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NBA stars and legends hail scoring king LeBron as greatest

NBA legends and current stars hailed LeBron James as the league’s greatest player on Wednesday after the 38-year-old Los Angeles Lakers superstar became the competition’s all-time scoring leader. LeBron eclipsed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA points record by sinking a fadeaway jump shot late in the third quarter of a 133-130 home loss to Oklahoma […]

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David Bowie’s handwritten ‘Jean Genie’ lyrics sold at auction

The handwritten lyrics for David Bowie‘s classic single ‘The Jean Genie’ have been sold for £57,000 at auction.

Titled, dated, and signed by the late icon, the A4 lined sheet was given to Neal Peters when he was President of the New York-based David Bowie Fan Club in 1973.

READ MORE: An oral history of David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’

Dan Hampson of Omega Auctions in Merseyside said the previous owner had decided to sell the piece of music history after seeing Bowie’s ‘Starman’ lyrics fetch a whopping £203,500 at auction in 2022 (via BBC News).

The pre-sale estimate for the ‘Jean Genie’ lyrics had been between £50,000 and £70,000.

“We’re well pleased with the price achieved for this historic set of lyrics,” said auctioneer Paul Fairweather after the sale.

Additionally, the auction lot included a 2009 letter on Neal Peters Collection stationery, which detailed how Bowie gifted Peters the lyrics, as well as numerous photocopied documents about the fan club.

Bidding is currently at £46k ahead of next Tuesday’s sale of the #DavidBowie handwritten Jean Genie lyrics. Previous set of handwritten lyrics for ‘Starman’ fetched £200k (inc premiums)..https://t.co/UszngrZvCY pic.twitter.com/odeK2Vhb2q

— Omega Auctions (@OmegaAuctions) February 3, 2023

Released back in November 1972, ‘The Jean Genie’ served as the lead single to Bowie’s sixth studio album ‘Aladdin Sane’ (1973). The song reached Number Two in the UK Singles Chart.

A special 50th anniversary reissue of ‘Aladdin Sane’ is due to arrive in April. The record will be released as a half-speed mastered LP and a picture disc LP pressed from the same master.

To mark the announcement, a 4K remastered version of ‘The Jean Genie’ music video was shared last month.

Bowie’s daughter recently posted a home video to mark the seventh anniversary of the legendary artist’s death.

The singer passed away on January 10, 2016 after privately living with cancer for 18 months. Bowie had released his 26th and final studio album, ‘Blackstar’, on his 69th birthday just two days prior (January 8).

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Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster: “David Walliams is a total phoney”

Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster have spoken to NME about the upcoming 20th anniversary reissue of classic album ‘Hörse Of The Dög’ – a record which they say brought “danger” back to music and once brought them into the orbit of David Walliams.

The seminal ‘00s garage punks, who split in 2011 after 11 years together, recently announced plans to release an expanded edition of their debut, including a full album’s worth of additional b-side material and sleevenotes from Shaun Of The Dead and Baby Driver director Edgar Wright.

Featuring classic tracks such as ‘Celebrate Your Mother’ and ‘Psychosis Safari’, the visceral 25-minute blast of psychobilly, speed punk and gothic sludge rock helped to set the breakneck pace for much the ‘00s alt-rock scene.

The reissue marks the band’s first release since their 2010 third album ‘Blood And Fire’ and their first activity since a brief reunion in 2012.

NME caught up with singer Guy McKnight, now frontman of Liverpool’s The DSM IV, to discuss the record’s impact and legacy, the traumas behind it and why David Walliams is a “phoney”.

Hello Guy. How did you feel when revisiting the album?

Guy McKnight: “Excited, Proud. Grateful that we did it. It undoubtedly was charged with frenetic energy and madness and life force. The world has changed and consequently the musical landscape has changed so much that I’m not sure if, aside from Fat White Family, bands like ours rarely exist or get signed anymore.”

Are Fat White Family your spiritual descendants?

“Definitely brethren of some kind. I saw them for the first time in November and it was absolutely fucking brilliant. Lias [Saoudi, frontman] was such a mesmeric and enchanting, formidable frontman.”

