The glitter cannon has been primed. The pyrotechnics are sorted, likewise a series of 40 foot video screens. A massive sound system will have been freighted in from London. And at midnight on New Year's Eve, a Shine club special at the King's Hall in Belfast will be hailed by much noise and a computerised system sequencing animation, music and samplers - a millennium shindig that's likely to be the best of its kind in Ireland
He’s a legend, an icon and a farmer. His hit singles tally in this country is surpassed only by Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. He is, above all else, the man who brought... ...us ‘Do You Want Your Old Lobby Washed Down’ and ‘Carrots From Clonoun’. Behold the unexpurgated brendan shIne on sex, drugs, drink, the accordion, grunge, GATT and Donie Cassidy’s wig. Interview: Liam Fay. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
While the likes of Cream and Ministry Of Sound have struggled, Belfast superclub Shine continues to go from strength to strength. Barry O’Donoghue reports on one of Irish dance’s big success stories
We persuaded Dublin singer-songwriter Barry McCormack to take time off from promoting his recent album Night Visiting to spend some time with the Shine SNO690 Guitar.
Pioneering ambient artist, film-scorer, and producer of choice for everyone from Willie Nelson to U2, Daniel Lanois has assembled one of the most impressive CVs in modern rock. And with his new album, Shine, having just hit the racks, he’s far from done yet, as he tells Peter Murphy
Mmmm. He's gone and done it again. Dotted his i's and crossed his t's with little more than a guitar and a pair of vocal chords that must have been hatched somewhere between Sonny Boy Williamson's chest cavity and John Lee Hooker's pelvis.
Enniscorthy-man Clive Barnes is a 24-year-old blues singer-songwriter who, unlike too many of his European blues counterparts, doesn't sing in a fake American accent about going down to Chicago.
A new album, a new producer, a new sound and a new lease of life so where better to launch mary black s Shine than in New Orleans? Report and
interview: siobhAN LONG
A new album, a new producer, a new sound and a new lease of life so where better to launch mary black s Shine than in New Orleans? Report and
interview: siobhAN LONG
Dan Curtin comes out of the mediocre shadows to shine once again. This debut on Black Dog's label borrows from minimal, but evolves from lithe, skipping rhythms into a warped sheet metal riffs, putting the US producer close to greatness again.
O'Rourke's third single from the platinum-selling Since Kyabram is exactly the record a guy would put on after the woman he’s besotted with agrees to marry him. It’s a joy barely restrained, and warms the heart of anyone lucky enough to witness it. Had anyone else played this song, it wouldn’t have the same effect – there’s something about the acoustic simplicity next to Declan’s deep, masculine vocals that makes it shine. Genius.
Dave Couse has been reinvigorated. Back with a new band, ‘Batman and Robin’ is an old style slice of caustic pop from the former A-House frontman. Where his solo debut was stagnant and without shine, ‘Batman and Robin’ bounces from the speakers with vigour and energy, Couse's vocal returning to the sarcasm and spite of past glories. His finest solo moment thus far.
DAVID GRAY’s sell-out December gig at Dublin’s Point Theatre was an intense, emotional affair.
NIALL STANAGE reports on a remarkable night and offers a personal perspective on the singer-songwriter’s journey
This is the first release from The Radio since their debut album Kindness in 2004. The title track 'Satellite' is an upbeat tune featuring the signature breathy female vocals that characterise their songs. Gentle harmonies and a catchy melody layered over a punchy beat make this a lovely summer track. In places, particularly on their more subdued tracks, they sound a lot like American quirky rock outfit The Eels, minus the underlying darkness. The Radio make subtly pretty songs and can really shine when they want to, as the title track on this EP demonstrates.
As well as him impressive multi-instrumentalism, Burch’s poignant, plaintive voice breathes life into outstanding songs like ‘Sun Don’t Shine’, ‘Electricity’ and the title track.
Hush, pause and languor stand here as equal substitutes for Nixon’s multi-layered density and, minus the clutter, Kurt Wagner’s battered muse is allowed a quiet chance to shine.
Balance is such a delicate thing. Finding that elusive equilibrium between musicians so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and yet each part can shine in its own time. If it's to happen, egos must be jettisoned and the music must be master.
Stuart David, bassist from Belle ... Sebastian, gets his chance to shine with Looper, his latest project, and belies the oft- held notion that bass players are also rans in the creative department: just given the notes and told what to do. Up A Tree sees David displaying enough invention and imagination for a Brazilian football coach, without the attendant histrionics.
There are times when listening to traditional albums, you sense a melting of one into another, with players' identities being lost, or at the very least, diluted in the mix. Kevin O'Connor is in no danger of falling prey to that particular malady, having an ear for arrangements that sparkle and shine in their originality.
Two things shine through here: the affection and respect Toner has for the music, and the corresponding affection and respect in which he’s held by his fellow musicians.
This is not a bad album, and if it was released three years ago it would have come across better, but now there is a lot of music like this around and it takes really good songs, and something very original, to make a band shine.
Live In Your Living Room featuring Eyeslave, Travega, Karrier, Colm Heaney And The Bad DJs, Corsairs + Dali. Six relatively-unknown Irish groups playing half-hour sets, and tonight, the lower-ranked artists are the ones who shine.
Indie pretty-boys The Coronas aspire to be taken seriously as artists. They chat about their plans for breaking big abroad and explain why they're not the Irish Busted.
Losing their keyboard player to Dirty Pretty Things and falling out of favour with their record label The Cooper Temple Clause have certainly been through the mill of late. From adversity comes strength however and the band are back with arguably their strongest album yet.
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
With a stunning debut album under their belts and an ambitious tour of Scotland coming up, Dublin quintet Picture House have made extraordinary strides for a band who, only a year ago, were labelled has-beens. Interview: John Walshe.
FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM is a major new six-part RTE series. Directed by DAVID HEFFERNAN, and featuring new interviews with the major players including Van Morrison, Bob Geldof, U2 and Siniad O Connor it traces the history of Irish music, from showbands to boybands and beyond. By PETER MURPHY.
Ronnie Wood reveals that his autobiography, a rather entertaining account of his hair-raising life as the 'new boy' in the Stones, was a toil of love to write.
