Category Archives: Movies and Entertainment

Album review: Holy Fire – Foals

HOLY FIRE Foals (Warner) Like Talking Heads busting out a collection of Duran Duran covers and injecting that alt-cool shimmy to the Le Bon grand-pop swagger, My Number (the standout hit from these Oxford-born English indie kids’ third full-lengther) is a joyous invocation to the goddess of breakups. But these Foals, who could have been forgiven for cantering along their glitchy, artsy track off the back of such critical acclaim, are in full gallop throughout the album with a huge, loud and artful collection which begs to be listened to over and over

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Album review: The Bitter Sea – Nina McSweeney

THE BITTER SEA Nina McSweeney (FMR) Don’t be fooled by the Massive Attack approach of the opening track on Nina McSweeney’s debut album. There’s a lot more depth and substance to the Kiwi songwriter, who has featured on the Concord Dawn tracks Easy Life and The River, than the sound-alike single Lost In Translation might suggest.

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Album review: EP II – Mmdelai

EPII MMDELAI (Self released) A couple of years ago, Annemarie Duff’s first-up full-lengther For Sleep and Creativity did what it said on the tin…drifting, ambient electronica suited for starry-eyed dreamers or reiki therapists’ waiting rooms. Now with three other conspirators (student friend Jess Hix, Danny Webster and philosophy graduate Josh Black) behind her, the music has filled out: not only are Duff’s breathy vocals underpinned by dark, Bjork-ish tones of dread and wonder, but there’s a sparkling, ethereal quality to the synths and a whip-crack depth to the bass and beats

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Mitchell, Hutchison are TV’s hottest

Television viewers like what they are seeing on Shortland Street, but the long-twinkling star of Coronation Street appears to be on the wane. Results of this year’s TV Guide Best on the Box awards show viewers rate actor Ben Mitchell, who plays Dr TK Samuels on Shortland Street, as the sexiest man on the small screen

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