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.
Elbow
‘Red’ [V2]
More dreary overhyped pseudo-sensitive ‘I
love Jeff Buckley’ rubbish from the worst
named Manchester band since The New Fast Automatic Daffodils.
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.
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.
Saturday was chatterday here in the Hot Press Chatroom, with appearances from Josh Ritter, The Stunning, Elbow, Oppenheimer, Cathy Davey and That Petrol Emotion.
Since her departure from Eternal a few years ago, Louise Nurding has been busy. She has released two mega selling solo albums, been voted sexiest woman in Britain, posed for more lads' magazine covers than Denise Van Outen, and married a famous footballer.
Music fans who came to the open day of the Oh Yeah music centre in Belfast were treated to a host of special performances, including an acoustic set from Gary Lightbody.
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.
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.
Established fans will be glad to hear Elbow’s sound further maturing; newcomers will hopefully realise that this particular seldom-seen-kid should definitely be heard.
It may be grim Oop North, but this single suggests otherwise. As the latest in Manchester’s line of highly ambitious hopefuls, Engineers have already mastered the art of sky-scraping, celestial wonderment. As well as doffing their collective caps to fellow Mancs Elbow and Doves, this single owes much to the expansive, melancholic leanings of Spiritualized and Mercury Rev.
‘Red Cabaret’ is an epic 10-minute slice of unboring noir-minimal – startling sirens, synth drones and acid dabs elbow for room as his trademark complex, vaguely tribal percussion keeps things moving. ‘Orion’ is odder and slightly trancey – live timbales drop in an out over an elastic bassline, moving pads and rather large synth washes.
Clash legend Mick Jones, his Carbon/Silicon and Generation X counterpart Tony James, Elbow and The Flaws are among the stars set to appear at this year's Hot Press Chatroom at the Electric Picnic
The most welcome of bolts from the blue. Envelope’s debut is the most gloriously delightful opener to come from an Irish group this year. A feast of pleasures, State and Nature shifts from the seductively visceral to deep and responsive melancholia. At its best, specifically on staggering second track ‘Cost of Living’, the Dublin trio eloquently spit contempt from the speakers, whilst locking their rage behind Simon Rand’s warm vocals to make for an uncomfortable hybrid of sound. It’s like Coldplay’s ‘Politik’, as executed by a crossbreed of Whipping Boy and Radiohead. The epic and the extraordinary continue to dominate on ‘Politis’ and ‘Store In A Dark Place’, with the sounds of Elbow, Doves and their closest Irish contemporaries God Is An Astronaut resonating throughout. An absolute gem of a debut.
Summer time, and the record stores are going to be full to bursting with some cracking albums across all genres. John Walshe examines the hottest album releases set to hit the shelves
TRICKY, TEXAS, CATATONIA (pictured l to r), Faithless, Elbow, Neil Finn, Cold Chisel feat. Jimmy Barnes, Future Pilot AKA and The Walls are the latest acts to be confirmed for Witnness, which takes place at Fairyhouse on August 4th and 5th.
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.
Day two, and Franz Ferdinand provide pure entertainment, That Petrol Emotion win the attention of a new generation and the Body And Soul area hosts the mother of all night parties.
Jackie Hayden travelled to Nashville, Tennessee for a once-off invitation-only gig starring Frank Black, Guy Garvey of Elbow and Richard Hawley at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery as part of the celebration for Mr Daniel’s birthday.
Their odd-ball sound is hard to pin down, but that hasn’t prevented indie rockers 8 Ball from becoming one of the most buzzed about Irish groups on the scene.
Behind the strange stage name, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’s Sam Duckworth is an old-fashioned dreamer who thinks music should say something and has little truck with blink-and-they’re-gone scenes.
The tragic death of Mic Christopher before Christmas came as a terrible blow to his many friends and fans (see letters page). Here our own Kim Porcelli recalls her memorable encounters with "an exceedingly generous soul".
WELL, I dunno about ‘London Beat’. How does ‘Surrey Beat’ strike you? The implausible horror of moving home now but a dim memory, I can sit back and survey my new manna. It’s a whole different universe out here, believe you me.
Despite overwhelming evidence in support of the view, it is apparently now a criminal offence to call a certain columnist's favourite
football team "shite"
Hot Press brings you an exclusive foretaste of the fourth series of RTE Two's highly-acclaimed Other Voices. Included is a run down on the musical guests, from José González, James Blunt and Elbow to Horslips, Julie Feeney and Rufus Wainwright. Also, we speak to presenter John Kelly and organisers Phillip King and Aoife Woodlock.
As cult continental rockers Deus release their fifth album, frontman Tom Barman talks about interviewing David Lynch, collaborating with Glen Hansard and hanging out with Elbow's Guy Garvey.
Aslan’s Christy Dignam lives not too far from where he grew up in Dublin. He talks to Hot Press about birdwatching, how he stays away from drugs and his disdain for celebrities who complain about fame.
