Latest news with #KeithFlint
Telegraph
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Yungblud's new rock-opera is ambitious but confused
While the music press has been busy grieving the death of rock 'n' roll, a 27-year-old from Doncaster has managed to become his generation's breakout guitar-wielding star. Chuck Robbie Williams, the Prodigy's late frontman Keith Flint and Dennis the Menace into a blender and after a few seconds of whizzing you'd have Yungblud (real name Dominic Harrison); now he's back with a fourth album, Idols, that will inevitably follow its predecessors to the top of the charts. Idols is the first half of a double album, a concept first pioneered (like pretty much everything else in pop and rock) by the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix and that has grown increasingly popular among artists who rely on the thirsty internet hype-machine to make their records sell: everyone from Taylor Swift to Kendrick Lamar is at it. It's a record that spans big, soaring melodies, angsty pop-rock ballads and even the gutsy theatrics of Queen. The album's opener, Hello Heaven, Hello, is a sprawling, nine-minute rumination on death and belonging ('So tell me / Are you gonna die in the pain that they all inflict on you / Or are you gonna swim through the storm?'); Ghosts features Yungblud's best attempt at Freddie Mercury's famed 'Ay-Oh' and culminates with a crescendo of claps, We Will Rock You-style. The latter should go down a storm with a live audience – perfect timing, considering the second edition of Harrison's very own festival, Bludfest, will take place in Milton Keynes this weekend. A quick disclaimer: I have never really got Yungblud. The propensity for over-the-top costumes and snarling vocal delivery; the sheer spread of influences; or maybe I'm just too old – the majority of moshing fans you'll find at his raucous live shows are teenagers. On the first point, his vocals have significantly improved – though the tattoos and jet black hair remain – with his strong South Yorkshire accent peeking pleasingly through the high notes; there's an endearing vulnerability to be found, too, in the moments when Harrison's voice momentarily cracks, as on melancholy closing ballad Supermoon. He sounds more mature and assured than he did on earlier songs such as I Love You, Will You Marry Me (from his 2018 debut, 21st Century Liability) or The Freak Show, an operatic call to arms for society's weirdos and misfits from 2020 album Weird! But overall, Idols fails to quell that second reservation: you're left wondering whether Harrison has really accepted who he is as an artist. The Greatest Parade could well be Placebo. Lovesick Lullaby sounds like Liam Gallagher howling through Slide Away. The influence of The Verve's seminal Urban Hymns is evident throughout, and proven by the fact Harrison decided to cover Bittersweet Symphony in the Radio 1 Live Lounge while on the promotional trail. Earlier this year, the star told the Telegraph: 'Bowie, Freddie, Bono – I'm trying to reach for that'. They're all great artists to admire – but perhaps a degree of separation from his idols would help to carve out a more self-assured identity. Poppie Platt Also out: Loyle Carner, Hopefully! ★★★★☆ Rap has often been unfairly marked as the music of the angry and disenfranchised, but naysayers might have to bite their tongue when it comes to Loyle Carner 's discography. The south London-raised rapper's mix of soft beats and emotional lyricism has made him stand out as a unique voice on the hip-hop scene. As the 30-year-old prepares for a headline slot on The Other Stage at Glastonbury, Carner's latest album Hopefully! combines jazzy, RnB riffs with a level of mellow self-reflection in his writing that continues to make him one of British music's most unique and poetic voices. In his previous album Hugo, Carner tried to break away from his 'nice guy of hip-hop' persona by directly dealing with racial politics in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement – he is of Guyanese heritage. Elements of that are still present here. Notably on the titular track, he samples the late British poet Benjamin Zephaniah (a figure the artist has cited as one of his heroes), who talks of an uprising when it comes to social class and status in the black community. But this is a more introspective work as Carner uses the LP to work through his own anxieties. The rapper, who has two young children, deals with the responsibilities of fatherhood throughout the album. On Strangers, his vocal intonation is more akin to a lullaby than the more aggressive tone of Hugo. One line from the track stands out: 'Letters escape you' works as a candid double entendre of both children learning to use and develop language, but also for the