Volume XX – Otwo – Issue 7

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music

bombay Bicycle Club the naked & famous grouplove film

steph green top 10 mindless action films us tv adaptions fashion key pieces for spring street style games cipher prime tearaway & the stanley project reviews

letter from the editors

What’s hot & What’s not What’s hot

What’s not hot

Firehouse Film Contest

Photos from YOUR class trip

After only two months, the Firehouse Film Contest has already become one of Otwo’s certified Top Ten Multimedia Pursuits for Young People in Rathmines. “It’s like, really, really, really good,” one of the event organisers enthused, “Like, really good”. The next one is taking place on Sunday 2nd February in the MART Gallery Rathmines, and don’t forget to bring your broken hearts (or any butcher-bought heart will suffice) because the theme is Love.

Yes, you! The only thing that alleviates the pain of not getting on with your classmates is a class trip, where everybody is either too hammered or too focused on being glam in photos to care about how they intensely dislike everyone else. Stop uploading your feigned-happy, faux-glam photos. And also, stop abbreviating the perfectly respectable word ‘glamour’ to ‘glam’, which is decidedly cheaper, stupider and lazier than those who facilitate it.

Irish Steph’s new EP ‘Breathe’

All Dublin Transport Costing more…

Dublin’s not-so-thriving alternative music scene has to pick up some slack pretty soon, when you consider that one of the best electro producers we have going is in fact a French man under the moniker Irish Steph. He snuck into our hordes of techno revellers like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but instead of killing us all he released a lovely EP for us to share and enjoy. Officially available as of today through irishsteph.com.

Prospective Exhibition

Well hello there!

The last time we were talking to you, it was cold, it was dark and exams were looming. Now, it’s cold, dark and exam results are looming! The system may be awful, but hey, guess what? You’ve got the first issue of Otwo in your greasy paws, so you’ve got that going for you!

If your New Year’s resolution was to read twenty four pages of funny, good looking culture, then seriously, you are the luckiest human being alive. If that wasn’t your resolution, well then skip to Mittens, she’ll deal with you…

Niall “Googly eyes” Gosker starts everything off with a bang with an interview with Cipher Prime Studios who are responsible for amazing visual titles such as Auditorium, Fractal, and Splice. In reviews, you get to hear all about Tearaway and The Stanley Parable. Travel & Beer lets you relieve Ellie Gehlert’s trip to Fez, coupled with Cian O’Neill’s euphoric experience of HobGoblin.

In Film & TV, Laura “#DiCaprioOscar” Bell has an absolutely powerful interview with Oscar-nominated director Steph Green. Steph is a UCD alumna, and had tonnes to see regarding her first feature length film, and getting rights to a short story from Roddy Doyle for a euro. Matthew Hanrahan, meanwhile, discusses American adaptations of European TV shows. In reviews, Inside Llewyn Davis, In the Name of and The Armstrong Lie are up for consideration.

This issue’s centre interview sees Rebekah “DeNiro Face” Rennick sit down with Bombay Bicycle Club, along with getting a listen to them live in studio.

Rebekah adores the band, so seeing someone get to meet heroes of theirs is always a special thing, and Rebekah’s article is not to be missed.

Elsewhere in Music, The Naked and Famous, Darling and Grouplove are all interviewed, and should be checked out. Emily “LSP” Longworth blasts out the choons for 2014, and album reviews sees the latest releases, everything from Springsteen to Warpaint reviewed.

Fashion sees Emily “Money” Mullen break down the key pieces you’ll need for the spring season.

Street Style presents another look at the latest trends around Dublin and Emily also preaches the gospel of #Winning and #Binning.

If all that’s not enough, Foil Arms and Hog, Orla Gartland and @tila are back with their columns, Fatal Fourway looks at how Jennifer Lawrence can make any film better by proxy and Mittens is here to sort your life out.

ohana, Jack & Steven

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Stressed? Too stressed to read this paragraph?? Too stressed for me to get to the point I’m making about stress??? It’s ok! There’s an exhibition by artist Dan Raul Pintea launching this Wednesday 22nd in Steambox Gallery based on Mindfulness meditation, the ever-pleasant practice derived from Buddhist tradition. It promises to re-instil calm into the mindsets of Dubliners. If you’re stressed, you should go there and remember what it is not to be stressed.

Running until February 1st.

…while still somehow being incredibly, outlandishly inefficient and bad. At first we presumed that the 46a started costing more to get to Belfield since the installation of Stanley Kubrick’s house (or the O’Brien science centre), making the buzzing metropolis of UCD a more compelling site to visit, but as it transpires, the prices have only risen because Dublin bikes and buses, like Dublin, are shite.

Ball Season

Haven’t had enough of paying 70 brick to get trashed in more fashionable clothes than usual? Well fear not, because the abundance of formal balls that are vaguely related to your academic course and/or sports club have returned to UCD for another year. Pretend to be minted for one night; break some stuff and put your favourite society in debt. It won’t matter, they’ll never find out who did it, cos we’ll never look that good again. Ever.

mystic mittens Aries

Libra

Remember that awkward time you called your teacher ‘Mom’ and everyone in the class laughed?

Well, egg and their face are in alignment because it turns out she is your real mom.

You’re going to break your New Year’s resolution quicker than you can say ‘Terry’s Chocolate Orange’. On that note, it’s awfully nice of Terry to share all his orange flavoured chocolate.

Taurus

Scorpio

Those suspenders you wore to that Christmas party were a great conversation starter. It was crucial to helping lots of people get laid as they pointed out to their would be partner how stupid you looked as an opener.

Your plot to gain world domination this year may not come to fruition, but your plans to fit into that sexy Debt Ceiling Halloween costume look to be going steady.

Gemini January is the perfect month for building a blanket fort. Optimise your experience by declaring your’s a tax haven for multinational corporations. Then murder your uncle to show you mean business.

Cancer So your semester one results are in and it turns out you failed Introduction to Arts. Now might be a good time to re-assess some of your life choices and more importantly your parents’ life choices. Such as why they had you.

Leo 2014 isn’t looking like a good year for you. As a matter of fact the next few aren’t looking great either. Have you considered cryogenics as an option? Mittens knows a guy....

Virgo

i changed the font, and i’d do it again in a second!

You’ll start the year with the best intentions to get in shape only to realise that it’s much easier to just pretend to get in shape while you stand on a treadmill motionless and watch Ellen or Sky Sports News.

Sagittarius It’s good to see that you’ve started the year as you mean to continue it, curled up on the floor of your shower wearing last night’s clothes. An added bonus is that you don’t need to wash those clothes now!

Capricorn A new year means a new you. That means tying your hair back before you vomit on the cobblestones of Temple Bar at four in the afternoon. Rest assured that your friends will snapchat it to everyone you’ve ever met.

Aquarius Those vivid dreams you have been having about your birth are getting more frequent. Have you gotten to the end yet where Alan Rickman holds you upside down like a fish he pulled out of the Shannon?

Pisces If you’re planning on going away to escape the bad weather remember, sharks kill. Well, at least that’s what the coconuts want you to think. When you are not looking, they will strike.

index 2 Regulars

——————————————— Mystic Mittens is back to introduce the horrors that await you in this brave new year while Otwo gives you the lowdown on what’s hot and not for the start of 2014.

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4 5 6

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Regulars

——————————————— Soapbox tackles the most gruelling endurance test known to humanity, the 145 bus from Belfield to Heuston Station, and furthermore this page introduces you to the bonanza of delights contained in the rest of Otwo.

Film

——————————————— An Oscar-nominated director and UCD alumnus, Steph Green, chats to Laura Bell, while Aaron Murphy counts down the Top Ten most mindless action movies. Matthew Hanrahan scrutinises the adaptation of European TV shows for American audiences, and The Armstrong Lie, Inside Llewyn Davis and In the Name Of all undergo the review experience.

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Centre

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music

——————————————— Have heart huns! Your fearless saviour @tila has returned to share her inimitable wisdom. Your favourite comedy trio, Foil, Arms and Hog also return to make you laugh and cry.

Well, hopefully not cry.

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fashion

Travel & Drink

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culture

columns

——————————————— Otwo introduces its readers to the delightful taste of HobGoblin, the beer, not the gamy meat. And in travel, Ellie Gehlert visits Morocco to show how there’s so much more to Fez than just hats.

Games

——————————————— In reviews this issue, Niall Gosker takes a look at Tearaway, the latest game from the folks behind LittleBigPlanet; while Martin Healy explores the weird world of The Stanley Parable. Andrei Marks from Cipher Prime Studios also stops by to talk about Dev Nights and their upcoming game.

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Soapbox— the Pilgrimage via Dublin Bus Unknown to the urban dwellers of UCD, there is a weekly pilgrimage that country folk have to undergo and Rebekah Rennick is here with her exposé

——————————————— Starting the year with a bang, Bombay Bicycle Club talk to Rebekah Rennick about follow up albums, collaborating with Lucy Rose and being criticised for their youth.

——————————————— The latest offerings from James Vincent McMorrow, Warpaint, Canterbury and Bruce Springsteen are all put to the test. Orla Gartland fills you in on all things Gartlandian in her first column of the new year while Otwo also chats with Darling, The Naked and Famous, and Grouplove.

——————————————— Worried about your wardrobe looking a bit bare for the spring season? This issue sees fashion dealing with the key pieces to add to your wardrobe for next season.

——————————————— Casting her eye over the contemporary art which the Molesworth Gallery boasts, Laura Woulfe sees what independent artists have to offer, while Jack Walsh talks to Brian Rose, the creator of the popular podcast London Real.

fatal Fourway

——————————————— Tumblr’s favourite Academy Award winner is in the spotlight as the Fatal Fourway crew debate what film could best be improved by replacing one of the main characters with Jennifer Lawrence.

Like Bilbo Baggins journeying to the Lonely Mountain, you clumsily step over the threshold of the 145 on a Friday afternoon, except with a pair of shoes covering your grotesquely hairy feet.

There are a number of things on this earth €2.60 can buy. An innumerable quantity of Freddo Bars. A nine pack of Tayto crisps. A stranger minding your coat for a few hours. For some it means a journey back home begins along the N11, falling onto Dublin Bus hastily fumbling for change, peering apologetically at fellow passengers, bus driver and coins alike.

Yet, it isn’t this rocky beginning that grinds my gears. No, it’s the turbulent endurance test that one must withstand before arriving at Heuston Station’s pigeon gated sanctuary.

Over the three years I’ve been making this journey, there’s seldom a time I’ve had the privilege of cushioning my already broken spirit with Dublin Bus’s neat seating.

Entangled in my earphones, attempting to steady my sea legs, the bus driver’s first vindictive stamp on the accelerator marks the primary cause of my resentment towards this torturous attempt at returning home.

Unintentionally volunteering as a standing tribute, I brace myself for every awkward bodily collision I know I’m going to endure for the foreseeable future. Every bump and turn of this misery machine marks an obstacle course of body positions.

Your journey becomes a game of avoidance between your hand and the anonymous greasy claw emerging from the sea of compressed torsos. Your stomach turns as someone innocently opens their packed egg sandwich, and you find yourself apologising for your suitcase’s behaviour as any increase in speed transforms it into a weapon of mass destruction.

