Back once again with the real renegade master! Richard D. James AKA Aphex Twin unleashes his first new work since the 1999 classic ‘Windowlicker’ in a low key, limited edition white label stylee.
‘Time Dilation’ shares Aphex Twin and Autechre’s sense of alienation as nightmarish sounds and spooky lullaby hooks flit across understated techno beats. While Heinrich Mueller’s versions focus on electro funk territory, there’s still a sparse feel to the mysterious Motor City man’s interpretations.
Their name is full of Oriental promise but, far from growing up in the land of rice-bowls and speaking toilets, retro techno-heads THE JAPANESE POPSTARS hail from the mysterious land of, er, Derry.
Given the chilly atmospheres which adorn his songwriting, it comes as no surprise to learn that Adrian Crowley composes it in his sleep. Thankfully, though, Niall Crumlish found him to be a thoroughly lucid and compelling interviewee.
One of Belfast’s best-loved indie clubs has undergone a radical reinvention – but is still going strong after more than ten years at the front line of alternative culture in the city.
Accompanied by images from his photo diary, DONAL DINEEN takes us through a month-by-month guide to the records that kept himself, and the Today FM faithful happy in 2001
Hotpress.com brings you our exclusive first photos from Oxegen '08. Our man Graham Keogh was up front to catch all the action for headliners Kings Of Leon, along with Interpol, Cat Power and Friendy Fire.
The organisers of Oxegen '08 have revealed that the three day festival is now completely sold out. Plus, they've announced the day by day line-up so far...
RICHARD D. JAMES brings his Rephlex Disco Assault system to Ireland for shows at the Half Moon Theatre, Cork (August 23rd) and the Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin (24th).
As if gracing the top 10 with the Dizzee Rascal and Chrome-assisted ‘Dance Wiv Me’ wasn’t enough – didn’t they have spelling tests in the schools they went to? – Calvin Harris plays a DJ set in Dublin’s Spy niterie on August 3.
Spitfire aeroplanes, dogs in disguise, aphex babies and karma police: founding No Disco producer Rory Cobbe waxes visual on ten of his favourite videos of all time
Currently promoting his debut solo album The Ideal Condition ahead of his appearance at Electric Picnic, Paul Hartnoll made his name alongside his brother Phil in Orbital, one of the most significant dance acts of the past 20 years.
EAMON SWEENEY meets LLOYD COLE to talk about his forthcoming Dublin gigs, the changing face of music, and why he doesn t want to write songs for a while.
Having unleashed one of the dance albums of the year, Fujiya And Miyagi's days of 9 to 5-dom are numbered. Barry O'Donoghue finds out what the Brighton threesome have been doing right.
Scanner In The Works
SCANNER aka ROBIN RIMBAUD is a technological maverick, surveying the airwaves for random mobile phone calls which he then samples for use on his records. But there s more to the Londoner than just a penchant for electronic eavesdropping, as his cracking new album Delivery proves. He talks to JONATHAN O BRIEN.
SCANNER aka ROBIN RIMBAUD is a technological maverick, surveying the airwaves for random mobile phone calls which he then samples for use on his records. But there s more to the Londoner than just a penchant for electronic eavesdropping, as his cracking new album Delivery proves. He talks to JONATHAN O BRIEN.
After a long hiatus in the studio, London-based psychedelists saint etienne are back with an acclaimed new album, Good Humour. adrienne murphy finds out what they've been doing in their spare time.
Get ready for a whole new kind of weird as avant-gardists THE SUMMER EXPERIMENT prepare to hit the live circuit, touting a unique mix of folk, indie and classical.
They used to be a bit of a joke but, with the release of their fantastic new record, The Horrors are suddenly a band to watch. Faris Badwan talks about stepping out with Peaches Geldof, ditching the freak-show hair and recalls his traumatic childhood experiences on Palestine’s West Bank
STEPHEN MORRIS takes time out from humming the theme to Green Acres and terrorising everyone within a five-mile radius of his newly-aquired Yorkshire farm (with his equally newly-acquired heavy artillery) to talk to STUART CLARK about his and Gillian Gilbert's New Order offshoot The Other Two.
Brit-rock heroes Maximo Park are back with a new album – and without the novelty hair-cuts. Here they talk about death metal, hip-hop and missing notebooks.
In a 25th anniversary rose-tinted special, Hot Press' dance correspondents select their 25 most influential floor fillers. The editor's decision is final and all that
Fuelled by a DIY approach and a passion for all things musical, Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) has notched up some significant achievements in his 27 years. Danielle Brigham meets the producer/musician/label owner/whatever-you-want-him-to-be!
In a year that saw events which will forever change the world in which we live, selected hotpress contributors offer some personal recollections of the past twelve months. We begin by listing the critics’ choice of 2001’s single and album releases
The Red Snapper crew have always been a respectable force from a distance, turning out tracks that have fallen into the open arms of tastemakers like Massive Attack and Björk, amongst others.
Squarepusher is an alias for a one man electronic army that answers to the name Tom Jenkinson, arguably the most fabulous breakbeat terrorist in the world today and most certainly the strangest.
ROYAL ASTRONOMY is, by a yawning margin, the most peculiar record I've heard in ages: a totally insane amalgam of jaunty orchestral passages, mashed-up breakbeats, lounge kitsch and synthesiser abuse. It's as cheesy as fuck, it's utterly deranged, and it's absolutely brilliant.
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova and The Pogues have been officially confirmed for Oxegen, along with the full day-by-day schedule for the July festival.
It is hardly a surprise to learn that the fifth Super Furry Animals’ album was due to be christened Text Messaging Is Killing The Pub Quiz As We Know It.
