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lifestyle SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2016 FEATURES Glass Animals focus on others on terrific new CD or their ambitious sophomore album, the members of the indie-electronic band Glass FAnimals got some creative help from an unlikely source - total strangers. Each song on the terrific “How to Be a Human Being” is told from the perspective of someone inspired by a person the band encountered on the road, from taxi drivers to fans. The result is a complex, exciting tapestry of a CD which switches musical styles and reveals new things each time it’s played. The foursome, hailing from the southern England city of Oxford, had a breakthrough with the 2014 album “Zaba,” which featured the band’s meld- ing of ‘90s R&B and deft electronic touches. This time, they’re mature, layered - and hypnotic. From the orchestral swell of “Mama’s Gun” to the tropical percussions of “Life Itself” and the video game loops in “Season 2 Episode 3,” Glass Animals make each of their 11 songs as individual as the 11 folk pictured on the album cover, like a dysfunctional family por- trait. The lyrics profile people who can’t get off the couch, who hear voices, who use drugs and whose general reality never matches their dreams. They’re regretful, sometimes arrogant and often clueless. But a deep well of empathy runs through the album. Singer Dave Bayley can be funny - “My girl eats mayonnaise from a jar while she’s getting blazed” - to deep, as in: “Guess life is long when soaked in sadness.” He also has the terrific spoken word rant “Premade Sandwiches” about over-com- mercialization of food. Strangers don’t usually help spark such good stuff, but Glass Animals are clearly a special kind of band. Our advice: Don’t be a stranger. — AP A view of the stage is seen at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Press Junket in New York City. — AFP MTV to let stars loose in an unscripted awards extravaganza he MTV Video Music Awards have long Beyonce tops nominations a naked rendering of Republican presidential in New Orleans, offers solidarity with the been more about the show than the Pop icon Beyonce tops the nominations at candidate Donald Trump-in bed with him. Black Lives. Matter movement against police Tactual winners, and this year the net- 11 amid acclaim for “Lemonade,” her inter- Bad blood has grown after West’s wife, reality brutality with officers depicted raising their work will go all-out by letting the stars run twined film and album. She is followed by television star Kim Kardashian, aired footage arms as if under arrest. But “Formation” wild. Stepping back from award ceremonies’ Adele, who was nominated in eight cate- in which the rapper asks Swift for permission marked a comparatively rare political state- traditional penchant for down-to-the-second gories. All but one were for the English to record the song. Swift insisted she never ment from a VMA nominee or on MTV, which This CD cover image released by Wolf Tone shows scripts, MTV producers said they have simply singer/songwriter’s blockbuster ballad “Hello,” gave her green light. But viewers will not see revolutionized the music business through ‘How to Be a Human Being’ by Glass Animals. — AP selected the artists for Sunday’s extravaganza the first music video in the high-resolution her squirming at the VMAs, which Kardashian videos in the 1980s but has since shifted and will leave it to them to decide what to do. IMAX format. Other nominees for Video of the will also attend. Swift-the key winner both at more generally to youth-oriented program- The show, to be broadcast to more than Year include West’s controversial “Famous,” in last year’s VMAs and the latest Grammys-is ming. 120 countries, will provide an open platform which the rapper boasts that superstar Taylor not scheduled to come. Another exception is Lukas Graham, a for outspoken stars including rapper Kanye Swift may sleep with him because “I made Danish band nominated for Best New Artist Redstone family West, who used last year’s show to announce, that bitch famous.” Videos still relevant? that has crafted a pop realism through tales however improbably, that he will run for pres- Defying her protests over the song, West Beyonce was nominated for Video of the of a childhood spent on the economic mar- ident in 2020. The setup could encourage the made a video that shows a naked woman Year for “Formation,” the most politically gins. “There is very little cultural or political holdout in Viacom outlandish-or allow for more serious gestures with a striking resemblance to Swift-as well as charged single of her career. The video, shot provocation, which is a pity,” frontman Lukas in a