I’m unsure whether the drivers are aware of the carnage they create in my personal space, yet it’s hard not to feel a fury within. Your facial expression transforms into one of composed rage as you exchange glances of ‘I didn’t sign up for this’ with another unfortunate soul attempting to find comfort on the suspiciously sticky steps leading above.

Muscles tense, all you can offer those attempting to leave before the final stop is a word of encouragement, the only solace being that you don’t have to take that plunge yet.

I do try to see the positive side of such situations, attempting to translate such a nightmarish experience into one that can be put down to character building. Yet, as I’m relinquished from Dublin Bus’s grasp to be welcomed by its softer locomotive cousin, my disheveled self can’t help but sneer at the driver’s smug expression of comfort as he knows I’ll be back. We always come back.

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Foil, Arms & Hog In their first instalment of 2014, Foil Arms and Hog ponder exactly what the future holds for this country?

Public transport will be even more dire, with Dublin Bus having commandeered the Viking Splash as its primary mode of transport, but the 17 will still be its worst route, only arriving every 65 tides

It’s the start of another year and ambitious people and non-drinkers are looking seriously into the future, wondering what 2014 will hold for them.

Instead of doing that, we’ve done what an average stoned philosophy student would do and looked forward 1,000 years and tried to picture what our county will be like.

When people think of future Dublin, they probably think of flying cars and connecting Luas lines, but judging by this year’s recent floods, one can only presume that by the year 3014, Dublin will resemble a shitter, more expensive version of Venice.

The city centre will be filled with junkies in dinghies, only perturbed by having their boats burst by the Spire. Trinity College will finally get that moat it has desired for centuries to keep those ‘filthy paddies’ out.

Dublin will have its own coral reef, mysterious treasures of which include a bronze busty statue of Molly Malone, whose knockers got considerably shinier over the years and over 6,000 Lidl shopping trollies.

In the only part of the city that’s not flooded, chewing gum on the paths will have grown into each other leaving a nice uniform black finish that ends up ripping your shoes from your feet.

Temple Bar pints will have become so expensive that a tourist will have to make the decision between that one pint of Guinness or eating for the rest of the holiday.

Public transport will be even more dire, with Dublin Bus having commandeered the Viking Splash as its primary mode of transport, but the 17 will still be its worst route, only arriving every 65 tides (I don’t know if we’ll be made wear the hats, but I’m told the cheering will be mandatory).

Elsewhere, the countryside will have mixed fortunes. After the 2075 civil war, Cork will split and claim independence, but will re-join the republic five years later after they realise they have no one to complain to about Dublin.

Galway in contrast will be flush with cash after Supermacs became a global chain with outlets in Times Square, the Arch de Triomphe and Machu Picchu with the Dalai Lama himself having been seen eating a snack box outside a boozer at 4am in now-free Tibet.

Sadly, the Gaeltacht area will shrink catastrophically to just one old man sitting on a dry stone wall in Connemara tending to his flock of Aran sweaters still trying to find more creative Gaeilge translations for new words like ‘hóver cár’ and ‘an théléphórtation deviceanach’.

Although, geographically speaking, Ireland will be a different place. What will become of its citizens?

Fashion wise, hipster jeans will become so skinny that a new type of leg will evolve comprised of squished cartilage and various pulleys.

@tila_da_hun Been dealing with da huns problems since 445AD… Ur resident agony aunt & Hunnic Emperor lol!

Don’t mess wit my girlos or I’ll wreck u like I wrecked da city of Aquileia . xoxo. Tweet me!

Hiya Hun!

Story Hun,

u ok So here look, I’m probly after failin’ one of my exams der before Christmas… Which’d actually be grand because that Genetics course can suck the dick and all, but my auld pair are tellin me I can’t go Twisted Pepper til summer if I fail an’thin’. I know we didn’t get results yet but like I couldn’t answer a single question apart from de ones wher I could somehow give de lecturer my number or proposition him with a sketch of us ridin. D’ye reckon that’d be ‘nuff to get me thru, or is there some way that being cute n’ fun can get me extra credits??

Deluda xx C’mere to me love, The absolute hack of shnakin’ yer way back up in marks. We’ve all been there tho, actually when we Ah here, were getting bet by the filthy Sassinid wankstains A real similar thing happen’d us when we were in Armenia me an’ the girls tried like getting all cosy wreckin de gaff in Moesia. ‘cept we were actualy out wiv them on all their twitters and stuff to see if lookin for hash co like we’d just laid waste to a city we could sway them but den they actually gave us like so obviously we were gonna pan out and blaze more shit and slaughtered a couple hundred more it. But the shcaldy lads we found sellin’ were tryin’ of my kin. Aaaaabsolute shitballers! to hop us, so I decked yer man back and we were But dem academia hacks are a different breed, killin’ each other fer a while before we all realised sure they’re only bleerin rarin to their hole. figure we could just be shmokin instead? Had a class time out which tutor was markin the papers, so at least in the end. The guards are no use to ye anyways, score yer lecturer to find that out first. Then shift and I’d say yer man’s actually gas if he’s any sort of that tutor. Or if the lecturer doesn’t tell ye just score self-respectin’ spliffer. Just text yer own number and all de tutors it could potentially be? They won’t ay yer wearing disco pants? Should work handy object. And it’ll be an investment since yiz could get ‘Tila xoxo the same tutor for sumthin’ this semester. Be grand.

Attila xoxo

C’mere, I was on me way to de boardwalk fer cans wiv the girls der d’other nite when these two lads come up to me sellin’ hash. Like, who do I even look like? I don’t get my hash from street bogeys cos I’m not a street bogey, but ye one was a complete lash like, so I was chattin him up an’anyways til yer man he’s with grabs my iPhone, nd they pegged it nd didn’t even say it was class or nuthin, even tho my new cover was made from real lizard? So like, should I tell the guards? Cos them softcocks never solved an’thin’ and in case they did get yer man I don’t want his wetzer mate to think I’m shit craic??

Furta xxx

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hun?

Closer to home, the D4 accent will become so exaggerated and severe that it will cause lock jaw in 14-year-old girls who will in fact still be orange faced (albeit from some nuclear holocaust radiation burning). Here’s to the next millennium.

If you would like more from FAH we have a fancy website with upcoming gigs and things, just go to www.google.com and type in ‘Foil Arms and Hog’, we’re the first one. You can also check out our videos on the YouTube, and/or join us on Facebook and Twitter @foilarmsandhog

feZ—The Dos & Don’ts Join Ellie Gehlert as she guides you through Morocco’s mint tea maze

Beer of the

Fortnight

Do

Don’t

prepare to experience an entirely pay the price merchants initially different culture. While the differences tell you. Haggling over the prices between Ireland and, say, continental Europe may like there’s no tomorrow is an essential part of seem large, this is much larger. Although rather the shopping culture in al-Medina Souq. You will liberal, Morocco is a Muslim country, so read up on invariably count every last dirham anyway given customs, habits and manners so you can immerse all the fascinating items to be brought home as a yourself completely and get to know the place. gift or souvenir.

Don’t

wear anything that doesn’t cover your knees, shoulders or cleavage, ladies. Fez gets very warm, but a light scarf over your tank top and those super hip harem pants you get at every corner make for a lofty and appropriate outfit, while showing respect for your host country’s culture at the same time.

Do

be adventurous and get lost in the vibrant Medina, the fairytale old part of the city. It is said to be both the best preserved Medina and also the biggest urban car-free zone in the world. It is a mysterious maze of tiny alleys and pathways full of the tempting smells and colours of spices, clothing, food, carpets, beautiful leather accessories and traditional earthenware being sold. Orientation is near impossible, but you will end up at one of the main gates and find your way out, promise.

Do

buy your lunch at the Medina food market to experience the true taste of Morocco, instead of going to a restaurant. It offers a vast variety of local foods like spicy grilled kebab style meat sticks, freshly baked breads, about 3.4 zillion different kinds of olives, unbelievably pink and sweet candy and everything else you always wanted to try but never dared. And the amazing mint tea. Drink it. Always.

Don’t

eat dairy products if you haven’t bought them in a proper supermarket with a proper refrigerator. European stomachs are different, and Morocco is a hot country with occasionally inconsistent cold chains.

While meat usually is fresh, having probably been alive just about 30 minutes before its rendezvous with the grill, the same is not true for dairy products. Your safest bet is to triple-wash fresh fruit or eat peel-able vitamin sources, such as bananas and melons.

Do

watch the bustling Medina leather tanneries from one of the public roof terraces; you’ll eventually stumble across one or smell them first. The craftsmanship is impressive and incredibly tough work and the products are of high quality and affordable prices.

Don’t

look lost as this inevitably attracts fake tourist guides who then firmly insist on showing you around, it’s both illegal and expensive.

Firmly refuse and book a tour at your accommodation or the tourist office instead.

Do

pay close attention to the word balak.

It is used to warn people of donkeys, which serve as the main means of transport in the narrow pathways of the Medina and can inadvertently break a toe or two.

Don’t

miss out on visiting a Hamam, a traditional oriental bath house to escape from the Medina’s exhausting olfactory, acoustic and visual overflow. Relax and wash away the traveling grime in the gorgeously decorated and intricately mosaic tiled steam rooms. A truly refreshing experience.

Hobgoblin Hobgoblin is the flagship ale of the Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire, who have been crafting ales since 1983. They pride themselves on their characterful ales with a quirky side and their website is a prime example of their sense of humour.

Hobgoblin looks the way an ale should with its dark ruby red colour and axe-wielding goblin on the label.

The taste is no different with 5.2% ABV, a distinctive hopsy bitterness and deep, full-bodied flavour. Following from this sharpness, there is a hint of sweet chocolate that adds another layer to the character of the ale.

It is best served at room temperature or slightly below and goes very well with a beef stew or can be enjoyed by itself. It is widely available in 500ml bottles in most off-licences and supermarkets and is the perfect ale for dark winter nights.

Cian O’Neill

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tearaway Publisher Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Developer Media Molecule Platforms PS Vita

Tearaway is Media Molecule’s second wholly original game and their first since delivering the follow up to the very well received LittleBigPlanet in 2011. While it is a more traditional affair than their user generated content debut, it retains the team’s trademark stamp of cheerful creativity.

Although it may be a smaller scale project, it isn’t necessarily a less ambitious one that is simply seeking to justify the PlayStation Vita. This platform has an assorted collection of great titles, but none of which have made the argument convincingly for the system’s specific strengths. Tearaway is a roaring success on two accounts, as it also happens to be one of the finest puzzle platformers in recent memory.

Tearaway transports players, quite literally, into a storybook world composed entirely of paper of all shapes, sizes, and colours. Through the Vita’s front camera, players appear as a godlike sun in the sky, referred directly to as “the You.” This fourth-wallbreaking premise is immediately sewn into not only

the stanley project Developers Galactic Café Platforms Windows, Mac OS X Achieving humour in video games can be a very tricky quirk to master. Most games attempt to amuse the player through simple jokes that could easily be placed in any run-of-the-mill sitcom. The Stanley Parable subverts this.

What developers Davey Wreden and William Pugh have crafted is a hilarious yet endearing meta-parody/criticism of video game design that will stay with the player for some time.