COLM O HARE catches up with MARY BLACK, as the singer helicopters her way around the country and talks about her new album, the song writing of Ron Sexsmith and unfair criticism. Pics: PETER MATHEWS.
An estimated 100,000 people showed up in the Phoenix Park for the O2 sponsored gig that featured Samantha Mumba, Ronan Keating, Mundy, Six, David Kitt and Kells' rock outfit Turn. Would one of the local scenes hottest contenders shine brightly enough to win the hearts of the nation’s pop kids?
You can tell how highly regarded she is by the number of top stars who want her to sing with them. But for Emmylou Harris such collaborations are a two-way street.
English folk singer KATE RUSBY has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. She tells Colm O'Hare about sad songs, her Bon Jovi phase, and attracting praise from Blur s Graham Coxon
Having drummed his way round the world with Therapy?, Graham Hopkins is now upfront singing with his own band Halite. But as Paul Nolan finds out, he’s no indie Phil Collins
David Gray's debut album A Century Ends signalled the emergence of an innovative singer-songwriter with forthright lyrics, a remarkable voice, and an unusual degree of integrity. Just, one warning: mention the words 'introverted' or 'soul-searching' and you run the risk of being beaten over the head with a guitar... Interview: Lorraine Freeney
They may look after Lambchop’s pets and occasionally leg it from Crawdaddy to catch the last train home, but when not partaking in such hi-jinks, Dublin quartet Delorentos are busy trying to kick rock music another rung up the evolutionary ladder.
Like the Loch Ness Monster and The Abominable Snowman, doubts have long been cast over the existence of a recording of beat master JACK KEROUAC reading from his classic On The Road. Now, not only have the legendary tapes finally materialised, they also show that the man was no mean crooner and songwriter to boot. PETER MURPHY reports.
Like the Loch Ness Monster and The Abominable Snowman, doubts have long been cast over the existence of a recording of beat master JACK KEROUAC reading from his classic On The Road. Now, not only have the legendary tapes finally materialised, they also show that the man was no mean crooner and songwriter to boot. PETER MURPHY reports.
Music journalist-turned-publicist KEITH ALTHAM has spent more than 35 years behind the scenes with the likes of The Who, Rolling Stones, Small Faces and Van Morrison. His new book reveals (almost) all. Interview: GEORGE BYRNE.
The latest radio listenership figures suggest that the once embattled Today FM is finally emerging as a credible national alternative to RTE. In the final of a four part series, Jackie Hayden meets No Disco founding-presenter, new-music savant and legendary nighttime DJ Donal Dineen
Even without a record deal, industrious Northern Irish reprobates watercress have a back catalogue to be proud of. jackie hayden meets band linchpin dan donnelly.
Even without a record deal, industrious Northern Irish reprobates watercress have a back catalogue to be proud of. jackie hayden meets band linchpin dan donnelly.
Donegal rockers The Revs have been ensconced in Malmo’s prestigious Yellow Studios for the last three months working on the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Suck. Steve Cummins joins the group in Malmo for an exclusive listen to what many expect to be their breakthrough album.
The missing link (ouch) between the Velvet Underground and Phil Spector, The Jesus & Mary Chain were one of the most influential and critically lauded bands of the 1980s. 20 years after Psychocandy though, Jim Reid found himself mired in serious alcohol addiction problems. Now domiciled in Devon, he looks back through the lens of newfound – but still precarious – sobriety.
Craig Fitzsimons talks to David Gleeson, director of Cowboys & Angels, another exciting addition to the growning canon of unapologetically youthful and exuberent contemporary Irish movies
Somebody up there likes us -that's for sure! Slane Castle 4pm on Saturday 25th August 2001 and the sun is shining down through deep blue skies like it hasn’t done all summer.
I can't say I'm exactly in the Ester Rantzen-league when it comes to caring for other people but something I've just said to Ed O'Brien hasn't so much pricked my conscience as stuck a dirty great big hole in it.
Having just done her leaving certificate exam, summer came as a great relief to hotpress reader Breda Bourke. and then everyone started to complain! here, she looks back at the season that seems to have pissed everyone off – and takes a somewhat different view.
LIAM CLANCY is in sparkling form as he looks forward to the release of a documentary on his life, which explains how he escaped the Irish Ayatollahs and wowed a young Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village.
John Spillane has remained a stalwart of the traditional scene for close to two decades. With his excellent new album Hey Dreamer having just hit the shops, Spillane sounds off to hotpress about his long and eventful career, his enthusiasm for younger artists such as Damien Dempsey and Juliet Turner, and why the organisers of the European Capital of Culture events in his native Cork have gotten things spectacularly wrong. words Colm O’Hare photos Mick Quinn
Irish labels, bands and artists often face an uphill struggle to garner recognition, even on their home turf. Which is why hotpress and HMV have undertaken their own combined initiative, to coincide with the announcement of the shortlist for the first Choice Irish music prize. As a product of this initiative, all ten albums will be specially stocked and displayed in HMV stores all over Ireland on the run-in to the announcement of the winning album later this month. Here, we take a look at the list – and reflect on those that have been omitted.
Cavernous arenas, capacity crowds, shrieking teenagers and a brisk trade in merchandising.
No, it s not a Take That reunion, it s eh, Dublin popsters picture house travelling the autobahns of Germany.
Our Eurosceptic in D|sseldorf: colm o hare
ENYA: THE LATEST SCORE
From the Gweedore family that gave the world Clannad, another success story in the making. Enya,whose new album featuring music for the forthcoming TV series The Celts , is already making waves months before the programme itself goes on air, is joined by producer Nicky Ryan for a three-way conversation with Bill Graham. Pix:Colm Henry.
Annual article: Phil Kieran and DJ Papillion were two of the outstanding names in a fantastic year for dance music, says Mark Kavanagh. Plus the dance charts of 2005.
He's the godfather of English whimsy, the spiritual successor to Syd Barrett. So why the hell is Robyn Hitchcock sharing a pokey tour bus with three fifths of REM?
