• Miss Sloane

    May 31, 2017 - By 

    Miss Sloane is the perfect vehicle for an actress of Jessica Chastain’s calibre. She absolutely runs the show in the no-nonsense manner that has gained her a reputation as one of the finest actresses in Hollywood. Unfortunately, director John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) and first-time writer Johnathan Perera have brought little else to the table in this implausible and relatively predictable story, based around the corrupt and high stakes world of US lobbying. Chastain stars as Elizabeth Sloane, the most sought-after lobbyist in the US and darling of all the high-powered players in politics and business. Her ruthlessness and cunning…

  • (Sandy) Alex G – Rocket

    May 25, 2017 - By 

    When Philadelphia based multi-instrumentalist Alex Giannascoli was eight years old his older brother, also a musician, enlisted the youngster to play drums in his band. This early exposure to performing persisted into adolescence and Alex would eventually turn his hand to writing and composing his own songs. Giannascoli revealed in a recent interview that he found it extremely difficult to be himself around his peers, growing up. He concluded that the only time he felt truly comfortable in his skin was when he was making music. In 2010, Giannascoli transformed into Alex G and he released his debut album Race…

  • Rejjie Snow – The Moon & You

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    “Free mixtape this month. Just for the fans. Everybody else can suck my d**k.” In spite of his tweets, there’s no way Rejjie Snow’s The Moon & You is going to avoid attention from critics. Since his early YouTube videos blew up as a teenager, the Drumcondra rapper has become  something of a critical darling: his off-kilter style found frequent comparisons to Earl Sweatshirt, and his debut EP Rejovich topped the iTunes chart ahead of Kanye West and J Cole upon its 2013 release. It might seem strange that a Dublin rapper would hold such high international regard, but Snow is truly…

  • Molly Nilsson – Imaginations

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    In the time it takes you to read this sentence, Molly Nilsson has probably already written, recorded and mastered her ninth LP. So studious is the Swedish born, Berlin-based musician/tour manager/designer/Dark Skies Association founder that her latest effort, Imaginations, marks an almost unparalleled eighth album in just nine years. Refreshingly though, Nilsson’s remarkable productivity still bears evolution and expansion. 2015’s effort Zenith was well received, combining vintage synth-pop with power ballads, dancehall and reggae undertones, all with an almost glazed and cold-blooded delivery, pleasing to fans of Eurythmics and Book of Love. Imaginations, written over a two year absence that…

  • Colossal

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    Colossal, Spanish film-maker Nacho Vigalondo’s biggest film yet, is a quirky genre-bender with a fatal credibility problem, one entirely unrelated to its central conceit, a preposterous, cute premise engineered to attract eyeballs across the indie-blockbuster divide. Anne Hathaway exec produces and stars as Gloria, a thirty-something party girl dumped by her boyfriend (a condescending Dan Stevens) after one all-nighter too many. With no job or place to stay, she has to leave New York for the family home, which lies empty and unused in her small childhood town. While trying to sort her head out and organise something comfortable to…

  • Irish Tour: Angel Olsen

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    The one and only Angel Olsen and her band, live at Dublin’s Vicar Street and Belfast’s Empire Music Hall. Words by Joey Edwards and Ross Thompson, photos by Aaron Corr and Colm Laverty. Vicar Street, Dublin With Vicar Street nearing capacity, Angel Olsen’s return to Dublin tonight shows just what a difference three years can make to a fan base. Doubling up as her first show on Irish shores since releasing her new LP My Woman, the stage is modestly dressed with falling silver streamers that lace the back wall. Olsen and her backing band – who casually pick up…

  • King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

    May 22, 2017 - By 

    Blimey! If you thought giving Guy Ritchie a go at Camelot mythology was a silly idea, you’re in company: every inch of the film seems to agree with you. After some opening titles that look like they’ve been designed on Windows 95, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (even the subtitle is naff) opens in a fantasy version of Ye Olde Past. It’s basically Game of Thrones without the realpolitik: squires and mages and giant, CGI elephants controlled by a guy in a hood named Mordred. To be fair to Ritchie, he doesn’t mince around, attacking the Arthurian mythos with…

  • New Jackson – From Night To Night

    May 22, 2017 - By 

    It’s been a full eight years since David Kitt released his last studio album The Nightsaver, but he hasn’t put that time to waste, continuing to gig sporadically, while also reinventing himself as New Jackson, swapping his usual ‘folktronica’ for a more purely electronic approach and releasing a string of EPs from 2011 on various house labels. Impressive then that the same year he makes a return under his own name – long awaited seventh LP Yous is released in September – this new alter ego also finally makes a full length debut with From Night to Night on Dublin’s…

  • Do Make Say Think – Stubborn Persistent Illusions

    May 22, 2017 - By 

    Do Make Say Think were always careful to differentiate themselves from their peers in the nineties instrumental rock boom. More subtle than Mogwai, less doom-mongering than Godspeed You! Black Emperor, more instrumentally varied than Explosions in the Sky and Comets On Fire, Do Make Say Think have always ploughed their own jazz-influenced furrow. As a result of this, the Toronto outfit have always seemed a band apart, one more interested in broadening their palette than sticking to one particular sound. This inquisitive spirit may be the reason for their somewhat sporadic output over the years, as various members pursue side…

  • Black Lips – Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art?

    May 22, 2017 - By 

    Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art is the eight album from garage rock stalwarts Black Lips. The Atlanta, Georgia natives have been ploughing this furrow since 1999, undergoing various lineup changes and becoming well known for their raucous live show, all thrown guitars and downed beers. While the band remain impressive in the live sphere, their studio albums took a decline around the time of 2011’s Arabia Mountain, primarily produced by Mark Ronson. The subsequent album, 2014’s ‘Underneath The Rainbow’, continued the decline and this year’s effort unfortunately doesn’t quite buck the trend enough, despite the recruiting of the mighty Sean Lennon…