This version of The Stanley Parable is actually an update to the original Half-Life 2 mod released in 2011. Many of the mechanics and jokes carry over from the original. The player takes the role of Stanley; a silent office worker who is employed to push buttons all day for his menial job. One workday, every employee in his office suddenly disappears leaving Stanley to wander the office by himself.

There is no combat or strict gameplay in The Stanley Parable, or even any other physical

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characters. Stanley is limited to pushing buttons and walking. He’s not completely alone though. His actions are guided by a mysterious narrator, voiced excellently by Kevan Brighting, through whom the game’s source of humour is delivered.

Strictly speaking, one could finish the game within seven or eight minutes. Once the player begins to ignore the commands of the narrator, the game begins to show its true colours. The Stanley Parable contains over a dozen endings, depending on how the player defies these orders.

These endings are incredibly varied in their delivery, each providing a tongue-in-cheek look at game design. Nearly every one of them is smartly written and funny, providing the player with a variety of set-pieces including a short trip into the world of Minecraft.

The less said about the game’s various endings the better as the enjoyment in The Stanley Parable comes from discovering the innovative ideas created

by Wreden and Pugh. Even the game’s achievement design pokes fun at the way games usually implement this feature.

It’s all wrapped in a straight-forward, Spartan visual style that still makes use of some of the graphical tricks in the Source Engine’s library. Players of the original mod should be aware that much of the material here is repeated, with only limited amounts of extra content added in.

The humour may also be less amusing if you don’t play a lot of games. Much of the game’s comedy comes from lampooning the arbitrary goals and choice-less stakes put forward by common game design.

Regardless, The Stanley Parable is a delightful exercise in humorous criticism. It’s a smart sendup of the various tropes and mechanics in the world of video games, one which will leave you wanting more.

Martin Healy

the fabric of the game’s narrative but also many of its core gameplay mechanics.

Using the system’s rear touchpad, players can push their fingers through thin sheets of paper to help rearrange platforms and beat on drums that act as propulsion devices for the protagonist, a personified envelope trying to deliver a message to you. The microphone, tilt sensor, and back facing camera all get ample usage too, in ways that are effortlessly grin inducing.

Overall Tearaway is a mechanical sound experience and a more tightly controlling affair than LittleBigPlanet. Combat is simple, but satisfying, and used in appropriate doses. While the developers are aware that the game’s talents are best illustrated through exploration and discovery instead. The only real issue in this regard is when camera placement takes on a more cinematic nature, making progression needlessly more difficult.

Tearaway’s visuals are utterly unique and a delight for the eyes that sticks to the paper motif

rigidly, with platforms folding over, peeling back, and popping up with a great degree of believability.

Media Molecule’s determination to play within the physical confines of their papery world is admirable.

The soundtrack’s wild yet cohesive variety, ranging from folksy flutes to glitchy dubstep and beyond, compliments and completes the surreal charm.

From beginning to end, Tearaway is a labour of love. It’s a simple, but hugely effective tale contemplating the reflexive nature of artistic creation and the importance of stories. A blurring of the divisions between the real and game worlds creates something of pure imagination in between.

This isn’t a game that feels obliged to offer challenge. Rather, it asks players to luxuriate and bask. Those who do so will be rewarded with a memorably joyful journey, one whose each step should be savoured.

Niall Gosker

It’s always developing in Philadelphia Andrei Marks from Cipher Prime Studios chats to Niall Gosker about the group’s innovative blending of games and music splice

we have mixed feelings about having done a Kickstarter for it [Duet], because now we have two thousand people who backed up who may have different ideas about timelines

auditorium

For most people music is passively experienced.

There’s no direct interaction between the listener and music source, which is why games based around musical experimentation, ones that break this long-standing rule, are often so compelling.

Philadelphia based independent developers Cipher Prime Studios have created for themselves a loyal following by playing with this convention, mixing deep musical immersion with exceptionally elegant and reactive visuals, resulting in an unmistakable style.

Cipher Prime had quite an unusual start, one that didn’t initially have video games in the business plan at all. Developer at the studio, Andrei Marks, explains its conception. “Cipher Prime started when the two co-founders, Will Stallwood and Dain Saint, met each other at a party, fell in love with each other’s work, and made a small business baby together.

“Cipher Prime was actually a web design and development company first”, Marks goes on to elaborate. “Auditorium, the game that really launched Cipher Prime as a game company, was initially meant to be a sort of digital business card. You know, to drive traffic to the site and get people interested. But it ended up being so successful on its own that Cipher Prime transitioned into just doing games full-time.”

It was a happy coincidence that led to unintended greatness. Auditorium’s unusual mixture of minimalistic visuals and auditory interaction would set the stage for much of the studio’s design philosophy going forward, as Marks explains. “We’re all very avid music listeners, and consider the meshing of audio and gameplay to be one of the more important parts of development.”

Given music’s prominence in all of their games so far, Cipher Prime is lucky to be blessed in this area with one of the finest talents in the industry, cofounder and composer Dain Saint. His melancholic, piano based soundtrack to 2012 biological puzzler Splice a particular highlight.

“He went to school for mechanical engineering, but he’s been playing the piano and other instruments ever since he was little. He’s really into exploring different genres, and has stepped into chiptunes, classical [the Splice soundtrack], jazz [the Shimsham soundtrack], dubstep [the Intake soundtrack], and a lot of other sorts of music that aren’t in our games.”

Of course audio is just one half of the presentational aspect that makes Cipher Prime Studios’ games such a sensory delight to engage with. “If the audio is Dain’s favourite child, then the visuals are Will’s baby. He’s a graphic designer by trade, and has his own criteria for what makes something aesthetically pleasing.

“Since Cipher Prime also started as not a game company, we think our standards for how a game should look are slightly different. And since we tend

to make abstract games, we also have a lot more freedom to explore our particular style.”

As the company consists of a small team they have more opportunities to experiment, the results of which often form the basis for their next full title.

“We make a lot of little prototypes on the side, both as a whole team, in pairs, triplets, and individually.

And sometimes it just so happens that we’ll make something that captures the imagination of everyone and we decide to run with it.”

Their independence is clearly something the team values very highly, but Marks is quick to point out that being an indie developer is very much a doubleedged sword scenario. “It means being able to set your own hours, working on whatever you want, and working with super fun and creative people. It also means being at a permanent marketing disadvantage and always worrying about money.”

Perhaps the most notable, and tangible, benefit of this freedom has been the opportunity to build and foster a real sense of community and camaraderie with both their fans and other local creators, with their weekly open door ‘Dev Night’ event.

“It started out as a couple of developer friends hanging out after work, half playing games and half motivating each other to finish their personal projects because, you know, personal projects never get finished. Then it turns out we had a lot more people in the local game dev community who were interested in hanging out.

“So we opened the event to the public, and we’ve met a lot of cool people and found that Philly has a lot of great talent that’s simply been isolated. Now we really look forward to Thursday nights, because we get to share our stuff and see what other people have been working on. It’s just a lot of fun.”

Cipher Prime is now set on creating a co-op sequel to the game that paved the way for Fractal, Splice, and most recently, Intake, with the ambitious Auditorium 2: Duet. It had a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012 and since then, development has been underway.

Marks concedes that it’s been slow going. “We are easily distractible people. And we will also admit that we’re slightly daunted by the thought of Duet.

“We want it to be the best of our games so far, like, by far. So we’re not rushing it, though now we have mixed feelings about having done a Kickstarter for it, because now we have two thousand people who backed up who may have different ideas about timelines.”

These two thousand backers are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the expectation surrounding the company’s next project; hopefully they won’t have too long to wait for this eagerly anticipated release.

For more information on the studio’s past, present, and future projects, visit www.cipherprime.com

shim sham

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Remaking bad

With Love/Hate’s US remake on the horizon, Matthew Hanrahan explores this growing trend in transatlantic programming

In November, Love/Hate writer Stuart Carolan announced that a US version of the gritty, Dublin gangland drama is in the works. Love/Hate is on a long list of European television shows with a cult following that have made the transatlantic switch.

That said, the majority of these shows herald from Britain and given the fact that so many are in English and could be watched by an American audience, is there any need for these remakes? Even if there is an argument to be made for them, one must ask, are they helping the quality of television as a whole?

Successful remakes have been few and far between, but they do exist; The Office is a shining example of how good a remake can be. The American version of the show outlasted the original three seasons with nine. As well as boasting longevity, the American version had some excellent episodes and also offered lighter comedy than its British counterpart.

The American counterpart’s decision to distance itself from the dark comedy of the original can be credited to producer, Greg Daniels. There was no attempt to recreate the original, but instead created a show with a similar premise upon which to build a full environment.

In terms of drama, Netflix’s House of Cards, a remake of the 1990 British original miniseries, has achieved critical success in its debut season.

Shot beautifully, its 13 hour first season can be considered an extended feature film, and while the remake has so far told similar stories, it does so with more complexity, dialogue in the style of Sorkin and with a much darker tone.

While The Office and House of Cards are two highly successful adaptations, overall the odds seem to be stacked against remakes. A seemingly high proportion of remakes fail in both a critical and a commercial sense and many don’t make it past the first season.

These failures are excellently illustrated by MTV’s attempt to adapt for American audiences two coming of age shows in the shape of The Inbetweeners and Skins. Both shows were unique in their own way of showcasing the many brutal lives of teenagers in the UK. Each remake levelled up the gloss and distanced themselves from the heartfelt and hilarious protagonists, thus losing their edge. The Inbetweeners and Skins remakes are both on the

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so-awful-it’s-embarrassing spectrum, each fittingly getting the axe after just a season.

A more thought out attempt at an adaptation was that of ABC’s remake of the BBC drama Life on Mars. The adaptation boasted excellent actors, featuring Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli, but this time fault lay with its failure to fully connect with the US audience. As a consequence it was not booked for a second season.

So, what separates the good remakes from the bad? The key to a good remake is not to try to emulate plot points or transfer specific elements of the show. There are so few remakes that compare favourably to the original because they instead try to recreate something that has already been done, and the product feels recycled and thus loses the edge that the original had.

The best remakes will treat the original as inspiring source material and in this way it can develop a show that is unique and original in its own way. As MTV have illustrated, the things that define a cult show in Britain and Ireland will not necessarily work in America because they are almost a different medium. In particular, British and Irish dialogue tends to be more honest and genuine, beyond the melodrama that often accompanies American prime time fare.

Although, this doesn’t really answer the question of the necessity for remakes. Does television really need to imitate itself? With the high rate of failure in the adaptation game, money would perhaps be better spent on funding brilliant originals like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Sopranos. It is not consistent to assert that a particular drama would be incomprehensible to a foreign audience because of its social context.

The success of American fare worldwide illustrates this contradiction. For example, The Wire as a show focused on a very particular time in a very particular place, dealing almost exclusively with local issues and dialects. While The Wire may be difficult to understand for non-Baltimore natives at the best of times, it endures as an international success.

Ultimately, the appearance of a quality transatlantic remake proves to be the exception to the rule. We are currently in what is widely regarded as a Golden Age for television, and any move towards a culture of remakes is simply a regression to an archaic formula for trying to create a hit that simply doesn’t work.

