Christmas is fast approaching in Massena, a small township on the border between New York State and Canada where tattoos, trailer-parks and thrift stores are the order of the day, and Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is in trouble. When her gambling addict husband disappears with all the money they’ve saved to pay for their new…

The latest instalment in Microsoft’s Forza franchise does pretty much what you’d expect a modern racer to do: delivers high octane thrills, with some cracking tracks and a host of the sweetest cars in the world. Forza 3… is bigger, better and more fun than ever before, regardless of whether you’re a casual arcade racer

Following two releases as Preston School Of Industry, Spiral Stairs (Scott Kannberg to his mum) releases his first album under that particular moniker, but it’s certainly not a solo album in the traditional sense. Indeed, the former Pavement stalwart roped in a motley collection of alt-rock luminaries, including former Preston School of Industry graduates, various…

There was a time when Sub Pop was pretty much a byword for screeching guitars, pummelled drums and hammered bass strings, but last year’s eponymous Fleet Foxes album changed all that. Perhaps, like the grunge generation it sound-tracked, Sub Pop has grown up. Certainly, Seattle’s Grand Archives have more in common with Robin Pecknold’s speedy…

Three years since their last album proper, At War With The Mystics…, The Flaming Lips have seemingly decided to forego the soaring synth-inflected tunesmithery that saw them elevated to pioneers of modern American rock and reverted to the kind of proggy, trippy jams that characterised much of their early work.
Clocking in at over

Post-Once…, post-Oscar, post international merry-go-round, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are back doing what they (particularly the Frames frontman) do best, penning effortlessly hummable tunes, even if some of them, like the wonderfully breezy -Feeling The Pull’ have been around for some time.
Opener -Low Rising’ is a mid-paced country-tinged grower that wouldn’t

90s Dublin shoegazing legends Sunbear have re-released their old EPs online on www.indiecater.com, joining their classic eponymous 1994 debut album, which has been available on the site since last year.
“This collection of songs is pretty much in chronological order from the Bits and Pieces EP in 1996 and includes almost everything we recorded up…

Based on the novel by celebrated French writer Colette (1873-1954), Chéri sees director Stephen Frears back to the costume drama genre which cemented his reputation with 1988′s Dangerous Liaisons…. He’s also back in France, this time during La Belle Epoque at the end of the 19th century, when courtesans were the celebrities du jour.

The eponymous Frost (David Thewlis) is a novelist, worn out after three years of working on his latest book, who foregoes New York for the countryside, taking up residence in his friends’ empty country house to ‘live the life of a stone’. However, no sooner has he downed tools than our hero is inspired by…

Island… is Colin MacIntyre‘s fifth album since 2001, but only his second under his own name – his first three long-players being released under the Mull Historical Society moniker. While he’s always had an ear for a catchy melody, this is the first time he’s stripped his generally soaring pop tunes back to their bare

When an uber-powerful bomb turns the once-proud Empire City into a shell of its former self, it’s up to the unlikeliest of heroes to find out what the hell is going on and who’s behind it. Once he can stop what’s left of the city’s populace from trying to kill him that is. Although the…

It’s clear even to State…‘s mammy that the -80s are back in vogue at the moment, so it’s probably no surprise that the good folks who create video games have resurrected the film classic starring Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis. What is mildly surprising, however, is that it’s good fun.
The vast

Guinness announced an big line-up of artists for Dublin’s Arthur’s Day 250th anniversary celebrations on September 24, 2009, including Tom Jones, Sugababes, David Gray, The Kooks, Razorlight, David Holmes, Mystery Jets and Noah And The Whale, who (along with The Chapters) played a special acoustic gig in Oliver St John Gogarty’s in Dublin’s Temple Bar…

Bruce Springsteen is a legend: fact. Bruce Springsteen doesn’t do bad shows: fact. Bruce Springsteen loves Ireland: fact. All the history seems in his favour, but on the first of Springsteen’s two-night sojourn in Dublin, it’s mother nature herself that seem to have conspired against him. The blackest of rain-clouds broods over the city skyline,…