Castle Douglas charity takes centre stage at opening of new B&M store

Billie Eilish has responded to the backlash against her recent comments on artists releasing multiple vinyl variants.In an interview with Billboard discussing her climate activism, Eilish made headlines for criticising the practise of releasing multiple vinyl variants to boost album sales, calling it “wasteful”. “It’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money — and it’s all your favorite artists doing that sh-t,” she added.Some outlets such as TMZ and The New York Post interpreted Eilish’s comments as a dig at Taylor Swift, who is known for releasing multiple variants of her albums.

Robert Glasper Experiment, has died aged 46. No cause of death has been given.The news was confirmed by Living Colour‘s Vernon Reid, who took to X/Twitter to call Benjamin’s passing a “brutal & terrible shock”.“My sincerest condolences go out to my YoHimBe Brother on this day of revelation,” Reird wrote. “I’m in a weird place with it.

KoRn‘s new music, which he says will be their “best and heaviest” in years.The guitarist was speaking during an interview with WSOU 89.5 FM (via Metal Injection) when he shared that the band were “working passionately and intensely working on new music”.Though he admitted they were “a little bit behind”, he said they were “really digging deep into sounds and tones and miking techniques and just really focusing on every aspect of just the miking and the sonic levels of everything”.“I love the last few records we’ve done in the last 10 years, but I think – I just have something in me that thinks we could beat the tones,” he said.He added that while he “loves” the songs they’ve done in the past, he feels that “tone-wise” they can “beat it”.“So we’re spending a lot more time on this new music, we’re spending a lot more money, and we don’t have any record label involved, so it’s all coming from us. And we really want to dissect our sound and remember where we came from and how we did it back then,” he shared.Head described the new sound as having a “vintage KoRn feel with a modern twist”, adding: “So it’s very intense.

Final Fantasy 14 players are reportedly being banned by Microsoft for using the phrase “free company”.In Final Fantasy 14, a free company is a player-operated organisation within the game, similar to a guild in other online titles. Players can only be a member of one free company at a time, with each company limited to 512 members.As well as the community aspect of being part of a free company, members also get access to shared rewards, group buffs and company housing.To help the system, Square Enix has also created an official community finder tool, which helps players find and join the free company of their choosing via Final Fantasy 14’s messenger service.

Less than a week ago, the UK’s popular art venue the Home Theatre in Manchester was sharing on social media that it would be “celebrating Palestinian voices” at an event called Voices of Resilience in April.

Eduard Spertsyan has been linked with a summer move to Celtic.

Hundreds of members of the Scottish Muslim community flocked to the Rutherglen Mosque this week to celebrate a new translation which clarifies the "misinterpretation of Quranic verses used by terrorist organisations".

A 'controversial' new law surrounding the harm caused by hatred and prejudice has officially come into force in Scotland today.

People who attended an Easter Sunday church service with King Charles have all praised his health, saying he "looked good". The King, 75, attended the service at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle with Queen Camilla.

Prince Harry is expected to return to the UK soon, but if he doesn't, one expert says he'll have "some explaining" to do. The Duke of Sussex is due back next month for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games and is set to speak at a special service at St. Paul's Cathedral on May 8.

It's been reported the future of Giovanni Pernice on Strictly Come Dancing is still being assessed, following claims that a fourth celebrity was left in tears due to the intensity of their training with him. The talented Italian dancer, 33, has been part of Strictly's professional line-up since joining in the show's 13th season back in 2015.

King Charles was accompanied by just a select group of Royal Family members at the traditional Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle today.

Gheorghe Hagi has shot down reports that Galatasaray have agreed a deal to snap up son Ianis from Rangers this summer.

The Streets, Maisie Peters and Ghetts are among artists that have been announced in the next wave of acts for Boardmasters 2024.Professor Green, Cat Burns, Future Utopia and Sammy Virji are also set to perform at the Cornwall surf and music festival from 7-11 August, joining the previously announced Stormzy, Sam Fender, Chase & Status, Becky Hill and more.The latest wave of acts completes the 2024 line-up, where hundreds of acts will perform across 11 stages at two sites on the Cornish Coast – Watergate Bay and Fistral Beach.The DJ line-up for this year is completed by Ewan McVicar, Eliza Rose, Hedex and Eskman, Andy C, Hannah Laing and more.Other artists set to perform at the 2024 edition include Bicep, Nia Archives, Tom Odell, Soft Play, English Teacher and Katy B.Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here. Check out the full line-up below.A post shared by Boardmasters (@boardmasters) Stage splits for the festival have also now been announced, which attendees can check out on the website.This year, the festival has been granted permission to expand its capacity from 53k to 58k.Last year’s headliners for Boardmasters included Lorde, Liam Gallagher and Florence + The Machine, and the event ran between August 9-13.

