The tabloids have been trying their darndest to guess who's headlining Slane 2003 (recent "scoops": Coldplay, The Rolling Stones) - but promoters MCD say they couldn't be further off
In the making of their third album, Coldplay may have abandoned all hope at one juncture and come within an inch of splitting up, but the record has now finally arrived in the shape of X & Y. Chris Martin and co. here give Peter Murphy the inside story on the fraught creation of perhaps the most anticipated album of the year.
Coldplay do big spaces extremely well, and considering that the only acts that genuinely wowed me in this horrible dockside barn are Primal Scream, the Pixies and Metallica, that is a telling indication of their calibre in 2002
Former Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology student Paul O’Brien has won the competition to come up with a video for the new Coldplay single, ‘Lost?’.
With ‘Yellow’, Coldplay captured the imagination of even the most resistant of hard-boiled rock’n’roll cynics. Now, as A Rush Of Blood To The Head achieves lift-off in the U.S., even the sky is no longer the limit.
Chris Martin and co arrive at Witnness tooled up with the two most essential qualities required of a festival headliner: a set full of anthemic tunes and a couple of years' worth of experience spent taming the slavering beast that is the US stadium circuit. Expect the festival's lighter fuel supplies to be stretched to breaking point during the group's rendidition of 'Yellow'. Archive interview, 2000: We talk to guitarist Guy Berryman
Exclusive: The new Coldplay album, X & Y, is set to finally hit the stores next month, and Hot Press has been granted a special sneak preview. Ed Power here gives a track-by-track guide to one of the most anticipated albums of the year.
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.
For a world still mourning Jeff Buckley, the prospect of Coldplay, in theory, is one that ought to provoke, at least, sniffily cynical disinterest and, at most, rioting in the streets.
A slight change of pace can be seen in this EP with a hip-hop icon cameo and some Eastern embellishments that may hint to new musical endeavors for Coldplay.
Coldplay, White Stripes, Strokes, Queens, Garbage, Oasis, JJ72, Franz... With a whole slew of major albums in the pipeline, it looks like ‘05 will be the wrong year to kick that addiction to noise.
Coldplay have had difficulty making the transition from indie favourites to stadium rock champions. With ‘Fix You’, Chris and chums put aside their plans to emulate U2’s brasher sound and return to what they do best - soft crooning over low piano tinkling. Should break millions of sentimental hearts and shift tons of copies in the process.
Do you want the good or the bad news first? Here’s the bad news: Christmas came and went, the goose got fat and the bean counters at EMI got plain tetchy. Paralysed by self-doubt and pressure, Coldplay set in motion the album that was to make or break them. How impressive and honorable, then, that this is their most hearty, ambitious and effortlessly striking work to date. But as we all know, nothing good ever comes easy.
One of the things that becomes clear as the wonders of A Rush Of Blood To The Head unfolds is that Coldplay are making a truly startling sound within a basic rock format
Older and wiser but still mad for it, Oasis have delivered their best album in years. In an exclusive – and expletive-filled – interview Liam Gallagher holds forth on fatherhood, brotherly love and explains why Coldplay and The Killers are limp-wristed also-rans.
Hotpress.com got a sneak preview of Coldplay's musically adventurous new EP, which is due for release here on Nov 21. Could it mark the start of an exciting new direction for the band? Read on for the full verdict...
They may not fit neatly alongside the sensations currently pouring out of London, but fresh-faced English rockers Thirteen Senses are nonetheless still brewing up a storm on the UK indie scene.
For a band who have influenced Coldplay so heavily, Manchester’s Elbow have never benefited much from the resulting scene.
And while this is neither distinctive nor spectacular enough to suggest their forthcoming album will cause a change, it at least shows Coldplay have some good taste. ‘Forget Myself’ is a grower of a track; given time its mainstream indie-pop powers fully kick into action and unfurl into a worry-free, enjoyable three-and-a-half minutes.
The sun slicing through the Dublin evening skyline makes the after-work traffic bearable on the hike out to furthest Rathfarnham. Indeed, the gridlock is so bad that we miss the start of Interpol and have to be content to hear the masterful ‘NYC’ and the driving ‘Obstacle One’ while walking down the leafy path that leads to the venue.
