The Siren, The College Tribune, Vol 24, Issue 10

College Tribune Entertainment Supplement 22.03.2011

The Naked & Famous Music

Justin Bieber: Leader of the Universe?

Page 4

theatre

Frankenstein Review Page 11

Fashion

Campus Style Examines UCD Fashion Page 8

2

Music

The Siren 22.03.11

The Avalanches - Since I Left You

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Aonghus McGarry _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Music has a special quality to remind people of different times in their lives, places they have been, events they were a part of and emotions they once felt. Since I Left You, the seminal record of Australian music collective The Avalanches in 2000, possesses this quality in spades. For those familiar with the group, you must be wondering how a band that have only released one album could have produced a record that could even be considered a ‘Magnum Opus’. Well, on this occasion the rules have been bent to accommodate this wonderful piece of work.

For those unfamiliar with The Avalanches, it’s worth explaining the premise of the record and the structure of a highly unconventional band. ‘Since I Left You’ is constructed entirely on samples. Much like ‘Endtroducing’ from DJ Shadow and, to an extent, the early sample reliant hip-hop groups of the 1980’s, this album is technically completely unoriginal material. Having said that, the amount of samples, and the level of distortion they undergo, disproves this argument.

At a conservative estimate, 3500 unique pieces of music were said to be used in the construction of the album, all from ridiculously eclectic sources, besides the odd nod to pop culture as heard on a clip

of Madonna’s ‘Holiday’. That’s not to say this production technique is a gimmick though, The Avalanches are absolute masters of the MPC controller and are so astute in its use that it becomes, for them, a bona fide instrument.

Moving away from technicalities, the quality of the music on show must be discussed. These songs are all incredible. I don’t mean this in the way that they are incredible in comparison with other sample reliant records, but that the songs are all uniquely beautiful. Opener and title track, ‘Since I Life You,’ possesses the same soul of gospel music but in a stuttered, completely unconventional way. ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ showcases the group’s ability to touch on all different styles of music, being closer to trip-hop than anything else.

Away from these, ‘Etoh’ could be considered blissed out electronica, but

pigeon-holing anything on this album really is a fruitless exercise, never mind doing it a disservice. This album was not

made to be listened to track by track, even taking into account the relative success of the singles that spawned from it.

The blueprint for ‘Since I Left You’ were

a series of mix tapes put together similar to a DJ mix. As such, only in listening to this record in full does one get even the remotest sense of the scale of this project, no matter how effortless these songs seem and chilled out as they sound.

It was heartening to learn that despite the abstract nature of this album, this album’s release in 2000 was universally praised by critics, and in addition to it’s position on almost all critic’s best-of-year list, the album was rightly considered one of the best of the decade.

This leads to another question, why haven’t they released a follow up?

Many answers have been thrown around but none seem to placate their devout fans. One could be the very nature of their work. A major problem with the release of ‘Since I Left You’ was the cataloguing of samples; a factor the group didn’t take into account when they were under

the impression that only they and their friends would hear the album.

This time they’re taking every precaution, the last bit of activity on the Avalanche web page was the message ‘clearing samples’, a faint glimmer of hope from a notoriously secretive band.

After all, a debut as unrelentingly brilliant as this was always going to take a while to follow.

One can only hope that what made ‘Since I Left You’ so irresistible will be present on their next release, whenever that day comes.

The charm in it’s B movie clips, the overriding theme of travel and adventure that pervades the album all combine to make this, not just an artistically brilliant achievement and a triumph of electronic music, but a FUN album.

This is an album, that on first listen, sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before, and is constantly refreshing on each subsequent listen. The same joy and excitement you feel in those last 30 seconds of closing track ‘Extra Kings’ is as satisfying the third, fourth and fifth time. While hopefully there will soon be a follow up to compare ‘Since I Left You’ with, this album will hold up just fine till then.

Gypsy Jazz

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Conor Manning _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In this issue I present to you the wonderful genre of Gypsy Jazz, also known as Manouche Jazz. No, that’s not some art form involving pretentious itinerants, it’s a soulful and colourful style of music that originated in early twentieth century Paris.

Leave your preconceptions behind you when thinking about Gypsy Jazz. The genre defies the popular view of jazz as difficult listening. This is the kind of music you could listen to at any time.

You could listen to it while getting ready to spend your student grant in one night in town or while putting off an essay in the library.

The sound of Gypsy Jazz is somewhat similar to other genres of a Roman style such as Flamenco. The first songs in this vein were gypsy standards past along by ear which were reinterpreted in a jazz style, giving rise to the unusual name.

Exotic, vibrant and exciting are the kind of words used to describe this music, although there’s really no use replacing the experience of listening to the recordings with words. I urge you to go out and hear this type of music for yourself.

Even live and amplified, Gypsy Jazz musicians try to maintain an acoustic sound.

The impressive thing about Gypsy Jazz

is just how full and deep the music can sound even when completely acoustic.

Violinist Stéphane Grapelli once said of Django Reinhardt, the great Gypsy Jazz pioneer, “When I played with Django, I had the impression of having the Philharmonic Orchestra backing me.”

This style is all about the acoustic guitar, which is so important in this kind of music that it replaces all forms of percussion as the main rhythm instrument.

This style of Rhythm, La Pompe, is high tempo and upbeat and it swings, baby.

When I first heard Gypsy Jazz, it had to be pointed out to me that there were no drums before I realised.

There’s a pulse to this music that most dance artists in current times would envy.

Other instruments usually played include bass and violin. For influential artists in this genre, look no further than Django Reinhardt, the man who effectively created it.