No-one knows a city like a local and so we asked Mike Edgar to be our guide to Belfast. Here he chooses ten things for visitors to do in the North s leading city. Only one problem: he forgot to tell us where to get an after-hours drink!
peter murphy meets the multi-faceted pelvis, whose debut album Who Are You Today marks them out as one of the most formidable new Irish
talents in years.
It should have been the biggest indoor rock n roll knees-up of the year but oasis three nights at The Point were as notable for what happened off stage as for what happened on it. Does Liam s partial no show spell the end for the dreadnoughts of Britpop or is it just the latest hiccup in a career that seems to thrive on adversity? Report: siobhAn LONG.
Being a strange, terrible, wondrous and uplifting saga of pints, goats, monsters, Malcolm McLaren, jokes, art and, er, lettuce. Or, to put it another way, the inimitable tom mathews reports from The Galway ARts Festival.
Not sure about the rather frantic funk of lead track ‘I Got Mine’ here, but once they ease up a bit Cork’s The Berries are a much more enticing prospect.
40 years after the Clancy Brothers brought Irish ballads to an international audience and won famous fans like Bob Dylan, Tommy Makem is still committed to the power of song – but appalled at the way modern Ireland treats its own culture.
As none of the three people named in the title of SOMETHING HAPPENS new album Alan, Elvis and God was available for interview, TOM DUNNE, RAY
HARMAN and TED RYAN took on the roles of all three to discuss how the planet-fab foursome are moving into overdrive with the acquisition of a new record deal and the imminent release of that new album.
As none of the three people named in the title of Something Happens new album Alan, Elvis And God was available for interview, Tom Dunne, Ray Harman and Ted Ryan took on the roles of all three to discuss how the planet-fab foursome are moving into overdrive with the acquisition of a new record deal and the imminent release of that new album.
Tape: JACKIE HAYDEN.
In an age when hype springs eternal, DAVID GRAY is that rare phenomenon a success story scripted by the fans rather than the industry. And a distinctly Irish success story at that. A certifiable platinum-selling box-office blockbuster in this country, the Welsh singer-songwriter still awaits a similar eruption of Gray fever in Britain, Europe and America. But his latest album, White Ladder, could be the record which tells the world what Ireland already knows. Now as he prepares to wow the faithful at Galway s Big Beat festival, JOHN WALSHE presents the inside story of the best kept secret in the west.
Pics Mick Quinn
With his new album The Mountain, STEVE EARLE has turned his hand to bluegrass. He talks to SIOBHAN LONG about the record, his colourful past and his love of Irish music.
Calling all up-and-coming music stars! The path to success can sometimes seem dauntingly steep. But, in an ongoing series, JACKIE HAYDEN looks at the various challenges which face new bands, and how to overcome them. This issue: RECORDING. Photo: KAREN CAULFIELD
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.
Amir Khan is one of the hottest young British boxers in a generation. What makes his story especially interesting is that the Bolton Olympic silver medallist is an English Muslim child of Pakistani parents. He is due in Belfast shortly for his seventh professional encounter and, make no mistake, fight fans are in for a treat.
That was the original headline, back in November 1985, when Tony O'Donoghue - now best known as a presenter on RTE radio - spoke to Joe O'Herlihy (sound engineer with U2, we called him) about the torturous life of the roadie for the following year's Hot Press Yearbook. This is what went down . . .
The mainman in Tenacious D and scene-stealer in High Fidelity, Jack Black is now at the heart of a box-office phenomenon in School of Rock. But who does he really want to be – Laurence Olivier or Ronnie James Dio? Tara Brady asks the tough questions.
For close to a decade, Lillie’s Bordello has been the nightclub of choice for the famous and not-so-famous of Dublin cultural life. But with the passing of the Celtic Tiger era and the current uncertainty over the club’s future, can Lillie’s retain its position as the capital’s number one celebrity haunt?
Drinking, arguments, men in kilts, rickshaws, more drinking, and the search for an errant sheep: it's all part and parcel of one night out in Dublin. On-the-spot report: NIALL STANAGE
He might have been a young Einsten but instead MARK OLIVER EVERETT ended up as EELS aka a man called E aka the Souljacker. PETER MURPHY discovers how it all went horribly right
RTE is often, and rightly, castigated by the print media for sub-standard productions, but its new comedy-drama series Bachelors Walk is already being heralded as one of the station’s best ever projects before it's even half-way through its eight-part run.
STEPHEN ROBINSON goes on location to discover the secret of the show’s success
Ahead of the band s heineken green energy gig in Dublin, PETER MURPHY talks to
NINA PERSSON of THE CARDIGANS about success, sexuality, self-esteem and joyriding!
At the age of 20, kathryn harrison embarked on a full-blown sexual affair with her own father an incestuous relationship which the acclaimed author has now chronicled in detail in her latest book, The Kiss. joe jackson meets the woman who has been attacked as a mercenary slut wanting to capitalise on shock value .
Pix: colm henry.
In a single decade, Irish electronica and dance music has transformed the national scene. MARK KAVANAGH has been involved from the very beginning, as a DJ, activist, producer and hotpress columnist. Here, he offers a personal take on a long and winding but ultimately fruitful road, and reveals some of the new challenges he ll be undertaking as a DJ, producer and recording artist over the coming 12 months
In a heartfelt interview, Dolores O’Riordan talks to Hot Press about her new solo record, her decision to move to Canada and the debilitating effects of fame. Plus, why a Cranberries reunion may be a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.
There are no saints in love. That’s a lesson The Frames’ mainman Glen Hansard learned the hard way – and which he articulates in the bittersweet love songs that make up much of the band’s new album The Cost. Hot Press hits the road with the band for an extended interview, conducted in radio studios, backstage areas, tour buses – and one very dedicated fan’s house.
Bobby Gillespie's still staying up all night but now it's because there's a baby in the house. Otherwise, it's all systems go for Primal Scream at their bunker hq - Witnness cometh, Mani's back and Kate Moss, Kevin Shields, Robert Plant and AndrewWeatherall all feature on the groundbreaking evil high
Or that's what the proponents of the phenomenon of Virtual Reality might want us to believe. GERRY McGOVERN enters this brave new world and discovers that its capacity to transform our lives - at work, rest and foreplay - is truly mindblowing. Now, put on your headset and start reading!