Rub of the Green Oscar-nominated director, Steph Green chats to Laura Bell about her reasons for settling down in Ireland, the generosity of Roddy Doyle and how directors apply their personal touch

“I’m trying to keep things very truthful, rooted and grounded, at a time where media can be about the biggest explosion or the weirdest thing or the bloodiest thing or the craziest thing. I’m more interested in the craziness and truisms of character.”

In an industry that is notoriously poisoned by greed and excess, filmmakers like Steph Green seem all too rare. Having earned herself an Oscar nomination for her short film New Boy in 2009, Green returns to our screens this year with her first foray into feature film, in the form of the sensitive and reflective Run and Jump.

Born and raised in America, Green studied Radio, Television and Film at Northwestern University before emigrating to Ireland in order to undertake a postgraduate degree in film theory from UCD. “I immediately loved being in Dublin,” she says. “I came over and studied film theory for a year and stayed for twelve.”

Green would return to America periodically in order to keep herself financially afloat, working as an assistant to director Spike Jonze, who is perhaps best known for the comically mind-bending Being John Malkovich, as well as HBO’s Alan Poul, a producer and director behind a number of critically acclaimed dramas including Six Feet Under and The Newsroom. “I nurtured a commercial career in the US while creating a cultural one in Ireland. Ireland was always where the storytelling bug originated.”

Green’s first short film took the form of 2001’s Copywrite, which she used as a base for her initial major learning curve. “I was interested in the relationship between a writer and their subject and that complicated love affair.” More than a decade on, she admits to Otwo that it was a learning experience; an exercise in creative restraint. “I was trying to fit all my dreams of an opus into a short…

Copywrite was incredibly over-complicated for a short film.”

Her second short, Push Hands, followed in 2004 and hit the barrier at the other end of the spectrum; a deliberately and decisively simple production that chronicled the relationship between a teenage graffiti artist and Chinese Tai Chi master. Green admits that it wasn’t until the hugely successful New Boy that she feels she found her voice and personal equilibrium as a filmmaker.

The accolades and rave reviews that were lavished upon the 11-minute drama certainly reflected this creative growth. In addition to its Oscar nomination, New Boy swept the short film category at film festivals around the globe. At the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008 it was described as “moving, funny, and powerful… New Boy took us on a complete emotional journey.”

Based on the short story by Roddy Doyle, New Boy deals with the experience of a young African boy in an Irish primary school. Conscious of the difficulty inherent in funding short films, Doyle generously gave the story to Green and her team for the kingly sum of one euro, “with the caveat of that if we didn’t make any money from this, we would pay him something slightly more deserved.”

The collaboration ultimately proved itself to be magic; Green describes it as, “The perfect situation where a writer is able to share their work with a young director.” With New Boy, the production crew had the advantage of being able to follow the structure of the original story and simply adapt it to a more visual medium. In this sense, Run and Jump therefore presented a risk and a deviation from Green’s tried and tested formula.

Starring Will Forte of Saturday Night Live fame, Run and Jump tells the story of an Irish family who must adapt their lives when the father suffers a stroke and a consequent personality change. Forte features as an American psychologist who moves in with the family in order to research his condition.

A look or touch or subtle expression can have such a ripple effect in a person’s life … I love the use of films to show facial expressions

“The writing of the screenplay by Ailbhe Keogan was so idiosyncratic, honest, and really truthful,” Green says. “All of that was because it was her first screenplay. It wasn’t subscribing to traditional media structure… There was this great truthfulness to the script.”

The story is personal and the setting intimate, a luxury Green believes the Irish setting affords her vision. Hollywood studio politics are the least of her interests. An Oscar nomination can open a lot of doors for Green, but they all lead back to her home in Ireland.

“What’s nice about Ireland is its encouragement of expression with less resources than you might expect. I think Irish audiences are very sophisticated.

It’s a storytelling culture, Ireland lives for the joke, for the clever turn of phrase.

“Irish people take time to have that conversation with you and greet you as a human being before ever going into the business side. In Ireland there’s this priority on story. Hollywood has this obsession with business.”

Ultimately, Green is always conscious of portraying intimacy and of applying her personal touch. It’s clear from viewing her work that she respects the power of the visual and non-verbal. Her director’s eye pushes beyond explanatory dialogue and space filling chit-chat in order to unearth the incredible, if subtle, descriptive power of body language.

“A look or touch or subtle expression can have such a ripple effect in a person’s life… I love the use of films to show facial expressions. To show the emotion in relationships that tie us together as humans.”

These aspects of her character shape what type of director she is and helps Green stand out from the rest of the crowd, which ties into her advice for budding film makers. “I think there’s a lot of pressure: have a distinctive style, or you’re not going to get anywhere. I think that can be distracting from figuring out what you want to say. If you say it from your gut, then it will have a distinctive style.”

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film reviews

Inside Llewyn Davis When exploring the past trajectory of the Coen brothers, it is obvious that the same themes such as the pursuit of security, identity and wealth have always shone through. Their male protagonists become figures of tragedy as their lives unravel around the attempted achievement of these goals.

For Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), the protagonist of Inside Llewyn Davis, his unravelling is the direct shaming of that identifying theme, pursuing the inexplicably fine line between true artistic expression and the careerist mentalities he derides.

The plot is based on the life of Dave Van Ronk, a member of the acoustic folk revival of the 1960s, who many saw as the perfect embodiment of what the Greenwich Village scene was all about. Bob Dylan famously admitted to having copied some of his recordings phrase for phrase to fully understand the feel and energy of the folk style.

The film follows Davis in the week following the suicide of his musical partner Mike (Marcus Mumford), as Davis struggles not only with the uncertainty of his personal relationships, but also his internal struggle with continuing as an artist as he witnesses his friend’s continued successes.

The cinematography in Inside Llewyn Davis is a blended and cold palette of greys and whites, all intercut between the luminous yellows of the New York lights, and the reclusive and reserved stage.

Bruno Delbonnel creates a microcosm of expression

Director Joel and Ethan Coen Starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman Release Date 24th of January

In the Name Of

The concept of a homosexual priest torn between his faith and his sexuality is not necessarily an original motif, yet Malgorzata Szumowska’s latest work succeeds in providing a more intimate and surprisingly complex perspective on this highly delicate subject than perhaps has ever been seen before on film.

With the horrors of past child abuse crimes committed by members of the church coming to light in the last decade, it would have been all too easy to create a film centred on the evil paedophiliac priest preying on vulnerable young boys. Instead, Szumowska sensitively portrays a man facing a deep internal struggle and prompts the question as to where the line between predator and a man merely looking for a deeper human connection is drawn.

Andrzej Chyra plays Father Adam, the conflicted parish priest of a backwater Polish community where he has opened up a reformative centre for troubled young men. Here he works side by side with pious layman Michal (Lukasz Simlat) in teaching the boys respect and responsibility through physical labour and comradeship with great results, earning Father Adam the recognition and admiration of his bishop.

His barely concealed alcoholism and growing sense of isolation within the sprawling countryside threaten to become his undoing.

Particularly when he begins to find himself emotionally drawn to the Christ-like teenage figure of Lukasz (Mateusz Kosciukiewicz). Here, Father Adam is man teetering on the edge of priestly responsibility and personal longing.

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Temptation lies everywhere, from the bottles of alcohol smuggled by the boys into the camp to the sexual advances made towards him by Michal’s dissatisfied wife Ewa (Maja Ostaszewska) to whom he wryly replies. “I’m taken.”

Szumowska is non-judgemental of her protagonist’s emotional conflict. In fact, Father Adam is as sympathetic a character as possible, embodying the difference between paedophilia and homosexuality.

Father Adam is not a predator; rather he is man who stands to lose everything by giving into his sexual longings. Lukasz and Father Adam are two lonely souls who manage to find in one another something that could bring them a forbidden happiness.

Michel Englert’s stellar cinematography explores the duality of the bright sun-dappled world of community and human connection, which becomes suffocating as the film progresses, and the dark, blue-tinted world of church-enforced isolation.

Szumowska only ever touches on the willingness of the church to turn a blind eye to its own discrepancies. The narrative’s main focus never strays far from Father Adam. This film is not a social or political critique, but an immensely moving story of longing and human connection.

In a nutshell A decisively thoughtful and visually stimulating depiction of a man’s struggle to conciliate his religious belief with his sexuality.

Ellen Murray

Director Malgorzata Szumowska Starring Andrzej Chyra, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Lukasz Simlat, Maja Ostaszewska Release Date January 24th

in his relationship with the compositions of Marcus Mumford and T-Bone Burnett.

The film’s primary achievement is how it tackles the many views of artistic expression in relation to success. What allowed people to emerge from the scene was people such as Davis. He is infatuated with pure expression and inherently disgusted by the corporate nature that exists at the higher levels.

The music of Inside Llewyn Davis cannot be understated, its use as a medium of storytelling is fully on display and utilised by the Coen’s in often subtle and devastating revelations. Songs pop up again and again, with a distinct audio narrative becoming apparent. Its use of non-linear storytelling ensures that like any good folk song, when you relieve previously witnessed moments, you see them in a faltered and changed light.

Despite a male dominated cast, the most intriguing storyline is that of Jean (Carey Mulligan), who appears through Davis’ eyes as deeply resentful and deceitful. As the film and its soundtrack moves on, we see her at once as a survivor and someone who craves success to her own detriment.

In a nutshell A slow burner with an incredible awareness and modern outlook of its source materials ability to combine and make a work of incredible depth and character.

The Armstrong Lie Top 10 Mindless Action Movies

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Bad Boys

How could we forget the king of “screw it, blow something up”? Michael Bay’s buddy cop, witness protection, gunshot medley had to feature if only because it gave Simon Pegg the line, “There is no way you can perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork.”

9 8 7 6 Director Alex Gibney Starring Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Betsy Andreu, Michele Ferrari Release Date January 31st

The controversial career of cyclist Lance Armstrong, from beating cancer to his muchmaligned doping scandal, makes a fine setup for a big-screen documentary of purpose and form.

Seasoned documentary-maker Alex Gibney, a man who has covered topics ranging from Enron to Hunter S. Thompson, provides a safe pair of hands to create an interesting documentary for those not entirely knowledgeable in the saga surrounding Lance Armstrong.

Structurally, the story surrounding The Armstrong Lie is an interesting one. It immediately opens to the modern day explosion surrounding Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. From there the audience looks on as the famous Oprah interview unfolds, before being taken back to Armstrong’s humble beginnings.

Later in the film, the events take a turn during Armstrong’s comeback during the 2009 Tour de France. It partially turns into the original documentary Gibney made before details of Armstrong’s cheating became common knowledge.

This realisation becomes the film’s most interesting section that provides a great profile of Armstrong’s character once that doubt is allowed to sink in.

The documentary itself is a solid, well-crafted piece of film in regard to cinematography, with plenty of shots of summertime French countryside alongside the drier, bolder interview sections. There are wide arrays of interviewees from both sides of the Armstrong case.

Despite a slight American slant, the film still fits in voices of varying opinions from around the world of cycling. There are a number of interesting

anecdotes about the degree of Armstrong’s team doping techniques, as well as an intriguing profile on former team doctor Michele Ferrari.

