The Sigla Blog

After the disaster that was Friday *, the weekend has been spent with a new distraction. First it was the Omnichord, now it’s one of the late-arrival Christmas presents (ferried over by a visiting pal from London) I bought for himself. Inspired by Amiina’s gig, this set of eight C-C chromatic deskbells (similar to the […]

“I mainly make music at my space in Dundrum where all of my equipment and instruments are. It’s a good-sized room in a house away from the main road, so it’s pretty quiet. It’s not a traditional studio space. There’s no real sound-proofing and only limited acoustic treatment and most importantly of all, it has […]

When Sophie Dahl’s novella The Man With the Dancing Eyes was published, an unspoken sub-title lurked in invisible brackets (”an adult fairy tale”). Although Dahl, grand-daughter of children’s author Roald, has graduated to the novel, many aspects of the fairy tale filter into Playing With The Grown-ups. Populated with exotic characters, an entire family of […]

VARIOUS
Disco Not Disco - Post Punk, Electro & Leftfield Disco Classics 1974-1986
Strut
****
Volume 3 in the Disco Not Disco series is a mouth-watering prospect, almost eclipsed by the fact that this bag of classics is released on Strut Records. The label, which closed in 2003 and has now risen from the ashes, had a canny ear […]

LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION
Falling Off The Lavender Bridge
Domino
***
Two years ago, Devonte Hynes was making big noises with Test Icicles. When the band finally disbanded he made a confession: that he never wanted to be an art rocker, and that his heart belonged to folk and country. With his new project Lightspeed Champion (named for a comic strip […]

PETER VON POEHL
Going to Where the Tea Trees Are
Bella Union
***
The title of Peter Von Poehl’s debut album hints at many things - is this the manifesto of a musical nomad? The aural scribblings of someone influenced by landscape? It’s both, thanks recording stints in rural Sweden and urban Berlin, creating quiet corners and busy thoroughfares […]

Thus spake John Banville on RTE Radio 1’s Arts Show last night ahead of the Arts Lives Being John Banville documentary on RTE 1 last night (you should be able to listen to it later today here:.
If the radio interview was peppered with insight and writerly soundbytes, the programme itself was fantastic. People I […]

* Shane sent a shiver of remembrance up my spine with this post. The very same thing happened to me after interviewing John Banville, when the mini disc messed up while writing the recording to disc. When I got home and discovered it was blank, I felt ill. I found him pleasant if a little […]

Dan Le Sac:
“To be honest, because most of the work I do is on a laptop, I can do it pretty much anywhere. My favorite place though is pretty much any room of my house. It’s a tiny little brick-built terrace in Reading. We own very little furniture but have a lot of mess, and […]

Can’t remember how I discovered this, but it sounds like a plan. Sabrina is rounding up the lasses of the blogosphere for tea and biccies (or possibly wine and ciggies) in The Market Bar on the day of the awards (March 1st) from 4.30pm onwards.
If you’re a) female b) a blogger, spread the word. […]

Feeling like a flutter on the Choice Music Prize? Here are the Paddy Power odds, so go here to - use audience voice from the Bully’s Special Prize round on Bullseye - gaaamble. David Geraghty at 7-1?
Delorentos - ‘In Love With Detail’ - 2 - 1
Cathy Davey - ‘Tales of Silversleeve’ - 7 - 2
Roisin […]

Alphabetically, here are the nominees on the shortlist for the 2007 Choice Music Prize:
1. Adrian Crowley - Long Distance Swimmer
2. Cathy Davey - Tales of Silversleeve
3. Delorentos - In Love with Detail
4. Dry County - Unexpected Falls
5. The Flaws - Achieving Vagueness
6. David Geraghty - Kill Your Darlings
7. Kila - Gambler’s Ballet
8. Roísín Murphy - […]