Having grown up in Scunthorpe, Stephen Fretwell found his muse – and mates like Elbow and Doves – in Manchester. And the record company haven't even asked him to get his hair cut.
As rock’n’roll’s finest get ready to remake ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ Colm O’Hare talks to the man who kickstarted it and numerous other hits, Midge Ure.
Goldfinger might be the intelligent face of punk-pop with politics, animal rights and MTV baiting their subject matter. But bassist Kelly Lemieux insists that they remain balls out rock'n'rollers
With their new album, Gotta Go There To Come Back, in the bag, Stereophonics have chosen a very special gig at the Heineken Green Energy extravaganza in Dublin, to make their return to the stage. No wonder the boys are feeling bullish! Chris Martin, Ronnie Wood, Fran Healy, Rod Stewart, Noel Gallagher, U2 and the Rolling Stones – Kelly Jones has opinions on all of them! So who’s feeling the lash of the ‘phonics frontman’s verbal assault, then?
We really could do without another set of Coldplay clones, couldn't we? Well, Cord wouldn't agree: they seem pretty happy following in the dull footsteps of Chris Martin and co. 'Winter' is not a bad song, it is just very unexciting. Listening to it, I couldn't help feeling decidedly underwhelmed. Which is not the kind of feeling I want music to evoke in me.
From the tragic death of Cliff the fish to turning Madonna down, praise from Nick Hornby and fanmail from Bono, Badly Drawn Boy ’s life is certainly bewildering.
and that’s before you consider his hellenic aspirations…
Leya have been looking for the right song to fit their ambition for a while now, with the result that they’ve always sounded a bit hollow. 'In Our Hands' is exactly that song, epic and intense and all the other things that people say about Coldplay, Keane, Embrace and the rest. Thereby could lurk their problem, but at least now Leya really are giving their best.
Forget those Keane comparisons; Thirteen Senses are sounding more like Starsailor as each day passes. Despite this affliction, this single is startlingly accomplished, and boasts the type of production that suggests their label is grooming them for success of Coldplay proportions.
If you listen to the first half of ‘Burning Benches’ whilst remembering that they supported Coldplay in Marlay Park last year, one may form the impression that these Mancunians are a weak version of a drippy act. But it soon builds up into a furious, fast-paced jam, complete with gravelly vocals that Chris Martin couldn’t match with a duty-free allowance-worth of cigarettes.
If Morning Runner are this diverse at their fourth single, where will their fifth take them? Stay tuned to their channel.
The MTV Europe Music Awards 2002 may have been a bit of a damp squib, but an electrifying Foo Fighters, a boards-sweeping Eminem and a nekkid Christina Aguilera prevented it from being a total washout.
Following a period during which they were rumoured to be playing Slane, Coldplay are revealed to be Witnness 2003's Saturday night headliners. A hotpress.com exclusive
After Ms Furtado’s disappointing attempt to join the generic territory of Timbaland collaborators with ‘Maneater’ and ‘Promiscuous Girl’, it’s good to know he hasn’t completely beaten out of her the very thing that makes her unique. Though he’s still behind the glass wall for this, and it shows by being interchangeable with any old claptrap in the charts, ‘All Good Things’ displays Furtado’s honey-sweet voice in all its glory. It would have been interesting to hear its original form, with Chris Martin from Coldplay guest-starring, but alas, the record company gods intervened.
Currently flavour of the season in the UK, where they are being hailed as the new saviours of British pop music (ie this year’s Coldplay), Keane are the victims of that most despised of four-letter words, hype.
A five-track EP that showcases this Dublin quintet’s ability to mix post-Coldplay sop-rock with more sonic, shoegaze/post-rockin’ leanings – and it’s at its best when the latter come to the fore. Three songs hit home in a big way: lead track ‘Sophia’ evokes Low at their narcotic finest, while ‘Carpark’ is a powerful instrumental; awash with noise and brimming with melancholy. On ‘Chemistry’ the group develop more of a swagger, incorporating some of Spiritualized’s drone-rocking tendencies, without losing their undercurrent of bulging sadness. The formula (sugar-sweet melodies peeking through a blizzard of guitar noise) may be familiar, but it’s still irresistible when executed this well.