For the launch of his second album, UNDER THE MOON, MARTIN HAYES returned from his new home in Seattle to his native town of Feakle, deep in the heart of Clare. BILL GRAHAM travelled west to meet one of the musicians responsible for the resurgence in Irish music and discuss his roots in the local tradition, and speculate on the possibilities and conflicts opening up within the genre.
DAVID HOLMES is about to leave his native Belfast for New York City, where he will record his third album. STUART BAILIE took a final opportunity to speak to the artist also known as Homer. On the agenda: Hollywood soundtracks, rumours of brawling, past glories and future plans.
Pics: MICHAEL TAYLOR.
From circus dwarves, incest and lesbian love affairs to severed organs and transvestite Indian brothels, John Irving’s novels are awash with enough tales of screwball sex and lurid violence to make even Quentin Tarantino blush. With his mammoth new 633-page novel A Son Of The Circus just published, the multi-million selling New Hampshire author indulges in a spot of verbal wrestling with liam fay, who discovers why he should keep this particular tête-à-tête purely literary. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
Her fantasy is out-qualifying Michael Schumacher, she once drove at 200 miles per hour and she'd "consider" sleeping with a fat, sweaty Italian if it meant getting a drive with Ferrari! She's sarah kavanagh, and her ambition is to take her place on the Forumula One grid by the year 2,000. Interview: barry glendenning.
Pix: clare kavanagh.
With the release of The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, it's obvious that someone's been rummaging around in the grim annals of ol' Nick's extraordinary back catalogue. But who?
Interview: Peter Murphy
With the release of The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, it's obvious that someone's been rummaging around in the grim annals of ol' Nick's extraordinary back catalogue. But who?
Interview: Peter Murphy
With the release of The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, it's obvious that someone's been rummaging around in the grim annals of ol' Nick's extraordinary back catalogue. But who?
Interview: Peter Murphy
With the release of The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, it's obvious that someone's been rummaging around in the grim annals of ol' Nick's extraordinary back catalogue. But who?
With the release of The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, it's obvious that someone's been rummaging around in the grim annals of ol' Nick's extraordinary back catalogue. But who?
Interview: Peter Murphy
With the release of The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, it's obvious that someone's been rummaging around in the grim annals of ol' Nick's extraordinary back catalogue. But who?
Interview: Peter Murphy
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
Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden? It doesn t get much
better than this. JOE JACKSON goes
backstage for a brief but revealing encounter with Joni and, from a vantage point to die for, finds two 60s legends who can still send shivers up the spine at the end of the millennium.
It s been a long, long way from there to here and DONAL LUNNY has been at the centre of things every step of the journey. He has achieved enormous acclaim and considerable success with Planxty, The Bothy Band and Moving Hearts. Now with the launch of his latest band and their eponymously titled album COOLFIN, he takes time out to reflect on all of the major figures who have contributed to the extraordinary revival of folk and traditional music that has taken place over the past 30 years. He also recalls the highs and the lows the heartbreak, the good times and the great music that he himself has enjoyed as one of Ireland s finest and most influential musicians. Interview: Niall Stokes. Pics: Colm Henry
Martin Sheen has starred in at least two of the greatest films ever made, survived a massive heart attack, found God, and campaigned tirelessly for social justice in the Third World. Now, he’s gone back to school, studying Philosophy and English at (of all places) the NUI in Galway. Jason O’Toole meets him for his only Irish print interview.
SINEAD O'CONNOR has been many things - bona fide pop star, tabloid target, controversial activist, mother and priest. But, above all, she is one of Ireland's most compelling musicians.
With a new album due for release, she talks to NIALL STOKES about love, sex, the Church, fame, racism and why "it's important to make it soul music." Pictures: MYLES CLAFFEY
Journalist, essayist, atheist, author and, above all, agent provocateur, Christopher Hitchens has not shied away from controversy over the last 30 years. But in his new book, the writer takes on his biggest adversary to date – God.
It's all changed for DAVID GRAY. Within the past month he has played a series of sell-out gigs across the US, gone top ten in the UK, and returned to this country to celebrate the release of Lost Songs. In a hotpress exclusive, NIALL STANAGE reports from New York, Boston, London and Dublin on the globalisation of Ireland's favourite Welshman. Hotshot hitman: STEVEN FISHER
Never mind pressies and OD’ing on cranberry sauce, the important thing about Christmas is that it signals the return of the HP-10 Summit. Absolutely no blushes are spared as Ireland’s rock ‘n’ roll elite dissects the musical year that was 2006. Keeping order: Stuart “Paxman” Clark. Taking photos: Graham “Paparazzi” Keogh. Taking the piss: Eyebrowy
Never mind pressies and OD’ing on cranberry sauce, the important thing about Christmas is that it signals the return of the HP-10 Summit. Absolutely no blushes are spared as Ireland’s rock ‘n’ roll elite dissects the musical year that was 2006. Keeping order: Stuart “Paxman” Clark. Taking photos: Graham “Paparazzi” Keogh. Taking the piss: Eyebrowy.
The recipient of a Late Late Show tribute and the outgoing presenter of The Arts Show, MIKE MURPHY avails of a timely opportunity to reflect on the highs and lows of his personal and professional life and to assure JOE JACKSON that, contrary to certain popular mythology, he is neither a marshmallow nor a flowerpot man
A special report on the arts in Northern Ireland which is alive and rocking with the whole gamut of cultural activity. Here James Elliott and Margaret F. Grundy give the lowdown on the province’s artistic and creative hub.
Half a New Yorker, half a Dubliner, Alien Envoy somehow manages to combine the worst of both cities. As with his previous ‘Cast Adrift’ single, ‘45’ sits on the wrong side of too clever by half, an ode to the great singles of our age made up entirely of said singles’ titles. Awfully clever it may be, a particularly good song it isn’t.
Scott Maher is making a similar move, although ‘Shine’ suggests that his music has already packed its bags and caught the first flight out. For all its attention to melody and hooks, it’s an oddly jarring experience, as if someone has failed to assemble the song in quite the right order.
