Album review: Midnight Sister
Thu, Jan 14, 2021
IN THE mind of Midnight Sister (aka artist, film-maker, and musician Juliana Giraffe, and composer Ari Balouzian), it is always the 1970s, or rather, it is in the current guise their imagination has adopted.
Read more ...Galway Advertiser's Best Albums of 2020
Mon, Dec 21, 2020
THIS HAS been a year without gigs, concerts, or festivals, and yet, it has still been a year which has given us some outstanding music. Here is my selection of the best albums of 2020.
Read more ...Galway Advertiser's Best Films of 2020
Mon, Dec 21, 2020
Wolfwalkers: This may be is the best Irish film made in the last 10 years. An absolutely beautifully told story about two young girls in Ireland during the 15th century, it is a cert to be nominated for best animated film at the Oscars and could finally be the winner Kilkenny based studio Cartoon Saloon deserves after being nominated for its last three films. Available on AppleTv+
Read more ...EP review: Shygirl
Thu, Dec 10, 2020
OSCAR WILDE noted that if you wanted someone to tell you the truth, let them wear a mask, the creation of an alter-ego allowing them a confidence they may otherwise not have.
Read more ...Film review: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Tue, Dec 08, 2020
THIS WEEK sees Netflix release another Oscar hopeful - a filmed version of the August Wilson play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, with Viola Davis in the title role.
Read more ...Film Review: Mank
Tue, Dec 01, 2020
NETFLIX HAS two big budget prestige films out this month - Hillbilly Elegy, traditional Oscar bait and frankly one of the worst films I have seen this year; and Mank, from director David Fincher, which is a Hollywood biopic, traditionally a genre that does well at award season.
Read more ...EP Review: Laura Groves
Thu, Nov 26, 2020
AS BLUE Roses, she recorded piano based songs which had the shifting tonal qualities and structures of classical music, and over which her voice danced beautifully.
Read more ...Album review: Marina Kaye
Thu, Nov 19, 2020
ANY HONEST look at the music created over this past decade reveals a basic truth - most of the best music is being made by women.
Read more ...Wolfwalkers - an Irish cinema triumph
Tue, Nov 17, 2020
ONE OF my most hotly anticipated releases this year is from Kilkenny based animation studio, Cartoon Saloon, which burst on the scene a decade ago with the Oscar nominated Secret Of Kells.
Read more ...Films to discover, films worth watching again
Tue, Nov 10, 2020
THE CINEMAS have not yet reopened and the nights have gotten even longer, so I have put together a list of some excellent films available on Netflix you might not have watched or be aware they are available on the service.
Read more ...Album review: Denise Chaila
Thu, Oct 22, 2020
AN ARTICULACY and a wisdom beyond her years, armed with groove filled beats and melodies that are as catchy as they are clever, Denise Chaila has truly arrived with Go Bravely.
Read more ...Film review: Rebecca
Tue, Oct 20, 2020
ON THE French Riviera, a young, working class, woman is traveling as an assistant. While alone one afternoon she meets Max de Winter, a handsome widower who invites her for a drive. After a whirlwind romance they wed, and spend another week on the continent.
Read more ...Les Misérables; a tension filled look at France's uneasy problem
Mon, Oct 12, 2020
Little did I know when I had left my recliner seat in screen seven at Omniplex Salthill on Thursday October 1 that it would be my last cinema experience for the foreseeable future as a level three lockdown was enforced the next Tuesday. But like most things in life, it is always good to go out with a bang and Les Misérables certainly provides plenty.
Read more ...Album review: Future Islands
Thu, Oct 08, 2020
IT BEGINS with the call of birds in the wild and concludes with the sound of a cassette tape being switched off - a journey from the natural to the mechanical? More from the wilds to the security of a safe space.
Read more ...Film review: Trial Of The Chicago 7
Tue, Oct 06, 2020
THIS WAS originally a Steven Spielberg project a decade ago. He had a personal interest in the story and asked writer Aaron Sorkin for a screenplay.
Read more ...Rocks - a realistic look at adolescence and poverty, that's also fun
Tue, Sep 29, 2020
SOMETHING A bit different this week - a movie in the cinemas that is not available via streaming. If you want to see this, and you should, you are going to have to go to a cinema.
Read more ...Album review: Pillow Queens
Thu, Sep 24, 2020
THE OPENING lines of opening track, 'Holy Show', present a picture of physical intimacy between two women, which is surprising for both its frankness, but also its tenderness.
Read more ...The Devil All The Time - too much misery and too much dirt for 2020
Tue, Sep 22, 2020
THE DEVIL All The Time is adapted from a 2011 best seller which Netflix bought last year for distribution. It has released it for streaming but apparently has a big campaign ready to go when awards season kicks off.
Read more ...Savage; journey far more interesting than destination
Mon, Sep 21, 2020
My two previous experiences of New Zealand independent cinema, the excellent, hard-hitting, Once Were Warriors and the fun Hunt for the Wilderpeople, were ones I thoroughly enjoyed so when I saw the trailer for Sam Kelly's directorial debut, Savage, I had high hopes.
Read more ...Album review: Suzanne Vega
Thu, Sep 17, 2020
WITH COVID-19 resulting in live shows becoming very small affairs and restricting artists to touring within their own national borders, the live album has - as it was during its 1970s heyday - become again one of the few ways to experience an artist in concert.
Read more ...