The Sigla Blog

Jim has finally revealed some details about the 2007 Choice Music Prize, but has left us dangling on who the judges are (I’m expecting a couple of bloggers) and no hint of who’ll make the shortlist.
It’s no mean feat wading through so many albums but there’s usually a healthy mix of opinion from […]

This is a funny time of the year for releases. Most of what’s coming out is Christmas-themed stuff, stocking filler boxsets and re-issues. But there is an absolute gem of an album, that by virtue of its late release might get overlooked in the Best Irish albums of 2007 lists. Come to think of it, […]

Still can’t access anything at all on my laptop so tonight I’ll be distracting myself by watching Boy A on Channel 4 at 9pm. It tells the story of 24-year-old Jack who, when he was 11, was imprisoned for killing a young girl. The drama follows his life and new identity post-release and has obvious […]

I’m pretty sure that very few people who pass through here don’t already read Niall’s blog, but Jim is encouraging people to ponder what happens when Nokia Trends Lab sponsorship of The Go Team/Cadence Weapon/Super Extra Bonus Party gig gets ugly and a corporate “dude” gets personal. Read all about (and be sure to […]

If you’ve ever taken place in team debating, you’ll know there are plenty of duff sides to be on in an argument. No one wants to defend “Bertie Ahern is an honest man”, “Twenty Major’s swearing should be banned” or “Tom Cruise is not sinister and creepy”. Another one I’d struggle with is “Pan Pipe […]

After being pipped for the Booker Prize by Anne Enright, now Ian McEwan hasn’t made the shortlist for the Costa book Award (formerly The Whitbread Prize). After the Booker, the Costa is one of the most high profile UK literary prizes and McEwan is not even in the running to win it. I liked On […]

Proof that one person can make a difference. Well done Claire.

Tonight, Fionn Regan supports Lucinda Williams at Tripod, so if you’re heading along to see the multiple Grammy winner, go early. Around the time of the Mercury Prize, I interviewed him and - whether it’s a self-conscious thing or not - he’s not your usual straightforward interviewee. Garreth commented recently about including more interviews (oh, […]

Apart from the mind-numbing source material (boring plot, badly written, one-dimensional characters, dodgy nepotistic references to Westlife being the main character’s favourite band), the woeful Irish accents, the schmaltzy representation of grief, the fact that they had to get a Scottish actor to play the Irish guy, there’s another reason to not bother catching […]

“For me the only place I can create music is in my house, because that is where all my equipment is set up. I usually write electronic stuff downstairs at my desk, and guitar songs upstairs, staring out of my window. I live in a small house, with a bedroom upstairs and a kitchen/sitting room/studio/angry […]

Writing about music is like being on a constant treadmill of album-listening. You get to hear the good, the bad and the woefully over-rated (I promise I won’t mention Arcade Fire again). About half of what you hear is mid-radar; solid offerings from hard-working bands. Another sizeable chunk is the stuff that, after a couple […]

Seeing as an Irish film discussion featured so recently around these parts, let me point you in the direction of an excellent new Irish film blog, Technicolour Talkies of Hibernia. Presided over up by film writer Gavin Burke (brother of crime author and blogger Declan Burke), it features reviews, interviews, commentary on Irish cinematic […]