Slightly preachy lyrics about the evil music business that eats its own young aside, this latest offering from the Dublin rockers’ upcoming album is a rousing anthem that leads to all manner of foot-stomping and head-bobbing from the first listen.
Ricky Simmonds and Stephen Jones made their mark with a string of hugely successful epic vocal trance singles under psuedonyms like Chakra, Lustrial and Ascension, before deciding to concentrate on their Space Brothers project and taking the relatively unusual step (for trance producers) of recording an album.
To celebrate the release of their debut E.P. 'Falling Star', Melaton would like to offer one lucky winner the chance to win a truly astronomical prize...
Yngve Wieland’s debut EP brings with it shades of early Bright Eyes and David Kitt throughout its five tracks. While exploring familiar lyrical territories of lost love and all that goes with it, Wieland, at his best, manages to draw the listener in with his wistful vocals and stripped-back guitar hooks.
Despite the reputation reunion tours have, you couldn’t really say that The House of Love were cashing in by reforming. Once darlings of the music industry, Guy Chadwick and Terry Bickers have long been the forgotten men of British music, never amassing the kind of following that might make a reunion financially attractive.
On our new cover, we capture the meeting of Irish music industry outsiders Laura Izibor and Mundy. And now we've got special video footage documenting their success. We catch Laura back at her school in Dublin, while Mundy's off walking his dogs in the wilds of Ireland.
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.
Hailing from Galway, Tyrone and Clare respectively, these three musicians have been playing together in sessions in and around Ennis for a fair few years now. Their music has an easygoing unpretentiousness that’s highly attractive, and they’ve done a nice job of selecting lesser-known material by the likes of Ed Reavy, Paddy Fahey, Bobby Casey and Paddy Kelly – not to mention Keville herself – as well as more widely played tunes.
Having been feted in Irish singer-songwriter circles for over a decade, Limerick’s Don Mescall has signed a seven-figure deal with Nashville’s Curb Records.
After what seems like (and probably is) half a decade on the road, the much-touted Downpatrick trio finally get to release an album. It's clearly a big budget affair too with no expense spared.
Kicking off on familiar territory with the epic, multi-layered single that is 'Rainbow Zephyr', it continues with the hard driving, generic rock of 'Heart Shaped Box'.
Guinan’s songs strike home, and he and the other musicians knit together like a well-loved old jumper, improvising and harmonising with joyous abandon.
The overall air of heat, decadence and general malaise that pervades this double album can best be summed up by a stray line from ‘Tumbling Dice’: “There’s fever in the funkhouse now”.
Tipped as a man who would (could) be king in the alt. country arena for his band Whiskeytown, this slight departure is altogether a less frantic affair.
It's been half a decade since Robert Hood's first Nighttime World installment. In the interim, the minimal sound the former UR member pioneered on benchmark releases like 'Minimal Nation' and 'Internal Empire' has been squeezed dry of all innovation by hordes of copyists, but the jazzy, musical leanings on Nighttime World are still relevant to forward thinking dance music.
Shelby Starner is a 15-year-old singer songwriter from Pennsylvania. For the most part, her songs and music display a maturity well beyond her tender years. This, her debut album, is one of the best releases thus far in 1999.
Either we’re intoning for the good weather of last year - we’ve been thoroughly spoiled with great outdoor shows this summer - but there’s no chance whatsoever of picking up the much coveted farmer’s sunburn at this year’s Oxegen. If you thought to bring an umbrella to this year’s festival, you’re certainly ahead of the game…
The credits may read – “produced by PRINCE and arranged, composed and performed by (insert stupid squiggle symbol),” but I think we can treat this album as the real return to the fray by the Purple Poet of Pervdom himself.
After what seems like (and probably is) half a decade on the road, the much-touted Downpatrick trio finally get to release an album. It's clearly a big budget affair too with no expense spared.
Kicking off on familiar territory with the epic, multi-layered single that is 'Rainbow Zephyr', it continues with the hard driving, generic rock of 'Heart Shaped Box'.
20 years on from their first musical offering, the Indigo Girls thankfully refuse to age with grace and here turn in an album as vital and as edgy as anything they’ve ever done, with fresh subtleties to add to an illustrious back catalogue.
Devon-based DJ collective Elevator Suite purvey a kitschy blend of loungcore pop that at times recalls the studied retro chic of Air – albeit with much more emphasis on the dance floor than the Gallic duo.
As over the top it may sound, the best way of describing Mogwai's music comes in a sample from their first LP Mogwai Young Team; "if the stars had a sound, they would sound like this."
On Shabba Ranks And Friends, Shabba brings his deep ragga voice and pop/soul/hip hop treatment to a range of diverse songs, most of which were recorded six or seven years ago.
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.
It borrows from a lot of the mechanisms that have made this kind of music tired: the pounding guitars, the rock chick bawling, themes of pain, alienation and the forces of darkness. The difference here lies in the fusion of the pounding music with a Gothic, ballady vibe, and the ethereal, soaring voice of Amy Lee.
Supernaut is the latest vehicle for former Blue In Heaven/Blue Angels frontman Shane O’Neill and Into Paradise mainman Dave Long. In many ways, their debut album is like a homage to the almighty guitar, which shapechanges throughout from a shimmer to a swagger, a sparkle to a snarl.
Snapshots, is Eleanor McEvoy's best album thus far. She hasn't dropped her interest in the quagmires that are relationships. However, there's a new wisdom and detachment in evidence here.
The opening track on Bay Area goth/metal/punk outfit AFI’s new effort beckons us to join them in their macabre dance of thrash melodies and is the first indication of a simple hardcore album being fed to the sharks of over-production.
Jason Pierce doesn’t do Dogme. For all the talk of a stripped-down, back-to-basics approach on Amazing Grace, his most recent record is as comparable to something like Slanted And Enchanted, as Solaris is to Festen.
Even though it’s only 35 minutes long, ‘ASDR’ is draining – scratch at the surface, and the ‘whaHEY!’ veneer wears thin: it’s either to abrasive, too carefully considered or, occasionally, shit.
