It’s the journalistic requisite to list off the Talmud-length CV of Nico Muhly when introducing him to friends, readers, and innocent bystanders. Take your pick: his eclectic, venerable albums Speaks Volumes and Mothertongue, the shiver-inducing soundtrack to The Reader, arrangements for Bjork, Antony and the Johnsons and Grizzly Bear, a blog dedication as impressive as […]

There are certain events boys my age will always remember, stepping-stones that paved the yellow brick road to manhood. You remember where you were when Ireland got knocked out of the World Cup in Italia 90 (the first time I saw a grown man, nay a group of grown men, cry). You remember where you […]

Anthony trades his quavering soul for crunk with an impassioned reworking of the Bootylicious pop anthem. Meanwhile the bewildering but reliably gorgeous ‘Aeon’ sounds like a transvestite Joanna Newsom accompanied by a cooing Greek Chorus. Business as usual for Anthony, then. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGtmwZjGjyw

The DLR Festival of World Cultures returns at the end of August bringing its unique, colourful blend of Irish and international acts to the magnificent surroundings of Dun Laoghaire. With the hugely popular event now in its 9th year, Artistic Director Jody Ackland highlights its increasing relevance and importance and introduces this year’s phenomenal festival […]

There have been some terrible ideas conceived in Temple Bar… as well as some terrible people. From drunken stumbles towards Lapellos to sober ones towards Club M, what seemed like a good idea at the time generally seems moronic in the headache-inducing light of day. Brighter were the light bulbs that appeared above the heads […]

From the director of Die Hard 2 and the producer of Speed comes 12 Rounds, an adrenalin-fuelled rollercoaster ride that cements John Cena’s credentials as the next action superstar. As New Orleans Police Detective Danny Fisher, Cena must battle through a series of explosive set pieces set by Aiden Gillen’s ruthless criminal Miles Jackson, seeking […]

Walking down some dodgy back-street in New York in 2004, I ambled across a shifty looking character selling movie scripts bound in cheap cardboard. My uncertainty of the legitimacy of this unlikely businessman fought against my overwhelming desire to bring useless trinkets back to the homeland and culminated in me hastily requesting the script to […]

Imelda May is bridging gaps and breaking boundaries all over the shop. Her debut album, Love Tattoo, is currently climbing the charts like nobody’s business and the level of critical acclaim that she has garnered is unprecedented: Beck declared at Imelda’s ‘Later with Jools Holland’ appearance that she was the sole reason for him being […]

Three years ago on Let’s Get Out Of This Country Scottish Spectorpop band Camera Obscura hit an unstoppable Phelps-like stride in their particularly watery, whimsical discipline of music. They butterfly-stroked their way to victory in Lloyd I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken, plunged headfirst towards victory with If Looks Could Kill, and gracefully waltzed underwater with […]

Chris Pine, who won the coveted casting slot to play James T. Kirk in the new feature STAR TREK, is not the first one in his family to stroll the halls of the USS Enterprise. That honour was bestowed upon his father, Robert Pine, who guest starred in STAR TREK: VOYAGER, one of the many […]

When Wintersleep’s Paul Murphy notes that “the interest level has been pretty gradual” in his Nova Scotia band it seems an incongruous statement for any 21st century Canadian widescreen indie band to make. We’re used to the booming hype economy surrounding earnest, dramatic North American rock via the galvanizing success of Arcade Fire, Broken Social […]

There’s nothing more annoying than a latecomer to the party. They show up at half two, twisted, and drink all your Lidl wine, eat all your non-perishables, make the jokes that were made two hours before they came, and gatecrash your Rock Band session just as soon as you’d all nailed Bon Jovi. Amazing Baby […]

Since the beginning of time people have been obsessed with celebrity. Even the ancient Greeks lauded their Olympic heroes by carving their images on wine flasks and urns that people would purchase in a similar fashion to the way we consume celebrity memorabilia today. In the 16th century, William Shakespeare was feted as a famous […]

Recorded in Westmeath and Berlin, the 5th album by this million-selling Northern Irish/Scottish band is one of those difficult albums to review. After the huge sales of the previous two releases, Final Straw and Eyes Open, Gary Lightbody’s sensitive rock is the kind of thing that you can rely on; humble, inoffensive, emotional music that […]

While Robert Downey Junior initially seemed an odd choice as the actor elected to portray Ironman, his cheeky playboy personality is Tony Stark down to a tee. Stark, the billionaire businessman and serial womaniser, takes on the role of Ironman when he is forced to break out of a prison in the Middle East and […]

Block parties, mobile discos and basement DJs. Before any hip-hop record label was ever formed, people were out rapping on the streets, plugging equipment into any socket they could find and rapping over R’n’B and soul tunes. You weren’t at a party unless it was a rap party. In the early 1970s, Sylvia Robinson and […]

Redbelt is director David Mamet's latest offering and uses mixed martial arts as the basis to explore corruption and rigging within competitive sports. The premise of the film centres around main character Mike Terry, who runs a struggling Jiu Jitsu academy in southside LA, and his ever-frustrated wife who devotes much of her time to […]

The English jazz-meets-hip-hop band’s eighth album, and their first not on the groundbreaking Ninja Tune label, is something of a paradox – a bold foot forward for a band in the business for so long, and yet a work of complete safety. Their traditional trip-hop meets jazz electronic tinkering is now strutted all over by […]