Disappointment that Arcade Fire’s Olympia Theatre shows sold-out last week in 10 minutes turned to anger when fans discovered eBay immediately advertising tickets for as much as €250 each. 10 days later and that figure has risen to an even more staggering €350.
No rabble-rousing rock panto pandering, no gratuitous guitar solos or simplistic speechifying, just towering songs garnished with soaring melodies and counter-melodies.
They love Ireland and Ireland loves them. As the Arcade Fire ramp up for world domination, the band talk about love, death, war and making music in churches.
They've tangled with the legends of Krautrock, extended the hand of friendship to Eastern Europe and campaigned against light pollution. But what you really need to know about British Sea Power is that they're being hailed as this year's answer to Arcade Fire.
There's good news for Arcade Fire fans who failed to get tickets for their Olympia Theatre shows, with the Canadians appearing at Oxegen in a bill that's taking shape nicely.
Funeral was by no means a fluke. The Arcade Fire are unquestionably the real deal. And to prove it they’ve now thrown in another contender for ‘best record of the decade’.
The man who signed The Smiths, Arcade Fire, The Libertines and The Strokes (to name but a few!) to his Rough Trade label, Geoff Travis makes a special appearance at the RDS on October 7.
Laika’ seems a peculiar choice for single, being the track where Arcade Fire’s debt to Talking Heads is at its most blatantly obvious. Better is the b-side, ‘My Buddy’, a cover of 1940 big band number by Alvimo Rey, great grandfather of AC frontman Win Butler.
Their sombre, melancholy music has seen The National tagged as arch-moochers. Face to face though, frontman Matt Berninger turns out to be a stand-up fellow.
Patrick Wolf’s baroque folk-pop has earned the singer comparisons with artists such as David Bowie and Kate Bush, while The Arcade Fire were sufficiently impressed to offer him a support slot on the first leg of their European tour.
And so the transatlantic battle for musical domination continues like some game of long distance ping-pong. This time last year it was all about the Arctic Monkeys, a couple of years ago it was Britpop. Come 2007 and all the buzz is around The Hold Steady, Decemberists and some bunch called Arcade Fire. Most exciting of all, however, are South California’s Cold War Kids. On the heels of last year’s astounding ‘We Used To Vacation’, ‘Hang Me Up To Dry’ is equally memorable, a collision between tight, clipped rhythms and raw, emotion-drenched vocals. Quite stunning, and you can’t help feeling that this is only the beginning.
They're unheralded heroes of Canadian rock, purveyors of slinky indie-pop and swooning torchsongs about gay football hooligans. Say hello to Stars, the other great band from Montreal.
LCD Soundsystem's frontman James Murphy talks about working with Justin Timberlake, his Cork ancestors and recalls the time he almost hooked up with Arcade Fire
Funeral is a diverse collection of absorbing songs, each rich in both its thematic and sonic content. Colours of death, love, life, youth and family are splashed across a lush soundscape that seamlessly blends searing violin and subdued cello with indie riffs and disco beats.
They come from Los Angeles, support Rotherham United and have a lead singer who loves Andrew Lloyd-Webber as much as he does Arcade Fire. Stuart Clark meets Orson's rather peculiar Jason Pebworth.
This is the group’s first record for a major label, Capitol Records no doubt reacting to the popularity of the Arcade Fire by snapping up a similarly quirky bunch of prog-orchestral indie-poppers.
It’s probably not the most cerebrally challenging album in world history, but what they lack in slow-burning substance, they make up for in serotonin-inducing, anthemic treats that you crave when you should be on a strict diet of Bob Dylan and Arcade Fire.
"...a powerful collection of passionate, anthemic rockers that will no doubt please their hardcore following whilst winning new converts to the cause."
"Vampire Weekend certainly have one of the best band names I’ve heard in ages, although their music unfortunately proves less exciting than one might have hoped."
Bland pop, dull mainstream rock and generic indie-schmindie are poison. But as the title of their album suggests, Foals have got the rhythmical remedy.
This melting pot of sound is like Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fronting a band made up of members of Arcade Fire and Elbow, with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke handling production duties.
The Killers wrapped up Oxegen for another year but not before the 80,000 music fans in attendance saw the likes of Arcade Fire (pictured), Kings Of Leon, The Gossip, Klaxons and Brian Wilson.
Torquil Campbell, singer with Canadian indie achievers Stars, is a thoroughly nice guy – when he’s not plotting to put photographs of his naked, crucified, Spiddal-born wife on his album covers.
We hope you're feeling hungry because on September 3 and 4 over 50 of the hottest live acts and DJs around are descending on Stradbally Estate in Laois for the Electric Picnic.
