Buoyed by a wave of hype that has won them an NME best up-and-coming band gong and drawn them inclusion into the BBC’s very own much-hyped Sound Of 2011 list, New Zealand’s The Naked And Famous have been beneficiaries of all the right words in all the right places. To an extent, the hype is…

Those who dismissed word of Nick Hornby’s first foray into music as little more than a vanity project are in for a disappointment. Lonely Avenue…, the English novelist’s first collaboration with American songwriter Ben Folds, is an unequivocal triumph. Intelligently written, its 11 tracks manage to move and amuse in equal doses with their

Hailing from the epicentre of cool and arriving with the hype to boot, Brooklyn duo The Hundred In The Hands are all about simmering and sultry electro dance pop occasionally infused with crunching guitar riffs. Comprised of Jason Friedman and singer Eleanore Everdell, their self-titled debut fizzles with disco and euro-pop all underpinned with dark,…

Blasterbra @ The Mercantile…
Like the name might suggest, this riot-grrl led outfit arrive at The Mercantile with plans for a full-on aural assault afoot but leave making little impression but noise. Hailing from Galway, frenzied frontwoman Anna Mc prowls around The Mercantile stage with a bone to pick as her three male cohorts lay

Friend? @ The Grand Social…
Day two and yet another instrumental outfit. Friend?’s main addition to the genre is to set guitars to kill and lump in a fiddle to augment the sound. And to be fair, it works in part. Think The Frames on ‘Santa Maria’ or ‘Fitzcaraldo’ with Glen Hansard on a tea

Herm @ The Mercantile
All disparate song styles taking in folk, rock and melodic indie-pop, Kevin Connolly’s Herm have been operating under the radar since first emerging in 2004. Last year’s fine debut album Monsters… bulged with ideas and tonight they showcase their ability to flirt between styles. An acoustic opener makes way for the

A lot of artists could learn from Ray Davies. Arriving on stage looking dapper in drainpipe jeans and a pair of tattered runners The Kinks singer and chief songwriter shows a level of respect for his audience and his back catalogue that the likes of Bob Dylan or Ryan Adams could take note of. Davies…

In ancient Greece, Kairos… meant the right or opportune moment. And capturing such moments is what’s exactly behind Casey Dienel’s peculiar, dreamy and often ghostly sounding second album under her White Hinterland moniker.
Coming from a jazz and piano-led background, the eerie electronica-seeped and often dubstep-infused tracks here come as a surprise from the singer-songwriter

Cornershop, Angus and Julia Stone, The Invisible, Tinie Tempah and Harper Simon are amongst the final acts announced for this year’s Great Escape festival in Brighton from May 13-15.
In full the final acts announced are Angus and Julia Stone, Cornershop, Tinie Tempah, The Joy Formidable, Pulled Apart By Horses, Harper Simon, The Invisible, Alex…

Of the crop of new Irish bands that appeared mid-way through the last decade, it was Humanzi who endured the biggest push and the hardest fall. Backed by a major label, managed by the man behind The Thrills, written about in the UK press, and handed countless numbers of high-profile support slots by gig promotion…

It couldn’t be a hotly tipped new act without some sort of web-related story to send PR chiefs foaming at the mouth. Comprised of Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg – 19 and 17 years old respectively – harmonic folk duo First Aid Kit headed to woodlands with a guitar and video camera after seeing…

Fight Like Apes now annual Christmas show has this year stretched into a second helping yet it is perhaps not obvious how this one will work out. The band are performing a hometown gig in a specially-commissioned wrestling ring. And that’s not all. Never one to do things by half, the four-piece have taken a…

Few Irish people have divided opinion over the past 10 years quite like Glen Hansard. Lauded by the indie community circa 2001 and with the release of For The Birds…, Hansard has now become something of a Bono-figure for sections of the same army that catapulted The Frames towards huge shows at The Point

Come the end of the decade, it always seemed like Julian Casablancas would be a name passing many a cultural commentator’s lips. Quite that it would be in the manner that it is, was less predictable. As frontman and chief songwriter of The Strokes, the better part of the past 10 years was Casablancas’ for…