Beatles-fixated guitar bands may not be exactly what the world is waiting for right now but local lads, Pugwash, carry it off with such aplomb that it’s hard not to succumb to their charms.
Since the demise of Husker Du (surely the next bunch of Amerindie pioneers due for the resurrection shuffle) Bob Mould has, with his solo albums and Sugar, gone about his craft in an unpretentious and stouthearted manner.
Diving For Pearls is the debut album from Scottish singer/songwriter Allie Fox and it’s as warm and intimate a collection of songs as you are likely to hear this year.
A double set of singles compilations released in 1998 prompted many a pundit to speculate on the future of one of the most prolific, influential, traumatic and twisted sonic soap operas starring David Gahan in the world today.
You probably wouldn't trust Therapy to babysit your little sisters and brothers. And you'd be right. They're that kind of band - psychotic dog-trashcore noise terrorists who rip ears and emotions right apart, usually in the one band-breath.
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.
The three 16 year-old girls who met at a party a couple of years ago have become one of the UK’s brighest MOBO hopes, as evidenced by their smash hit ‘Overload’.
On Saltbreakers – Veirs was originally a geologist by trade – she maintains the momentum of her last effort. But this is a more polished and fuller sounding album.
Justin Vernon's hiatus to Wisconsin may have made Bon Iver's sound that much better judging from the crowd's cathartic reaction as the band performed their latest tracks.
Fake Chemical State is one of those records that rewards repeated listening, so over a week or so nearly every song takes a turn in the ‘best on the album’ slot.
Three highlights from this show give conclusive evidence that, in Eleanor McEvoy, we have an incomparably assured performer and a composer of consummate wit and intelligence who has yet to receive her due acclaim at home.
Minnie Driver
The comedy of the season has arrived! Fun fun fun! O joy, o bliss! Seriously, for all its putrid feelbland chirpiness, the unbelievably inoffensive Return To Me practically qualifies as a must-see, so inadvertently hilarious is the whole affair from start to finish.
The two producers seem determined to load the kitchen sink onto every track. It's a pity, because Spillane's lovely gentle voice and real songwriting talent would hold up just fine on their own, given half a chance
Ani DiFranco is that rarest of artists - someone who makes music so naturally that it seems to seep from right out of her pores and into the atmosphere around her
This remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen thriller is ten times more involving than I'd dared to bargain for, given the presence of Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo.
given the choice, I’d prefer to see him in front of a comfortable-sized crowd, but due to his immense popularity, grander things are called for these days. .
Subtitled Notes From Planet Earth (whatever that means) this newly compiled collection from the Dalkey Dynamo claims to be different in one major respect from previous Greatest Hits offerings.
A refreshingly honest, soulful and intoxicating melting pot throughout, Cockahoop is essentially a pop album that sticks two fingers up to the sophisticated sheen and FX-laden production trickery of most of its contemporary cousins.
April 26 sees radio duo Donna Legge and David O’Reilly enter the realm of the audio-visual in Across The Line TV, with Snow Patrol playing a starring role in the warm-up special
The central track on this, Plant’s ninth solo album since the passing of Led Zep, is the splenetic ‘Tin Pan Valley’, in which he buries the memory of past triumphs and even turns his back on his former accomplices (“My peers may flirt with cabaret... I’m moving up to higher ground, I must escape their hell”). Fine sentiments indeed, but how odd that his most impressive solo outing to date should also be the one most hung-up on his past.
The New Mexico-based Hazeldine are in the vanguard of the American alt (alternative) country movement. In real musical terms, that means they are doing what the country rock bands of the early seventies did, a little louder than Tammy Wynette and a little punkier than The Eagles and that's about all, y'all.
Five years after their Hi-Lo debut, the former Stunning Brothers return to the fray with their strongest calling card to date. Recorded largely in the famed Black Box studios in France with the ubiquitous Dave Odlum at the helm, New Dawn Breaking is an immediately impressive record on almost every level (and very nicely packaged it is too in gatefold digipak!)
Though she’s only 20, this hugely talented North Dubliner has been knocking around the local scene since her early teens, gigging relentlessly and releasing a well-received EP a few years back. For her full-length debut she’s enlisted a heavyweight producer in Chris Tsangarides (Thin Lizzy, Ozzy, Depeche Mode), and recorded it in a remote studio in North Wales (fans of Led Zeppelin IV take note).
Bloodied but unbowed, The Prayer Boat return to the fray with Polichinelle, their second album. It's been eight years since Oceanic Feeling hit the shelves and the four-piece have been through more than their fair share of trials and tribulations since. However, they have grown all the stronger for it, as evidenced by this superb collection of songs to fall in love with and to.
The Ruby Tailights’ main-man Martin Kelly will be familiar to any stalwarts of the mid-90s Irish music scene as the frontman with the brilliant Sunbear, whose distortion-fuelled epics were years ahead of their time. This time around, Kelly has eschewed the effects pedals, however, for some relatively straightforward guitar pop.
Thank god for small mercies. This is not one of those guest-infested albums featuring Rod, Eric et al hatched by some opportunistic label exec in cahoots with a modish producer keeping one eye on the meter and the other on a Grammy. It’s the Reverend Al doing pretty much as he’s always done.
Credit to Las Vegas Basement, then, that they don’t collapse under the weight of these luminous spirits, but still manage to create an album of heavily layered, well-crafted songs with the kind of glorious ‘la-la-la’ harmonies not heard since the Fab Four were at their peak.
With former Engine Alley skinthumper Emmaline Duffy-Fallon out, and a full-time violinist (Sheila Sullivan) and backing vocalist (Veronika Megyeri) in, it's a new (and improved?) Racketeers on this, their second album.
There's a bit of a tendency to take The Chieftains for granted. They, and mainman Paddy Moloney in particular, have been so prolific and have been responsible for so many interesting and varied musical experiments that one album can tend to blur into the next. It's a view that does them an injustice, however.
Seems like downtown Buncrana and upstate New York aren't so far apart after all. At least not on Kevin Doherty's map. He manages to tiptoe between both with a dexterity that'd have been the envy of Astaire.
