The Sigla Blog

“If someone is looking for a political element in our music, in post-punk terms, they’ll be disappointed; but if they’re looking for something life-affirming that genuinely challenges people in a mainstream pop context, then our music is right there.â€? From this articulate and well-observed response during our chat, it’s very clear that Maximo Park singer […]

This week I will be filling in for the lovely Edel Coffey presenting her show Access All Areas on Phantom 105.2. The show airs Monday to Friday from 10am-noon and can be found (handily enough) at 105.2FM - or you can listen online.
Tomorrow the good folk of Future Shorts Ireland and Dublin band Estel (who […]

Am very disappointed to hear that legendary hip hop crew Jurassic Five have decided to call it a day.
When I first heard ‘Concrete Schoolyard’ (video above) in 1998, it seemed to herald a completely fresh angle for hip hop. The track, and the album it came from, became one of my most played at […]

Big news - and tomorrow you’ll probably read all about it, but let me be the first to tell you that multiple Blog Award winner and all-round cheeky pup, Twenty Major has gone and landed himself a two-book deal with Hodder Headline.
Well done Sir.
So many questions though - does this mean there’ll be two […]

Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery? Or is it just the laziest common denominator? If I find something on a blog I like, I quote and/or link to it. If someone spots an idea or post here that inspires them to put their own spin on things, that’s fine as long as […]

Taking place the weekend of July 28th and 29th at Belvedere House, the following line-up for the Midlands Music Festival has just been announced:
Christy Moore, Kris Kristofferson, Glen Campbell, Steve Earle and Paul Brady. In addition Richard Thompson, Ricky Skaggs. The Waterboys, Gillian Welch, Allison Moorer, Prison Love, Leonard Cohen presents ‘Anjani’, The Hillbilly All […]

Every year when the contenders for the
Orange Prize are announced, you can usually set your watch by a handful of grumbling columnists who come out of the woodwork to say that a women-only fiction prize is a bad idea. No one of course, seems bothered to tackle the other inherent problems in book prizes. If […]

If you’re insane enough not to be following Life on Mars on BBC1 tonight at 9pm, watch More 4 at the same time. Or if you’re perfectly rational and religiously following LoM at 9, switch over to More4+1 at 10pm. Why? So you can watch Infernal Affairs, the film which Marty Scorsese remade - not […]

If last year’s multiple best album lists (here’s the Sigla offering) are anything to go by, there is no shortage of decent music coming out of Scandinavia at the moment. Take Swedish bands I’m From Barcelona, electronic duo The Knife (an album I eventually warmed to), the shoe-gazey orchestrations of Jeniferever, the Joni Mitchell folk […]

The Marvel comics hero Captain America has been killed off. Apparently is assassinated in the current issue (out in the US yesterday) by a sniper’s bullet. The hero might return at some point accord to Marvel staffers but for now Captain America, who has been around since 1941 as a foil to Hitler, has fought […]

*You’ve probably seen the above ad as part of Trócaire’s Lenten Campaign for International Women’s Day about gender inequality. If you haven’t, no doubt you’ve heard about the row with the BCI who have banned the ad because it was deemed to have a “political end”. Red Mum discusses the controversy and Hugh also […]

For my 7th birthday I got a pair of pink dungarees and my first ever album - Shakin’ Steven’s This Ole House. I had seen the Welsh singer on Top of the Pops and his bendy legs and poppy rock ‘n’ roll had a big impact on my seven-year old self. Friends in later life […]