Unless things change drastically, 2006 will be a year without both Coldplay and Franz Ferdinand – a state of affairs that will create the kind of vacuum that nature, and the music industry, abhors. So who will be rushing in, Keane-like, to fill the void?
It’s Christmas, time for some of the leading lights of the Irish musical family to return from far-flung stages and convene for a traditional evening of reflection, revelation, conversation, merriment and, well, gargle. The guests: Glen Hansard and Colm Mac Con Iomaire of The Frames, Gemma Hayes, Mundy and David Kitt.
Dog-Eared Memories, despite the claim that this is a new, stripped down Dara sound, is full of big ideas in both music and words. The influence of Coldplay and U2 is undeniable, but tempered by an intimate writing style that recalls Ben Folds or Randy Newman, especially given the choice of piano as lead instrument.
Michael Eavis and the Mean Fiddler have reached an agreement, and Glastonbury is once again set to proceed. Your Gorillaz, Blur, Coldplay, Pulp, The Strokes, Starsailor, Basement Jaxx and Stereophonics needs will thus be looked after
In a parallel universe, Elbow would command as much adulation and hyperbole as Coldplay and Snow Patrol. But, like their fellow Mancunians I Am A Kloot, they release albums and anthems into the world with nary a fanfare.
As if Beck’s brilliance wasn’t enough, Radiohead deliver an absolutely stunning set that puts the efforts of Coldplay, Keane, Muse and the million other pretenders to their throne into utterly unforgiving perspective.
As the Northern Irish nights draw in, the gigs get better. Coldplay, Ryan Adams, Beverly Knight and Teenage Fanclub are just some of the acts who are flying North in the coming months
Being described as "the new Keane" might bother some people, but not Grant Nichols who's content in the knowledge that his band have made the first great rock'n'roll record of 2005.l
Early this month Beat 102-103 opened for business as ireland's first regional radio broadcasting station covering Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and Tipperary. according to the beat manifesto the station is targeting the 15-34 year old age group with “an upbeat and entertaining programme schedule provided by young presenters, with the aim of giving the youth of the region a service to reflect their tastes and attitudes.
Throughout the pioneering events of Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8, Bob Geldof has repeatedly achieved the impossible, twisting the arms and consciences of self-absorbed rock stars to get them to think beyond their egos and stimulating recalcitrant politicians and a jaded media into doing things that are not really difficult at all but thinking makes them so.
The recent release of the compilation album So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley was a potent reminder of the extraordinary impact Jeff Buckley made during his short life. In an exclusive interview, on the 10th anniversary of his death, his mother Mary Guibert reflects on the singer’s legacy.
JJ72 are being cast as the great new hopes of Irish music. Intense, passionate and melodic, their music has captured an increasing number of fans. With a single in the UK Top Thirty and a debut album about to hit the shelves, they tell NIALL STANAGE how good they are and how good they want to be. Portrait of the Artists As A Young Band: MICK QUINN
They got knocked down, but they got up again – Dublin rockers 66E have weathered their setbacks and are now attracting serious attention for their epic soundscapes, which critics have likened to the work of Mercury Rev, Doves and Radiohead.
Though soaked in the musical culture of Southern California, female-fronted indie quartet Saucy Monky say there’s an undeniably Irish strain to their music.
Muse's live sound engineer Marc Carolan on hair-raising experiences on the Russia-Ukraine border, Mexican earthquakes, Paris Hilton and playing Madison Square Garden and Wembley Stadium.
Hotly tipped Britrockers Los Campesinos talk about the influence of the '90s riot grrrl scene on their music and explain why the prospect of arena rock success doesn't rev their motors.
He used to be a music journalist but now rapper Cadence Weapon is lighting up the hip-hop scene. The Canadian tells us he's not quite as clean living as he's made out to be.
He started out wanting to be Kurt Cobain. Then he went to New York, nursing dreams of emulating Dylan. Now Cork strummer Mick Flannery is resolutely charting his own course.
Michael Stipe talks about REM's new album Accelerate, looks back at their 'working rehearsals' in Dublin and explains how their Irish-born producer helped them through their mid-life crisis.
