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Blockberry Creative has filed a petition to Korean entertainment industry bodies to ban former LOONA singer Chuu from entertainment activities in the country, and has plans to file another against members Heejin, Choerry, Kim Lip and Jinsoul. Yesterday (February 1), per News1, the Korea Entertainment Management Association (KEMA) revealed that Blockberry Creative, the embattled agency of K-pop girl group LOONA, had petitioned KEMA and Korea Entertainment Producers Association in December 2022 for the suspension of Chuu’s entertainment activities. Chuu was a member of LOONA up until November 2022, when the agency announced her “expulsion” from the group, alleging to online skepticism the singer’s “violent language and misuse of power toward our staff”. Chuu later responded by saying she had...

The family of late The Fall frontman Mark E. Smith have addressed the new music project created by former members of the post-punk band.  READ MORE: “I survived a Mark E. Smith interview”: one NME writer’s unique experience with the post-punk provocateur Last year, five musicians who played as part of The Fall throughout the band’s various line-up changes assembled to create a new group called House Of All. The members of the new band include drummers Simon Wolstencroft and Paul Hanley, who joined The Fall between 1980 to 1997, as well as former bassist Steve Hanley and guitarists Pete Greenway and Martin Bramah. The quintet describes House Of All as “A Fall Family Continuum project”. Earlier this week, the band announced their first-ever tour throughout England, with an eponymous debut al...

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has defended Arcade Fire being among the nominees for this year’s Juno Awards despite the sexual misconduct allegations against frontman Win Butler. Nominations for this years awards were revealed on Tuesday (February 31), and Arcade Fire are nominated in the Group of the Year category alongside Billy Talent, Metric, Arkells and The Reklaws. In August, Butler was accused of sexual misconduct by four people – who were between 18 and 23 years old at the time of the alleged interactions, between 2015 and 2020 – who accused him of “inappropriate” behaviour. Those actions ranged from sexual assault to sending unwanted explicit text messages and pursuing relationships with fans of the band much younger than him. In November, a fifth person came...

Daine has shared new single ‘Portal’, taken from their forthcoming second mixtape ‘Shapeless’ ahead of its arrival later this month. READ MORE: Daine: meet the future emo icon mentored by Charli XCX The track was produced by Waylon Dean, along with regular Daine collaborators hearteyes and Lonelyspeck. It’s a sonically eclectic cut that oscillates between verses that foreground Daine’s voice with nostalgic emo guitars, and big, thrashy hyperpop choruses. Listen below: ‘Shapeless’ – the follow-up to Daine’s 2022 debut project ‘Quantum Jumping’ – is set to arrive on February 24. It’s been previewed with a handful of other singles, including ‘Stay Close’ and its title track. “‘Shapeless’ is the biggest embodiment of my personal growth thus far – a huge leap forward in confidence & artist...

ENHYPEN have been announced as headliners for a new festival in Las Vegas, We Bridge. READ MORE: Epik High – ‘Strawberry’ review: an irreverent, bite-sized beginning to a new chapter We Bridge, billed as a three-day cultural expo and two-day music festival celebrating Asian entertainment and culture, will take place in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Convention Center and Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino from April 21 to 23. ENHYPEN will headline the festival’s second night (April 22), sharing the bill with other K-pop acts including boy group ONEUS and soloist Be’O, as well as girl groups VIVIZ and fromis_9. Other Korean acts, namely Dreamcatcher, CIX and soloist Kang Daniel, have been announced as the performing line-up for day one (April 21). ONEUS will be performing bot...

Death Cab For Cutie have paid tribute to Low‘s Mimi Parker with a cover of ‘The Plan’. Parker, the group’s vocalist and drummer, passed away in November from ovarian cancer at the age of 55, leading to an outpouring of tributes from the artist community. READ MORE: Remembering the musical greats we’ve lost in 2022 Now, Death Cab For Cutie have shared their own musical tribute in the form of the new cover. “We believe the best way to remember the musicians we lose is to play their songs. ‘The Plan’ has always been one of our favorite Low songs and is presented here in tribute to Mimi,” said the group’s vocalist Ben Gibbard. The cover will appear as the closing track on an acoustic version of Death Cab For Cutie’s most recent album ‘Asphalt Meadows’, which came out in September. ‘Asphalt Mea...

Britney Spears has accused Alyssa Milano of “bullying” her after Milano expressed concern for her welfare in December. READ MORE: The story of Britney Spears’ ‘…Baby One More Time’ Back in December, the Charmed actor shared her concern for Spears online, tweeting “someone please go check on Britney Spears.” Now, Spears has responded to the message on Tuesday by posting a screen grab of the tweet on her Instagram Stories and calling out Milano for the tweet. “It saddens me to see things about me from people who don’t know me!!!,” Spears wrote. “This definitely feels like a form of bullying !!! Ladies, we are supposed to be rooting for one another not pulling one another down!!!” Milano has yet to respond to Spears’ post. NME has reached out to representatives of Spears and Milano for commen...

Artists in the US have called for more music venues to stop taking a cut of artists’ merch sales, after a venue operating company pledged to drop merch commissions at its venues. Ineffable Music Group have committed to ceasing the practice of taking a cut of the profits artists make from selling merch at venues they own and operate. This decision was made in response to a testimony Clyde Lawrence made to the US Congress earlier this week. READ MORE: Hundreds of venues sign up to not take cut of artists’ merchandise sales – but campaigners want more Lawrence was speaking at a hearing in the US Senate related to the ticketing business, looking at the impact of Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s monopoly over the live sector and the need for better regulation to combat ticket touting. However, he...

Rinse FM has acquired legendary London radio station, Kool London Radio. READ MORE: The best internet radio stations for music lovers like you Kool was founded as a pirate radio station in 1991 by DJs Eastman and Smurf. Kool FM, which later became known as Kool London Radio when it became an online station in 2010, was pivotal in pioneering the drum and bass, jungle and hardcore scene. During his final Kool London show last year, DJ Eastman hinted that change was on the way. “To progress and make the platform bigger it needs youthfulness and energy, which I ain’t got no more…,” he began. “And it needs money pumped in so our DJs are proud to walk into a studio, not worried about looking over their shoulder.” “We done the best we could. It wasn’t only music; it was people of all different ra...

Truck Festival has today (February 1) unveiled its line-up for this year’s edition, revealing that Royal Blood, Alt-J, Two Door Cinema Club and The Wombats will headline. READ MORE: Royal Blood: “Without sobriety, this album or this band wouldn’t exist. It was all quite scary” Other acts on the bill include Self Esteem, Beabadoobee, The Vaccines, Circa Waves, Maisie Peters, DMAS, Pale Waves, Everything Everything and The Lathums. Speaking about headlining Truck Festival, which takes place from July 21-23, Royal Blood said: “After being booked to play in 2021, we can’t wait to finally head to Oxfordshire and headline Truck Festival this summer! Expect a party.” Two Door Cinema Club added: “We first played Truck back in 2009 where we got led astray by Ash and then one of us (who shall not be...