Weird name? Check. Alienated'n'angry persona? Check. Usage of 'fuck', 'kill' and 'die' in lyrics? Check. Makeup worn even though artist is a goddamn GUY!? Check.
Now that 'Back To Life' has been firmly etched into everyone's brain (and a lot of hearts, too) the time seems right to delve further into the heart and soul of Jazzie B. and his cohorts.
When Clooney and Zelweger are together, it’s tumbleweeds not sparks that fly. Still, it’s hard to entirely resist Clooney when he’s batting his eyelashes in our direction.
While 1987 will of course be recognised as the year U2 conquered the world, spare a thought for those whose careers begin beneath the shadow of ‘The Joshua Tree’.
And so the Pixies arrive at the 'difficult' fourth album stage. 'Difficult' because they haven't set so much as a little toe wrong to date, which naturally causes one to wonder just how much further they can travel in their pixilated state before tumbling head over arse?
1986 was an excellent year for Irish bands. Single released were aplenty, but the ones that took my fancy included Brush Shiels’ elegaic 'Old Pal’, Dorian Mood’s ‘It’s A Funny Thing’, and Something Happens!’
Liam Mackey's 1979
Released when the infant ’79 was still in the grip of winter, Graham Parker’s ‘Squeezing Out Sparks’ stood the test of time and defeated the heaviest competition.
If I make impossible demands of The Divine Comedy, it’s the fault of Absent Friends. The album of the year set the bar for the gig of a lifetime. (For which title it would have to go toe-to-toe with Dexys miraculous gig in Vicar St. last November.)
With any collection of this sort, some tracks don’t work as well as others. However, there are so many highlights here that it seems churlish to focus on the few that don’t work.
No longer the angry young man who heralded A Century Ends, nor the underdog troubadour we took to our hearts and our homes with White Ladder, the David Gray of 2005 is something like a phenomenon.
The last time The Fat Lady Sings graced a Dublin stage, people were smoking in the crowd, we were buying pints with punts and the Celtic Tiger had yet to get within an ass’s roar of Ireland. The first thing that strikes this reviewer when Nick Kelly (vocals/guitar), Tim Bradshaw (guitar) and bassist Dermot Lynch step onto the stage is that the 12 years since their last live performance have been kinder to the band than their audience.
Shaking violently, and almost swallowing the mic, his screaming vocals demanded you pay attention NOW. This wasn't singing, it was some type of exorcism
Around two years ago, Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat told this reviewer that the finest gig he’d ever seen was by an American musician named Devendra Banhart
Keyboards at the ready, modems on standby: here it is, a quick-fire tour of some of the entertainment websites from the north that matter. In theory, we were going to give you the definitive A-Z guide, but we couldn't find anything beginning with a Q or an X . Neverthless, here we go . .
You think you have a basic understanding of someone, and then Hollywood goes and makes an incredible movie about them and puts your knowledge to shame. That's just what audiences experience with Director Bennet Miller's eye-opening Capote.
Undeniably powerful, ruthlessly emotive, deeply manipulative but competent in the extreme, it's the (somewhat sanitised) life-story of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Forbes Nash, his marriage and his recurring battles with paranoid schizophrenia
If ever a cause needed highlighting, it’s the ongoing tragedy in Darfur, Sudan, which in the recent words of Goal’s John O’Shea "the international community has all but abandoned".
One trends to be suspicious of music with too immediate an appeal. Instant attraction often leads to boredom. With Mary Black's music, however, the opposite applies.
There’s nobody else quite like Damien Dempsey. His vocal style is very much an acquired taste. It takes a few listens before you start liking it, but after a while and you wonder where he’s been all your life.
Hardly had the ink dried on the last issue s item of advice for would-be entrants for the revised Bacardi Plugged band competition than a number of missives arrived in asking why there was no advice for those who might be thinking of entering the song part of the same project. As some of the senders know where I live I d thought I better oblige.
It is one of the perverse facets of contemporary music that there is a constant demand that artists have to re-invent themselves. I’m all for it if it’s what a band or a performer either needs or wants to do, in order to give renewed sparkle to the muse. But it isn’t something that we ask of poets or writers. Would we want or expect John McGahern to produce a sci-fi thriller set in an imaginary bog landscape five hundred years into the future?
t's difficult to conceive of a more suitable environment for Decal's moody electronica or Coil's foreboding ambient compositions than the baroque surroundings of City Hall
The decision by the DEAF organisers to take electronic music out of the clubs and into more unorthodox venues is increasingly looking like a masterstroke. It's difficult to conceive of a more suitable environment for Decal's moody electronica or Coil's foreboding ambient compositions than the baroque surroundings of City Hall.
COLIN CARBERRY meets KIDD DYNAMo, the Northern outfit fronted by singer/songwriter colin campbell who numberS Joan Armatrading and the Webb Brothers among his fans
Fabulous, a. celebrated in fable; unhistorical, legendary, incredible, absurd, exaggerated; (colloq.)
marvellous, from fable, a story not founded on fact.
- Concise Oxford Dictionary
Aspiring performers will have their chance to shine in front of one of the biggest names in pop this month, as Louis Walsh holds open auditions for a new five-piece girl band.
No longer the poor relation, Ireland now has a dance scene that's as vibrant as any in the world. KEITH MARTIN takes a look at the DJs, clubs and record labels who are at the centre of the decks industry here.
Recent events may have caused us to ask ourselves what level of passion, commitment and all-consuming belief does a person need in order to die the horrific death of a suicide bomber. But, Bootboy muses, are they the only people who truly care about anything these days?
Limerick band RADARS have just released a new single which confirms their position as one of the country s finest exponents of trip-hop. PETER MURPHY met them . . .
It must be said. I listen to more crap than any journalist in the Western World. Most of the time, however, even a dire tape has a few redeeming factors - maybe one classic song out of four, maybe a humourous lyric, maybe a fantastic singer. Other times - and yes, this is one of those times - you find a demo that is genuinely not worth the tape it's recorded on.
This year's Murphy's Kilkenny Cat Laughs festival features a strong line-up of both Irish and International acts that includes some old favourites and a smattering of Kilkenny virgins. Below we offer some top tips from the Laughlines' Cat Laughs Comedy Card. Ladies and gentlemen place your bets...
