Hail to the power of radio play. Tonight is testament to what remains the number one force for pushing a band around these parts. Following five previous visits to these shores, one album and a considerable radio hit under their belt, The Airborne Toxic Event walk onstage at The Olympia, reaching something of a benchmark…

Soldier on – two words which would have been close to Richard Hawley’s mind as he walked out on stage at the Olympia tonight. Under the weather, Hawley followed opener -As The Dawn Breaks’ with an apology for any problems that may persist with his voice at this, his biggest ever-Irish show. The 42-year-old has…

Like Bon Ivor, there’s great romance in Port O’Brien‘s back-story. The group’s two main players Cambria Goodwin and Van Pierszalowski are romantically linked, with their lives played out in a manner you might expect of a novel. Part-time musicians, Pierszalowski spends the summer months away from his partner, working aboard his father’s Alaskan commercial salmon…

To be honest, State had been expecting the worst. Stood motionless on stage, dressed head-to-toe in black, and with a dour expression etched across his face to match his appearance, The XX‘s Ollie Sim doesn’t exactly come across as a bundle of fun. Despite cramming a good deal of Stradbally’s temporary populous into the Electric…

When approaching Delorentos‘ second album, it would be remiss not to mention the difficult gestation period behind its release. After all, it will dominate much of the record’s media coverage over the coming weeks. The story is such – having mirrored growing acclaim with an excellent debut in 2007′s In Love With Detail…, the

You find great comfort in the music of Richard Hawley. The lush arrangements; the sad and unapologetically soul-baring words; and the blanket of warmth that is the Sheffield crooner’s enriched velvet vocal tones – tones, which seem to soothe the soul. Hawley’s perennial subjects may be of the bleakness of love and loss, but you…

You won’t have heard too much about Wallis Bird. Certainly, for at artist now on their second major label deal in as many albums, the quietly spoken Meath born and Wexford raised singer songwriter has gone somewhat under the radar in her native country.
It won’t always be the case. Bird has followed up the…

The first of two sold-out shows at Dublin’s Vicar Street, there’s times tonight when you buy into much of the recent nonsense that has been written about Wilco having finally found some humour to inject into the public’s dour, -difficult’ perception of the Chicago six-piece. Slapstick 1940s walk-on tunes, jokes about the state of our…

As ever, the art of presentation hasn’t been lost on Jack White. The name of his latest side-project, the title of their debut album and the cover artwork tell you much of what to expect within. This is dark, primal bluesy rock music, wicked and nasty; dirty and thick; and brimming with just a hint…

Few film makers operating today can better Pedro Almodóvar. Sleek and richly creative, rarely does the Spaniard fail to deliver. His latest is no exception. Enjoyable and engaging, Broken Embraces… is another fine work from one of cinema’s most exceptional of film-makers. Stylistically rich and multifaceted, Almodóvar’s latest nods to Hitchcock; 40s noir dramas and

Popping up on a host of -one to watch’ polls at the turn of the year, it’s with a drum roll, an introductory yelp and tongue firmly in cheek that VV Brown opens her anticipated and stylistically varied debut album, Travelling Like the Light…. Marking a change from the standard radio-pop fare of her

The last day of any festival is normally a relatively tranquil affair. Generally, most of the crowd are dealing with the ill effects of little sleep and heavy-boozing. Benicassim 09′s crowd; well they’ve had a slew of aforementioned troubles to put up with, as well as dealing with the fact that morning naps in their…

The horror stories just keep coming flooding in from yesterday’s act of God. Tents blown away, tents stuck in trees, hundreds of passports scattered across the campsite and tales of near decapitations as tent poles flew through the air and violently pierced through neighbouring tents. Kudos though to the organisers who were quick to act…

We’re in Spain for a festival, what could possibly go wrong? Thoughts of Benacassim being unaffected by the weather are immediately dismissed with the festival organisers cancelling headliners Kings of Leon and the majority of music due to severe winds and a huge fire to the right of the Main Stage (see NME.com video below).…