In which Editors, like Bloc Party before them, abandon urban ennui for the country life, recording that not-very-difficult second album in Grouse Lodge with Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee.
A flyover near the old Harland & Wolff shipyard was the starting point for a remarkable three months that has seen Franz Ferdinand challenging U2 and Coldplay for the title of ‘Biggest Band In The World'. Daredevil photographic exploits completed, Hot Press jumped on their tour bus and got the lowdown on Snoop, Bono, Kanye West, Natasha Bedingfield and nights of debauchery with the Scissor Sisters.
It sounds like the opening line to an elaborate joke – heard the one about the Englishman, the Irishman and the multi-million selling, gag-stuffed science fiction saga? However, Eoin Colfer is perfectly serious about breathing new life into Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. But what has that got to do with The Blizzards? Read on to find out
They’ve been heralded as the biggest thing in Irish rock since U2 – a prediction that proved prescient when The Script romped to the top of the charts with their debut album.
There is many a haven for shunners of the Christmas Cheer like myself. Lots of lovely bands, singers, comedians and even hynotherapists are at hand to entertain the life out of us, and distract Santa while we throttle him. Right up to the New Year there’s so much going on you needn’t come home till Easter.
With a new album ready for release, Idlewild 's Irish bassist Gavin Fox talks about celebrity spotting in LA, touring with Pearl Jam and why Warnings/Promises is the best thing they've ever done. Interview by John Walshe
The first time The Killers played Oxegen they fretted whether anyone would turn up to see them. Now they’re sweeping in to headline the main stage. They talk to us about being chased by papparazi, growing up in Middle America and sharing a bill with Bono and, er, Gary Barlow
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.
On top of scoring a Top 5 hit with Elbow's latest album, singer Guy Garvey recently absconded to Nashville to record with Richard Hawley and Frank Black.
Dublin anarcho-pop five-piece The Camembert Quartet have just released their debut album Music Is War, but with song titles such as 'Boybands Are C**ts' it's unlikely they'll be joining westlife on tour
John Walshe catches up with Teenage Fanclub s Norman Blake and hears about avoiding musical fashions, the realisation that they are growing older and how they are ambitious, despite what Alan McGee says
Since the release of their sophomore album Antics late last year, New York goth-rock quartet Interpol have risen to the pantheon of great contemporary bands. In a rare in-depth interview, the group’s erudite frontman Paul Banks here discusses the making of Antics, their upcoming support slot with U2, the band’s peers in the NYC indie scene, The Strokes, Nirvana and David Lynch - and where one of the most acclaimed groups of recent years go to from here. Interview by Paul Nolan.
Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley impressed a lot of people here last year with the quirky guitar pop of her debut solo album Grey Will Fade. hotpress catches up with her as she wows the masses at Japan's Fuji Rock Festival.
The college circuit is an important stepping stone in rock music around the world. While the potential remains unfulfilled in Ireland, there’s a new breed of Ents Officer who are aiming higher.
With the last broadcast up for a Mercury and Slane just around the corner, Jimi Goodwin of Doves is happy to enthuse about Planxty, U2, The Streets and Sean O'Hagan. Just don't call his band "the new Radiohead"
Jools, Letterman, platinum discs, fan hysteria – it’s all very nice and much appreciated, you understand, but for Damien Rice the bottom line remains the song – and doing things his way.
Scissor Sisters are back, and this time they’re on a mission to channel Elton John, Paul McCartney and the Bee Gees into the first soft rock masterpiece of the 21st Century. In an exclusive interview, the group’s main songwriter, Babydaddy, gives us the lowdown on their second coming.
20 years and the last seven days: U2 have gone through a whole heavenhell of a lot to get here. One can only guess at Bono’s state of mind, high on the euphoria of playing the most ecstatic shows of his band’s career, drained from the freeze-dried exhaustion of flying home to Dublin from all points around Europe to endure the dim purgatories every son goes through when his father is dying.
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
Music | Interview
27% | 27 Jul 2005
Colm O Hare
She’s been a rock icon, a tabloid sensation and a muse to Mick Jagger. But you won’t find Marianne Faithfull mooning over past glories.