With their affirmative vibes and sprawling line-up, indie heroes Broken Social Scene are a sight to behold. But keeping this 40-legged rock machine on the road isn't always exactly a romp in the playground, confesses fromtman keving Drew.
Although the sound of 30 people making music is always going to have an uplifting edge to it, the songs here are less self-consciously happy-clappy than before.
Following a potentially fatal bout of auto-immune deficiency, Airborne Toxic Event’s Mikel Jollett gave up a damned promising writing career to play music.
This year over 15,000 young people took part in the Irish Youth Music Awards competition. We catch up with winners Magick Guvnors Radio Bottle to talk nerves, victory and their unusual name.
Astronomical record sales, sell-out tours and critical plaudits have not dimmed Coldplay's reputation as the worried men of pop. Bassist Guy Berryman gives us the lowdown.
Seneca's sorrowfully spirited anthems don't exactly fit in with today's high-energy trends, but that hasn't stopped them from creating a major buzz in the US.
Bird watching, real ale and having Jim Davidson taken out by a professional assassin are all on the agenda as British Sea Power swap salty tales with Ed Power.
Since taking a break from his day-job as Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr has surprised and charmed with his plaintive indie-pop. Not that he likes to really compare the two experiences.
Annual article: Bright young things like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen captured the HP critics’ hearts this year, though they somehow neglected Johnny Cash and Mark Lanegan...
The pressure’s on for Roisin Murphy. She’s no longer shielded from public scrutiny as a member of Moloko and Electric Picnic is her first outing as a solo star in her native Ireland.
The new Hot Press follows hot on the heels the biggest weekend in Irish rock 'n' roll history, with The Ultimate Oxegen report, plus a world exclusive REM interview.
You know her as the songstress from Stars and Broken Social Scene. Doing her own thing AMY MILLAN reveals herself to be, of all things, a country chanteuse, her heart heavy with woe.
Presenter of Channel 6's Night Shift, an air hostess and a model, Michelle Doherty is rarely found at home... but that doesn't stop her from showing us around her Drumcondra abode.
Avert your gazes, sensitive readers. Jon McClure of Reverend And The Makers offers his thoughts on Johnny Borrell, Thom Yorke and “the most racist television ad of all time”.
Underwater Cinematographer takes a few listens for the material to take hold, but the moments where The Republic bring it all together are worth waiting for.
Canadian songstress Emm Gryner has toured with David Bowie and released a collection of Irish rock covers. Her new album might just be her most ambitious, and mysterious, yet.
The line-up for this year's Oxegen festival is getting bigger and better with the addition of many new Irish and international acts, including UK indie kids Editors.
Sexually outrageous on stage, potty-mouthed Canuck Peaches turns out to be rather a sweet-heart in person. And for the record: no, she’d rather you didn’t stick your hand up her crotch.
Fatboy Slim, Flaming Lips, Damien Dempsey, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mercury Rev and Public Enemy are some of the heavyweight attractions at the Electric Picnic, which this year is a two-day event taking place on the Stradbally Estate, County Laois on September 3 and 4.
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the dissection of the rock ‘n’ roll year that is the Hot Press Summit. Gathering round the table are the good and great of Irish music, but who let Podge & Rodge in?
30th Anniversary Retrospective: In a special interview, The Edge reminisces about the early days of Hotpress, explains Bill Graham’s role in U2’s development, and comes clean about what the band have been up to recently in Morocco.
While women are still far from achieving equality of opportunity in music, the last thing women artists want – or need – is to be ghettoised, writes musician and journalist Kim V Porcelli. The point about the women who are at rock’s cutting edge – from Sinéad O’Connor through PJ Harvey to Peaches – is that they defer to no one in their pursuit of greatness.
Having wowed David Bowie into a collaboration, Brooklyn’s TV On The Radio – an idiosyncratic mesh of Spiritualized, The Beach Boys, Radiohead and My Bloody Valentine – have seen their profile spiral skyward.
Jack Johnson may be a regular dude, but with his latest album simultaneously at No.1 in the UK and the US he is one with a vast world-wide fanbase. So how did this happy-go-lucky surfer suddenly become a hero to millions?
On the evidence of their debut, Reading-based four-piece The Race have nothing to worry about but their terrible moniker. Be Your Alibi may well be one of the best things to come out of the Thames Valley since the famed festival.
Sometimes stately, often insistent and never short of majestic, The National’s fourth opus is a towering achievement and this Boxer is surely already a heavyweight contender for album of the year.
30th Birthday Retrospective: He was the original art-rocker and the quintessential ladies’ man. Bryan Ferry looks back at three decades spent at the frontline of pop.
Annual article: The Electric Picnic wasn’t just one of the musical events of the year; it also let us chow down and have a natter with some of the top pop combos of the day, including Bloc Party, Gang Of Four and New Order.