Django was injured in a fire at the age of 18, which led to two of his fingers being partially paralysed. Doctors told him that he may never play the guitar again.

He persevered and invented one of the most technical genres of guitar music using only his first two fingers for playing

melodies.

With his group, the “Quintet du Hot Club de France”, he became known worldwide, and was hailed as a musical genius, and a composer in a guitarist’s shoes. In this group, he played alongside another pioneer of Gypsy Jazz, the violinist Stéphane Grapelli. By the way, doesn’t “Quintet du Hot Club de France” just exude class?

Ok, so some old guys made some music and now this writer in The Siren is harping on about some obscure genre or other. What relevance does this have today you may ask.

There are still many practitioners of Gypsy Jazz today, mostly in Europe. Joscho Stephan and Stochelo Rosenberg are two of the most well known guitarists among their contemporaries.

The genre is undergoing a bit of a Renaissance at the moment with modern music and techniques being integrated

with the classical Gypsy style. It’s never been a better time to give it a try.

Ok, now you’re all queuing up asking me where you can go to see some of this mesmerising music. Well, you won’t find any Gypsy Jazz guitarists playing The Academy.

While some of the bigger names will play normal concerts, the soul of Gypsy Jazz is in the jazz festivals. Here you will find the big names of the genre rubbing shoulders with the aficionados in an atmosphere of congeniality and community spirit. The main example of these is the Samois Festival which takes place in Samois, France each year, the place where Django saw out the end of his life.

The festival is notable for its impromptu jamming sessions and performances on a barge on the banks of the Seine.

You don’t have to play guitar or travel far to get into this form of music though as iTunes has plenty of music to keep any potential fans going. I’d recommend searching YouTube for Joscho Stephan.

Also check out Adrian Holovaty’s Gypsy Jazz cover of “Nude” by Radiohead too.

He even manages to make Thom Yorke sound happy.

That’s all for me. Remember; it don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing!

The Siren 22.03.11

Music

Lupe Fiasco Lasers

GreenDay Awesome as F**k

AAAAcccccc

AAAAAAcccc

Lupe Fiasco’s third album release arrived under tirades of pressure due to the anticipation of his strong fan base after the album going through countless problems.

The album has been in the pipelines since 2008 and has gone under countless name changes. Atlantic Records became a huge obstacle in Lupe’s completion of the album, after complaints that he was writing songs that were not commercial enough the record company went about drafting in producers and artists in order to make the album more likely to succeed in the mainstream charts. As a result of this, one can sense when listening to the record that Lupe is not as emotionally involved with the work. In comparison to the feel of love and passion that he has for the music in his first two albums, this release comes across as one dimensional and over produced in places.

There are still moments where Lupe’s individuality shines through, on songs such as “Till I Get There” and “All Black Everything”. The majority of songs follow the typical pop rap blueprint, instead of breaking the mould as he did on his first two releases.

The boring generic production and composition of songs such as “I Don’t Care Right Now” and “State Run Radio” unfortunately distract from Lupe’s absolutely marvellous rapping. These weak songs are almost saved by the pop gems on the album “Show Must Go On” and “Words I Never Said”. Let’s hope that in the future he will be free to make magic as he previously achieved in his earlier work.

The pink bunny rabbit on the cover says it all, really.

On their humbly-titled second live full-length album, Northern California’s most dapper three-piece clip-clop down familiar paths on their bloated cash cow.

Recorded throughout last summer’s megadome jaunt in support of the excellent 21st Century Breakdown, Awesome as F**k presents us with a languid mishmash of choice cuts, nicely packaged for the kids. No more, no less.

That said, Awesome as F**k is by no means a bad album. Kicking off with the firebomb sequence of “21st Century Breakdown”/ “Know Your Enemy” that also opened proceedings on the last studio album, this collection features the catchiest of the newer songs as well as tried-and-trusted classics. The problem is that it has all been done before. Several tracks that featured on the last live disc Bullet In A Bible have been included again in near-carbon copy format, while songs that could translate easily to the live stage have been once again left out: anyone hoping for “Brain Stew”/ “Jaded” to be included in its entirety will still have to settle for the rugged club version on the Japanese Bowling Bowling Bowling Parking Parking live EP. The bonus DVD, recorded over two nights at Saitama in Japan, follows the much the same routine but with the added pleasure of watching the band members clown around and flash body parts for the pleasure of 30,000 young loli-chans.

As painful as it is to admit, this package was produced with the band’s younger, American Idiot-era fan-base in mind. Diehards and completists will buy this for “Cigarettes and Valentines” alone. Other than that, you will probably already have it in the form of the other live recordings.

The Vaccines What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

The Strokes Angles

Simon Mulcahy

Ciarán Leinster AAAAAAAAcc

First things first: are the Vaccines the saviours of rock ‘n’ roll? Well, in a word, no, but their debut does, to an extent, warrant the incredible press coverage they have received prior to the release of the album. From the breathless beginning of ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra), this record brims with energy and attitude, despite not being totally consistent. The opener is a quick stab of feedback and reverb-drenched Ramones/Jesus & Mary Chain-inspired punk, and the pace is maintained with ‘If You Wanna’, ‘A Lack Of Understanding’ and the stand-out track, ‘Blow It Up’. Unfortunately. the London 4-piece then seem to forget about high energy rock ‘n’ roll, and become Mumford & Sons, until they bite back with ‘Norgaard’ and the ‘Post Break-Up Sex’. Unfortunately, they once again lose their edge with ‘Under Your Thumb’, although ‘All In White’ and ‘Wolf Pack’ would have been a great way to close the most eagerly-anticipated debut of the year. Unfortunately, however, they decide to tack the 8-minute ‘Family Friend’ on the end. It just feels like the record has been castrated; it takes the edge and energy off the previous 27 minutes of largely high-energy music. The addition of a secret song at the end, with just singer Justin Young and a piano, makes you wonder about the direction of this band. However, in all, while not worth all the hype, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? is a highly-impressive debut album, displaying an edge and love for rock ‘n’ roll missing from so many bands today.