It’s time for the singer-songwriter fraternity to move over and make room for the new generation of Irish guitar bands. Director, Marshal Stars and The Blizzards are just three of the acts who feature on the debut compilation from Faction Records, the new label which aims to promote and nuture the brightest stars of the Irish underground.
Having spent the summer in Europe wowing huge festival audiences, Royseven are now concentrating on matters of a domestic nature. Phil Udell joins them as they experience the highs, lows and drunken dancing eejits of the Irish live circuit.
Government indignation and empty promises characterise China’s response to CD and DVD piracy, which flourishes in the country. Irish artists like U2, Westlife and Enya are bootleggers’ staple sellers. And Mary Black gets ripped off too. Mark Godfrey reports
Renewing acquaintances with Hot Press, a chipper Noel Gallagher reveals how he helped Italy bag the World Cup, explains why Oasis are better than U2 – sort of – and tells us about the band’s new 'best of' collection.
Fresh from his Hot Press Chatroom grilling at Electric Picnic, James Blunt plays his biggest indoor Irish shows to date at Millstreet, Cork (January 6) and The Point, Dublin (7).
Fresh from his Hot Press Chatroom grilling at Electric Picnic, James Blunt plays his biggest indoor Irish shows to date at Millstreet, Cork (January 6) and The Point, Dublin (7).
They’ll never win any prizes for speaking the Queen’s English but, with a number one album under their belts, mop-topped Dundee rockers The View aren’t too bothered.
The Mexican-Canadian Dark Angel starlet Jessica Alba gets all grown up with a lasso and leather bra in the Rodriguez/Tarantino directed film adaptation of Frank Miller's neon noir Sin City.
It's head-scratching, nail-biting, on-the-tip-of-your-tongue time again, as GEORGE BYRNE presides over our renowned annual music quiz [this is for the year 2000]
Champagne corks were popped last week as Snow Patrol joined that elite group of bands who’ve simultaneously topped the charts in Ireland and the UK. It’s all a far cry from the days when their fame was confined to the University of Dundee Students Union bar. Gary Lightbody takes time out from wowing the masses in Dublin and Belfast to tell Stuart Clark about their twisty and turny route to the top.
The young Carlow-based actress Saoirse Ronan is on the brink of Hollywood stardom, thanks to her Golden Globe-nominated performance in Atonement and her upcoming starring role in the next Peter Jackson movie, The Lovely Bones. In her first ever in-depth interview, she spoke exclusively to Hot Press about her sudden rise to fame.
Well sort of ...
Not content with priming their Meltdown album for April release, Ash have recorded a cover of the Buzzcocks' 'Everybody's Happy Nowadays' with one C. Martin on backing-vocals.
It’s Christmas time and, as far as the hotpress journalistic elite are concerned, there’s not a turkey in sight. JOHN WALSHE, COLIN CARBERRY, CHRIS DONOVAN, EAMON SWEENEY and BARRY O'DONOGHUE report on the Irish acts who are going to be huuuuuuuuge!
over the next 12 months.
DOLORES O'RIORDAN may have the highest profile but the others are also here to remind you that THE CRANBERRIES are a group. and with the release of their new album wake up and smell the coffee, a happier, wiser, less embattled group than ever before. “all you need is love,” they assure JOE JACKSON
It sounds like the stuff of hype and overnight success – from struggling garage band to next big thing and accolades from noel gallagher, morrissey and bono – but even at an average age of 23 The Thrills have paid their dues. Olaf Tyaransen hears how the summer’s hottest band went from worshipping whipping boy to having beck’s da play on their debut album.
The fourth series of RTÉ Two's highly-acclaimed Other Voices, presented by John Kelly, was recorded over an extraordinary eight days during the madcap run-up to Christmas, in the thoroughly invigorating coastal environs of Dingle. Hot Press reporter Craig Fitzsimons was there to soak up the phantasmagoria, as some of the hottest talent from Ireland and abroad descended on the tranquil Kerry town to make heavenly music.
Never mind figgy puddings and partridges in pear trees, there’s some serious seasonal business to be done as the annual HP-7 summit gathers in the crucible of cultural discourse that is The Central Hotel’s Library Bar.