Ireland’s ticket touting crisis has escalated into open battle, with all of the major promoters and Ticketmaster taking a firmer line than ever before on the practice.
To coincide with the release of the Today FM DJ’s double-CD compilation tracking the history of alternative rock in Ireland, Tom Dunne talks to Jackie Hayden about the state of Irish music, singer-songwriters versus guitar bands and the role of Irish radio.
HOTPRESS is encouraging the real fans of music and sport to let us know who is ripping you off! Contact us on outatout@hotpress.ie or call (01) 241 1500 to tip us off. The fans must stand up and play their part in the Out A Tout campaign. The time for complaining is over. The time for action is now.
Aslan were the unexpected winners of the night at the Meteor Ireland Music awards, beating off competition from the likes of Ash, Delorentos and the Flaws to take the title of Best Irish Band.
The highlight of the evening comes when he asks the crowd to form a human tunnel. As more and more people join in, the tunnel sneaks out the door and around the corner
MCD have responded to the furor surrounding the distribution of tickets for Arcade Fire’s Dublin shows by issuing their strongest condemnation yet of ticket touting.
Certain UK publications at the start of the year stacked a lot of chips on Rilo Kiley’s More Adventurous being the breakthrough album of 2005. This faith, it turned out, was based more on the U.S four piece’s previous rap sheet than the dubious quality of the new L.P.
It all comes down to this. After making their way through their respective heats, Cork’s Lotus Lullaby and Waterford’s Ashley Sheehan & The Mute gathered in Cyprus Avenue for the final of Murphy’s Live and a winning prize of two grand’s worth of recording time.
Sno Angel Like You manages to retain the scuzzy, down-home, come-into-the-parlour-and-take-a-microscope-to-my-heart feel of Howe Gelb’s previous work, while delivering some of the most uplifting, enthralling, soaringly beautiful and gloriously soulful music you’re likely to hear this year.
HOTPRESS is encouraging the real fans of music and sport to let us know who is ripping you off! Contact us on outatout@hotpress.ie or call (01) 241 1500 to tip us off. The fans must stand up and play their part in the Out A Tout campaign. The time for complaining is over. The time for action is now.
No expense has been spared here. Stages lift and fall, lasers cut through plumes of dry ice, diaphanous movie screens give the impression of 20ft tall gospel singers towering over the crowd.
Whatever JJ72 Version 2.0 might be, they’re no support band. A couple of years ago the trio would have had a shot at headlining here, but a new pragmatism has seeped into the music. They’ve condensed the sonic architectural shapes of I To Sky (an album not so much released as sent straight to tax write-off limbo) into byte sized synopses of what they do best.
From the goodtime vibes of Hot Chip to the full-on sonic assault of Primal Scream, this year's Electric Picnic was even more fab than its predecessors.
No, not a bunch of stetson wearing Tennessee-ans drinking whiskey out of boots, but rather the annual Jack Daniels-sponsored nationwide gigfest, which hopes to unearth some of the country’s nascent rock 'n' roll talent. The JD Set was holed up in Dolan’s for the night, where the four native bands on offer were hoping to provide some succour for a crowd sodden by the god-awful April showers.
Yes, the incessant downpour ensured that Punchestown Racecourse often looked more like the set of a World War 1 epic than a music festival, but the rain couldn't dampen the 80,000-strong Oxegen crowd's spirits, not to mention the fiery performances delivered by Arctic Monkeys, Franz, The Who, the Chili Peppers and a cast of, well, hundreds.
The Aftermath are the first rock band from Longford ever to hit the charts. But right now, they live in Mullingar, the new happening epicentre of rock’n’roll.
Do you remember the music that was playing when you got your first kiss? And what was the soundtrack the first time you had sex? Often it’s not the overtly sexy songs that have the deepest sexual resonance…
The world’s hippest rock crit reviews a year when music rediscovered its power to inspire – and reveals his nomination for Artist of 2005. (You’ll never guess).
From the goodtime vibes of Hot Chip to the full-on sonic assault of Primal Scream, this year's Electric Picnic was even more fab than its predecessors.
Music lovers of the world, unite and take over! Whether you play music, work in music, want a career in music or just love to listen, don’t miss Music Ireland ’07 – the country’s biggest music show and exhibition.
The Simpsons crash our cover along with Bruce Springsteen, REM, Arcade Fire and The Smiths. Plus, the HP celebrates our 30th birthday with Shane MacGowan, Sinead O'Connor, Tommy Tiernan, Damien Dempsey, Christy Moore, and a lovely big cake.
Fresh from supporting The Arcade Fire on their European tour, Montréal act and City Slang signing Malajube tour Ireland to coincide with their debut album.