It may have bucketed rain, but both bands and fans kept the faith for a full-on day of muddy rock mayhem! Check out our selection of the best shots from Saturday.
Rumours of Depeche Mode’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, as Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher explain on the eve of the release of their 11th studio album, Playing The Angel.
Having established himself with a number of juicy supporting roles – most of them opposite Russell Crowe – the very naturally blonde Paul Bettany is moving to centre court for Wimbledon.
AHEAD OF THEIR COIS FHARRAIGE APPEARANCE, Born-again indie rockers Doves talk about the changing of the seasons, escaping the country and getting past those fourth album blues
On the eve of Kraftwerk’s headlining appearance at the Electric Picnic, mainman Ralf Hütter talks with rare candour about David Bowie, U2, hip-hop, cycling and why sometimes even man-machines have to smile.
Jet are on their way to Ireland. Yup, the Aussie guitar merchants are playing Belfast on Valentine's day which, for you non-romantic types, is Saturday February 14.
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.
After an initial reluctance to tell the outside world about his predicament, author and poet PAT TIERNEY this year went public about his HIV-positive status, and encountered a far more compassionate response than he had anticipated. Interview: LORRAINE FREENEY
Everyone's favourite punk-pop pranksters Fight Like Apes report exclusively from their recent trips to Canadian Music Week and the South By South West indie festival in Austin, Texas.
The HP-7 Summit is back with Michelle Doherty, Rocky O'Reilly, Niall Breslin, Mark Greaney, Niamh Farrell, Messiah J and Danny O'Donoghue sat around the only table that matters this Christmas.
Contrary to the negative way in which it's so often portrayed by the national media, Limerick is a city that combines a rich sense of tradition with an eye for innovation and in recent years has developed into one of Ireland's leading cultural centres. Kevin Barry takes a look at the people - and the places - breathing new life into the mid-western capital.
From badass bunnies via political incorrectness to the mightiest drummer in rock ’n’ roll, it’s all in an interview’s work for Queens Of The Stone Age mainman Josh Homme.
Massive Attack explain why they are outspoken opponents of the proposed war in Iraq, give high praise to Sinéad O’Connor and reveal how a porn soundtrack left them gasping for airtime.
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.
Hand-picked, coddled and manufactured: mainstream pop stars have the life. Don t they? KIM PORCELLI gets up about twelve hours earlier than usual and spends the day with SAMANTHA MUMBA. Hot shots: PETER MATTHEWS
Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous offers a pleasant and almost innocent view of the life of a rock hack - sort of Little House On The Road. The reality, as PETER MURPHY explains, is rather different. Certain names in this harrowing saga have been changed to protect the guilty - and the author's delicate bone structure
Oppenheimer, Jinx Lennon, Joe Rooney and his very special comedy guests are the latest additions to the Hot Press Chatroom at this weekend's Electric Picnic.
MARTIN HAYES fiddles while dennis cahill burns on The Lonesome Touch, an exercise in purity that is not exclusive to the purists. Joining them on the road, siobhan long learns the finer points of a good reel, and discovers that in Irish traditional music there s no place for conflict between continuity and change.
When Richard O' Brien put Dr. Frank' N' Furter into fishnets just over 20 years ago, few could have predicted the cult that would grow up around the Rocky Horror Show. Fay Wolftree genderbenders her way through a history of Transylvanian transvestism.
Arguably, the most contentious and controversial Irish political commentator of the last 25 years, Conor Cruise O’Brien’s analysis of Anglo-Irish affairs has always followed its own unique path. However, the scepticism with which he greeted the paramilitary ceasefires as well as his hardline stand on censorship, have led some to question the relevance of this most conservative of political observers. Interview: JOE JACKSON.
Pix: COLM HENRY.
Getting press accreditation for the world’s greatest cycling race seemed like a dream come true. Then the Tour de France turned into the Tour de Farce. SHANE STOKES recalls the death of innocence during three tumultuous weeks in July.
Triumph Of The Will meets Spinal Tap and Bach meets Sabbath as METALLICA join
forces with 101 dinner jackets. Peter Murphy travels to Berlin to sample the results.
Leya are blessed with bags of ambition. Sparse for the most part, ‘All On The Black’ is powered almost solely by Ciaran Gribbin’s soaring vocals and lyrics of departing love. Of course the crash of drums and guitar half way through comes, as expected, but nonetheless there’s a scope to the track that sets the Belfast rockers apart from most of their peers.
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?
Did you hear the one about the Clare man who loves Dublin and is less than enamoured with rural Ireland?
Or the staunch Labour Party man who doesn’t worship Dick Spring?
Or the politician whose fed up to the teeth with political correctness?
Then you haven’t heard about PAT UPTON, Labour TD for Dublin South Central.
LIAM FAY did, and now it’s your turn.
Pix: COLM HENRY
As the General Election looms, many polls suggest Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is the next Taoiseach in waiting. So what is he really like? And where does he stand on the issues that matter to Hot Press readers?