The difference between the scenes of the original comeback documentary and the newer, revised documentary helps this film stand out from run of the mill works. Interviews of Armstrong are used from both 2009 and 2013 to great effect, allowing a full understanding of the character under scrutiny.

The audience experiences two sides of the titular figure, one who is still adamant about his non-doping stance and a defeated figure who has admitted to the lies. It provides an interesting experience for the viewer, allowing us the two contrasting sides of the once lauded figure.

A large portion of one’s enjoyment of this documentary can stem from your prior knowledge of Armstrong’s career. The film breezes over much of Armstrong’s glory years, meaning most cycling fans should already be well-versed in the subject matter, leaving some parts of the film seeming slightly redundant.

Nonetheless, The Armstrong Lie is another solid documentary from the productive Alex Gibney.

Lance Armstrong had a controversial yet intriguing career all the same, providing ample material for a good two hours of film.

In a nutshell A comprehensive documentary for those are interested in observing the career of Lance Armstrong just prior to his downfall Martin Healy

5 4 3 2 1

Die Hard

Bruce Willis is stuck in a building with terrorists and takes it upon himself to kill all of them, loudly. It’s tense and he’s got a great catchphrase.

Predator

Some manly men and a brave woman get trapped in the jungle only to be hunted by high-tech warrior aliens. Muscly montages, crushing aliens with trees, and Schwarzenegger icing himself in mud; a classic 80s action flick.

Taken

Liam Neeson beats an impossible amount of inept bad guys to death (or worse) in the search for his missing daughter. It is utterly breath-taking to see how many ways Neeson can break someone’s arm. A ‘cracking’ film.

Fast 5

The Fast & Furious was always a quality franchise, but this installation had The Rock in it! There are lots of cars driving very fast and loud and guns being held sideways. There’s also a wonderful moment when The Rock breaks a man’s neck with a laconic flick of the wrist. Pure, nitrous infused adrenaline.

Kung Fu Hustle

A Wild West-style martial arts flick that does not take itself seriously, ever. With a Road Runner-esque chase scene, an angry old lady in curlers, musician assassins, and an incredibly effective technique named ‘frog style,’ who needs a plot?

Showdown In Little Tokyo

Prepare yourself for exaggerated violence and terrible dialogue as Dolph Lundgren and Bruce Lee’s son Brandon battle the Yakuza. Lee’s comment to Lundgren is a highlight.

“You have the biggest dick I’ve ever seen on a man.”

Marked For Death

Steven Seagal seeks revenge on his partner’s murderer, a Jamaican voodoo worshipping drug lord called Screwface, killing a morgue-load of other people in the process. Picture Seagal stabbing a man with a machete, then breaking his neck and throwing him down an elevator shaft. Life, or death, doesn’t get much better.

The Expendables

If this movie were a gun, it would be a bazooka firing 1,000 rounds per minute. Sylvester Stallone, along with a team of joyful murderers, kills a whole island worth of people for money. Classic.

Police Story

So many were injured in this film’s production that they couldn’t get insurance for a sequel. Jackie Chan stars as a policeman trying to clear his name by sliding down 80 foot poles, using a motorcycle as a weapon, exiting a moving bus using an umbrella, and ultimately, breaking his back during filming. Otwo recommends the dubbed version.

Aaron Murphy

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“It’s impossible to recreate that first album” From awkward teenage beginnings to lesser floundering twenties, Suren de Saram and Jamie MacColl of Bombay Bicycle Club sit down with Rebekah Rennick to discuss the Road to V competition, allowing personality into their records and their journey thus far

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There were those slightly snide comments about the fact that we were quite young

Looking at early snapshots of London based band Bombay Bicycle Club, what was most striking about the quartet at that time was the coy, candid youth that permeated through their clumsy poses and bashful smiles.

Back in 2006, following their triumph on Channel 4’s Road To V competition, these four school friends looked as though they stumbled straight from festival tent to stage. And at just sixteen, this may very well have been the case. “Going back to school after [performing at V Festival] was a funny one,” remembers resident drummer, Suren de Saram.

“There’s loads of young musicians out there now, like Lorde who seems really articulate and knows what she’s talking about, but at that age we didn’t have a clue and we were so bad at doing interviews and so awkward,” adds guitarist Jamie MacColl, with a slightly pained expression.

“It’s gotten a bit better now. Just. The music wasn’t that good either so I think we definitely needed some time to grow and evolve.”

Seven years on it’s difficult to imagine what those group of bumbling teenagers would have thought had you said that in 2014 they would be four albums deep in their prolific, ever-growing career.

Bombay Bicycle Club’s first full installment, I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose, is a bubblying cooking pot of pubescent angst and suppressed frustration with tracks such as ‘What If’ and ‘Autumn’ pained with indecision; while ‘The Hill’ paces with a racing teenage heart.

“When we were growing up, around fifteen or sixteen,” explains MacColl, “That was when indie music was very big again so we were very influenced by a lot of stuff around.”

During the interval years, Bombay Bicycle Club have meandered from such early beginnings,

dipped into acoustic territories and continued to morph musically at such a rate that would make any acclaimed artist break into a cold sweat. “Well, I don’t think we have a particularly good work ethic so I don’t really know how it has happened,” chuckles MacColl when confronted about their world circa 2008. creative output.

With new album So Long, See You Tomorrow, “I think the fact that we were kind of changing sounds for each album made it easier as well. It elements of each member’s personality will be felt. wasn’t like we were trying to rehash old ideas or “Jack does pretty much all the writing, but in other trying to do the same thing over and over again, senses we’ve had to be more involved because which is a trap that is quite easy to fall into because in the past we’ve been making it ourselves, it’s you soon realise you don’t have that much to write probably been far more democratic then before,” about.” says MacColl.

As MacColl explains, “It’s impossible to recreate The intricacy and depth of thought instilled in that first album you do, as you’ve had your whole each album is palpable the moment you switch on life to make it and also, particularly for us because any one of Bombay’s records. A Different Kind Of it was an album about being young and it was very Fix, swoops and swirls from one track to the next, much about a specific time in our lives, we can’t allowing the listener to feel as though they’re on try and recreate being a teenager. Well, unless you the same rushing journey as these four London want to be like Blink 182, but they do quite a good boys. job of that.”

A Different Kind of Fix also saw Warwickshire Yet, attempting to break the music scene at the native Lucy Rose and her tinkling vocals step on age they did didn’t come without it’s disadvantages. board. The infusing, hypnotic coupling of Steadman While their audience continues to swell each year and Rose was the product that followed after Lucy and the efficacious nature of their creativity has approached the band individually at one of their proven to be far more robust than many bands that gigs. “She came along to an acoustic gig we did a have come and gone before, alongside and after while ago in London and gave Jack her demo CD them, dismissive perceptions by dusty critics hit at the end,” explains de Saram. “She said for him home at the time. to listen to it, and he did, and thought their voices “You’ll see even if you read reviews of our first would blend really nicely together.” album, there were those slightly snide comments The inclusion of not only outside vocals but song about the fact that we were quite young,” samples plucked from what seems like obscurity remembers MacColl, who it seems, couldn’t resist has become a trademark Bombay Bicycle Club but indulge in some reviews. characteristic. Between records, Steadman has “It really upset me at the time actually, but I plunged into the culture of numerous countries, realise subsequently that it doesn’t really matter notably the Netherlands, Turkey and India. that much in the grand scheme of things. It’s only Globetrotting certainly suits the internal one person’s opinion.” landscape of Jack’s creativity as the product of Bespectacled lead vocalist, Jack Steadman is which, So Long, See You Tomorrow contains both the navigator in this musical journey. Outwardly nuances of the last record and new, fresh sprinkles composed, Steadman’s warbling, falsetto enfused of oriental melodics and rhythmic beats. vocals and penchant for experimentation is what “It’s a bit of a continuation from the last album, seperated Bombay Bicycle Club from the saturable states MacColl. “Songs like ‘Light Out...’ and ‘Shuffle’ wave of indie bands that crashed into our music where it’s electonic and light instrument and more

The music wasn’t that good either so I think we definitely needed some time to grow and evolve

“I think the way of making music is more important, like with hip hop and dance music and how that’s just repetitive loops and dance samples, that’s had some influence.”

In today’s musical hemisphere, it seems as though as one band comes another gets pushed aside in the media machine. Bombay Bicycle Club have very much remained individually poised in the madness, both cool and collected, which has allowed them to now ride precariously on the cusp of extreme success.

The real beauty that surrounds this foursome is that each fan feels as though they know them personally, only an invite away from joining the group in the pub. This is evident in their decision to embark on a small Irish tour that encompassed towns including Limerick, Kilkenny and Dublin, dancey are still there. ‘Carry Me’ is probably one of “There was one gig in Killarney,” says de Saran. the exceptions of the album really because it’s quite “Which was an unusual environment because everyone was seated, around tables like in a jazz aggressive and in your face, while the rest is more club.” light-hearted and upbeat.”

“It was like a sort of Las Vegas show,” continues Yet, their drive for perfection is evident as de Saram confirms, “I think we were much tougher this MacColl. “The sitting down gig was my favourite actually, I like a challenge. Everyone was standing time round on ourselves then we have been in the past. We didn’t want there to be any weak songs on up by the end.” This open outlook and amusement at such events keeps their feet firmly on the ground the album. and it’s difficult to see how you couldn’t imagine “We wanted to have a bigger pool of songs to them as your best mates. choose from because in the past we have kind of If you’re lucky enough to have followed just had eleven or twelve songs and they’ve all just Bombay Bicycle Club from the very beginning, gone on the record. I think it’s the most consistent album we’ve made. I don’t think, personally, there’s you’ll understand the soundtrack they’ve created any filler on it. So, we’ve reached the goals we have for many listeners, from teenage regrets to more mature thought processes. set I guess.”

Yet, is there any bit of wisdom MacColl could With past singles transforming into disclose to his coy 16-year-old self? “Just be less encapsulating moments of euphoria and summer awkward and better at interviews,” chuckles sentiments, perfectly moulded for festival MacColl. The innocence of those times is something performances; the three tracks thus released best untouched and what made us fall in love with contain another layer of intimacy.

Bombay in the first place. “It’s always been fun Steadman’s vocals shiver-inducingly whisper though and I think that’s the most important thing in your ear on ‘It’s Alright Now’, while ‘Luna’ sees for us. I don’t think we would want to have done it the cacophony of thrashing instruments carry you any other way.” to a new high. “People have been asking about influences on our latest album and it’s kind of just an amalgamation of everything we’ve been Bombay Bicycle Club’s new album So Long, See You listening to,” says MacColl.

Tomorrow is out on February 3rd.

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Naked ambition Jesse Wood and Alisa Xayalith of The Naked and Famous take a few minutes to chat to Dónal Ó Catháin about keeping their clothes on while overcoming ‘second-season syndrome’

definitely a lot of albums that I could probably sing “Everybody wants to be naked and famous,” from start to finish that my parents played when groans English artist Tricky. This line expresses an they were younger, but I couldn’t necessarily say ambiguous view on becoming a celebrity, which, that they’re my favourite or are inspirational in any fatalistically, a triad of Kiwi musicians at the time deemed to be a sufficiently intriguing sentiment for way,” says Wood.