Pokémon has won April Fools’ day 2024 by announcing a Champion Tournament for Sleep.Released in July 2023, Pokémon Sleep is a sleep-tracking app that rewards users with different Pokémon, depending on the quality and length of their sleep. “Playing this game is simple: just place your smartphone by your pillow, then go to sleep,” reads an official description.However, to celebrate April Fools’ day, Pokémon has released a four-minute video, showcasing a championship tournament for the game.Featuring an arena full of screaming fans holding up signs saying “good night” and “sweet dreams”, the contest is hosted by Kenny Mattress and Chris Pillow who provide live play-by-play coverage of an “unprecedented shut-eye scrimmage”.Taking place over eight-and-a-half-hours, the Sleep tournament rewards players for speed of slumber, sleep rhythm and “all around sleep style artistry”.The contest starts with a number of Sleep players entering booths and preparing themselves for a “serious night of non-stop sleep” via lullabies, comfy pyjamas and reading an overly complex book.

GOT7 singer BamBam has teased new music from the boyband, revealing that “all the songs are done”.GOT7’s BamBam recently appeared on popular Thai YouTube channel WOODY, where he spoke about a potential reunion for the boyband and what fans could expect in the future.The K-pop idol touched on the pressure he and the rest of the band feel when fans ask for a full group comeback, saying that “it would be about whether we’d be able to fulfil our promise to our fans or not”.“We wanted to come back at [a specific] time, so we kept them waiting, which is just the pressure on ourselves about the timing,” he explained. “As for returning with seven people, I think it’s not too much pressure because every one of us would love to come back as seven people.”However, BamBam mentioned that seeing as two GOT7 members are currently enlisted for South Korea’s mandatory military service – JAY B and Jinyoung – the group will have to wait until they return before they can release new music together.That being said, BamBam did reassure fans that preparations are already underwar for a GOT7 comeback.

Monkey Man.The British actor’s new film premiered to a strong reaction at SXSW last month, but he has since spoken about how difficult it was to get the film made.During a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) ahead of the film’s cinema release this week (April 5), the actor said that directing, producing and acting in the film was “the most demanding thing I’ve ever done in my life”, per Variety.He added that “everyday we faced absolute catastrophe” throughout the process.“I begged our financier not to shut us down a few weeks before principal photography,” he said. “We were meant to shoot in India then COVID hit.

Tomorrow X Together (TXT) have released their sixth mini-album ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, alongside a music video for its lead single ‘Deja Vu’.‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’ was released today (April 1) at 6pm KST. The accompanying music video for ‘Deja Vu’ features the five members of TXT caught in different, trippy dimensions, yet still connected through their relationships with each other.“I remember the answer I finally found / My future is you / Say my name, I’ll hug you, as promised on the first day / Like deja vu, you’re like deja vu,” they belt on the song’s affecting chorus.‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’ is the third installation in the boyband’s ongoing ‘minisode’ series of mini-albums.

Reports of their break-up first surfaced on March 30, which was then confirmed by Ryu’s representation at C-JeS Studio that same day in a brief statement. Later, Han’s label 9ato Entertainment published a more detailed statement explaining the circumstances behind their decision to part ways.“[Han So-hee and Ryu Jun-yeol] both found their roles as actors to be more important.

Liam Gallagher has announced his son Gene’s band will be the support act for the ‘Definitely Maybe’ 30th anniversary tour.On X/Twitter, Liam announced the news in response to a fan who asked for his thoughts on his son Gene’s band. Villanelle features Gene on vocals and guitar; it looks to be a four-piece band.The former Oasis frontman said he thought Villanelle were “good”, and added: “I’m gonna put them on first for [the ‘Definitely Maybe’] tour”.

NME’s latest star of The Cover, Nemzzz, has shared a playlist exclusively to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.The Manchester rapper is on this week’s (April 1) edition of The Cover, a renewal of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read the profile of Nemzzz here, written by Ethan Herlock and featuring photography by Jamie Salmons.Accompanying the story is an exclusive playlist curated by Nemzzz, comprising the road soundtrack to his recent mixtape signing tour.