artists' personal struggles with dyslexia. Other tracks point to broader points of his psyche. In My Mind deals with Carner's issues with self-esteem and self-image. The rapper even draws on imagery from Harry Potter as an intertextual reference point on the track Horcrux, about the reconciliation between touring and home life. If Hugo felt more like a step forward lyrically and tonally, Hopefully! feels like a return to familiar territory. It has more in common with Yesterday's Gone, his debut album, that served as an affectionate tribute to his own mother. It felt like the work of a loving son. Now, it has come full circle, Carner has matured and Hopefully! represents the poetry of a loving father. Ollie Macnaughton Best new songs By Poppie Platt Amaarae, Sl-t Me Out (S.M.O) The superb Ghanaian-American singer returns with an upbeat track about sexual empowerment, set to an infectious blend of hyperpop, kpanlogo and zouk. Her set at Glastonbury next Saturday – preceding Doechii on West Holts – is shaping up to be one of the weekend's hottest shows. Benson Boone, Mr Electric Blue Unless you've been living under a rock (aka don't spend hours scrolling through TikTok), you'll have noticed that pop-king Harry Styles has been, for the moment, usurped. Benson Boone, an all-American ex-Mormon who had the biggest hit of last year with Beautiful Things – and is as famous for his backflips as his tunes – released his hotly anticipated new album American Heart today; this stomping, synth-heavy anthem is the standout. CMAT, The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station The Dublin rising star's songs are witty, flirty, camp, sometimes emotional – with a power tool of a voice to match. Her latest is a meta reflection on how her tendency to get annoyed by people is holding her back, told through the lens of her irrational beef with TV chef Jamie Oliver ('That man should not have his face on posters'). Haim, All Over Me Everyone's favourite indie-pop sisters – Alana, Danielle and Este Haim – are back with a new album, I Quit: a funny, fearless dissection of bad relationships and missed opportunities that reaches a high point on the funky All Over Me, a celebration of 'friends with benefits'. Miles Kane, Love is Cruel The man who has been trying to keep mod fashion alive for the past decade, the Last Shadow Puppets co-frontman returns with a slick new track (produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach) about finding solace in your own company. PSA: Kane will play the last ever show at Sheffield's famous Leadmill next Friday. Sam Fender and Olivia Dean, Rein Me In Fans begged for this duet to be released after Fender and Dean performed it live at his recent stadium shows in London and Newcastle; the blend of Fender's gravelly vocals and Dean's honey-smooth tones is gorgeous, as his original tale of traversing a town filled with the memories of past lovers ('And all the bars 'round here serve my ghosts and carcasses') takes on new poignancy with Dean's verse, in which she begs him to open up. Wednesday, Wound Up Here (By Holdin On) A body being pulled from a West Virginia creek doesn't sound like the most obvious of song inspirations – but unpredictability is just what makes US Southern rock band Wednesday so exciting. Rough riffs and sardonic lyrics delivered with a snarl by vocalist Karly Hartzman lend this new track echoes of early Pavement bangers.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Prodigy honours late frontman Keith Flint at Coachella
The Prodigy have honoured late frontman Keith Flint during their Coachella 2025 set. The band's MC, Maxim, led the group through a 14-song set at the Mojave Tent. During the show, their third at the festival, the band beamed a laser outline of the late singer on stage that moved in time to their 1996 hit single Firestarter, with snippets of his vocals. They did a similar thing at last year's Reading and Leeds Festival. Elsewhere in their set they smashed through hits from their back catalogue including Breathe, Omen and Smack My Bitch Up. Flint died by suicide on 4 March 2019. The frontman was found dead at his home in Essex. He was 49 years old. "It is with deepest shock and sadness that we can confirm the death of our brother and best friend Keith Flint," wrote Prodigy members Liam Howlett and Maxim Reality in a statement at the time. In an Instagram post, Howlett added: "The news is true. I can't believe I'm saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend. "I'm shell shocked, f**kin angry, confused and heartbroken." Elsewhere at Coachella, fans were treated to performances by Missy Elliott, Lady Gaga and AG Cook. Travis Scott, Green Day, Charli XCX, Jimmy Eat World, Clairo, Japanese Breakfast, Sam Fender and Weezer are also set to perform this weekend.
