stones made their debut, rollicking through a two-and-a-half-hour set on Saturday (June 29, 2013) and scoring five-star reviews across the board.

Mick Jagger Performing With The Rolling Stones At Glastonbury Festival in 2013

The surprise return of David Bowie in 2013 had left many commentators speculating on the possibility of the Thin White Duke headlining the legendary festival, though there was no lingering thoughts of "What if?" once Glastonbury got underway on Friday with a snappy set from Sheffield heroes Arctic Monkeys. Bowie became all but a moot point after Saturday, when Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and company played a career spanning set that included 'Jumping Jack Flash,' 'Tumbling Dice,' 'Start Me Up,' 'You Can't Always Get What You Want,' 'Gimmie Shelter,' 'Doom and Gloom' and 'Midnight Rambler.' "The night belongs to the Stones. By turning on the charm as well as the formidable back catalogue, they prove themselves well worth the wait," said the Guardian's Dorian Lynskey. 

Continue reading: Glastonbury Festival 2013 In Pictures: Sun, Cider And The Rolling Stones [Pictures]

The news that Tom Odell might reach the No.1 spot in the UK charts comes just two days after British music magazine NME gave a 0/10 as the 22 year-old's debut abum Long Way Down plummeted violently at the hands of jaded journo, Mark Beaumont who described Odell as a "virulent dose of musical syphilis." In response to his son's scathing review at the hands of NME, Odell's pilot father phoned up the music mag to complain that the debut had been reviewed unfairly, according to The Independent.

Will Tom Odell Tip Kanye From The Top Spot?

Lily Allen, who originally discovered Odell and signed him to her label, claiming he reminded her of David Bowie, rushed to his defence on Twitter with a searing tweet: "For all the people asking who the NME is, it's like this fanzine that people used to read in the 90s" after earlier describing NME as tw*ts in an earlier. The 22 year-old from Chichester made his name touring the open mic circuits but quickly rose to fame after being discovered by Allen, which led to an album advance, an EP and an appearance on Later With Jools Holland.

Continue reading: Tom Odell To Topple King Kanye In UK Charts

A pattern has formed for young and emerging musicians: they get hyped to the apex of their abilities before they’ve released their full length album, usually on the strength of a small EP, a live show or sometimes even a single. In many ways, Tom Odell has been a victim of his own success- either that or his album just isn’t that good.

With a 66% overall raiting on reviews aggregator site Metacritic, it’s clear to see the critics are divided on the youngster’s debut offering. “There's also something a little too contained, cling-filmed and... Keane-ey about it's measured percussion and guitar swells,” say The Telegraph. “Which leaves you feeling that although this is a very good record by a very talented young artist, it's probably not a patch on catching him live.” This was one of the kinder reviews. The Guardian say: “He may yet rise above the glut of similar-sounding Sheehans, Buggs and Mumfords, but hasn't yet found his voice,” While Q, rather forgivingly, say “There are too many songs here set to the same humdrum pace. But those are the sort of flaws you expect from a debut."

The long-awaited album from Tom Odell isn't up to scratch

Continue reading: Has Tom Odell Lived Up To His Incredible Billing?

A week in videos… It’s been a busy week for the languid voiced, melancholic entity that is Kurt Vile, and he’s topped it off by releasing a new video for KV Crimes – a song off his latest release Wakin' On A Pretty Daze. Directed by Tom Scharpling, the video riffs on the recent news that the 28th of August will officially be known as Kurt Vile Day. The actual ceremony will be marked by a free concert at City Hall from, guess who, Kurt Vile

Lack of sunny weather and increased austerity got you feeling down? Then the video for Michael Franti & Spearhead - I'm Alive (Life Sounds Like) will do a sterling job of perking you up, unless you’re averse to whistling that is. Drums and face paint at the ready; it’s festival season, and Michal Franti & Spearhead are getting ready for a summer of live shows with this seasonal video, full of fun and vitality. And drums. We mentioned drums, right?

While 20 years is a long time to develop that pop punk, emo, power pop or alternative rock sound – whatever you want to call it – it seems as though Jimmy Eat World still sound the same, not that that’s a bad thing. Their eighth studio album 'Damage' is due to hit shelves on June 11th 2013, and the video for their new single, I Will Steal You Bank conjures memories of their frenetic live shows with its nostalgic black & white style.

