Nouvelle Vague – 3
Didn’t the 80s have lots of rap? Didn’t they virtually invent hair metal? Such questions arise listening to this pretty but terminally impassive offering from Nouvelle Vague, the very existence
Gran Torino
True, Clint Eastwood’s virility now seethes through thinning flesh, brittle bones and puckered cheeks but its impact is still almighty. The aged Dirty Harry star’s impending octogenarian status does nothing
Bad Seed Solo: Conway Savage
A star among Nick Cave’s formidably bearded retinue, Conway Savage first joined the Bad Seeds on organ and piano duties for the Good Son tour of 1990, going on to
Cool Herc – Hercules and Love Affair Interview
Fusing a lifelong passion for classic myths and legends with a teenage taste for disco Andrew Butler created one of 2008’s finest acts in Hercules and Love Affair. A salacious
The Poor Mouth
The Poor Mouth was originally written in 1941 by a man with more pseudonyms then Diddy Puff Sean. Christened Brian O’Nolan and assuming the title Myles na gCopaleen for this
Sophie Ellis Bextor: The Grammatically Correct Interview
Sophie Ellis-Bextor is a pop star in the old-school sense. She’s a genuine old-fashioned star, fierce and glamorous to the hilt in videos and performance, but reticent about life out
Ciara feat. Missy Elliot – Work
Do you remember those rumours of a few years ago about Ciara being a hermaphrodite? Ok she did look a little butch, she was quite muscly, tall with wide shoulders,
Major Lazer – Hold The Line
This single comes with a strange providence, as baffling as the tapestry of samples- phone vibrations, ringing cash registers and neighing horses- that make up its chorus. Some sources claim
Jamie T – Sticks ‘N’ Stones
‘He’s out on the town trying to find trouble’, but Jamie T’s latest ode to laddish exploits tells the story of an embarassingly abortive night out. When he spits out
Music – Interview – Patrick Kelleher
What do a hazelnut spread jar, a baby accordion and a drum machine have in common? They are the unlikely ingredients in a recipe for genius. Originally from Glendalough, Co.
!!! – A Chat Chat Chat with Chk Chk Chk
It’s the bane of any journalist’s life: the transatlantic phoner. It will inevitably take place on the hottest day of the year when the object of your professional desires would
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Kasabian’s long-standing alignment with the Gallagher brothers has been both the making and the ruin of them. It seems that, try as they might, their name cannot be mentioned in
The Gossip – Music For Men
In their tenth year as a band, the Gossip make their return with a fourth studio album, Music for Men. Frontwoman Beth Ditto is famously fond of laying herself bare,
Regina Spektor – Far
I have something to confess. I’m in love with little Reginka. Thus, objectivity is not a strong point of mine on this front. However, it is with a heavy heart
Eternal Damnation
When Stephen Adly Guirgis wrote The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot, he wanted to cast a fair light on the Bible’s most infamous kiss-and-tell. Set in downtown purgatory, it is
Interview With Claire Kirby
American playwright William Mastrosimone caused a stir when his play Extremities first hit the stage in 1982. It dared to raise a sensitive topic that was usually hushed and brandished
La Roux – La Roux
Is the retro-futurist girlpop movement capable of yielding even one memorable album? La Roux’s fellow frontrunner Little Boots unleashed a debut album as flat as Dot Cotton’s walking corpse, and
Phoenix – Interview With Thomas Mars
Every summer has a sound. Last year, Vampire Weekend and MGMT soundtracked festivals and barbecues the world over and now, at the dawn of summer ’09, it’s starting to sound