• Book Club

    June 7, 2018 - By 

    Partly a feature-length advertisement for Random House’s most famous erotic novel series, partly an unintentional satire about the dire state of affairs for older female actors in Hollywood, partly a bland romantic comedy that sticks to formula, Book Club’s eye-raising hook centres on a group of autumnal friends who read 50 Shades of Grey and find their libidinal juices suddenly brought to the boil. It’s like a producer read one of those 2011 articles about middle-aged housewives renovating their own personal Red Rooms, click his ‘treatment’ fingers and then the thing sat in production for seven years. The Christian Grey…

  • Track Record: Maija Sofia

    June 7, 2018 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record we spend time with Maija Sofia in her home for a look through some of her favourite records, from Nick Cave to CocoRosie. Photos by Zoe Holman  Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Murder Ballads  There are loads of Nick Cave albums I could have put on this list, anyone who knows me personally at all know’s I’m pretty obsessed, so many of his albums are completely incredible, but I think Henry Lee and Where the Wild Roses Grow were the first two Nick Cave songs I ever heard and was like … wow,…

  • Ty Segall @ Tivoli Theatre, Dublin

    June 7, 2018 - By 

    It is as if the drawn out, cloudless evenings knew that Ty Segall was coming to town. A gloriously heady concoction of 60’s proto-punk, garage rock, glam, psychedelia and heavy metal,  Segall’s music is something that may seem at odds with a wonderfully sun drenched weather front, but one that makes perfect sense when listening to his back catalogue. Over the course of his ten solo LPs, numerous collaborative albums, and countless other releases, Segall has managed to prove he can effortlessly combine his love of melody with a raucous sound that can go off on a zig-zagged tangent at…

  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

    June 7, 2018 - By 

    Welcome to cinema’s annual extinction event. Or, as it’s known around these parts, the summer. ‘Fallen’ is the word alright. We are a long way from the expertly choreographed, memorably human spectacles that launched a thousand lunchboxes back in ’93. The Jurassic series has struggled to replicate the original Spielberg magic and the exhaustion continues with Fallen Kingdom, the fifth in the franchise and the second in Universal’s second round of ill-fated trips to Isla Nublar (are there any other kind?). Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, having gotten the call from Kathleen Kennedy, is out, but he and Derek Connolly have stayed on writing duties.…

  • LCD Soundsystem @ Malahide Castle, Dublin

    June 8, 2018 - By 

    In spite of the nation’s frequent protestations about our weather, you couldn’t really ask for a better day for an outdoor gig. It’s the Tuesday after bank holiday Monday. The crowds are spent from the long weekend. Surveying the grounds of Malahide Castle, punters are littered around soaking in as much of this wonderful Midsummer glow as they can before they lose their minds and soul. Tonight LCD Soundsystem are making a return to Dublin for what will be, in frontman James Murphy’s words, “the second longest show [they’ve] ever played”. When Murphy and Co. walk out, the sun is…

  • Forbidden Fruit 2018: Sunday

    June 6, 2018 - By 

    The atmosphere of Sunday was considerably busier – and a little bit rowdier – than the previous day with a lot of teenagers flocking for dance favourites like DJ Seinfeld, Bicep, DJ Deece, Dennis Sulta. The day started on a slightly messy note, with both Ross from Friends and Earl Sweatshirt announcing last-minute cancellations. Anyone who decided to wander over to the Undergrowth stage for Bicep’s 9.30 set would have been equally as disappointed – the tent was sweaty and overspilling from Dennis Sulta’s set, with no chance of entry or exit; heat emitting from the tent was like someone…

  • Forbidden Fruit 2018: Monday

    June 6, 2018 - By 

    On the last day of the June bank holiday, also one of the hottest days of the year, a modest gathering assembled at Forbidden Fruit. The line-up for day three differed greatly from Saturday and Sunday’s bill, as it catered devotees of guitar-led indie-rock with Philadelphia based The War on Drugs headlining and veteran (and nostalgia inducing) acts like Spoon, Warpaint and Grizzly Bear performing, also. David Kitt, whose set predominantly drew from his most recent record, Yous, eased the early attendees into the day’s marathon of live music. His set-up was minimal; comprised of Kitt switching between acoustic and…

  • Forbidden Fruit 2018: Saturday

    June 6, 2018 - By 

    Now celebrating its 8th birthday, Forbidden Fruit has become a staple in the Irish music festival scene, and with it and last week’s LIFE festival, the summer festival season has officially begun. A celebrator of Irish acts, with a focus on dance, R&B, and hip-hop, this year’s line-up was especially anticipated, with headliners such as Glass Animals, Justice, Bonobo, and EDM favourites like Bicep, Dennis Sulta, and DJ Seinfeld all making appearances over the weekend. It’s never easy to be one of the first acts of the day at a festival, and especially on the first day but this didn’t…

  • Robocobra Quartet – Plays Hard To Get

    June 6, 2018 - By 

    Hyperbolic as it is to say, Chris Ryan might well be the most important creative voice in the city of Belfast today. This bespectacled Robocobra Quartet bandleader has been quietly releasing some of the finest broadcasts that this landmass has heard for some years now. Cuts like ’98-01′ from 2014’s Bomber EP and ‘Album of the Year’ from 2016’s groundbreaking Music For All Occasions should be used by the Council as a demonstration of how indispensable and experimental the city’s art scene is. The outfit’s truly idiosyncratic fusion of punk and jazz is the sort of stuff that music fans should be…

  • Unknown Mortal Orchestra Announce Dublin Date, Unveil Video for ‘Hunnybee’

    June 5, 2018 - By 

    A day on from delivering a triumphant set at this year’s Forbidden Fruit, it’s been announced that New Zealand’s finest Unknown Mortal Orchestra will return to Dublin on November 25 for a show at the Academy. Accompanied the news is the unveiling of the video for the band’s new single (and, in our opinion, the song of the summer – sorry Limmy) ‘Hunnybee’. Check that our below. Tickets for the Dublin show cost €25 and go on sale this Friday at 10am.