Did ‘Hörse Of The Dög’ feel like a bold statement of a record at the time?

“It was the turn of the millennium. In the UK we’d had Britpop – some of my favourite bands are still Britpop bands, like Pulp, [but] it was a reaction born out of a lot of that pop stuff, which was sort of rebellious in its own right but had become the norm. There didn’t seem to be much danger in music. We were listening to so much different stuff. Andy [Huxley, guitar] was really into Captain Beefheart – but not to be cool. Sym [Gharial, bass] brought The Clash and These Animal Men and me and Mark [Norris, guitar] stumbled across The Stooges. Me and Tom [Diamantopaulo, drums] were listening to a lot of ‘90s stuff that was really influential – Pixies, Nirvana and then also The Doors and Love. The sound was an accident. We were probably trying to sound like The Doors or something.”

How did you stumble upon this sound?

“Andy was the only one who could really play and it ended up being this angular, clunky yet somehow visceral thing. Something more akin to The Monks’ first album. I don’t know if it was anything to do with the drugs we were taking at the time – it definitely was – but me, Tom and Andy start practising Buddhism. So it was this kind of push and pull of our lives, both inner and outer, great positivity, great negativity, a lot of teenage young men’s ego, madness, and it just kind of boiled over into this lovely toxic soup that is ‘Hörse Of The Dög’.”

You certainly brought the danger element back at your gigs, where you’d often scale bars and PA equipment and appear to have seizures. Did you have any accidents?

“I’ve fainted on stage before and I think I may have soiled myself onstage as well. But it was all made with love.”

Alongside The Libertines’ ‘Up The Bracket’, do you feel like ‘Hörse Of The Dög’ set the pace for the decade?

“I’d like to think we contributed to it, yeah. I really respected those guys, and I still do. There was definitely, I felt anyway, an unspoken kinship. We played at least a few shows together in 2001 or 2002 before either of us had broken through. It’s a curious thing, meeting other like-minded souls at that age, and then watching each other’s band take off. The Libertines became the biggest band of our generation, or one of them. And we seem to develop a rabid following, some might say a cult following. It was an extraordinary time.”

What was it like working with Edgar Wright on the video for ‘Psychosis Safari’?

“It was great. When I moved in with my dad when I was 16, 17 he was living a really unorthodox lifestyle. It was interesting, testing, always a lot of love but probably very dysfunctional also. We ended up doing a lot of drugs together, actually, he and I, but we’ve both been clean and sober now for over 10 years, so it’s a great victory to be able to share with him. It was like a cross between Steptoe & Son, Only Fools And Horses, Withnail And I and something else deranged.

“He used to watch Spaced, so that’s how I knew about [Edgar]. when somebody said, ‘He’s a fan of your guys’ band’, I was like, ‘Really? Wow.’ He made that video to ‘Psychosis Safari’ and it’s brilliant. He’s a good guy. I remember being in [Brighton pub] the Heart & Hand after we’d made that video with him. He was with David Williams, and he gave me the most disdainful look, David Walliams. I’ll never forget that. I think that guy’s a total phoney. But Edgar is a legend. We were actually in Shaun Of The Dead as zombies – I think we got edited out but he used one of our singles ‘Mister Mental’ in it. It’s a real compliment.”

‘Celebrate Your Mother’ was quite controversial… [Key line: “I wanna fuck your mother!”]

“It was really well-received, all things considered. I’m not sure perhaps if people listened closely enough on its release for them to really know what it was talking about – incest and drug-taking.”

‘Psychosis Safari’ suggests you were struggling with mental health issues at the time?

“I think we all were in the band, but myself particularly. I had so much going on from having a lot of problems in my family growing up, abuse and growing up around alcoholism and addiction. There was so much going on behind the scenes, that at the same time as doing your first UK tour, and the venues are packed, all these people your age are singing back lyrics to songs that you and your mates have written in your bedrooms.

“Having that that kind of experience, that excitement, and then trying to process years of dysfunction and trauma and becoming famous at the same time, it was a difficult terrain to try and deal with. But it made for a great record. It made for great, exciting shows. It was all real, basically, all the convulsing was real nervous energy. We were wearing our hearts on our chest.”