He was a literary sensation, a writer with the outlaw charm of a rock star. But when rumours began to circulate that JT LeRoy was nothing more than a post-modern media prank, Peter Murphy, a friend and confidante, found himself caught up in an extraordinary story.
It’s all about broken down tour buses, Alan Partridge, high speed collisions, Moby, broken ribs, Mina Suvari, MTV stars and David Bowie as Ash launch a sonic assault on America. So riddle me this: can Ireland’s hardest-working rock’n’roll outfit crack the big one?
The Manson Family at work, rest and play, in sickness and in health. Peter Murphy travels to britain and the US to bring back the full, intimate story of a band on the run
With a new 'best of' bringing the band's story up to date U2's guitar man steps forward to riff on good times and bad, the private life of a public figure, discovering the secrets of the universe on mushrooms and why, after all these years, few things match the high of being a member of U2.
Special hotpress.com members edition: "director's cut" featuring interview sections unavailable anywhere else.
Niall Stokes draws on his best-selling book Into The Heart: The Stories Behind The Songs Of U2 to offer a unique insight into the way in which some of the greatest songs in the history of popular music came into being.
Will South’s haunting vocal is moody and edgy and fits perfectly alongside some often eerie backing. You can hear it forcing itself out to fill stadiums across the globe.
Jodavino have confirmed the September 6 release of Deep End, their debut album which has already been given the ‘thumbs up’ by Bryan Ferry who invited them to support Roxy Music in Cork recently.
Holy high expectations, Batman. Here are some of the phrases being thrown around about Chichester five-piece Hope Of The States. “Like Godspeed You! Black Emperor” (gorgeous, instrumental-based, violin-led apocalypse-rockers),.“Like…Trail of Dead” (gorgeous, song-based, guitar-led, er, apocalypse-rockers). And, not least: “First credible possible heirs to Radiohead”. Arooga!
For excitement and edginess you’ve come to the wrong place, but when a lot of that these days means having the correct haircut or right brand of eyeliner, perhaps there is something to be admired in the way Athlete are resolutely unfashionable.
Clearly subscribers to the “strike while the iron is hot” school of album promotion, no sooner has the Patrol’s breakthrough hit ‘Run’ exited the British top ten than the Northern rockers are rush-releasing the follow-up single.
The Ting Tings received the College Award for their multi-platinum debut album We Started Nothing at The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards in London.
With bands like New Order, Nine Inch Nails, Bauhaus and Snow Parol announced for the bill, this year's Coachella looks set to blast the Californian desert
The Artists Formerly Known As Jove, Royseven, open their recorded account with the September 8 release of ‘Older’, the first single to be lifted from their The Art Of Insincerity album, which follows in October.
Their languorous, minor key songs and stripped-to-the-bones arrangements have seen them dubbed the torchbearers of "slo-fi" across the water. But London duo Olly Knight and Gale Paradganian have also won praise for their uncompromising adherence to the dark soul of their material.
Haven're not completely hideous or anything. In fact, they're pretty good at what they do; the hindrance being that everybody else in indie-land is already doing it better
Here is an album that is effortlessly beautiful, devoid of emotional grandeur (or delusions thereof), yet is understated, simple and cool for all the right reasons.
Dripping from your stereo like a wetter, more rancid Keane, The Fray have notched up two million US album sales on the back of a berth on the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack.
McCulloch always possessed an unfortunate penchant for grating melodrama, so when the tunes don’t come up to scratch that’s pretty much all you’re left with.
After an intense A&R scrum, the much-lauded Haven released their emotional, hand-wringing debut Between The Senses amid clouds of ‘promising indie hopefuls’ plaudits.
Apparently, Diefenbach are named after an incidental character in the Coen Brothers’ flick Fargo, a fact that in its own way elucidates what is both good and bad about this Danish act. Here is a band with mostly impeccable taste (The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkle, Air, and Mogwai are all recognisable influences). Yet, crucially, Diefenbach seem to lack any originality of their own.
Once unfairly derided as a second-rate Oasis, it looked for a while as if the McNamara brothers and co might be swept away in the great Britpop clear-out which saw off even more successful outfits like The Verve.
