The MTV Brand Spanking New Tour is a big ask. On a night when temperatures outside are soaring, it requires something pretty special to entice us indoors.
The Sunshine Underground were recent stars of the Indie Rave tour with Klaxons and CSS, although the indie guitar of ‘Borders’ would suggest that they have as much to do with rave as, well Klaxons and CSS. Fine, fine tune though. CSS themselves have found their label the subject of a major label buy out and so the process of pushing their album begins all over again, strangely with this rather lack lustre affair.
Donkey is the mediocre second outing Brazilian electro rockers CSS – will it show that they have more substance beyond being a mere good-time party band?
Garlanded with muchos praise by the hipster cliques for their edgy electro-pop, Cansei De Ser Sexy arrived in Cork for a Heineken Green Sphere’s event promising a riot of colour and noise.
Part of me likes this because it’s so cloud-burstingly uplifting that it dares you to dream of a sunny September. The rest of me likes it because Nicole comes on like an indie Lady Sov, delivering observations worthy of Mike Skinner over guitars as crunchy as a Kit-Kat. The single also features a remix from CSS, which turns it into a squiggly, pulsing disco demon.
We should always make room in our lives for a bunch of eccentric Brazilians peddling their own brand of down and dirty dance music, and just because CSS happened to pop up first doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give Bonde Do Role a bash. Their own particular remit is a mad take on funk carioca, the sound of Rio De Janeiro’s shanty towns, and one that mixes old skool hip-hop with punishing electro (courtesy of M.I.A. collaborator Diplo) and comically dirty shout-rapped Portuguese lyrics. Solta O Frango translates as Release The Chickens, which is all you need to know.
They invented 'nu rave', bagged the Mercury Music Prize and gave Noel Gallagher the mother of all migraines. You could say the Klaxons have had a busy 2007.
As if Gwen Stefani wasn’t enough of an attraction, CSS will be taking care of support duties when the No Doubt woman visits Odyssey Arena, Belfast (October 1) and RDS, Dublin (2).
The Sex Pistols are back! In what has the look of a major coup for the event, punk’s great trailblazers are among this year’s headliners at Electric Picnic 2008, which takes place in Stradbally over the final weekend in August.
...But the 50,000 people at the EXIT Festival liked it! Young Serbs, fed up with being blamed for the crimes of their erstwhile leaders, partied the weekend away in a walled fortress next to the Danube.
Unheard of a year ago, the astonishing Cansei de Ser Sexy are one of the hottest indie outfits in the world. With an acclaimed debut album to their credit, the Brazilians bring their twelve legged groove machine to Dublin for BudRising Winter.
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.
Roisin Dwyer catches up with electropop duo MGMT to discuss their greatest rock 'n' roll moment, Jools Holland and their growing reputation as popular music's new trouble-makers.
The Automatic and The Klaxons are to headline the NME tour, which this year is divided into two genres: indie rock and the ludicrously monikered 'indie rave'.
There's no rest for the wicked - Brazilian group Cansei de Ser Sexy will hit the decks straight after their performance at the Dublin Ambassador on April 21.
With their thumping rhythms and crunching guitar riffs, Bonde Do Role are actually reminiscent of the no-brainer party music of Andrew WK, albeit with an added lyrical emphasis on lewd sexual acts.
Watching an Enter Shikari show is like being stuck in the body of a hormonally challenged 15-year-old. It’s sweaty, loud, confusing and bloody impossible to get your hands on some alcohol.
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.
The college circuit has always been a lucrative one for touring acts, and a fine opportunity for students to check out the best in show, at a reasonable price.