Graham Luby

Conor McKenna AAAAAAAccc

The first album released by The Strokes in five years will doubtless be mired hype and disappointment on behalf of their fans – but then what’s new? In an interview with Pitchfork, Nick Valensi referred to the album’s recording as ‘awful’. Angle is an album of many sides. Musically it’s quite fractured; The Strokes have experimented with instrumentality in parts and stuck to their origins on other tracks. The result is an album that doesn’t quite fit together.

The lead single “Undercover of Darkness” is one of a number of tracks that emulates their origins however it does not represent the album in any sense. The number of solo careers that took off after First Impressions of Earth have certainly had an impact on song writing and styles that are played throughout the album. An early criticism of The Strokes might have been the overarching dominance of singer Julian Casablancas on song writing however on Angles there are clear influences from all members.

There is a distinct 80’s vibe to “Undercover of Darkness” and “Two Kinds of Happiness” and yet both fit perfectly into songs typical of The Strokes. The chorus on “Taken as a Fool” gives clear references back to Is This It while the verses are reminiscent of Room On Fire. “Games” would not have felt out of place on Julian Casablancas’ solo effort but sounds out of place on Angles.

Through the fragments it is possible to catch glimpses of where The Strokes are headed musically particularly on the cracking opener “Machu Picchu” and “Call Me Back” but they could well be forgotten among the “Stokes’ songs” which fans may prefer.

Much like their other sequels to Is This It, Angles will be passed over critics. Their experimentation with sound and instruments is constantly criticised by bloggers and fans alike, and yet they don’t give them time to grow. Perhaps there is too much expected of the band that effectively revolutionised the alternative music scene in 2001. As individual tracks go there are some corkers, as an album however it’s a little fragmented in parts.

3

Burial/Four Tet/Thom Yorke: Ego/Mirror For the past couple of years, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has flirted with a growing association with forward thinking electronic music. Coupled with the remixes of Yorke’s work that both Burial and Four Tet have undertaken, this so-called supergroup seemed almost bound to happen. The resulting vinyl only just released is nothing short of astounding. Seeing as they’re already sold out, we’ll all have to settle on listening to YouTube radio rips. It’s better than nothing though.

Wiz Khalifa – The Race: It’s rare that the term ‘infectious’ can be used to describe rap music. However, the latest single from up-and-coming Pittsburgh MC Wiz Khalifa is just that, and it proves that his smash hit ‘Black & Yellow’ was no fluke. While Wiz’s rapping flows wonderfully, what really makes the song is the production work of I.D Labs. Bigger and better things are guaranteed for this guy.

Simon & Garfunkel – Cecilia Seeing as Bridge Over Troubled Water is after getting the reissue treatment, it seemed fitting to mention this old gem. With some of the finest melodies of the time and an irresistible hook, Cecilia could rightly be considered one of the pair’s best songs.

Having said that, this short space really isn’t sufficient to convey how good it really is.

Rebecca Black – Friday “Friday is genius! It is purely a piece of art and inspires me to write songs about the other days of the week.” – A misguided fan’s post on Rebecca Black’s page. This song is actually available for purchase on iTunes, if you’re so inclined...

by Aonghus McGarry

4

Music

The Siren 22.03.11

Justin Bieber: The Future Leader of the Universe? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Simon Mulcahy _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is slightly upsetting, in this writers view, to think that Justin Bieber is one of the biggest music stars in the world.

The fact that this pubescent teenager is making more money in a day than most people earn in a year is aggravating, purely because it seems to have just landed in his lap.

People spend every second of their lives working in an attempt to find success in the music industry and a lot of the time to absolutely no avail.

People usually only break into the industry after enormous amounts of hard work and dedication, after taking risks and putting everything on the line, and only after you have been through all of that can you truly appreciate the fruits of success. Justin Bieber seems to have it handed to him on a plate.

Clearly this is slightly biased, but compared to how much work people usually have to do, he got a pretty easy ticket to stardom.

After his homemade YouTube videos were seen by Scooter Braun, Bieber had the rest of the work done for him.

Braun, soon to become Justin’s manager, organised a meeting with Usher and then the two of them worked

together to get Justin signed to Island records. From there on, it all skyrocketed, releasing his first extended play and performing on countless chat shows furthered his fame and soon he became the most searched for person on the internet.

Ask anyone who Justin Bieber is today and they will be able to tell you, he has become so well known that it is difficult to avoid him. Justin Bieber came to Dublin a little over two weeks ago for a run of concerts at the 02.

The behaviour of the musically challenged Irish youth surrounding this event proves that the extremity of this young man’s influence is not specific to Americans. His over-excited fans held a stakeout at the hotel where the teenage star was rumoured to be at. Grafton Street was then brought to a standstill as Bieber fans gathered outside the Tommy Hilfiger Store after false rumours circulated that he was inside forcing An Garda Síochána to get involved and breakup the crowd of hundreds of frantic teenage girls.

This Beatlesque manic behaviour is testament to how serious this situation is. For me, the real confusion starts at

this point.