Coldplay's Viva La Vida is likely to see the end of its current reign at the top of the Irish charts as U2 release re-mastered versions of their classic albums Boy, October and War.
Engineers’ debut mini-album, Folly, indicated a love of all things arcane and prog, and their self-titled LP honours this tradition nicely. Coming across for all the world like a post-apocalyptic Mercury Rev, or a Zen-like Air, Engineers have mastered a wondrous union of adventuresome, obtuse sound-scapes and autumnal calm.
The first issue of (RED)Wire digital music magazine will be available for download on December 1 to coincide with World AIDS Day. It's the latest initiative from (RED), the HIV/AIDS organisation whose prime movers include Bono.
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.
Kings Of Leon have had number one albums, rave critical notices and boast a remarkable array of A-list fans (U2, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones).
The four piece aim to make big, anthemic music, an approach that walks a thin line between success and overblown failure. Watch You Don’t Take Off not only walks that line with assured balance, it also shows signs of striding off into the realms of success.
Heralded britpoppers arrive with surprisingly nuanced debut, awash with yearning psych rock plaintive guitar chimes and lashings of damp-cheeked wistfulness.
Other People’s Problems bathes the listener in anodyne, no-more-tears formula wishy-washyness. The problem lies in balancing this Radox-rock with enough vitality to not make it veer towards the insipid. The Upper Room stay on the right side, but only just.
Days Run Away sees House Of Love adopt a productively low-key approach to their comeback. It’s been over 10 years since Terry Bickers and Guy Chadwick’s famously nasty break up, but if you’re expecting a hurried scramble to make up for lost time then you’ll be in for a disappointment.
About five years ago I grew mildly obsessive over an album of icily beautiful electronica that went by the entirely appropriate title, Closer Colder. It was the debut release from a brilliant and, judging by interviews conducted at the time, emotionally fragile young producer called David Kosten. If you believe Walt Disney’s head is being cryogenically stored in a lab somewhere, this record will be playing in the background.
Fans of Alfie, a waifish Manchester four-piece, like to fete the band for their ‘dependability’. This is a polite way of saying you adore something because it isn’t completely dreadful.
Myslovitz, who take their name from the German spelling of their hometown, have sold millions across the world although they still record mainly in their native tongue.
Amanda Byram was today unveiled as the host of this year’s Meteors Awards and nominees for 2009 were revealed - as well as the fact that Sharon Shannon would receive a lifetime achievement award.
Sometime in the past 12 months Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell took a long, unflinching look at himself in a mirror and saw Pete Doherty staring back. From such moments of clarity are great pop makeovers forged. No longer content to hawk pretty-boy Oasis pastiches, the sulky-looking Muswell Hill-ian, who embodies Razorlight even if he doesn’t write all of the music, has junked the bad-boy patois and cultivated his inner Bacharach.
We could squabble over the Mercury Music Prize shortlist until the cows come home, but this year has seen some unfathomable omissions. For instance, how come Primal Scream’s Xtrmntr, a career high and easily the equal of 1991’s Mercury-winning Screamadelica, gets ignored in favour of their buddies Death In Vegas muscular but somewhat overrated Contino Sessions.
Gorge yourself on a selection of exclusive (and in some cases never-before-seen) hotpress.com video interviews from Witnness past, as well as some of the artists gracing the stage at Witnness 2003
Despite their meteorological moniker, The Blizzards are no musical flakes. Ultimately, The Domino Effect should see plenty more fans falling at their feet.
Rubyhorse has trotted a long and winding road since their humble beginnings recording songs in a Cork City meat processing plant. Moving to Boston in ‘97, the four school friends earned themselves a name playing residencies in Irish bars, eventually propelling their debut album beyond the pint-swilling ex-pats to the mass audiences of Dave Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Good Morning America
Rumours that the whispery-voiced McRae was going to rock out on this, his third album, have proved totally unfounded. All Maps Welcome boasts the same acoustic, string-soaked arrangements as his near-perfect eponymous debut and so-so sophomore release, Just Like Blood. Even a move to Los Angeles, for so many the home of rock ‘n’ roll, or the inclusion of some of Beck’s backing band haven’t caused McRae to let rip. That said, the sound throughout is remarkably full, considering the lack of fuzzed-up, distortion-driven wig-outs, and plenty of the songs manage to build up quite a head of righteous steam without the need for electric agonising.