What are the key additional tracks on the reissue for you?

“Those b-sides could have been our second album. And perhaps in a parallel universe they were. I think it would have made sense for them to be because of the tone of them, the pace. It was a natural evolution from. ‘Briefcases For Girls’, ‘Turkish Delights Of The Devil’; they were great songs and so much fun to play live. They were sort of wasted a bit as b-sides so having them back now where people can have them all together in one place, is cool.”

There’s a great line on ‘Turkish Delights Of The Devil’ that goes: “All my friends think I’m evil”…

“There was a stage where we were all partying a lot and taking drugs, getting high. Andy stopped pretty early on, but some of us, myself and Sym certainly, didn’t stop and carnage ensued really. I was experiencing blackouts from a young age. I think I had my first blackout when I was about 18 or 19. So with the benefit of hindsight, I can look back and glean the gems out of that time, but actually going through it certainly felt like life or death a lot of the time. I can remember at one point, Mark saying to me that for a while he had been expecting to receive a call one night to say that I’d died. Addiction is a strange thing. I lived to tell the tale fortunately.”

Are there any anniversary gigs in the offing?

“There has been talk but I think the songs speak for themselves and there’s something timeless about them. The energy is still there. Things came together at the right place at the right time, and we were able to focus it enough to write and record those songs. But the mentality, for me, certainly was of a time and a place. So I’m not interested at the moment in playing any shows. To me it would be – exaggerating to make a point – David Bowie being in his 40s and getting dressed up like Ziggy.”

The 20th anniversary expanded reissue of ‘Hörse Of The Dög’ is released on March 10. 

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HYBE acquires Quality Control, label of Migos, Lil Yachty, City Girls and more

HYBE America, the US division of BTS-fronted South Korean entertainment company HYBE Labels, has officially acquired Quality Control (QC) Media Holdings, which is home to acts such as Migos, Lil Yachty, City Girls, Lil Baby and more.

READ MORE: NewJeans: “We want to show the industry that music shouldn’t be divided by language”

The agreement was reported by Variety yesterday (February 8) PT, which detailed that HYBE America has entered into an agreement with QC Media Holdings to merge and acquire the latter. Quality Control is an Atlanta-based hip-hop label covering music as well as sports, film and television. The company was first founded by CEO Pierre “P” Thomas and COO Kevin “Coach K” Lee.

Per Variety, HYBE America’s acquisition of Quality Control was valued at $320million in stock and cash and led by HYBE America CEO Scooter Braun. Braun’s relationship with both Lee and Thomas reportedly dates back to the early 2000s when Braun was still based in the Atlanta.

Welcome to HYBE family, QC Media Holdings!
HYBE will work together with QC Media Holdings to expand and diversify our footprint in the global music industry. pic.twitter.com/8ym86V2fAR

— HYBE OFFICIAL (@HYBEOFFICIALtwt) February 9, 2023

The deal aligns with HYBE Labels’ missions to build a global entertainment giant rooted in music with interests in other entertainment, lifestyle and culture-rich mediums and platforms, said Variety. Despite the merger and acquisition, Variety reports that Quality Control’s existing music roster will continue their affiliation with Universal Music Group.

HYBE America’s agreement with Quality Control marks Braun’s first major move as the organisation’s sole CEO since he took on the mantle earlier this year. Aside from Quality Control, the company’s US catalogue of artists include SB Projects (the New York-based company home to Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, The Kid LAROI and more) as well as the Big Machine Label Group, which houses artists in the country genre such as Tim McGraw, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts and Sheryl Crow.

“I am so proud and honoured to have Coach and P join Bang and I as our partners,” Braun told Variety in his announcement of the deal, referencing HYBE Labels chairman Bang Si-hyuk. “QC is one of the most significant independent labels in the world, working with incredible artists who are, and remain to be, the voices of culture. I’ll never forget riding around Atlanta over 20 years ago with Coach discussing our dreams and ambitions and how we said ‘If they let us in the game, we are never going to give it back.’ Now, all these years later, we are joining forces to make these dreams a reality.”