IT is all highly entertaining. In men s athletics, the traditional dominance of white athletes was overturned a long time ago. At first it was the Kenyans and the Ethiopians displaying a prowess in long-distance running that required the wholesale rewriting of the record books. Then black American, British, Canadian and Jamaican athletes began to come through in the sprints. Then gradually a bunch of middle-distance runners followed on, to fill in the gaps.
At the time of writing, the “framework document” on Norn Iron is about to be published. It is a time of great expectation, of high tension, of fearful imaginings, for all parties involved in the Northern conflict, and, of course, for Sam Snort.
EVERY COMEDIAN enjoys a “corporate”, those occasional highly paid bookings by companies who wish to bring their staff out for an evening’s worth of drunken ribaldry and mirth.
Semiotics: a branch of linguistics concerned with signs and symbols - Oxford Concise Dictionary
"Sex is largely a matter of semiotics, a language of signs which the body learns, the artful projection of an artful self.
Well, it’s back to the future time again, as we woozily welcome in 1995. With happy hearts and sick stomachs and peace and integration high on the list of high hopes, we kick off Demo Parade with a mixture of groups from home and abroad.
This fortnight, BARRY GLENDENNING discovers that a love of birds and an ungainly gait on the football field are the only traits he shares with Duncan Ferguson.
Once a beacon for new talent, the Eurovision song contest has become dreary and predictable, which is why we shouldn't be too upset about the failure of Dustin and Dervish.
Whether getting it up in public, going down in private, dogging, eating, drinking, accessorizing or using porn, in summer there’s no excuse for missionary position bedroom tedium.
From the goodtime vibes of Hot Chip to the full-on sonic assault of Primal Scream, this year's Electric Picnic achieved the impossible by being even more fab than its predecessors.
Belfast, like Dublin, is getting a bit frisky with the promise of spring. Loads of music initiatives are being planned and the landscape is looking better than ever. The difference between the two social diaries is that Belfast stops having fun at the end of June, to allow the marching season to have its ruinous way. By the time we pull out of that regular mess, the summer is packing up and it s time to go indoors again.
Belfast, like Dublin, is getting a bit frisky with the promise of spring. Loads of music initiatives are being planned and the landscape is looking better than ever. The difference between the two social diaries is that Belfast stops having fun at the end of June, to allow the marching season to have its ruinous way. By the time we pull out of that regular mess, the summer is packing up and it s time to go indoors again.
Belfast, like Dublin, is getting a bit frisky with the promise of spring. Loads of music initiatives are being planned and the landscape is looking better than ever. The difference between the two social diaries is that Belfast stops having fun at the end of June, to allow the marching season to have its ruinous way. By the time we pull out of that regular mess, the summer is packing up and it s time to go indoors again.
Darkness At The Edge Of Town was the album when Bruce Springsteen and his repertory of characters finally grew up. Which makes it a hard act to follow.
Two of Ireland’s top electronica composers are in celebratory mood after releasing a killer collaboration – and to mark the event they’re embarking on a brief tour of the country.
Hey, it was messy out there. Nine evenings of dance music across town. Incessant surprises from DJs and the local dance practitioners. The collective shebang was called Digital Belfest, a development from the rock-tastic Belfest events that take place here on regular occasions.
As the number of homeless people increases, plans are unveiled to have smoke police in the pubs. Once again the government is getting its priorities badly wrong.
Pelvis are a band going places. To London for a start, where they are playing every fleapit dive, indie emporium and up-market lounge bar that will have ’em.
Traditionally the highpoint of the autumn music calendar, the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival takes place for the seventh time over the October bank holiday weekend.
Belfast’s Alloy Mental on supporting New Order at a pre-retirement gig in Liverpool ahead of the release of their debut album and the latest dance news.
Fay Wolftree ponders whether or not attending a Pink Floyd concert was an inspired move or a momentary lapse of reason. Either way, the bell was in Earls Court.
EAMONN McCANN has all the latest news from the wild and wacky worlds of sex, prostitution, death cults and wildest and wackiest by far mainstream religion.
Turbulence, the debut album proper from Saucy Monky, is one of those records. It is at once rich, smart, sexy, thrilling, entertaining, diverse and hugely accomplished. It is a great, rock’n’roll record, both playful and deep, its sometimes dark indie heart-core spangled with enough sparks of pop magic to light up the western sky.
And that’s just the politicians we spoke to... The publication of a major new anthology of Hot Press interviews by Jason O’Toole, focused primarily on the Irish criminal underworld, gives cause for reflection on what it takes to ‘get good interview’.
To suggest that music is thriving in Sligo is akin to declaring that there s been a bit of an upturn in the economy lately. Music of all breeds, creeds and colour can be found in abundance around the county.
From U2 to The Frames and Sinead O’Connor to Damien Rice, music has helped put this country on the map. So why is the government so slow to back the music industry?
In the first installment of Hot Press' Oxegen coverage, Phil Udell, Steve Cummins and John Walshe pick out their personal favourites of the weekend. This Thursday's Hot Press will feature extended coverage from Kim Porcelli & Ed Power as well as more exclusive photos from Liam Sweeney, Graham Keogh & Andrew Duffy - PLUS the Phantom reports from backstage!
Online Gallery Of Live Shots Here
According to the latest Durex Sex Survey, most normal Irish people are perverts at heart. And at Christmas they get an unrivalled opportunity to indulge themselves.
30,000 people, loads of A-list stars, four stages on Fairyhouse Racecourse. Yes, we're talking about WITNNESS. KIM PORCELLI reviews the biggest festival of the summer.
...it was a year like any other year at Féile - except that there were dozens of extra acts on show, on not just two but three stages. There was also the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, the Chris de Burgh stripper incident, Michael Hutchence dispensing condoms...and a rather loud Little Red Rooster that nearly got itself strangled. And the crack Hot Press team of reporters who attempted to keep up with it all? Words: Bill Graham, Stuart Clark, Tara McCarthy, Lorraine Freeney and Chris Donovan. Pix: Cathal Dawson.