‘Punching In A Dream’, one of the best-known a band name. songs from their first album, explores worries about Six years later, now a quintet, the real life failure. Yet, such fears have not been met by the experiences of Thom Powers and company group themselves, far from it. Both their albums have led them to understand the true nature of have performed remarkably well in their native celebrity. One of the biggest bands New Zealand country. has had to offer the world of rock since Crowded Their first, Passive Me, Aggressive You, released House, and with a deuce of albums and a whole load of touring under their collective belt, The in 2010 topped the New Zealand charts, while In Naked and Famous can reflect on their beginning Rolling Waves, their more recent offering launched with real perspective. in late 2013 breached the top five. Xayalith remarks, Resident drummer Jesse Wood feels that “Nothing can prepare you for something like that. I growing up in Auckland failed to make a significant literally feel like we were catapulted out of New impact on their musical inclinations. “Apart from Zealand.” the desire not to work a full time job … and [to] do Performing in the land next to that down under music instead.” is not too daunting an undertaking according to Alisa Xayalith, the keyboard player and vocalist Wood, “In New Zealand, it only takes four or five adds, “Because we grew up in suburbia, music has shows to tour the country and then you’re done”, always been a vessel of escape. So creating music but the group’s domestic success was followed by creates that world for you to live in.” demand for live shows around the globe.

Similarly, the pair doubts that the music they Xayalith calls her mind back to the first were exposed to in their youth had any great effect international show we did in late 2010 in Manchester. on what the band have produced thus far. “There’s “Singing every night was such a shock to my body

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We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into and that for the next two years of our lives we’re not going to have a house and we were going to be living out of suitcases and do 200 or however many shows there was

that I got laryngitis. So, it was pretty taxing. Nothing just writing us stories and experiences. We always respond to them though ‘cause it’s so nice having can prepare you for that extreme concentrated that interaction.” touring and press.”

Wood also speaks tentatively about second Wood concludes, “We had no idea what we were album syndrome. “I wish no one had introduced getting ourselves into and that for the next two me to that… it wouldn’t have popped into my head years of our lives we’re not going to have a house and we were going to be living out of suitcases and every time we reached a little hurdle we had to get through. It was all very much internal pressure from do 200 or however many shows there was.” us in the band. It wasn’t like we were all freaking Critical acclaim came alongside commercial out because someone out there was saying success for the group. They made the BBC list of ‘Where’s the next massive hit?’”

2011, yet modesty prevails as Xayalith recalls, “I Thom Powers, the band’s frontman, appears to had no idea that it was this kind of prestigious lead their individualistic inclinations, once admitting list. Same with the NME award, we had no idea he could never bring himself to take a selfie, what this award meant. So, naïve and completely somewhat disgusted by the social media platform unaware, but I think there’s a charm and beauty prevalent in today’s generation. Yet, Wood poses a to that.” profound question on the matter: “To selfie, or not In spite of the rockstar status and touring to selfie?” one for all of us to ruminate over this lifestyle, the band has maintained a level head coming year. and have not neglected their individual fans. This “We’re just beginning,” proclaims Xayalith, “Here’s firm rooting to the ground contrasts starkly from to the next year and a half in a suitcase!” That’s the dreamy heights to which their psychedelic pop good news, because, as far as Otwo is concerned, ascends. “When we were writing the album [In Rolling Waves], because we weren’t in any scene, listening to this band is the most fun you can have we weren’t really concerned with partying,” says with your clothes on.

Xayalith.

Wood fondly mentions how they’re “forever The Naked and Famous’ latest studio album, In clearing our Facebook inbox account with people Rolling Waves, is out now.

Darlings of Irish music Musing about musical blueprints, working with an all-time great and chicken nuggets, Gary Harding of Dublin based group Darling speaks to Stephen Larkin

We said to ourselves once the first EP comes out its all guns blazing and don’t hold back, just go for it. So that’s what we’ve done

Curly haired, casual and loose, Gary Harding, one knew we had something, it was just about trying to half of the unique song writing team that makes refine it as much as we possibly could for it to be as up Darling, doesn’t let on that he’s in a band on good as it possibly could.” the tip of making it. Harding, along with James Taking that on board, they set up shop in north McGuire, formed Darling following the end of their Dublin and started to learn from the masters. previous band The Kinetiks, and ever since the two “Anyone from Burt Bacharach to Julian Casablancas have been hard at work refining their song writing and everyone in between,” Harding explains. talents. “[We] critically listened to stuff, the albums that Playing around the Dublin music scene seems to we love and try and figure out why we liked them have helped the duo suss out a direction that they so much and what was it about them that made wanted to go in. “Once we had finished with The them like so appealing to us. Was it the chorus?

Kinetiks, we said that there were bits of that we Was it the verses? Was it the riffs, the style, the thought were great and other bits we weren’t so approach or the sound of it? We just went through it keen on. So, let’s just do all the stuff we enjoyed out with a toothcomb.” of that” says Harding.

With all that in mind, the two went about writing “Definitely being in bands and travelling around songs, trying to find the right direction. About picking up cool little bits and bobs around the place ‘Echoes’, their first single and also one of their demos. lets you know you’re on the right track. Like, we Harding says, “’Echoes’ was the first time we sat

back and were like ‘Yeah this is what we wanna do.’

Big pop songs, huge choruses like something you could imagine people in a field going ‘Echoes!’ that sort of thing.”

Their demos caught the attention of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Jeff Beck producer Stephen Lipson, who took the band over to England to record their EP. “He definitely gave us confidence. The stuff we did ourselves we didn’t really re-record a lot of it, it was more just him sprinkling a bit of magic on it.

“He’s great at adding a percussion element or a little bit of synth or a splash of electronics here and there. We went to him because we wanted him to bring something to the table, we didn’t want to just go over and get a fancier sounding recording of what we had, we wanted something else to happen.”

With their first single ‘Echoes’ released last October and their latest single, ‘Sailing Away’ going

to radio this week, it’s hard to imagine that the band didn’t exist a little over a year ago.

“We spent a long time behind the scenes working away, getting the live band together and figuring out every aspect of what we wanna be, kind of how we wanted to be portrayed. So we’ve done a lot of the donkey work,” says Harding. “We said to ourselves, ‘Once the first EP comes out its all guns blazing and don’t hold back, just go for it’. So that’s what we’ve done.”

As a former UCD student, Harding remembers his time with fondness, especially the student bar. “I remember seeing a lot of tribute bands and that kinda stuff. Don’t think I saw anyone decent, well probably Republic of Loose, those kinda bands. But it was a good spot, the food was nice. You could get like your chicken nuggets and chips for a fiver like Happy Days.”

Harding also remembers returning to play the bar. “I was probably two or three years out of there.

I think we played with the Blizzards, I don’t know what it was for. Some student night or something, but it was good fun. Playing for students is always great craic.”

In the meantime, Darling have their eyes on upcoming shows. “The main one we’re working towards at the minute is in the Academy this February”.

As a band now fully recovered and moved on from their last creative venture, Darling has really pushed all they can and it’s paying off dividends for them. They are fully on their way to becoming the darlings of the Irish top tier.

Darling play the Academy 2 on the 7th of February.

Tickets are available from ticketmaster.ie

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Spreading the rumour

Christian Zucconi, lead singer of American indie rock band Grouplove, speaks to Sean Hayes about travelling through Crete, the fickleness of modern society and the close-knit energy that his bandmates have crafted There is a great sense of teamwork, camaraderie and support among the members of Grouplove, an American alternative rock/pop band whose sound lead singer Christian Zucconi paradoxically describes as both “bombastic” and “cathartic.”

This bond comes from the fact each member is so heavily involved with every aspect of the group, from writing, recording and performing to the artwork and merchandising. “We’ve all put in thousands of hours,” recounts Zucconi.

“Hannah especially is always doing double duty, in terms of singing and writing in the band, and also handling all the art. Just as Ryan [Rabin] does double duty with drumming and song writing with everyone, and then he also produces everything.

It’s crazy.”

Despite not being together for too long, the band have already released two albums and one EP in the space of three years. “It’s hard to remember, in the last two or three years, when we weren’t on the road. But even when you’re home, there’s still a lot of stuff going on, getting ready for the next tour, production, writing.”

The relentless touring and work ethic has paid off as the band has gone from strength to strength.

The group has supported Florence and the Machine, co-headlined with Foster The People and played sets at Lollapalooza, Glastonbury and Coachella. “It’s kind of consumed our lives for the last four years.

It’s been awesome, but it is sort of consuming.”

The band weren’t always so close-knit. Zucconi credits Matt Wessen’s older brother, Andrew, for the formation of the band. “He visited Hannah’s studio one day in New York City to buy a painting, but instead of buying a painting, he invited her to his residency in Crete and that kind of started it all.

That’s when Hannah and I met and we all journeyed out there without knowing each other to this small village in Crete.”

Zucconi admits that they are much closer now, and believes it shows in their latest record, Spreading Rumours, when compared to their earlier efforts.

“We really got to know each other a lot more. We just finally got to settle in, rally around each other and get comfortable with each other musically and become even better friends and musicians.”

The band has become known for their energetic and dynamic performances. They aim to capture this live energy and emotion in their studio recordings. “We wanted to take that live energy of our live set and just put it into the studio. We record everything live. The fans who keep coming back still get a really high energy.”

It is the fans who also continue to push the members of Grouplove to strive for new levels of creativity and artistry. The band recently released a series of animated art videos, featuring their music.

Zucconi believes “it was a cool idea to give snippets of the songs. You’re always trying to think of new ways to keep fans engaged and keep their attention.

You’ve got to come up with cool stuff. People are always so scatterbrained nowadays.”

It is this fickleness in society that inspired the title of their latest record. “We were all talking about how nobody really communicates through word of mouth as they used to. We wanted the songs to take on the quality of rumour and conversation, people talking about our shows, to idealise that time again when people would just talk.”

Released earlier this year, a highlight of the group’s success was captured in the documentary I’m With You, which records a week in the band’s sold-out SeeSaw Tour in New York City. “It was really awesome. It happened over three days as part of our tour.

“Instead of doing a big venue tour, we went to very intimate shows. We did an acoustic night one night and an electric night the next, so our fans

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Hannah especially is always doing double duty, in terms of singing and writing in the band, and also handling all the art

could see both sides of the band. We’re very happy to share the full story. People can really see how it all began.”

While being a member of this up-and-coming band clearly takes a lot of time, Zucconi explains that he still sets aside time to enjoy other music. Whether that’s catching a sight of his favourite bands while Down Under at the Big Day Out festival on the Gold Coast of Australia or listening to the classics.

“I’ll never not listen to the classics, like Bjork and the Pixies, you’ve got to tune into that. Right now, I’m listening to a lot of the bands that we tour with, who are our contemporaries, at least in terms of our music; Caged The Elephant’s new record, for example. Young The Giant have just released a new record too. A lot of cool bands have records out now, and it’s cool to kind of delve into them and not just hear the single.”

If Grouplove are anything to go by, the age old formula for success, determination, ambition, talent and a bit of luck, is clearly working.