Surely for a musician to be this influential they would have to be very talented and have captured the mind and hearts of the population as a whole, so why is it then that there are just as many people that hate him as there are that love him. There was never this much hatred for Britney, The Backstreet Boys, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Nirvana or any other musician that acquired this much attention. They had fans and people who were indifferent or uninterested. Justin Bieber however has hundreds of thousands of people wishing for his blood to be spilt. His mother will say that they are just jealous but the truth of it begs the question, why is he so hateable? Well first of all because he is so smug and spoilt, but it must go deeper than that. For one person to divide opinion so much and

on the scale that it is currently on, Mr. Bieber is someone who can’t be easily dismissed.

The fact that I am not a pre-teenage girl acts as a hindrance in making a fair judgement of JB as he seems to have some otherworldly form of control over their inner workings.

For them, the sight of Justin can result in uncontrollable screaming and body convulsions and often lead to crying and loss of consciousness. His concerts sell out in minutes all over the world and his songs are always in the charts worldwide. So the mania is not specific to any race or nationality.

Some guys like him too, usually it is specific to one of his songs as opposed to how he is worshipped by his female fan base. Even this writer can admit to liking one particular song of his as a result of it containing Usher, funky danc-

ing and a very catchy chorus. On the other hand, it is not even about the music in many cases because the girls that go to his concerts spend the whole time screaming their little faces off, whereas if they liked the music then they would be listening to him perform.

So maybe it is just a case of ‘monkey see, monkey do’, and peer pressure resulting in the worship of a squeaky clean icon.

Or better yet, this could be seen as further proof of the power of the Disney head honcho’s and how effortlessly they can mould the perceptions and interests of the easily malleable brains belonging to the pre-teen nation. I still can’t figure out why he was chosen, but it is now out of our hands. It seems like this annoyance will be around for a while to come.

The Siren 22.03.11

Music

5

No Star Left Alone _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Graham Luby looks behind the scenes at the people championing an Irish presence at Austin’s South By Southwest _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Listen, you can almost hear it. Once a year, as spring arrives hot and stinking in the sunbelt of the United States, a low rumble can be heard. As it whips up the parched earth of the Great Plains and rolls out across the Atlantic, few but the most in-tune will turn their heads to heed it when it washes up as a whisper on the banks of the Liffey.

The 25th annual South by Southwest Festival descends on Austin, Texas, from 11-20 March for nine days of unadulterated, beard-stroking art.

What started out as a series of small concerts in 1987 has grown into the largest and most important gathering of its kind in the world, each year bringing new sights, sounds and smells to the land where the hats can cause whiplash and the gold runs black beneath the earth.

Though it showcases the best new innovations of the film, video game and technological worlds, SXSW is primarily a music festival, with over 2,000 bands jostling for attention in over 90 venues over the course of the

massive pond.

Enter the Music From Ireland project.

Run by the First Music Contact group, in partnership with Culture Ireland and the Irish Music Rights Organisation, MFI was established with the aim of promoting Irish talent at international festivals. As well as SXSW, MFI maintains a well-known presence at, among many others, Canada Music Week, Berlin’s Popkomm festival and New York’s CMJ Music Marathon. By helping to fund, prepare, promote and host showcase gigs, MFI offers hopeful acts a leg-up onto the world stage that could otherwise be impossible to manage.

MFI’s first big event at this year’s SXSW was the official Paddy’s Day Showcase at Friends, a downtown bar as cosy as its name suggests. Featuring The Coronas, And So I Watch You From Afar and Villagers among others, the lineup would be a tantalizing prospect for many an Irish listener.

However, on the same evening, onetime Friends veterans The Strokes took

proceedings. Largely unnoticed by their domestic audiences, 2011 sees homegrown talents such as Adebisi Shank and Ham Sandwich rubbing shoulders with the likes of Janelle Monae, Bright Eyes and James Blake.

It’s not just emerging acts that our proud exports have to compete with, either.

Previous years have seen Metallica and Muse scale down their stadium shows to fit Austin’s dive-bars, while Queens of the Stone Age and The Strokes have stolen the gaze of the world’s media at this year’s showcase. So why should they bother, I hear the cynical among you ask? As difficult a market as America already is, it would seem that the best of our contemporary hopefuls are wasting their time, money and energy to flounder as small fish in a truly

to the stage in a nearby park to a crowd three orders of magnitude larger. At the time of writing, the staff at MFI were in Austin and so were unavailable for comment, but other sources suggest that all eyes had been on Julian Casablancas’ merry men.

The morning after, BD Riley’s on 6th Street played host to MFI’s Full Irish Breakfast, a seven hour marathon with the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, O Emperor, Adebisi Shank and Funeral Suits on the bill.

Opting for the hangover market instead of a more sociable evening slot, the Full Irish was a popular destination for the early birds and less likely to clash with bigger acts.

Other acts showcasing at various times at SXSW included The Mighty Stef, Ram’s Pocket Radio, Sacred Animals,

Lafaro and Sweet Jane.

MFI hasn’t just stopped at North America. Plans to branch out to Barcelona’s Primavera Sound this coming winter are being hammered out, along with Eurosonic in the Netherlands and Reeperbahn in Hamburg also in the pipeline.

If your own band has made a dent in the touring circuit and you are looking to bring your game to the next level, all you need to qualify for funding from MFI is an official invitation to the events that they cover.

In the coming months, it will be interesting to see if any of our MFI-funded bands can make any ripples in the American music scene. Regardless of whether or not they manage this, MFI will be back next year plugging the same worthy cause.