HYBE Labels – headquartered in Seoul, South Korea – is also home to an extensive roster of top K-pop acts, including BTS, ENHYPEN, TXT, SEVENTEEN, LE SSERAFIM, NewJeans and more. Aside from its American branch, HYBE Labels has also established entertainment industry presence in Japan with the launch of HYBE Japan.

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NBA: Kristaps Porzingis’ 3-point barrage boosts Wizards over Hornets

Kristaps Porzingis scored 18 of his 36 points in the third quarter to fuel the host Washington Wizards to a 118-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. Porzingis sank a career-high-tying eight 3-pointers, including four in a third quarter in which the Wizards outscored the Hornets by a 27-15 margin. He also converted eight […]

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NBA: Bam Adebayo’s efficient night guides Heat past Pacers

Bam Adebayo scored 38 points on 12-for-16 shooting from the floor and a perfect 14-for-14 effort from the foul line as the host Miami Heat defeated the reeling Indiana Pacers 116-111 on Wednesday night. Jimmy Butler added 25 points and a team-high seven assists as Miami won a season-best seventh straight home game. Heat forward […]

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NBA: Raptors take down Spurs for 3rd straight win

Pascal Siakam had 37 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting San Antonio Spurs 112-98 Wednesday night. Chris Boucher added 18 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Raptors, who have won three in a row. The Spurs have lost 10 consecutive games. Fred VanVleet scored 16 […]

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NBA: Severely short-handed, Celtics still top 76ers

Jayson Tatum collected 12 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead the depleted Boston Celtics to a 106-99 victory over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon each scored a team-high 19 points for Boston. Blake Griffin (15), Grant Williams (15) and Sam Hauser (14) also scored in double […]

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NBA: Damian Lillard’s triple-double propels Blazers past Warriors

Damian Lillard had 33 points as part of a triple-double and the Portland Trail Blazers spoiled Klay Thompson’s birthday with a 125-122 victory over the visiting Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. Jordan Poole had a game-high 38 points for the Warriors, including a 3-pointer that put the visitors up 114-110 with 5:48 to go. […]

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NBA: Suns acquire Kevin Durant from Nets

The Phoenix Suns made a stunning acquisition late Wednesday, getting star forward Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets hours after Mat Ishbia took over as owner, according to The Athletic and ESPN. Durant and T.J. Warren are headed to Phoenix in exchange for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder and four first-round draft picks, per […]

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Jay Park to drop new single album ‘Yesterday’, featuring MAMAMOO’s Hwasa

Jay Park has announced the upcoming release of a new single album titled ‘Yesterday’, with guest vocals from MAMAMOO‘s Hwasa.

READ MORE: Exhausted by the grind? ‘Second Wind’ by SEVENTEEN trio BSS is a perfect pick-me-up

The new album, announced earlier this week (February 7), will include a total of two brand-new tracks: lead single ‘Yesterday’ as well as B-side ‘Love Is Ugly’, which will feature MAMAMOO vocalist Hwasa. The single album is slated for a digital release next week on February 13 at 6pm KST.

박재범 (Jay Park), Digital Single [Yesterday]
2023.02.13 (Mon) 18:00 KST

1. Yesterday
2. Love Is Ugly (Feat. Hwa Sa)@JAYBUMAOM #박재범 #JayPark#화사 #HWASA#Yesterday #LoveIsUgly#MOREVISION pic.twitter.com/tEbtQpZdFI

— MORE VISION (@MOREVISIONKR) February 7, 2023

The upcoming release of ‘Yesterday’ will mark the Korean-American musician’s first music in over half a year, with his last project being the standalone single ‘Need To Know’, dropped in July 2022. That song, which featured Street Woman Fighter’s Noze in its accompanying music video, was itself a follow-up to ‘Ganadara’, featuring IU. ‘Ganadara’ was Park’s first music under his then-newly established label New Vision. In September 2022, More Vision launched its first-ever auditions in search of members for an upcoming boyband to be produced by the company.

