Blog: State Magazine

Think festival in Denmark and Roskilde is what comes to mind, right? Well, while that may be the best known of the Danish festivals, it's not the only one. Far from it. Spot Festival in Denmark's second city of Aarhus is currently in its 19th year. It’s a showcase of all things Danish with a smattering of other Nordic acts. There are five main areas being used for the festival with a music hall holding seven stages alone. There's also an old train station and a club complex all within a couple of minutes’ walk from [...]

Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters , Black Rebel Motorcycle Club , Ellie Goulding , Little Green Cars , John Grant , Miles Kane , Crystal Fighters are among those that have been added to this year's Electric Picnic line-up today. The Stradbally festival , celebrating its tenth birthday this year, will take place between 30th August and 1st September. The full line-up can be seen below. If you can prove you've been to Electric Picnic once before, you can buy weekend camping ticket for EP 2013 for [...]

There’s an odd little moment during One of Us Is the Killer , not long into the title track, when Billy Rymer’s drums seem to get away from him for a second. This is, of course, deliberate design, the apparent flub actually a brilliant jazz-like move, one that gains power as it recurs. Rymer’s trickery is but one of several twists on a track that sadly proves the exception and not the rule. It would be quite audacious for the Dillinger Escape Plan to downplay their signature brand of blitzkrieg for an entire album, but more of [...]

It’s a strange concept, this Big Reunion gig. Gathering together the bands that fell into the dumper quicker than an old copy of Smash Hits, trying to conjure up real-time excitement (and ticket sales) through a TV show which was like a montage of the worst X Factor sob stories. But unlike the transparently cynical ALL TEARS ALL THE TIME Steps reunion saga (which was only interesting when Lisa Scott Lee went on another demented rose-fuelled tirade against Claire) the reason the show was successful was because of pathos. The Big Reunion had pathos exploding through the screen. [...]

Tea and gingerbread men are the offerings at the bar/tuck shop in Christchurch Cathedral for tonight’s special event marking State’s five years as an entity and raising much needed funds for Temple Street Children's Hospital. The brainchild of DIT's Annette Udell, the three bands appearing - Young Wonder, Heathers and Ham Sandwich - have all been given an opportunity to arrange some songs with the UCD Choral Scholars and present it in this most atmospheric of buildings. The premise and location are a blast of fresh air through the traditional gig set-up. Cork’s Young Wonder [...]

Alicia Keys , Miguel | Odyssey, Belfast (8pm, 21st May )/O2, Dublin (8pm, 22nd May ) | £39.50-60/€54.65-86 One of the sexiest and most arresting voices in American pop, plus Alicia Keys. Luke Sital-Singh | Little Museum of Dublin, Dublin (7:30pm, 22nd May ) | €11.50 Up-and-coming London folkie in the unfamiliar confines of a Dublin museum. The Whileaways | Whelan's (upstairs), Dublin (8pm, 22nd May ) | €10 Galway [...]

Director: Justin Lin Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, Gina Carano, Tyrese Gibson, Sun Kang, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Gal Godot, Elsa Pataky, Luke Evans Certificate: 12A Running Time: 130 minutes Release Date: May 17 “Okay Lamborghini mercy/your chick, she so thirsty/I'm in that two-seat lambo with your girl/she tryna jerk me.” That's the hook from Kanye West's 'Mercy', a posse cut that's not unlike The Fast and Furious franchise—car centric, daft and incredibly fun. The series has seen, like all posse cuts, a [...]

Director: Jay Bulger Cast: Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Lars Ulrich, Neal Peart Running Time: 93 mins Release Date: May 17 Certificate: N/A Jay Bulger is a documentarian, journalist, music video director and rock fan. Discovering via a court report from South Africa that Ginger Baker was still alive and kicking, he set out to write an article on the legendary drummer of Cream, Blind Faith, Blues Incorporated and numerous other elements of musical royalty. Often credited as a founder of everything from prog rock [...]

Director: Baz Luhrmann Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Carey Mulligan Rating: 12A Run Time: 143 minutes Release: May 16 With all the glitz and glamour of a furtive greed-hog, Luhrmann's whining rendition of The Great Gatsby dives whimpering into the shallow end of the adaptive scale. Carving his name childishly into the roll call of well-wishers that have come before him, the director attacks Fitzgerald's triumphant novella with the vacuous zeal usually attributed to a tacky music video. It would seem, at this [...]

In the grand scheme of their career, R.E.M.'s sixth studio album has somewhat faded into the background. Released in 1988, it fell between their final days as an independent act with the much revered Document and their transition to one of the biggest bands in the world with Out Of Time and Automatic For The People . Yet, while it may have not been on repeat in some households (this one included), this latest reissue is proof that absence has made the heart grow fonder and proves that the record sits comfortably amongst [...]