6

Music

The Siren 22.03.11

Naked & Ready for the Big Time The biggest thing to come out of New Zealand since Tana Umanga, The Naked & Famous chatted to Joseph Conroy ahead of their debut Dublin show

The Naked and Famous arrived in Dublin this month riding high on a wave of hype which they have rode from Auckland to Dublin via New York, LA, Tokyo, London and everywhere else that there’s a market for electro-pop. The first breakthrough the band had in these parts was being named on the short list for the BBC Sound of 2011 and they travelled to Dublin fresh from picking up the prestigious NME Radar Award.

Much of the hype has surrounded their two singles, Young Blood and Punching in a Dream. These songs play like the best tracks Passion Pit and MGMT never wrote. The bands current European tour is coinciding with the European release of their debut album Passive Me Aggressive You. The band are keen to show people that they are more than one trick ponies and that there is substance behind the hype. The Siren sat down with guitarist and vocalist Thom Powers and bassist David Beadle ahead of their first Irish show.

The band have just arrived in Dublin

from a string of sold-out gigs across the UK and genuinely seem shocked by the reception they have received in Belfast the previous night. Beadle proclaimed the gig “the best one so far”. The Dublin date was originally set for Crawdaddy, but quickly soldout and was moved to the Button Factory, which also sold-out.

The Naked and Famous originally started as a two piece with current member Aaron Short working on the original project as a sound engineer.

Thom and fellow lead vocalist Alisa Xayalith still form the creative core.

The band give off an air of quiet confidence when they discuss the buzz that currently surrounds them, but also seem to be conscious of not letting the hype get to their heads. Thom admits that it is “surreal” to be here, half way around the world playing sold-out shows.

The band’s music seems to have spread so fast that they haven’t really had the time to take it all in. Mentioning Lord of the Rings or Flight of the Concords to a Kiwi is the equivalent of foreign-

ers talking to the Irish about Guinness or U2, but Thom chooses a Lord of the Rings metaphor to describe the band’s assent. He says “It feels like we were in the Shire, and we’ve come to the big hill we got to go through to get to Mordor.”

popping up in the national top 40 chart, then more stuff started happening, we didn’t really know what half it was”. Bassist Dave adds “we couldn’t understand the gravity of all of it and even now it’s a strange thing to comprehend.”

The trend setting blog and boutique record company (Neon Gold) have already helped break Ellie Goulding, Passion Pit and Marina & the Diamonds.

It’s not long since Thom and Alisa were getting excited at making the airplay charts on college radio stations in Auckland. Thom remembers sitting back thinking “Bam! 600 people have heard us!” but then things started to blow up, “all of a sudden we were

The band were quickly picked up by Neon Gold Records in New York who released Young Blood on 7 inch.

The band were fans of the blog and record company before Neon Gold expressed their interest in releasing the track. Thom recalls “We were just

saying how cool it would be if someone like Neon Gold would release our single, but we never thought it would happen so we were going to approach some less well know labels. The very next day Neon Gold called and said they’d like to put out the single, weird stuff like that kept happening to us”.

The trend setting blog and boutique record company have already helped break Ellie Goulding, Passion Pit and Marina and the Diamonds.

Soon the band were jet setting to record company showcases all over the world with several major labels expressing interest. They eventually signed to Universal.

From getting excited about 600 people checking them out on college radio things, have definitely escalated quickly. The bands video for Young Blood is just closing in on three million YouTube views and has started showing up everywhere from the BBC’s Six Nations coverage to hit TV shows like Skins and Gossip Girl and is looking like being one of the real soundtracks of summer 2011.

The Siren 22.03.11

The band are conscious of the pressure of releasing an album off the back of two massive singles. The album was released in New Zealand and Australia in September and has been hugely successful. Thom put this down to their commitment to making a solid record that showed that The Naked and Famous had real substance. “It’s had an awesome reaction, the singles have done really well, I think a couple of people had heard our singles and thought this is a pop band, but then found that we have a lot more depth than they thought. Most people have been really surprised and happy because a lot of bands release big singles but don’t come out with an album to back them up”.

Dave adds that the band really care about releasing an album of tracks that work as a record, “That’s how we were brought up, listening to albums as a whole”.

Apart from promoting the album the band are also keen to prove themselves as a formidable live act. Other young bands playing similar mixes of electro-pop and indie like MGMT and The Klaxons have struggled to reproduce their sounds live on the tours supporting their debut albums. The Naked and Famous have committed a lot of time to developing their live show. Thom says “we had to learn to play live”, and that the most basic goal of the live show is “to recreate the tracks on the album as accurately as possible”.

The bands live setup has evolved from a duo to a trio and now a five piece band. Thom says that in the studio, they became conscious of setting limits to work within so that they can perform everything live “we get to a point where we go okay, that’s enough tracks, that’s enough samples, let’s move on”.

The three original members came together at a music college in Auckland where Thom and Aaron were studying music production and Alisa was studying music performance.

Aaron is the only one who finished his course, meaning the core of the band is comprised of music school dropouts.

Thom seems to take a strange sense of pride in this fact “it got too hard, they started using maths and stuff, Aaron is the one who knows how to do everything.”

The band have really been a phenomenon in New Zealand. Young Blood was the first debut single to go straight into number 1 in sixteen years.

Young Blood also won a prestigious national award, something akin to winning the Choice Music award in Ireland.

They added a significant accolade to their already impressive CV at the NME Awards three weeks ago, winning the Philip Hall Radar Award which has previously been won by the likes of The Drums and Glasvegas.

A week later and Thom still seems genuinely surprised that the band won the award. “We won it by accident,

Music

7

The band have really been a phenomenon in New Zealand.