When More Vision first launched in March 2022, Jay Park also published an interview on its official YouTube channel discussing the company’s visions and goals. “People have always tried to put me in a box. And I’ve been trying my best to stay outside the box,” he said at the time, sharing that he aims to create an environment where his artists are allowed to be fearless in their creativity.

In other K-pop news, former AOA leader Shin Jimin wil be releasing new solo music this month with her debut mini-album, ‘Boxes’, marking her official return to the music industry since she was the subject of bullying allegations made against her by former AOA bandmate Kwon Mina in 2021.

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Django Django share dance-y new single ‘Complete Me’ featuring Self Esteem

Django Django have announced their fifth studio album ‘Off Planet’ and shared its lead single ‘Complete Me’ featuring Self Esteem – listen below.

Following on from 2021’s ‘Glowing In The Dark’, the London band’s forthcoming new record is set to be released in four parts – each representing a separate “planet”.

READ MORE: The NME Big Read – Self Esteem: “I want to use the palatable nature of pop to Trojan horse in my agenda”

‘Off Planet Part 1’, which features five tracks, is out now. The full 21-song album will arrive on June 16 via Because Music – you can pre-order/pre-save it here.

First single ‘Complete Me’ is described as “an explosion of ’90s-inspired breakbeat”, and boasts vocals from Self Esteem (aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor) over clubby piano, synth strings and keys.

“The instrumental for ‘Complete Me’ was made sometime in 2020 or ’21 when the world was in lockdown and I was making music in my garden shed studio,” explained David Maclean in a statement.

“It was a dance track that I didn’t really know what to do with. I sent it to Rebecca and she loved the vibe of it and really quickly came up with some vocal ideas that kind of stuck straight away and locked well with the track.”

He continued: “The production was inspired by a lot of ’90s breakbeat house and hip-house records that I’ve always been really into and loved Djing with over the years.”

Taylor is a longtime associate of Django Django, having released her first EP on Maclean’s Kick + Clap label. She also appeared on the group’s 2018 LP ‘Marble Skies’ and has supported them on tour.

Completing ‘Off Planet Part 1’ are the tunes ‘Wishbone’, ‘Osaka’, ‘Hands High’ and ‘Lunar Vibrations’ – listen here via your desired streaming platform.

As for the album on the whole, the project began with Maclean making beats and many instrumental electronic tracks “very specifically to be not Django Django”. However, the ideas were later passed on to bandmates Jimmy Dixon Tommy Grace to write parts for.

Additionally, ‘Off Planet’ features guest spots from Jack Peñate, Stealing Sheep, Toya Delazy and more. The idea to bring onboard collaborators came about when Maclean imagined different voices singing over his more rave and hip-hop-inspired instrumentals.

Off Planet, the full album, will be out on 16th June.

Double LP, CD and merch now available to pre-order https://t.co/nWmz3vsA1Q pic.twitter.com/1Ldr20e5bT

— Django Django (@thedjangos) February 8, 2023

The record’s title, meanwhile, emerged from Maclean’s obsession with ufology: a term for hyper-advanced technologies kept secret from the populace.

“Just about everything we love, whether that’s old psychedelia or Detroit techno, has that futuristic or outer space feel, and I think we can’t help putting that into what we do,” he explained.

See the full tracklist for ‘Off Planet’ here:

‘Wishbone’
‘Complete Me’ ft. Self Esteem
‘Osaka’
‘Hands High’ ft Refound*
‘Lunar Vibrations’ ft Isabelle Woodhouse
‘Don’t Touch That Dial’ ft. Yuuko
‘Back To Back’ ft. Patience
‘Squid Inc ‘
‘Come Down’
‘Golden Cross’
‘No Time’ ft. Jack Penate
‘A New Way Through’
‘Galaxy Mood’ ft. Toya Delazy 
‘The Oh Zone’
‘Dead Machine’ ft. Stealing Sheep
‘Dumb Drum’
‘Fluxus’
‘Slipstream”
‘Who You Know’ ft. Bernardo
‘Black Cadillac’
‘Gazelle ‘

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