With the truly spellbinding vocals of The Tycho Brahe’s Carol Keogh captivating the audience from the off, the suprisingly formal guitar/bass/drums/keyboards line-up masterfully wove a supremely atmospheric, hypnotic wall of sound.
Albums such as Streetcleaner and Pure have established Brummie noise terrorists godflesh as one of the most exciting alternative bands on the planet. Their latest effort, Love And Hate In Dub, is a radically overhauled remix version of its predecessor, Songs Of Love And Hate. The band s
talkative mainman justin broadrick explains all to jonathan o Brien.
The stakes are high, and BOC raise the benchmark further by opting for a final selection of 23 tracks sprawled across a lush electro-symphonic soundscape
Their debut album Hopes And Fears launched a host of hit singles, going on to become one of the most successful British records of the past five years. But, their indie background notwithstanding, Keane have still been dismissed by some self-styled aficionados as just too nice to be considered real rock'n'rollers. "If only people knew," says lead singer Tom Chaplin.
Having parted company with Primal Scream, Kevin Shields has remixed two Bow Wow Wow tracks for Sofia Coppola’s latest blockbuster-in-the-making, Marie Antoinette.
MARILYN MANSON may be the epitome of Middle America's worst nightmare but, as STUART CLARK discovers, he's not that bad, really. On the agenda: Bono, Eminem, Moby, George W. Bush and the Columbine shootings
You can’t help thinking of Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, even Simon & Garfunkel, as ultimately this is a collection of simple songs and beautiful melodies wrapped in throbbing basslines and lo-fi beats.
1 guitar + 1 drum kit + 1 boy + 1 girl = The White Stripes. In other words, sweet, sweet noise meets the best brother and sister penned pop since The Carpenters. Eamon Sweeney meets Detroit's finest, who play Dublin Castle on Saturday, May 4th as part of the Heineken Green Energy Festival
No disrespect to the other parties involved, but this is that rare artefact: an engineer’s album. The boffin in question is Persian-born Leila, who, according to the publicity blurb, did the mixing honours on Björk’s Post tour.
RADIOHEAD are just about to release one of the most uncompromising and controversial records of the year in Kid A. As the band prepare for their upcoming Irish dates, mainman THOM YORKE talks about the genesis of a record that seems destined to divide rock fans for years. Not to mention Bono, Britney and Alicia Silverstone! Interview: DAVE FANNING
Son is the fourth album from Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina, and hopefully it will be the one that introduces her unique talent to a worldwide audience.
Psychic and physical disintegration! Quacks, pulsars and Marshall amps! The sound of the end of space and time! And, oh yes, silly song titles too! Welcome to the world of WAYNE COYNE and The Flaming Lips. Interview: Peter Murphy.
Heard the one about the Irishman, the Bronx and the tab of industrial-strength acid? Stuart Clark hadn t either until that most eligible of bachelors, David Holmes, talked him through the mad month in New York that inspired his Let s Get Killed album.
The first batch of acts for Scotland's T In The Park Festival have been announced, giving a strong indication of who'll be coming to Punchestown this year.
From A to Z, Paul Nolan and Ronan Fitzgerald introduce all the runners and riders for Punchestown – throwing in a baker’s dozen of acts who are not to be missed * along the way
With his last album, the brilliant, beautiful and ever-blossoming Rounds, still on high rotation on my domestic jukebox, it was with much delight that I received this, the fourth offering from London laptop genius Kieran Hebden.
The synth-rock (or electro-indie if you like) bedroom ascetics – who heretofore brought you the charming line “I’m like Stevie Wonder, but I can see things” – have by their own acknowledgement looted the mechanical music museum, spending a lifetime distilling their record collection into manageable, tongue-in-cheek precipitates like whiskey or MSG.
Does electronica ever go beyond great feats of sonic cleverness - and, occasionally, great beauty - to also possess a warm human heart? In 2002, the year after the beat-boxed dose of palpable humanity that wasThe Big Romance, we know that it does
Trent Reznor’s working in the wrong field: he makes gothic metal records, with nods to electronic dance music and IDM. He should be making electronic/IDM records, with (perhaps) the occasional shade of heavy metal.
Beck's The Information veers between two distinct styles – the kind of blues/folk/hip-hop mash-ups that Beck has made his own, and a more melancholy, plaintive type of tune that he has increasingly favoured in recent years.
The music industry will implode the moment you buy one, but if you don't mind committing grand theft audio www.web.ukonline.co.uk/boomselection will tell you - and the Anti-Piracy Squad - everything you need to know about the current craze for bootlegs
THE EXTREMELY WONDERFUL Mr. Adam Freeland is the headline attraction on August 18th as Breakdown returns to the Empire, Belfast. Bringing up the rear, so to speak, are Hedrock Valley Beats…
A woman encouraging her boyfriend to “shit his leg off” during bad sex, doctors diagnosing symptomless comas, death through prolonged ejaculation – looks like Chris Morris is back on TV again. investigating the nocturnal goings-on: Paul Nolan
Mother Records' expansion plans receive another major boost with former Sugarcube Bjork signing to the label for all European territories excluding the UK. Mother will also be handling Irish distribution for The Levellers and are about to release a new 12" by Bumble, suggesting that earlier reports of their demise were decidedly premature . . .
12 steps to help you take on the Portuguese city of Porto, with all the best hotels, restaurants, and hot spots. Plus, top travel news from around the world
Colm O'Hare turns over a new leaf or two from the huge variety of publications on the shelves this Christmas, from rock biographies to more general Irish published works. So, for those of you who like your entertainment between the covers, read on . . .
