- Music
- 16 Dec 16
Niamh Farrell, lead singer of the indie rock five-piece, HamsandwicH, tells us what she was listening to and watching in 2016.
Favourite track of 2016
God it's a bit cheesy... I looked back on all the songs from the year and I picked this one out - Ariana Grande, 'Dangerous Woman'. Total cheesy pop , but my goodness it's good cheesy pop. See I do like my pop music and I do like my female singers, like I loved Whitney and Mariah, and Ariana Grande's voice is in another league altogether so I enjoy listening to her music. There's a lot of people out there who have the pop look and the songs and the style but they don't necessarily have the voice to go along with it, but she does. It's also kind of bringing back the female diva persona from the '80s and '90s with that kind of big voice which I really like.
Favourite album of 2016?
I'm going to the opposite end of the spectrum here - A Moon Shaped Pool from Radiohead. We were over in Italy when that came out and we'd rented a car which had an amazing sound and speaker system. We just listened to that album driving throughout Italy and song after song after song it was mindblowing. Every song it was like, can this get any better? And then BAM! The next song was more amazing than the last. Radiohead are a band I've fallen in and out of love with, but this album was brilliant.
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Favourite gig?
There was a festival that I was working at over the summer called the Carrickmacross Arts Festival in Monaghan. I saw a good couple of bands over the weekend but Wallis Bird played one of the nights I was there and it was fantastic. She played solo on stage and the energy she got back from the crowd was a lesson in itself on how to perform live! It was amazing to watch such great live performers at that festival. The whole weekend was choc-a-bloc with great music. I love seeing stuff like that, being at a festival and spending the whole day watching bands. That would've been my favourite gig - and it probably lead to the night-out of the year after it, which is how these things normally go!
Favourite film?
I'll go for Nice Guys. It was one of those films I'd heard nothing about and just decided, right, we'll give this a go. And it was absolutely brilliant. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, both cops in the '70s - one's a bumbling idiot and the other has a problem with booze. The script for it was amazing. There's loads of slapstick comedy. Not the kind that's awkwardly shoved in slapstick comedy, it's was very natural. It surprised me how enjoyable it was. I'd 100% recommend it.
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Favourite TV show?
I discovered Rick and Morty on Netflix this year and fell in love with it! I've been recommending it left, right and centre. The characters are loosely based on the two dudes from Back to the Future and the granda, Rick, is like a raging alcoholic travelling to different universes going on adventures. I tell absolutely everyone I meet that they need to watch it.
Favourite podcast?
Adam Buxton's podcasts on Spotify. I've listened to all them now. He interviews different people from comedy, from music. He interviewed Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead and it was one of the best interviews I've ever heard. It was really relaxed, they were chilling backstage and you could hear the band soundchecking in the background. It was one of those interviews where they talked about anything and everything as they walked through Lyon in France. It was like they had all the time in the world so they got to touch on so many different areas. Every interview is like that with him. And Adam Buxton's voice so great to listen to in general, so you can listen to his podcasts on long journeys.