“Young Blood” was the first debut single to go straight into number 1 in sixteen years. Young Blood also won a prestigious national award, something akin to winning the Choice Music award in Ireland. it was completely unintentional. We had people from NME following us around all night and we were wondering what they were doing”. This only made sense to them once they were announced as winners, “Then I realised why we had better seats than Muse!” The band have been constantly on the road since the start of 2011 and will continue on their tour until the festival circuit gets going at the start of the summer. They have been named amongst the first batch of confirmed performers at this year’s Oxegen festival and their sun kissed synth rock is sure to be a real hit with

this summer’s festival goers.

The Naked and Famous The Button Factory March 5th “Sold out show without a record even being released, this is fucked” exudes Thom Powers over the screams of the packed out Button Factory half way through the Naked and Famous’s stomping 50 minute debut Dublin set.

Thom and Alisa co-front the live band, sharing vocals. Thom playing a white Gibson Les Paul, Alisa intermittently pounding on a synth. They really work off each other live. Thom is dressed in black, is all brooding and

quiff flicks while Alisa comes across as more vulnerable, but equally intense.

Alisa’s live vocals supply many of the gig’s standout moments.

The live show really captures the dynamism of the band’s debut album.

They work their way through the whole album, the quiet songs sounding quieter, the heavier songs pounding harder.

The sound is rockier than you might expect, with the guitar lines left high in the mix. Aaron Short stands to the side of the stage with a couple of synth’s and a few samplers and other electronic contraptions and quietly dominates the set.

The show goes down a storm. Young Blood and Punching in a Dream in particular almost take the roof of off and seem to have hit a real cord with Irish punters. Many of the crowd have bought tickets to the gig based on the strength of these two songs alone but they react well to all of the album.

The band play one encore but still leave the sellout crowd chanting for more.

8 Fashion

The Siren 22.03.11

The Items of Clothing YOU Are Getting Wrong!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Aisling O’ Loughlin ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When building a house, it is not often that one forgets to dig the foundations, yet when it comes to buying an outfit, the foundational underwear is the very thing that women seem to overlook.

For all the time we spend picking the right dress and perfect shoes, Irish women often tend to forget that choosing the right underwear is the most important part of getting dressed, and it can make a huge difference to how clothes actually look on us.

With so many boutiques and shops offering personal assistance in measuring and help with sizes, shopping for underwear has never been as accessible or easy, yet still young women are reluctant to go out and buy the proper underwear that they need.

Experts say that 85% of women are wearing the wrong bra size in Ireland today, which means that you are probably amongst this number.

Thankfully, this can be easily solved by having a proper fitting; it only takes a

few minutes and is usually free. Being measured is not half as embarrassing as you imagine, most shops and boutiques offer this service and are highly professional; assistants are really friendly and

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Experts say that 85% of women are wearing the wrong bra size in Ireland today, which means that you are probably amongst this number. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

great at giving advice. It really is worth your while to invest money in a proper, expensive bra and to shop around for prices. It is worth bearing in mind though that every manufacturer differs in size so make sure to try everything on.

When it comes to buying underwear, it’s not just Bra’s that are causing trouble,

Campus Style From Left: Maeve O’Leary (Age 21) 3rd Arts Favourite Shop: asos.com Style Icon: Victoria Beckham Hasan Namir (Age 18) 1st Law Favourite Shop: Pacsun Style Icon: Beach Fossils Blaze Kelly (Age 18) 1st Commerce Favourite Shop: Flip Style Icon: Mick Jagger

we’re also getting our knickers in a twist - literally. When purchasing knickers be aware that underwear size is different to clothing sizes. Someone who usually wears a size ten might need a twelve in

underwear. A safe tip is to check that the waistband lies flat against your stomach, if it curls or folds inwards, then you know that you may need the next size up.

Choosing underwear just because you like the design or pattern is never a good idea; no matter how good they look on the rail, if they are too small then there is

no point in buying them.

Finding proper fitting seamless underwear is key to avoiding unsightly bulges and a visible panty line (VPL). Wearing a thong is a great solution for avoiding VPL with tight clothing and leaves you with a smooth silhouette. Just be wary of short skirts and dresses - we don’t want any more Britney flashing moments.

If you’re thinking of playing it safe with a more concealing type of underwear, it doesn’t necessarily have to mean granny knickers. Thanks to Agent Provateur the choice of attractive French knickers and hot pants has never been so alluring.

Having set up a company in 1994 to offer women a real variety of wearable, sexy underwear, Agent Provacteur has been providing the public with shocking ad campaigns and a wide collection of flirty undergarments. Provocateur inspired pieces can be found in many high street shops, such as La Senza and Miss Selfridge.

Underwear is a very personal thing, and each person is individual in their taste, as long as you shop correctly to the size and shape that suits your body, then you can be as unique as you like in your choice. Wearing the right underwear will not only make you look better, but will also make you feel more confident in yourself.

The Siren 22.03.11 Fashion

9

Harajuku Girl, Damn You’ve Got Some Wicked Style

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marguerite Murphy ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In light of the recent tragic events occurring in Japan this week, it might be nice to make a tribute to the famed arts and cultures of the trend setting Japanese youth.

It seems what we know as pavement fashion was birthed in the Harajuku (原宿) neighbourhood in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo, Japan. The beginnings lie in the early nineties, when the fashion forward youth of Tokyo roamed Harajuku’ main strip religiously every Sunday to socialise and share their self made ensembles.

Today, the Harajuku style has reached out globally, and become a source of inspiration for designers, artists and music production, not to mention gathering hundreds of thousands of tourists annually. Although what once was an urban subculture has branched out into the mainstream and commercialized somewhat; the Harajuku style still maintains its anti establishment quality: embracing clashing colours, textures and pulling non traditional looks which refuse to be dictated by traditional

Japanese society.

