State’s Albums of 2011: 20 – 11

It’s the penultimate day of our top fifty countdown and there’s an appearance for the highest rated Irish album, a surprisingly dramatic fall for the record that topped our mid-year poll and one of the music industry’s old stagers making a superb return to form.
Join us tomorrow for the top ten.

Albums of 2011: …

State’s Albums of 2011: 30-21

Welcome back to our countdown of 2011′s best albums, voted for by various State writers and photographers. Today we have a couple of debuts, a couple of legends stretching their wings and a couple of the year’s most impressive Irish releases. More tomorrow.

Albums of 2011: 75-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 …

Film News: American Psycho, Honest Abe & Prometheus

Occupy Hollywood and Award Season Madness
Occupy Wall Street causes American Psycho remake?
All right, this has really gone too far. Reports are abound that Lionsgate is to produce a remake of American Pyscho… – a perfect adaptation of an awfully tricky novel to bring to the big screen – in order to show us

State’s Albums of 2011: 40-31

Day two of the end of year countdown, as voted for by the great and the good of the State team. This next five bring you two hip-hop giants rubbing shoulders with a UK folk band, a couple of Irish names from opposite ends of the spectrum and a range of North American alternative sounds.…

State’s Albums of 2011: 50-41

After yesterday’s preliminary list, it’s down to the serious business of our top 50 albums of the year – as voted for by our writers and photographers. As you’ll see over the countdown, it’s as eclectic a list as ever and one that draws on albums from across the musical spectrum. Join us tomorrow for…

State’s Albums of 2011: 75-51

Over the past few weeks our team of writers, photographers and editors have been voting for their favourite album releases of the year – once more providing us with an intriguing glimpse into what makes State tick.
The full top 50 list starts tomorrow, but in the meantime here are the 25 that didn’t quite…

Interview: The Dublin Laptop Orchestra’s Alex Dowling

The Dublin Laptop Orchestra was founded by Alex Dowling and Dan Trueman early 2011 along with Rachel Ní Chuinn, David Collier and Jenn Kirby. The orchestra “make music with lots of laptops, hands, golf controllers, a wireless router, and anyone that plays.. anything.” Their aim is “to bring some theatricality and ‘physical presence’ into electronic…

Incoming: Lovers

Portland band Lovers first met in 2002 after a near fatal van explosion brought the three members together. It took a few years for them to actually get round to forming a band but since then they’ve made up for lost time, especially with their debut album Dark Light…. The band play Upstairs at

Bitches With Wolves: “I wanted to make intelligent, knowing and dynamic pop music”

Of all the Christmas shows coming up over the next few weeks, none perhaps whets the appetite as much as tonight’s Bitches With Wolves gig at the Sugar Club in Dublin. State spoke to James O’Neill about his career past, present and future….
We first featured you in our Faces of 2010 feature, have the …

Film News: Super hero job slots and Christmas movie shame

Since our last post, Bradley Cooper has been voted the sexiest man alive … such is the crazy world we report from.
So.
Let’s jump right in.
Christmas films a-coming
It’s too early in the month but nothing will stop them. The festive season ‘feel-good’ films. Looking cheesiest of all is Ashton Kutcher in New …

Scroobius Pip: “You don’t have to fit into one category”

Like the mythical creature of Edward Lear’s poem, Scroobius Pip is an artist who evades simple categorisations of genre. Rising to prominence in 2007 with the meteoric hit ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’, Pip and his grime house cohort Dan le Sac went on to produce two stellar albums of spoken word/electronic crossovers to the delight…

The Score: Contemporary and Classical news

This week The Score has reviews, CD launches, reports on arts as industry, and a few upcoming gigs, and a shot of controversy to boot. If the immense – and humbly appreciated – response to the launch of this column two weeks ago has shown anything, it is that though the contemporary world in Ireland…

Incoming: Bachelorette

Tonight sees the Irish debut from Bachelorette, the US based New Zealander who has just released her third album. Playing upstairs at Whelan’s with support from Trophy Boyfriend, her live show consists of a ‘band’ of 3 old CRT monitors, borrowed from acquaintances or picked up from recycling stations and thrift stores in each town.…

EP Stream: The Holy Roman Army – Lazerians

Next spring will see the release of the new album from The Holy Roman Army but the duo aren’t content to wait until then to treat us to new material. The eight track Lazerians… EP features new material taken from the recording sessions and is available to download at your own choice of price. Give