The Sigla Blog

Last week, The New York Times

In the introduction to his collection of essays, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto, Chuck Klosterman says the book is based on one premise: “Nothing can be appreciated in a vacuum” and he proves this by the sheer breadth of topics and themes he tackles. What we should all be asking ourselves, […]

Am currently loving the video and first single from Irish act Robotnik, the brainchild of Baldoyle boy Chris Morrin. ‘People Walk Away’ is released next Friday April 4th and is taken from his debut album Pleasant Square, due for release on May 9th. Check out his myspace page for more tracks.

“My favorite space USED to be my own apartment bedroom. It was three separate apartment bedrooms, in three separate apartments because they comprise the spaces where I recorded The Throne…. Those spaces have since been replaced by the basement of our drummer’s family home (in Bethesda, Maryland), where we get together to practice and form […]

R.E.M. - Accelerate - Warner ****
R.E.M. fans have a lot in common with Catholics - there are lots of lapsed followers out there. Born with the cheap, tinny brilliance of ‘Radio Free Europe’, their finest work (songs) belong to the 80s, culminating with Green in 1989. Many fans´ interest dwindled after Automatic for the People […]

What: The Dreadful Thoughts story club - read Algernon Blackwood’s ‘The Willows’ (available online here:) and join in the discussion.
Who: Anyone with a interest in ghost/supernatural/horror short stories
When: 8pm tonight, Thursday March 20th.
Where: Online, over at Fústar

Anne Enright is one of 18 writers to make this year’s longlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction for The Gathering. She has a very good chance of winning, and is up against other heavyweights like Deborah Moggach, Linda Grant (who won the prize a few years back) and Rose Tremain.
Longlist:
Anita Amirrezvani - The Blood […]

“My favourite space to create music in is hard to define. It can be one of many spaces, but the most important space is the space that is my own head. If that space is furnished properly then I’d be happy to work on the roof of Clery’s. I get a lot of my ideas […]

The next Dreadful Thoughts meeting will take place this Thursday, March 20th at 8pm. The story up for discussion is ‘The Willows’ by Algernon Blackwood.
Fústar has more details and links to where you can find the story online. Just gather over at his site at the designated time and date above. Lots of interesting points […]

THE RUBY SUNS - Sealion - Memphis Industries ****
A song praising your home country´s oldest tree is, let´s face it, unusual, especially when it´s in Maori. But ‘Tane Mahuta’ does just that and crams in big brass, tribal beats, flamenco guitars and makes you think of hip-jiggling grass-skirts. This is just one offbeat cog in […]

That’s Anne Enright’s Tao of writing, as revealed in an interview in today’s Guardian Review. I’m currently reading Taking Pictures, Enright’s new collection of short stories. Unlike so many literary writers - writers who are supreme stylists - Enright always finds room for humour. In the interview she says her ideal reader is one who […]

Curses. I have literally just found out that Jean Michel Jarre is giving two performances at the National Concert Hall next Tuesday and Wednesday. He’ll be playing the Oxygene album in its entirety, using up to 50 analogue synths. The above video is for ‘Oxygene IV’, one of the earliest and most recognisable pieces of […]