MICHAEL NOONAN may be the most follicularly-challenged member of the Fine Gael front bench but he is also seen by some as the party's leader in waiting, the only person capable of bringing about the kind of revitalisation which has so conspicuously eluded John Bruton. Now aged fifty, Noonan was for years known as the man who as Minister for Justice in the mid-eighties exposed the Sean Doherty bugging scandal and ordered the release of Nicky Kelly. More recently, however, he has achieved real fame as a Scrap Saturday caricature. Interview: LIAM FAY.
David Holmes, whose latest album The Holy Pictures received a resounding thumbs up in the latest issue of Hot Press, will join the Hot Press Chatroom at the Electric Picnic.
Other Voices, the RTE series featuring acclaimed bands playing in an intimate venue in Dingle, Kerry, will kick off its fourth year with a series of recordings in December.
There will be no repeat of Fionn Regan's 2007 nomination success as the shortlist for this year's Mercury Music Prize has been revealed – and no Irish acts have made the cut.
Having graced the Closer soundtrack and made the cut for the OC’s illustrious collection, Damien Rice is doing very nicely out of compilations these days.
Country and folk music have become a lot more sophisticated over the last ten years or so. Gone are the wailing laments, tales of drinkin’, divorce and beatings.
The Script and Sharon Shannon were just two of the big acts honoured at last night's Meteor Awards, where Hot Press editor Niall Stokes also picked up an award...
Along with the voice, Fox has the attitude and substance to pull off a certain element of repetition in Messy. However she doesn’t quite dodge the usual pitfall of the genre, and has a tendency to lapse into Ali-G style faux-ghetto posturing.
Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight is by all accounts an album that has been in the making for several months, and boy does it sound it. Left to marinade in its own splendid creative juices, the 66e sound has morphed from something cutesy and introspective into a glorious sonic sprawl, with vertiginous climaxes and windswept hooks.
Call it the shitegeist. In times of war and pestilence, art gets decadent, and all we wanna do is dance. Scissor Sisters are a tight little NY combo who apply rock dynamics to disco’s lust for the transcendent dance.
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.
We all have one special place on our bodies that drives us wild with lust. And it isn't as hard to find the location of this treasure as you might think.
When you go shopping for funiture, it's worth remembering that every surface should be tested for its erotic potential. Now there's a nice sofa - for fornicating on.
Yet more amazing live pictures from the second day of Ireland's biggest music fest. Check out Elbow, Doves, Eagles of Death Metal, Gaslight Anthem and more.
The Oxegen bill has just become even tastier with ten new acts being confirmed for Punchestown.
These are Razorlight, Elbow, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Pete Doherty, The Ting Tings, White Lies, Fight Like Apes, Jason Mraz, Pendulum and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The cream of the crop from Saturday's live pictures, taking in Crystal Castles, Elbow, Duffy, Franz Ferdinand, Grace Jones, Lisa Hannigan and tonnes more!
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.
Exploring the mystery of how one human being can survive being thrown from a horse with barely a scratch while another is near death after a quiet drink in a country pub
Spurred on by his colleague Barry Glendenning’s trenchant and pithy critique of the pundits and commentators of France 98 elsewhere in this issue, Foul Play – the man who puts the “anal” into “analysis” – has decided to dole out his own small but perfectly formed golden statuettes to the men who mattered (and a few who didn’t) at the 16th World Cup.
Bearing in mind the chequered history of his predecessors, Eamonn McCann reckons Pope Benedict XVI may be letting himself in for a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.
Or how the Christian right detected family values in the sex lives of penguins. But only the heterosexual ones. Plus: the bizarre parable of the Eyeballs In The Sky.
This fortnight's Hot Press is our Electric Picnic special to celebrate we've teamed with O2 to put together a collection of the best Irish talent to grace the festival in a 16 track free CD. There’s something here for everyone; in fact, it’s the perfect picnic spread! Not only that, but we've got some of the bands in question to preview the festival for you (and us!!)
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.
“The best four million pounds I ever spent,” beamed Dermot Desmond last month from the front page of Celtic View, the official magazine of Glasgow Celtic FC.
Budget cuts almost spelled the end of Other Voices. But the team behind the Dingle music institution rallied around – with the result that this year’s line-up is arguably among the strongest in the history of the show
Think you've got them all right? Or maybe you fancy a sneaky peak (you're only cheating yourself you know!). Either way, you've got the questions – we've got the answers....
Continuing his occasional Bum Notes series of reminiscences on life as a musician, Peter Murphy fondly casts a nostalgic eye over the birth of his daughter and the, eh, interesting rock ’n’ roll circumstances that surrounded it.
Neil McCormick, a friend of U2 in their earliest days, who, as a writer, has closely monitored their progress since then, analyses Eamon Dunphy's much-touted 'authorised' biography "Unforgettable Fire" – and can't quite believe what he reads
All Write Now, we said. And boy did you follow instructions! The entries poured in from all over Ireland, and further afield, in their thousands. We were snowed under – but, as the song says: That’s the way, uh huh, uh huh, we like it…