Harajuku style is exaggerated, extremist and controversial; which lends itself to speculation that it found itself as an outlet for the Tokyo youth, who needed to break away from Japan’ conservative ideologies.

The Japanese style is a melting pot of culture which blends looks from both the East and the West, be it Baywatch California babes to Germanic vamp/ goth trends. The famed Tokyo strip features style savvy girls and boys in Neo- Lolita styles with punk, cyber punk (that’s punk avec neon and metallic colours) Ganguro, Kawaii (that’s ‘cute’ in Japanese) Cosplay and Decora.

I’ve outlined just a few of the trends and how you might emulate them below: Firstly, Ganguro, perhaps the most peculiar of the trends.

It first hit the Harajuku scene in the early 90’s and coincides with the impact of American television series, Baywatch, Saved by the Bell, Clueless and 90210 etc etc. As a result, Japanese girls in their twenties tended to combine a deep,

orangey tan with bleached blonde, or even orange hair combined with white lipstick and that nineties silver eye shadow. Throw in some eyeliner and facial

gems with pastel miniskirts and tie-dye t shirts, and natch, you’re ganguro.

Call me crazy, but I’ve seen this kind of thing in Dublin before? No?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kellie Nwaokorie eases us into the mid length trend ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

blocking this season -- so dare to mix and clash colours. Try pairing a bright canary-yellow midi skirt with a cyan halter-neck or pink shell top, and finish your look with neutral accessories.

The minimalist look works great with a midi silhouette -- try a fluid below-theknee dress teamed with simple heels or ballet flats, and keep accessories to a minimum. The trick to acing the midi look is balance: Offset the cover-up below by showing some shoulder and arm with a plunging neckline or sexy cut-outs. A loose midi with a fitted top flatters for pear-shaped women and camouflages thick thighs. A mid-calf number with a sexy thigh-high split still lets you flaunt your toned pins while rocking the midi trend. Midi hems look best on tall women. Try going for a monochrome palette and towering platform heels to visually elongate your frame. A jacket length that flatters your midi: One that ends at your hips.

Embrace your feminine side by going for an ethereal, swishy knife-pleated midi, another key trend this season.

Ground a pretty chiffon below-the-knee number by toughening up with a pair of fierce boots. If your waist is your best

Haider Ackermann This little known designer put together one of the most beautiful fashion collections this fall and is finally being noticed after Karl Lagerfeld claimed he’d like him to be the next head of Chanel. High praise indeed.

Kate Middleton’s see-through dress.

The modern day version of a glass slipper is apparently a sheer green knitted dress. The awful ensemble sold at auction last week for £78,000.

Stuck in the Midi With You The consensus from the spring/summer catwalks is clear: the midi is huge this season as skirts and dresses hit mid-calf.

There’s a lot to love about the threequarter hemline. It is ultra flattering on most body shapes. But most of all, this season’s new midi is a far cry from its frumpy, mumsy days, instead giving a bit of a midi revolution.

The midi fashion trend was a huge success back in the days when elegance and grace faced a subtle transition towards innocent sex-appeal, so no wonder this fashion trend has made its way back.

I think this direction of lengthening the hemlines is a great turn around.

Soon enough gone will be the days that say less clothes = sexy. A new wave of thinking and fashion has emerged and will hopefully transcend into the high streets and into wardrobes alike.

Designers across the board have managed to create great versatility within the midi trend; there is definitely something to suit all tastes. For a sexy take on the midi trend, opt for a curve-hugging pencil skirt that accentuates your shape, yet looks polished enough for nine-to-five when teamed with a classy Victorian blouse. It’s all about colour-

chic

asset, then go retro with a playful, airy printed mid-calf frock, cinch a belt, so your waistline doesn’t get lost under all the fabric. Accessories that make you look like you’ve got miles of legs: A cincher on the smallest part of your waist coupled with high heels. Look beyond the simple A-line or pencil when it comes to the midi, a cute version is the fit-and-flare ruffled skirt from Anna Sui. Add a little bohemian flavour to your ladylike outfit: Try a cape bolero, a statement extra-long necklace or opt for rustic prints. Now, it’s time for the bad news!

Mid-calf lengths don’t suit everyone, since this style is not as easy to adopt as one might think. The length doesn’t flatter short women; it can make them appear to be smaller than they actually are. The midi might not be for you if you have problem areas with height. But there is a silver lining; midis can be a great camouflage for thick legs. The new mid-length designs combine elegance with sensuality. There are so many stylish midi designs available, you’ll definitely find something that offers your body the best shape, so mix and match until you find the perfect outfit for you.

Carine Roitfeld’s book The retrospective tone of Carine’s work as a stylist has been given a release date, October 16th.

With contributions from Anna Wintour and Cathy Horyn, it’s definitely one to put on your wish list.

John Galliano The designer’s shocking fall from grace has seen his line being pulled from prestigious American store Saks Fifth Avenue.

Many will surely follow.

Chanel Foundation After searching Dublin for Chanel’s lovely foundations, it was nowhere to be found in any light skin-tones. A shop assistant claimed their orders didn’t usually arrive on time… Bad form Chanel.

by Kate Brady

10

The Siren 22.03.11

Ireland’s Up-and-Coming Talent

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the aftermath of it’s huge return to the UCD calendar, Aoifa Smyth speaks about the most, and possibly only, enjoyable segment of the UCD fashion show last February _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The clothing displayed in this year’s U.C.D fashion show didn’t quite set the show apart from any other, with its inclusion of generic pretty dresses and preppy brands. The only segment of the show which really embodied Irish fashion was the Project Catwalk section, otherwise known as The Young Designer of the Year Award.