Los Angeles Times
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The Prodigy's Liam Howlett on playing Coachella after Keith Flint's death — 'It was like jumping off a building'
When the Prodigy first played Coachella in 2002, they were outlaws. The brash electronic group's 1997 LP 'The Fat of The Land' had topped charts in the U.S. and heralded the mainstreaming of underground rave culture, which would morph into the EDM boom here a decade later. They were MTV staples for grimy videos like 'Breathe' and 'Firestarter,' where the dual-mohawked singer/dancer Keith Flint skulked around an empty subway tunnel, sneering in kohl eyeliner and an American flag sweater. Liam Howlett, the Prodigy's founder, recalled his band's debut at Coachella as 'a real British invasion. It was quite a different festival back then,' he said. 'I remember it being quite loose and unregulated.' Twenty-three years later, there's a new yearning for that era, when dance music embodied tech-juiced libertinism and invention. When we go to the club, we want to hear those club classics, after all. Prodigy old-heads and Gen Z revivalists will get to hear them (the band's now a duo, with singer-dancer Maxim and other touring musicians) on Friday at 10:05 p.m. in the Mojave tent. Howlett spoke to The Times about recovering from Flint's death at 49 in 2019, Gen Z's longing for a different era of rave and if A.I. has any place in the modern raver's toolkit. It must be cathartic to be back playing big festivals after Keith Flint's death. Is it emotional being up there without him? Right after Keith passed away, we just didn't know what to do. We didn't even speak about anything for years. Finally we just hung out and one of us said, 'I think I'm up for it.' We talked about gigs — Should we? Could we? We ended up with the same answer, which was basically that the only way to find out is to get some gigs in small venues. It gave us the answers we needed. Man, it was f— just highly emotional. I've never felt so affected just because the crowds were totally with us. It was like jumping off a building. We just didn't know what the f— was gonna happen. This is why we had to do it. I'll never forget the feeling, like the crowd gave us the answers we needed to carry on. But I will say that us carrying on isn't a Keith tribute show. We want to honor him, and we will continue to do that, because Keith is more than just a person they saw on stage. Even though he wasn't a musician, he was such an important person in the studio as a right-hand man. When I'm writing music now, he still survives in my mind, and that's a beautiful thing, you know. That's knowing we've got more to give. Because that's when I'll stop, when I've got nothing more to give. There is a fresh longing for raves of yore — there's a reason Charli XCX is singing about wanting to hear the club classics. As someone who pioneered that era, what are young people yearning for there? The night is a call to these kids. Electronic music always is there. I think it's because, basically, pop producers use electronic music and they dip into that when they're making pop records. We consider ourselves on the harder end of electronic music, and we're quite pure in what we what we do, even though it's quite mixed up. It's a combination of culture-clashing British influences and American hip-hop, but it's electronic music that has always had its place, especially in Europe and England. When I was growing up, I was very lucky, because I grew up in three big cultural movements. I missed punk because I was too young, but two-tone ska, I got into that big time. Then hip-hop came over to be another massive thing, and then I discovered rave culture. I wish my son could experience at least something like those movements. He's lacking a bit now, and I think the blame totally lies in social media. Things aren't allowed to simmer on the underground, they don't get the chance to live there long enough for it to grow. They're exposed fully to the public straight away. I think that's the reason why cultures aren't longer-lasting. Plus, you kind of need to experience it in the right physical setting, and not just on your phone. Going out to raves in London and around the U.K., we were standing next to sound systems that were shaking your whole body to understand what music can do. While you're flipping through phones and looking at videos, if you don't also experience it standing next to a sub-bass, you haven't experienced what frequencies can do to people. I was very privileged as well to have that ingrained into me very young. Dance music has always been open to new technology, but the Prodigy's music was always very handmade. Does A.I. have any place in club music today, or is that antiart? I'm interested in any technology, but I think it's so dangerous to rely on anything like that, anything that takes any type of creativity away from the person. I think instead of being afraid of it, I believe that an artist can be in the studio, and if A.I. could be utilized to shine a light or help unlock an idea, then I think that's a good thing. As far as relying on it to produce, we don't want to take the creativity away from a person. But I'm interested what the positive things about it are, like how can it help educate people. Your last album came out in 2018, though you have new music coming soon. Dance music is evolving faster than ever in the modern era. Do big statement-piece albums like 'The Fat of the Land' still feel possible today? You have to attack it in different ways. Obviously, writing has taken time because of the whole situation. As far as writing new songs, I'm not sure whether it's going to be in the shape of an album or what it is, because we want to be able to release music quickly. Releasing an album just seems too drawn out to me. So we're trying to think of other ways of doing it so people can get the music quicker. As soon as we're happy with a tune, I want it out there. Obviously, the world is changing all the time, there are different ways of getting music to people. That interests me, because between the time I finish a song and the time it comes out, that period is too long. But I never let anything be released until it's at a certain standard. My son's in a band and he just sticks stuff up straight away, and I'm jealous. We want to find the right balance of that. Does your old music resonate with him? He's in a guitar band, so there's nothing electronic about what he's doing. That's a choice he made because he knows he can't beat his dad. [Laughs] It's very difficult, I think, for guitar bands now, but he's good. Man, we were there once. It's funny to see it all again through my son's eyes. The Prodigy was the embodiment of a subcultural band that got huge. In an era when everything is accessible and chewed up online so quickly, how do you preserve that sensibility today? From a young age, the music I liked was not friendly music. It's always something that was weird, or had a bit more anger, an attitude or depth. We're not a political band, but we are a band of the people, we are an escapist band. I went back to a small studio — basically like a bedroom. I can do everything, I can mix in here. The sound of my last record sounds better than the previous record, which was mixed in a big studio. I've gone back to DIY. Too much equipment can weigh you down, and with limited equipment, your brain has to figure out ways to do stuff and be creative. In this room, it's a mess with loads of weird devices everywhere. I'm not an artist that likes to stare at a computer screen. I put the computer on as a tape machine, press record, play for an hour, then stop and listen to what I've got. Something good happens when you're playing that loud through a real system.