year marked by global conflict, souring Forchhammer said of the bulk of award-nomi- race relations in the West, and one of the nated music. most foul-toned US presidential elections “Our art in a sense is quite revolutionary,” deal settles ever. “Last year we took a bit more of a playful he said. “We’re talking about growing up in approach. This year it’s like this is a canvas for regular families, dreaming about better he struggle for the control of US media giant Viacom artists-not just for their art but for their state- things, instead of popping bottles in the club appeared to be over after an agreement Friday with ments, what they believe is going on in the and spending a lot of money that you don’t Tthe last member of the majority-shareholding family world,” said Erik Flannigan, an executive pro- have while living in your mother’s basement.” still challenging a deal reached last week. A spokesman for ducer of the show. But Forchhammer, whose song “7 Years” has nonagenarian media mogul Sumner Redstone and his “You’ve got to strike a balance between become a viral global hit, said that MTV still daughter Shari said that an agreement had reached with the topicality and being heavy-and this is also a offered a powerful outlet for rising artists. final holdout-Keryn Redstone, the billionaire’s 34 year-old gigantic party. We kind of want to do both,” Videos, with their investment in visuals, allow granddaughter. he said. After shock diva Miley Cyrus took bands to cultivate an audience beyond casual The court battle for control of Viacom-which owns much of the limelight as last year’s MC in Los listeners on streaming services, he said. Paramount Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central- Angeles, the awards do not plan a single host, “Where MTV once had a monopoly, now the has dragged on for months. Viacom announced a formal spreading the duties to a wide cast. The show, video is more like extra content for the fan,” agreement on August 20 under which Sumner Redstone, 93, which kicks off at 9 pm (0100 GMT Monday), he said.— AFP will remain atop his empire and chief executive Philippe will for the first time take place in New York’s Dauman leave the company and drop all lawsuits against iconic Madison Square Garden. Scheduled Redstone and his daughter Shari. Viacom’s management, led performers include R&B chart-topper by Dauman, had alleged in court that Shari Redstone effec- Rihanna, who will receive the Video Vanguard tively controls her ailing father and was making a power grab Award for lifetime achievement, as well as A view of place holders are seen at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Press Junket at for his $40 billion media empire. pop idols Ariana Grande and Britney Spears Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards will be held Sumner Redstone, a Hollywood legend whose fortune is and rappers Nicki Minaj, Common and Future. today at the Madison Square Garden in New York. — AFP estimated at $5 billion, is also the majority shareholder in the CBS media group. However Keryn Redstone-a beneficiary of a trust set up years ago by Sumner Redstone to leave shares to his grandchildren-was not part of that deal, and threatened to sue alleging that her grandfather was being manipulated. A Massachusetts judge on Friday got the parties to reach an agreement on the trust management, and to allow Keryn Redstone to visit her grandfather, who she says she has been banned from seeing since February. “I filed this lawsuit to protect my grandfather, to assure that his wishes were carried out, and to prevent Shari’s handpicked new trustees from discriminating against me in administering the trust and making distributions something that my grand- father would never have tolerated when he was healthy,” Keryn Redstone said in a statement issued by her lawyer. “I am heartened that we have been able to force that the trust be amended to make it ironclad and bullet proof that this will not happen,” she said. All claims filed by Keryn Redstone against Sumner and Shari Redstone “have been dismissed, the settle- ment agreement is firmly in place, and Sumner’s decisions have been honored in all respects,” an attorney for Shari Pallbearers carry the coffin of jazz musician Toots Thielemans during a funeral ceremony yesterday in La Hulpe. Jean-Baptiste Frederic Photo shows the Manneken Pis dressed in Redstone said. — AFP Isidore Thielemans, known affectionately as ‘Toots’ and widely acknowledged as the king of jazz harmonica, died in Brussels on tribute to the harmonica player Jean- August 23 at the age of 94. — AFP Baptiste Frederic Isidore Thielemans at the Grand Place, in Brussels.

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