Grouplove’s newest album, Spreading Rumours, will be released on the 14th of February and they play the Academy on the 16th of February. Tickets are available on ticketmaster.ie.

album reviews

Canterbury Dark Days

Bruce Springsteen High Hopes

Following their sophomore album Heavy in the Day, British four-piece Canterbury have returned with their third instalment, Dark Days. This latest offering sees the group’s sound evolve into a faster paced and much edgier tone than that of their previous records.

The stadium aura of this album is obvious from the outset. First track, ‘Expensive Imitation’, that has a crashing guitars sound alongside strings that explode into a headbanging riff, could serve as the opener of an arena performance, with a chorus no enthusiastic crowd could resist. From this, the follow up track ‘All My Life’, boasts a heartier core driven by layered vocals and a robust guitar sound.

The album’s incorporation of different genres further proves that Canterbury have taken profound maturing steps in their musical inclinations. The repetitive vocal style and chord progressions on the piano of ‘Hold Your Own’ entwine the track with unmistakeable bluesy undertones, while ‘Satellite’ has the potential to be the commercial hit of this album. It’s likely, however, that its infectious pop punk sound will resonate more with younger listeners.

In fact, despite the band’s maturation, the album is still caught up in juvenile angst. This is particularly clear from the lyrics, such as those of ‘By the Trail’, which come dangerously close to cliché.

Nevertheless, Dark Days has proven that Canterbury has the potential to achieve the success that comes with age.

In A Nutshell A promising album from a band who still have time to grow up

One could describe Springsteen’s eighteenth installment, High Hopes, as a musical collage; a collection of once electrifying live exclusives, and re-recorded staple pieces.

While it may not be an essential Springsteen album, High Hopes certainly features an interesting array of the 64-years-old’s past and present sounds, interjected with fresh energy from Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello.

While title track ‘High Hopes’ is a lively introduction, it is lackluster at that. In this respect, it’s an advantage that this album lacks the cohesion that has been a tenacious characteristic of Springsteen’s past works.

If one track fails to excite, you’re guaranteed the following track will be completely different. Long time fans will find this album nostalgic, while younger fans will appreciate this neat package containing a broad view of Springsteen’s catalogue.

What is most interesting about this album is its “variety bag” set up of Springsteen’s past and brief experimentations. For example, the track ‘Heaven’s Wall’ gives a nod to gospel music while elsewhere you can find elements of folk. In ‘Frankie Fell in Love’, his penchant for storytelling prevails.

Highlights include ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’, on which Tom Morello is a much-appreciated addition and ‘Dream Baby Dream’ which is on the verge of being a lullaby, while remaining true to Springsteen’s style.

In A Nutshell A vintage goodie bag that’s worth the journey of nostalgia for Springsteen’s dearest followers, but difficult to digest for any newcomers

Warpaint Warpaint

Taken as a complete entity, Warpaint’s self-titled second album, Warpaint, presents a confident and proficient group of musicians treading familiar pastures. This should not be read as an endorsement to omit Warpaint from your list of compulsory things to listen to in the new year, as even the most seasoned listener will inform you that the Los Angeles quartet’s soulful, luxuriant brand of dream pop is a realm that one can repeatedly indulge in.

‘Intro’, the aptly titled opener, works as a false start to the album. The anguished postrock strings and drums barely reach a crescendo when they are interrupted by an apology in the middle, before resuming and dissipating into ‘Keep It Healthy’.

‘Love Is To Die’, the album’s first single, is easily the catchiest track on the record. It is also the darkest, weaving a sordid tale of regret and fatalistic romance. This song, as well as the last two, is left to Theresa Wayman’s curious, insinuating melodies to soften the flinty edges, providing tantalizing glimpses of hope in an otherwise brooding concoction.

The most consistently gratifying component of the entire record is the handiwork of drummer Stella Mozgawa. This is especially present in the propulsive dance number ‘Disco//Very’, which conjures up the bouncing nightscapes of later LCD Soundsystem jingles and the stumbling ‘Go In’.

James Vincent McMorrow Post Tropical

With his second instalment, Dubliner James Vincent McMorrow has seamlessly moved away from his staple guitar-driven folk brand and slipped into newer territories. As nuances of his falsetto-tinged beginnings are still very much evident in ‘Post Tropical’, it’s clear the artist has blossomed.

While comparisons with Justin Vernon are inevitable and over-analysed in most regards, their similarities lie in their outstanding composition.

However, McMorrow unleashes songs that are larger and more instrumentally inflated as evident in the track ‘All Points’, than the somewhat stark pictures painted by Vernon.

The mixture of the organ and synth in ‘Cavalier’ and ‘The Lakes’, the opening tracks on this ten-track album, create the melancholy undertone that permeates the album. There is a strength and sense of optimism to the music, undoubtedly felt on ‘All Points’. However, this is one of the album’s downfalls as it begins to sound too familiar. The triumphant choruses begin to blend into one another, but do create a theme within the album.

McMorrow creates a flowing, vivid world with his music, drawing us into a warm embrace and leaving them unforgettably beautiful. ‘The Lakes’ is a chilling, flowing piece, while ‘Gold’ creates an otherworldly spine tingle. Yet again, McMorrow manages to communicate his view of the world with a perfect mixture of music and poetry.

In A Nutshell A confident and immensely talented bunch of artists sticking to what they know, but also providing room for the most animated, toe-tapping that they have ever composed

In A Nutshell An occasionally familiar yet thrilling, melodic and atmospheric piece of work from an artist with ever growing potential

Krishna Srikumar

Aaron Murphy

Sadhbh Deegan

Aisling Daly

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Gartlandia—

YourTube, TheirTube

Mixtape— Sounds of 2014

As YouTube’s influence over pop culture continues to grow, Orla Gartland highlights the Summer in the City festival that celebrates these alternative celebrities

Online audiences have reached the millions.

Popular YouTube channels can attract more regular viewers than national television stations. This begs the question: do they need YouTube or does YouTube need them?

Keepin’ up with da kidz, Emily Longworth is all up in yo’ musical business, deliverin’ da most flip-hot mixtape Otwo ever even seens

Hall & Oates—You Make My Dreams Come True

There are two kinds of people playing this in 2014. The first kind is every self-respecting cool dude, for whom this track will be essential listening every day until Hall & Oates’s Dublin gig in July. The second, and significantly less cool, kind of person is approaching their 500th rewatching of ‘500 Days of Summer’, and doesn’t see any problem with that.

The Kills—Tapes & Tapes

Otwo’s unwavering authority on all things “cool” (do the kids still say cool?) means we can confirm that this year, cassette tapes are the new vinyl. Remember, you heard it here first. Even if it sounds a lot better for you to pretend you heard it on Phantom radio or Nialler9. Please say you heard it here though, please.

Duck Sauce—Barbra Streisand

We googled the Coachella line-up, and of all the washed-up, outdated bands of yesteryear on the bill, Duck Sauce was definitely in the top three. Since this year will see the 7th anniversary of the ever-favourite Barbra Streisand concert disaster of 2007, we welcome any reminder of the hilarity that ensued on the Joe Duffy show the week after.

The word ‘YouTube’ means something different to us all. For some the site is a platform to showcase their talent, for others a place to discover that talent, while many see it as a treasure trove of funny cat videos. It’s nuts to think that for some of the site’s most popular content creators, YouTube is a full-time job.

As the web rapidly evolves into a vast, powerful landscape, iconic sites like YouTube are swept to new heights and the effects of the popularity are fascinating (well, to a geek like me anyway).

The figures are staggering. It’s not as rare as it once was for ‘YouTubers’ to have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, viewers and Twitter followers. Some often find it hard to process that they are real people, not just numbers on a screen.

It’s bit like wondering how on earth you rarely leave your house, but have managed to acquire 894 Facebook friends.

One way YouTubers can meet their audience face to face is at gatherings. Summer in the City (SitC) is a YouTube gathering in London that began as 40 friends in a park and grew in popularity along with the site. This July the gathering expects an attendance of around 10,000.

The gathering is a weekend of live music, informative panels and some insanely intense meet & greet sessions with the most popular content creators. Last year I was lucky enough to be asked to play a few tunes at SitC; my ticket into one of the most bizarre events I’ve ever experienced.

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It was held at a stunning London venue called Alexandra Palace. As soon as I reached the entrance, I began to notice differences between this gathering and those of previous years.

Firstly, the gathering is now ticketed, with security and medics on site. Ironically there was no signal in the venue and the Wi-Fi was down that weekend, leaving thousands of YouTubers, Facebookers and Tweeters with no other choice but to speak to one another out loud.

I met some girls that had travelled to the gathering from the Philippines, while some people stood in queues for up to five hours to meet the big names.

Discussion online focused on the guarded green room where the well-known YouTubers gathered, taking refuge from the screaming ‘fangirls’ waiting for them.

This notion of the ‘VIPs’ struck a chord with some and there was outcry against the divide between viewer and creator, the ‘us-and-them’ atmosphere that had developed. However, that seems to be what it’s come to. Security at gatherings increased as some YouTubers required police assistance after being chased, cornered and assaulted by fans at public gatherings.

This year’s SitC controversy surrounds whether or not the most popular ‘tubers mightn’t show up unless they’re paid to appear. It’s a tricky one and I can understand both sides of it really. With so many YouTubers now represented by management and various agencies, the issue is more complicated than it may appear.

Online audiences have reached the millions.

Popular YouTube channels can attract more regular viewers than national television stations. This begs the question: do they need YouTube or does YouTube need them?

Of course, in the words of Spiderman’s uncle, with great power comes great responsibility. Many YouTubers have a young audience and must decide whether or not to censor and filter their content accordingly.

Making your life so public is a vulnerable spot to be in; they must protect their private lives from the thousands of prying eyes of viewers who feel so emotionally connected with them that they believe they deserve to know everything. However, it’s all a small price to pay for having one of the coolest, most unusual jobs in the world.

It’s undeniable at this stage that these top YouTubers are the celebrities of 2014. This ascent to fame may not seem as glamorous as the Hollywood route, but it certainly feels a little more relatable. People really connect with how human their videos are.

Of course, it’s easy to lose hours hopping from one video to the next, watching your favourite vloggers interact in endless collaboration videos, doing the cinnamon challenge, or bringing their mum in to do the cinnamon challenge. It can come to the point where you know so much about the YouTubers you watch that you feel like they’re your friends!

At that point close your laptop and read a book.

Not Hozier

Alright ‘John Hozier’, stop trying to break through as the frontman of new Irish talent just because you’re new and Irish and talented. Nobody cares. We think it’s high time you and your faux-blues, quasi-soul, would-be-gypsy musical outfit fupp off back to Wicklow with your droves of underpaid strippers. Ain’t nobody listenin’ to that shit anymore… I’ll take your auld wan to church.

Some Eurotrash Dance Track with a Sax Refrain

Expect this to drop in late May, and to sound like the amalgamated parts of every Eurotrash dance track with a sax refrain of the last five years. Also expect a video with lots of ass, like loads and loads of ass. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Spotifys—Everything

That Spotify is some kind of something, they’ve covered every song ever with an impeccable likeness to the original act. And so early in their career. Boy, the Spotifys are all anybody’s ever talking about.

So sick and tired of hearing about how brilliant that Spotify is. Overrated.