On the whole, Black Holes & Revelations is an album that delights, beguiles and satiates. At once familiar and new, this is Muse at their most crystallised, focused and ambitious.
If they ever get around to making Mannequin into a trilogy (we can but hope) the casting directors need look no further than the leads of Wicker Park. Indeed, the central couple are so lacking in charisma or rudimentary signs of life, their plasticity had me wondering if the film was a follow-up to Todd Haynes’ Barbie doll epic Superstar.
Album number three sees them progress to such a startling extent that they have a right to believe both critical acclaim and commercial success will follow.
The Hours' mainmen may not have the names or, indeed, the faces needed these days to launch a thousand fansites, but they have something much rarer in their lockers – a history.
He was the man whose evidence put a huge hole in the stern of Pirate Bay, in a landmark judgement in Sweden earlier this year. Now the CEO and Chairman of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, John Kennedy, is set to speak at The Music Show, which takes place on October 3 and 4, at the RDS in Dublin. He will speak on the issue of illegal downloading and the threat it represents to the Music Industry, which is currently undergoing massive changes as a result of the impact of the internet. The Music Show is run by Hot Press magazine.
Recorded in a day across various locations by a cast of 22, Help! A Day In The Life is the second WarChild album, the objective being to raise funds for child victims of global conflict.
It goes without saying that at this stage SNOW PATROL are an incredibly polished live act, with the likes of ‘Spitting Games’ and ‘Chocolate’ electrifying the venue early on.
The suspicion that The White Stripes are a conceptual prank masquerading as a rock group intensifies with each outing.
For their fifth dispatch, Jack and Meg contort their beaten up, gut-bucket blues into wrenching, subversive shapes. A feral heckle as much as a pop record, it flaunts its weirdness gleefully and capriciously.
Question: Why do so many rock bands take the tradesman’s entrance these days? And when was it they became so self-referential, self-effacing, heterogeneous, monosexual; cut off from the tributary streams of the other arts, adopting forelock tugging as a stance? What happened to glamour, decadence, risk, dandyism, wit? The idea of the pop star as alien emissary, queer weirdo, sin-eater, beautiful freak?
Despite the driving rhythm and upbeat melody of lead single, ‘Is It Any Wonder?’, Keane’s second album is, for the most part, comprised of the same winsome pop that helped their debut shift over five million copies worldwide.
Having debuted at Number One in the UK album charts last week, it would appear that working-class Coventry trio The Enemy are now officially the next big thing.
We go retro in 2002 with special collectors editions featuring Elvis and Rory Gallagher (not together, you understand). And we've covers with The White Stripes, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, and more.
Opening this month with a volley of gigs from such rock 'n' roll A-Listers as Kings Of Leon, and Coldplay, the 14,500-capacity Dublin O2 looks like being one of the best venues in the world.
"...no-one will accuse One Night Only of re-inventing the wheel, but their sure-footed songcraft, and earnest, unfussy delivery earmarks them as potential upper echelon chart botherers."
West crosses genres with wilful and speedy abandon, taking the listener on an epic quest where the journey is just as enjoyable and unpredictable as the destination.
Atomic Bomb is positively Spector-esque in its ambition, although curiously enough, it’s not a showy record, the playing being mostly subservient to the songs.
Have a listen to our exclusive playlist of some of our favourite Northern acts who are appearing on July 25 at the small but massive Glasgowbury festival in Draperstown, County Derry.
The opening night of a U2 tour can be fraught with peril. But in the Camp Nou in Barcelona tonight they exorcised the demons of previous tours and started on a winning note. Report: Olaf Tyaransen
They’ve embraced the big sound of America but The Killers still aren’t fully comfortable with the burdens of stardom, reveals frontman Brandon Flowers.
RTE2 have plenty of live music action to keep us placated for the next few weeks - here's the line up of bands and when to catch them. For more about the Other Voices series, click on the link at the very bottom.
