Stroll into the Olympia on this Sunday night and it’s immediately clear that this isn’t going to be your average rock ‘n’ roll gig. The outer extremes of the stage are cluttered with the usual guitars Read more...

“We are the bull, you are the china shop” is the clichéd introduction offered up by Belfast instrumental punk stars And So I Watch You From Afar on their MySpace. Read more...

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip? Just a band, as they themselves told us on ‘Thou Shalt Kill’. Then again, so were the Beatles, Arctic Monkeys and Fugazi. Read more...

The faces of the regular Friday night Whelans club crowd must have been a picture. Sure the band onstage were powering through the last few numbers of their set in an acceptably noisy guitar manner Read more...

As with many things in Ireland these days it seems, the Choice Music Prize has become the target for many simply by whit of sticking its head of the pulpit and trying, gasp, to do something positive. Read more...

For any new band to venture forth into the world of alternative guitar music these days is a bold move. Read more...

Northerner Duke Special recently played three gigs to celebrate the release of his new three CD box set The Stage, A Book and the Silver Screen. Three discs, I hear you say, perhaps a bit excessive? Read more...

Time to crimp your hair and root out your floral off the shoulder number if you want to groove to Read more...

Marina And The Diamonds. It’s been a hard name to escape over the past six months, with the buzz surrounding her (and this very much a solo escapade, despite the name) building and building to crescendo this January, Read more...

Nick Jonas, one third of the Jonas Brothers trio is going it alone. Yes girls, get ready to scream Read more...

Some bands, it seems, don’t have to actually do very much to maintain a reputation. Granted, Massive Attack are coming from a strong position Read more...

There’s an awful lot to love about Los Campesinos! even before they play a note. A staggeringly youthful seven piece from Cardiff, all boasting the surname Campesinos!, they have built their short career on doing things very much on their own terms. Read more...

It’s been said before (and it’ll do doubt be said again many, many times) but doesn’t hip-hop suck these days? Sure the genre has a come a long way from its roots but it’s those very roots that have been forgotten along the way. Read more...

With their second album, Vampire Weekend are on their own. When their self-titled debut came Read more...