This segment gave the audience a taster of the up-and-coming design talent, by showcasing the work of Ireland’s design students. Ten finalists were selected out of a number of entrants from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Griffith College, The Grafton Academy and Sallynoggin Institute. The standard was impressive, to say the least. The garments expressed individuality and creativity, while subtle nods to their inspirations shone through.

After numerous fittings and tweaks to the outfits, the designers temporarily parted with their pieces for inclusion in the four shows held in O’Reilly Hall.

Behind the scenes, celebrity judges came to check out the talent and chose their top four and overall winner.

Sonya Lennon from RTÉ’s hit fashion show ‘Off the Rails’ and fashion photographer Agata Stoinska judged the section, fusing their knowledge gathered from working in the industry.

Both Sonya and Agata selected Umit

Behind the scenes, celebrity judges came to check out the talent & choose their top four Kutluk, from the Grafton Academy, as their number one favourite making him the overall winner on the night.

Umit’s entry blew away the judges, and as a spectator it certainly stood out from the rest, with its mixture of fierce heels, dramatic sequins leggings and romantic shaped coat. Sonya Lennon said that the defining factor for her was the fact that you couldn’t pinpoint Umit’s influences, that he was unique.

The top four finalists were Áine Geoghegan, Heather Lynch, Shoudan Huang and Yvette Byrne, all students at Griffith College.

Sitting front row and seeing the outfits come into themselves on the models was an exciting and enchanting experience, hinting at what might be to come from Irish fashion in the upcoming years.

Aine Geoghegan

Yvette Byrne

Shoudran Huang

Heather Lynch

The Siren 22.03.11

11

Creating A Monster

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

by Niamh Hanley _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

St. Patrick’s night offered a perfect distraction from the frenzied festivities as several Irish cinemas screened the live performance of Frankenstein from the National Theatre in London. The NT’s efforts to bring their productions to the “regions” recently extended further afield, as cinemas worldwide broadcast live productions to brand-new audiences. Yet this production of Frankenstein - the theatrical run of which has long since sold out - has received the greatest attention of all their screenings.

Oscar winner Danny Boyle returns to his theatrical roots in directing Nick Dear’s original adaptation of the classic novel. The twist here - apart from the quirky production design by Mark Tildesley, and the eerie soundtrack by Underworld - is the nightly alternation of the parts of the hubristic scientist and the Creature who Mary Shelley dubbed as her “hideous progeny”. In Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, Boyle has got the casting spot on.

Such is the power of the two lead actors that they brush away any cobwebs that linger. Cumberbatch, playing the Creature for this particular show, is outstanding in a highly physical performance, a performance which grows in verbosity as the play gathers pace. Opposite Karl Johnson as De Lacy, an old man whose loss of sight prevents him from losing sight of the Creature’s good heart, Cumberbatch stammers through Milton’s Paradise Lost and the “inconsistencies” of human nature. Yet by the time he confronts his maker, he is remarkably fluent. Miller, meanwhile, as the isolated scientist who values his research above all else, gradually reveals the cold heart lingering beneath, to chilling effect.

It’s a good thing that the two leads are quite so powerful, because a few things go awry with Boyle’s production to rob it of five-star status. Some of the opening scenes, involving the Creature’s ill-fated first encounters at the hands of humans, involve flashy staging that is utterly pointless, and sets up expectations for the rest of the production that are never met, detracting somewhat from the overall effect. Johnson elicits the right amount of pathos and warmth as De Lacy, but many among the supporting cast aren’t so lucky - not that they are helped by Dear’s increasingly clunky script.

Naomie Harris, as the fiancee of Miller’s Frankenstein, fares worst her Elizabeth is utterly bland, and her speech to Victor about how “you men” have abandoned the core values of society rings hollow, coming as it does from no character development

NT Live: Frankenstein Director: Danny Boyle; Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Johnny Lee Miller. whatsoever. In adhering to the female stereotypes of the 1818 novel, Dear and Boyle fail in their obvious attempt at a feminist critique of the male pursuit of power. The vacuum which the female characters of the play live within make the validity of this critique impossible.

This is only further emphasised when Miller hacks his creation’s potential bride to pieces. There is also a sexual predator’s aspect to the relationships between the two protagonists and their ‘wives’, which emphasise the echo of words and states between them, but on their own, are not enough to successfully convey Dear’s critique, only half guessed at.

The most heart-rending moment of the play is at the conclusion, when Cumberbatch’s Creature fears that Miller’s scientist has perished in the Arctic wastes. Despite the sheer hell that they have put each other through, all he desires, he says, is his creator’s love. In

some way, this sums up the theatrical experience neither role could survive without the other, and the audience requires the partnership to successfully co-exist as well. Thankfully, two superb actors light the way. Despite its uneven script, this is a sterling production, burning all the brighter for its compelling lead performances, emphasising the unending path to destruction that inevitably wreaks havoc on all. See it or miss out.

A ‘return’ screening - with Miller as the Creature and Cumberbatch as the scientist is scheduled for this Thursday. Check www.ntlive.com for listings

5TH ANNUAL

10 HOURS OF MAYHEM TO CAP OFF THE YEAR WITH

A BANG!

5TH ANNUAL UCD BALL 2011

FULL T+C'S ARE ON REVERSE AND UCDENTS.COM

TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE & FROM THE LIBRARY SHOP @ 12AM WEDNESDAY 30TH MARCH 2011 Last Day of Term

Thursday April 21st UCD Running Track