• The House

    July 7, 2017 - By 

    You could be forgiven for getting halfway through The House and be ready for walking out the door. But if you weather the initial shitstorm of writer/director Andrew Jay Cohen’s (Bad Neighbours) latest slapstick/screwball comedy, then it might well pay off for you. The filmmaker has somehow managed to make a film of two, glaringly different halves, as there are some big laughs to be had when the absurdity ratchets up in the last 45 minutes and the comedic violence takes over from the ‘jokes’. Will Ferrell (Anchorman) and Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation) play a married couple in a well-to-do suburban estate in the US. After an ill-advised…

  • Lucy Rose – Something’s Changing

    July 7, 2017 - By 

    Last year, British singer-songwriter Lucy Rose embarked on the trip of a lifetime. In the space of two months she played 33 gigs in eight countries. The challenge set in this case was that the dates were in Latin America, a place where you would be hard pressed to find her music in shops and where her promoters did not believe she could fill a venue. In a move that was deemed crazy by both her label and loved ones, Rose promised her Latin American fans she would bring her music to them if they could book her venues and…

  • Haim – Something To Tell You

    July 7, 2017 - By 

    It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the Haim sisters – Este, Danielle and Alana – and they’ve marked their return with an album that takes the listener on that typical pop journey of love, loss and all the in betweens. Haim rode the waves of hype from their 2012 Forever EP, and 2013’s Days Are Gone for nearly four years by finding their niche in the pop leaning indie rock scene where female harmonies and Fleetwood Mac leaning instrumentals were in demand. With the release of follow-up LP  Something To Tell You, there’s a question mark over whether this formula…

  • Broken Social Scene –  Hug of Thunder

    July 5, 2017 - By 

    From the ambient beginnings of Feel Good Lost to the communal song-craft of You Forgot In People, through the kitchen-sink sheen of the self-titled Broken Social Scene to the stripped-down (by their standards) Forgiveness Rock Record – the Canadian collective have always appeared entirely comfortable in their own skin. Confident enough to pursue other musical projects but still check-in with each other for a new record and tour at regular enough intervals, Hug of Thunder arrives seven years after Forgiveness Rock Record – the band’s longest hiatus to date. It has no right to be this good. The listener is…

  • Kamasi Washington @ National Concert Hall, Dublin

    July 3, 2017 - By 

    It’s over two years now since Inglewood native Kamasi Washington soundly and confidently delivered on the titled mandate of his debut record (and instant classic) The Epic. A three-hour behemoth of raucous, deft and daring jazz which took the world by storm and for a long time was all anyone could talk about. So it’s no surprise that tonight in the formal setting of the NCH that there’s an edge of excitement in the air. Not only that but the crowd is decidedly mixed; young and old, rolled up beanies and distinguished greys, distressed denim and well-pressed chinos. Kamasi’s sound,…

  • Irish Tour: Green Day & Rancid

    July 3, 2017 - By 

     “Belfast you get it – not many people understand, but Belfast does.” To be very honest, it’s very easy to be apprehensive about a Green Day gig in 2017. After the messy 2012 Uno… Dos… Tres! trilogy of albums, expectations weren’t too high for their 12th studio album, Revolution Radio, released last October. But the album was a pleasant – though somewhat basic – effort from the iconic punk trio, revealing a sense of maturity, if not some dubious album artwork. It’s easy to be apprehensive to see artists ‘after’ their moment in the sun (or the burning ball in…

  • Risk

    July 2, 2017 - By 

    Julian Assange has to be one of the most divisive and controversial figures of modern times. With documentary filmmaker, Laura Poitras’ (Citizenfour) latest, covering the last 6 years of his time running Wikileaks, you’re likely to think a little less of him. There is no doubt that the man is exceptionally brave and principled but what Poitras uncovers is a planet-sized ego and a certain naivety, at least initially, as to what he was getting mixed up in. Risk begins in 2011 when Assange and Wikileaks’ notoriety went into overdrive after their huge cache of leaks concerning the US government…

  • Nickelback – Feed The Machine

    June 30, 2017 - By 

    This review is the most recent entry in Will Murphy’s 12000 word thesis on Nickelback. He speaks from a place of knowledge, understanding and a begrudged appreciation due to stockholm syndrome. Feed The Machine is Nickelback’s ninth album. Let that sink in. Nine albums. This band has released a full-length LP as many times as 50 Cent has been shot. Given the notoriety surrounding them, it’s hard to fathom how they’ve kept on trucking all these years. The group has become more meme than band at this point. Every joke has been mined and we are all comfortable with the…

  • BadBadNotGood @ The Sugar Club, Dublin

    June 29, 2017 - By 

    Seven months ago, BadBadNotGood performed to a modest crowd during the early part of Metropolis Festival’s inaugural evening. Earlier this week, having recently played at Bonnaroo and Glastonbury, the Canadian quartet played two sold-out shows in The Sugar Club, taking time out of festival slots to put on a show where their music was the sole focus. BBNG are known for their innovative approach to composing intricately textured, experimental jazz infused hip hop instrumentals that speak to even the staunchest purist of either genre.  Their debut release on Bandcamp, I, caught the attention of Odd Future leader Tyler, The Creator…

  • Lorde – Melodrama

    June 27, 2017 - By 

    Success came to Lorde after her debut album Pure Heroine injected what every youthful spirit needed: A glorious, romanticised, cathartic portrayal of the mundane life that most face at a certain time in their life. At the age of 16 she sang about the superb bland details of life such as taking buses with “the knees pulled in” and “dreams of clean teeth” underneath a blanket of tender beats and adolescence; and from that moment the world was hooked. Lorde makes her sophomore return with Melodrama, literally. The album comes as a thematically packed release, dealing with the ever-expanding house…