Continue reading: A Week In Music – Kurt Vile Has His Own Day, Tom Odell Lives Up To The Hype, Candy Says Are Delighted & Kanye Still Thinks He's God

A Week In Reviews... This week saw 14-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys head to the UK for a series of dates, and boy did it seem that the girl really was on fire. A storming appraisal from us here at Contactmusic, for her show in Manchester proved that Keys hasn't lost her spark over 16 years in the game."If one thing's for certain tonight it's that Alicia Keys is the perfect crossover star, with an old school approach to music and a new school approach to showmanship; the girl really is on fire" we reckoned. 

Meanwhile, across the Pennines in Leeds, Mercury-nominated Ghostpoet was in town to perform plenty of new material. However, there was plenty to take in for both fans old and new, with Contactmusic's Joe Wild writing "Whilst the show was unquestionably a vehicle to promote his new material, the MC did sprinkle some Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam favourites into the set-list, such as 'Liiines' and 'Cash and Carry Me Home' to keep the faithful fans happy. But it was the renditions of newbies 'Dial Tones,' 'MSI MusmiD' and new single 'Meltdown' that really got the crowd amped and responding to his metaphor-laden lyrics and urban-decay-inspired beats."

Continue reading: A Week In Music - Alicia Keys Is On Fire, Professor Green Engineers Return And The Rolling Stones Threaten Glastonbury Black Out

Taylor Swift is fast gaining a reputation for skipping between boyfriends faster that you can say ‘We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together,’ which, let’s face it, as song titles go, is a bit of a mouthful. After the Brits, Taylor was spotted out with the winner of the evening’s Critics’ Choice Award, Tom Odell. According to The Metro, Odell and Swift shared a few drinks at the Florists Arms in Bethnal Green, before they headed of to the super-swanky Groucho Club in Soho.

Presumably Tom will have been looking over his shoulder to make sure Harry Styles wasn’t around. After all, it’s not that been that long since Taylor unceremoniously jilted young Harry, of the boy band One Direction. Styles’ band also performed at the Brit Awards. At the time that they were booked, we assume that the Awards organisers thought it might make a nice romantic night out for Harry and his country-pop starlet. Of course, they weren’t banking on Taylor’s attention-deficit approach to dating putting the kibosh on their budding relationship quite so soon. 

Continue reading: Taylor Swift And Harry Styles Are No More, Taylor Swift And Tom Odell Drink After Brits

This year’s Brit Awards nominations look as though they were concocted by a group of strangers, with wildly different cultural backgrounds, on a drunken night out. Is this a sign that the mainstream music world is finally starting to accept that it’s becoming more and more acceptable to have diverse musical tastes? Or are the organisers of the BRITS simply trying to spark controversy? have they lost the plot? Or is this an honest reflection of the mindset of a 2013 British music buying public? Let’s take a look at the evidence, and scrutinise some of the more baffling categories…

British Female Solo Artist Nominees – One of the more sensitive and contentious issues, here, in the British female solo artist category. Of the five nominees, only four of them were alive this year. We understand that Amy Winehouse has a lasting legacy in British pop music. We understand that she was – and, in many ways remains - a tour de force. But, for the sake of the awards, we simply have to ask, at the risk of sounding flippant, what has Amy Winehouse done for British music in the last 12 months? Sadly, nothing. Her posthumous album (released in December 2011, we should add), Lioness: Hidden Treasures was politely and quietly denounced for being little more than cuttings from the studio floor. We simply can’t get our heads around her inclusion on this list. With Bat For Lashes throw in as the ‘alternative’ wild card, to lend a touch of outsider cool to the category, it’s between Emeli Sande, Paloma Faith and Jessie Ware to catch this one, we reckon. 

Watch Jessie Ware's video for 'Sweet Talk'

Continue reading: BRIT Awards 2013 Nominees Announced: Diverse? Or Just Weird?

Damien Hirst's infamous polka dot design has been applied to The Brit Award statue ahead of the announcement of 2013's shortlists. Hirst follows in the footprints of Vivienne Westwood and Sir Peter Blake in redesigning the iconic statuette.

Hirst said he is "honoured" to have been asked to contribute the design.

"It has become such an iconic award, I love the Brits," he said. "Damien is truly one of the most important British artists and his reimagining of the statue will make winning a 2013 Brit an even more special proposition," said Brits chairman David Joseph.

Continue reading: The Brit Awards Statue To Leave In A Hirst