As you should know, this evening sees our fifth anniversary show at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, featuring Ham Sandwich (pictured), Heathers and Young Wonder performing alongside the UCD Choral Scholars in aid of Temple Street Children's Hospital. Some tickets will be available on the door but for those of you unable to make it, you can watch a live stream of the gig via the Cathedral webcam from 8pm. In return it would be lovely if you could make a donation to the hospital here .

Time has been kind to the National . A band of hard-won intensity that has aged into their talents, their slow rise culminated in 20102s High Violet , an album brimming with surprise anthems that could sneak up on you and still be easily forgotten - making their inevitable rediscovery that much more sweet. While the entwining guitars of the Dessner brothers provided the perfect foil to Bryan Devendorf's bruising yet versatile drumming style, singer Matt Berninger was left to settle into his unapologetic baritone on High Violet . And [...]

These are curious times for Anthony Gonzalez and M83 . Having gone from cult favourite to Grammy-nominated superstar thanks to ubiquitous surprise hit ‘Midnight City’ (still brilliant, still plain weird to hear it accompany the opening titles to Made in Chelsea ), Gonzalez found himself in high demand and when the opportunity to provide the soundtrack to the new Tom Cruise blockbuster came knocking, he did what any of us would do – he dived in head first, saving important questions for later. If you sought a general consensus of the Daft Punk-scored Tron: Legacy [...]

Last year they were playing the O2, but Tenacious D will be playing to a much smaller Dublin venue this December. Kyle Gass and Jack Black are set to perform at the Academy on 17th December as part of an acoustic tour aiming to find the beating heart of 'Fuck Her Gently', without the twin crutches of amplification and penis-shaped phoenixes. Tickets will cost €49.50 (inc. booking fee) and got on sale this Friday (17th May) at 9am, available from Ticketmaster or by ringing 0818 719 300.

Oh to gain a peek at Savages ’ DVD collection. Perhaps VHS would be more appropriate, given their scratchy aesthetic and apparent fondness for cult classics. The entirely female London quartet arrive on a wave of hype but there is calm before the storm, the first 50 seconds of Silence Yourself given over to an excerpt from Opening Night , a polarising John Cassavettes film from 1977. The moment is foreboding even devoid of any context and there’s an important question that may provoke an uneasy answer. That it gives way to Ayse Hassan’s [...]

Former Alphastates singer Cat Dowling would seem to be a woman scorned on her debut album, The Believer . And while Hell hath no fury greater than this apparently, it is an album that would lead you to believe otherwise, providing little in the way of musical stimulation. Dowling strikes a moral pose on 'Somebody Else', declaring that "righteousness is everything in this bloody mess ", this sort of downtrodden angst an unfortunate symptom of tracks such as 'Somebody Else', 'Cruel' and 'Invisible'. While vulnerability and sympathy are intended they never quite hit home and to [...]

The reasons why Daft Punk ’s long awaited return to studio output has ended in disappointment are manifold. The expectation, for one thing, has been mesmeric. Not helped in the least by teaser trailers, promo spots, YouTube videos or the release of the painfully good ‘Get Lucky’. Aside from this, Daft Punk’s own genius hasn’t helped at all either. Their back catalogue is a testament to creativity and innovation and even a couple of clunkers in there can’t stop people returning to the well. Or, perhaps, it is the high watermark they set with Alive [...]

DIYSCO is, at first, a fun, noisy little bag of excitement. It is full of imperfections and idiosyncrasies worn proudly and loudly. It would be hard to find fault with an album which seems to take such delight from being giddy. Honestly, you would be forgiven for thinking the first half of this album had been pieced together after a night out; but when its lushness and exquisitely infectious moments of class shine through the chaos, it really takes on a life of its own. Even the nearly-but-not-quite-a-ballad ‘Maro Rides the Wave’ is a party song and [...]

The xx have announced two support acts for their gig at the O2 on 26th June. Warp-signed ambient duo Mount Kimbie and Sydney haze-poppers Jagwar Ma have been enlisted to perform ahead of the Coexist trio at their first Irish arena show. Producer/percussionist Jamie xx will also be making a mad dash along the quays and across the river to make his rearranged date at the Button Factory that evening. Doors for that are at 11pm. Tickets for the xx at the O2 range from [...]

Time was, leading a Dublin crowd in a cheery sing-a-long of “There is no God” would have resulted in widespread condemnation and public order offences, but these are different days. These are shanty songs for disaffected children of all ages and Frank Turner , at long last, knows his audience like the back of his hand. Though he takes the time to note, in that only-half-joking way of his, that people have been offering hearty congratulations in the direction of ‘debut’ album Tape Deck Heart (his fifth), Turner is very much preaching to the converted [...]