Jape feat. Villagers—Ribbon Ribbon Ribbon

No, but really folks, there are some actual good musicians in the country. John Jape and John Villagers have come out with a rollicking stormer of a track described by internet pundits as “the perfect coming up tune.” We’re sure they meant the perfect up-and-coming tune. Leave the reviews to the real journalists kids…

Blind Yackety—Sanity

If a frontman donning a hat fashioned out of a lampshade isn’t the fashion of tomorrow, then what is? This amazing folk/blues/gypsy band are the best thing to hail from county Wicklow in recent years (know your damn place, Hozier!) and are set to get a second album out in the near(ish) future. Expect plenty of musical debauchery and the rampant misuse of lampshades.

street style

Jamie Mann Studying Sociology & Economics

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Wearing: Shirt – Vintage shop, Shoes – Nike, trousers – Penneys, Knitted Jumper – River Island, bag – bought at a reggae festival in California.

Style Inspiration: London street style.

Biggest bargain: An oversized shirt from Fresh Temple Bar for €15.

Most expensive purchase: Barber jacket €200.

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1 Celina Jacket: Vintage, Turban: Vintage, Bag: from Korea, Top: from Korea, Boots: Mingle market

2 Nitche Fitzgerald Coat: Vintage Mulberry, Leggings: River Island, Top: Wolford, Shoes: JD Sports, Bag: Asos

3 Jennifer Quinn Scarf: Zara, Jeans: H&M boys, Coat: charity shop, Boots: Clarks, Earrings: Homemade

4 Tom Connolly Coat: American Apparel, Scarf: American Apparel, Jeans: River Island, Shoes: Doc Martins bought on Ebay

5 Rory Mullen Coat: Mother Jones flea market, Jeans: Topshop, Scarf: Mother’s, Shoes: found in a skip Emily Mullen

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Key pieces for Spring

Top, asos.com, €39.33

Playsuit, Boohoo.com, €16 Full Skirt, asos.com, €49.16

Oversized Crop top, Boohoo.com, €6

Lace up flat shoes, Asos.com, €63.21

Slipper shoes, Mango, €47.05

Smock dress, Topshop, €60 Chunky brogues, Bertie @ Topshop, €120 Neon Bag, River Island, €40

Crop Top, Missguided.co.uk €12.46

Anklet, Asos.com, € 8.43

Has it been the same single top and alternating two pairs of jeans since Auld Lang Syne was shrilly sang?

Thought so. As term starts back and you start to regret ever signing up to this course that makes you get out from underneath your warm covers almost every day, it feels easier to opt for the same dull get up each morning as a consolation to yourself.

Maybe you should gaze into the mirror and ask yourself this important question, ‘exactly how many times have I worn this ______ this week?’. Fill in the blank at your own discretion and listen up to the solutions for your winter fashion burnout.

Spicing up your winter wardrobe should not jeopardise your warmth. Investing in an oversized fur or wool coat for spring is a purchase you will not regret as those days continue to be cold.

Statement coats such as this Urban Outfitters

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number add some well needed warmth and fun into these frigidly cold days. The smock dress is an incredibly comfy piece. Its oversized shape is good for the changeable weather that this season brings.

This nice simple Topshop smock dress which is a good length and a nice fit. It can be worn with boots, tights and underneath bombers and military jackets now, but it can be easily carried through to summer by stripping it back with sandals and a light kimono.

Full skirts are perhaps one of the loveliest trends this season. The vintage cut of the skirt injects a timeless appeal into every outfit. Choose a block colour skirt, with bloggers favouring black, pink and cream this past season.

Wear it with that fluffy cropped jumper you bought last season if its not completely moulted or one of Boohoo.com’s new bodycon tops or playsuits.

Although not suitable for everyday use, the full skirt would be perfect for smart/casual events.

The printed pant is a trend that has been hanging around for a long while, making it easy to ignore.

The pant, however, is the easiest alternative to jeans you’ll ever find. Wear with a plain outfit and watch as it transforms said outfit before your very eyes. No magic involved, just a simple method of revamping a tired boring outfit and taking it to a new level.

The smart tee is a good transitional piece for winter to autumn. As the weather becomes as changeable as ever, it is important to have many layers at your sartorial disposal. This tee, though intended to be worn underneath big coats and full skirts for ultimate style cred, can be worn with almost everything and can serve as the most subtle form of a wardrobe update.

Boohoo.com’s oversized crop shirt in white would prove to be a spring necessity, being easy to layer and a simple shape to style. It is a bargain at only €22, with the invaluable 20% student discount on top. Its crisp white finish is perfect for spring and can easily update many of the looks that were worn this winter. Wear under winter jumpers with statement chains, or on its own with black high waisted jeans.

Shoes are kept minimal this season with chunky brogues, lace ups and slipper shoes being the preference. Chunky brogues are a great wardrobe essential, this season sees a great line of brogues with thick rubbery soles. Choose a good quality pair like these from Topshop, though they might be a bit expensive they would serve as a good investment.

Lace ups are also an option this spring, with these light coloured ones from ASOS being a cheaper more

fun alternative. The slipper shoe is still dominating the high street, perhaps due to their comfort factor.

They are a quirky option for this season, very practical for college and mostly cheap.

Accessory wise its best to choose a pop of colour for spring. This River Island neon number fits the bill. Worn with clean prints and simple shapes this vintage inspired bag will serve as a nice colourful relief from the winter gloom.

Affordable and versatile for college, this bag is a good option to go for this season. Jewellery this season is quite unusual, with chokers being the desirable accessory and delicate pieces such as anklets and ear cuffs still featuring.

Emily Mullen

#winning #binning

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Navy and grey checked trousers, Topman, €60

#winning

#binning

Long sleeved Polo, ASOS, €112.37

Harrington Jacket, ASOS, €70.23

Naked 3 palette

12 nudes with a slight rosy tinge make them an especially gorgeous industry essential kit. Shame the rosy hues look better on those few of us with olive, brown and black skins. #harumph

Split-front skirt

A mouthful of a title and a mouthful of a thing.

We were a bit miffed when this style first trickled into the high street and even more miffed at the fact that it is still here.

Band tees

Oh my god you like Joy Division, w00w I’d have never guessed? #cultured #listened2alltheBsidesyo Holdall, ASOS, €42.14

Doc Martens

Weekend Bag, Boohoo.com, €30

A sensible and #trending alternative to the humble wellie. Suitable for long walks through the beach, puddle jumping and snow clearing.

Puffy vests

Dr Martens, Asos.com, €126.41

Though it might seem like a good idea when it’s cold in the morning, the reality is that come midday you’ll be warm and you will be wearing a puffy vest. #puffyvestages

Dr Martens, ASOS, €140.46

Florals for spring

Red Brogue Plimsolls, Boohoo.com, €38

As we approach the end of winter, the fashion season begins to shift as another round of spring and summer beckons. Naturally the fashion industry works in advance and although we are still in the middle of winter, retailers are now beginning to peddle vests, sandals and shorts, while gale-force winds continue and we endure sub-zero temperatures.

Today, however, we do our best to belie the inclement weather and breakdown the key pieces that are set to be big news for not only this season, but the next as well. Though you may feel foul after too many turkey sandwiches, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are a few silver linings in the heap of hangovers and Quality Street wrappers; the start of the new year is the perfect time for a fresh start and a wardrobe revamp.

Similar shape to a bomber jacket, but with the inclusion of a collar, is the Harrington jacket. It is usually quite slim-fitting and its retro shape can serve as the backbone for an outfit, while drawing cotton shirts and jeans together with ease.

This navy number from ASOS is quite a standard colour, but you can buy the Harrington jacket in various colours new or vintage. This light jacket can be worn with layers during the cold weather and then stripped down and worn over a tee during the summer, making it an excellent transitional piece for the upcoming year.

Finally a menswear favourite, blue, is back on the

colour spectrum. The time for dull navy blues is past, however, now purely being reserved only for the winter months. The new year demands crisp cobalt blue shirts and jackets.

Exercise caution with this trend though. There is a fine line between a sharp cobalt and an extreme electric blue Miami Vice disaster. Cobalt works well with another key trend this season, creamy neutral colours.

This is an easy trend to experiment with, but it still comes with limitations. Don’t forget to use different tones, textures and not to dress in exactly the same hue, which can come across as slightly serial-killer-esque. A camel roll neck or cricket jumper can be paired with modern staples such as slim-fit chinos for the perfect balance of classic and contemporary.

Checks aren’t just reserved for the Wizard of Oz nerds, but for the serious dresser this upcoming season and will be seen on everything from scarves, tees and jackets. The 1990s print has been given a revamp, but still has the bass colour of black, navy and grey.

It is a versatile pattern that can be worn through full-length chinos or through the flash of a pocket square on a tee. These trousers from Topman pack a real statement. They are an item that you could easily pick up and incorporate simply into your wardrobe.

Leather-look holdall from ASOS is a perfect

alternative to your standard schoolbag. Its big size means you can throw everything from your books to your gym gear in it, and be on your merry way. Its faux-leather look also makes it look like it cost a lot more money than it actually did.

Boohoo.com are also doing a line of good accessories, including a very versatile tweed weekend bag. They are also doing a line of cable knit beanies, bobble hats to help you through the last of the cold weather and all are incredibly reasonably priced.

For footwear, Dr Marten’s shoes are incredibly hardwearing, look better with age, and are waterproof for the rainy seasons ahead. This particular style may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the label is certainly having a style renaissance at the moment.

Also, these brogue plimsolls from Boohoo.com are a great hybrid, possessing the classic design of the brogue with the functionality of a plimsoll. A great shoe to buy at the moment as they are light yet still waterproof enough to get you through to the summer months.

These new trends and key pieces are an easy method of reinventing your personal style and wardrobe for this coming year. Start 2014 as you mean to go on and put your best sartorial foot forward.

Emily Mullen

Iggy Azalea’s ass

We hear you gurl, if only we all had that fashion accessory. #bish #bittercos’shesfitter

Though it might seem like a good idea when it’s cold in the morning, the reality is that come midday you’ll be warm and you will be wearing a puffy vest. #puffyvestages #Ssrly?

Cropped jeans and socks

How original, excuse me while I go plant my daffodils and clean the house #clichéyabishé

Lush overdose

The overflow of lotions and nice-smelling potions is finally coming in handy this side of Christmas.

Faux Fur Headbands

Are being sold from venders all over Dublin City Centre, cheap and cheerful and they help disguise bad hair. #win #win #win #win

“Healthies”

A healthy-selfie of the green juices drunk or the view of your runners from your 12k run sheer smuggery. #effoff #Ijustdidarunrun

Emily Mullen

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Culture Woulfe—Molesworth Gallery—

Winter Group Exhibition

In this issue, Laura Woulfe sees what Ireland’s contemporary art scene has to offer at the Molesworth Gallery

When it comes to contemporary art, a trip to the Molesworth Gallery is a completely different experience when compared to one of the friendly national institutions such as the National Gallery of Ireland.

The price tags dominate the exhibition space and while the exhibition is free to browse, there was an uncomfortable atmosphere in the gallery considering the staff were undoubtedly aware that I was not the kind of visitor who would be making a purchase.

While one room in particular is more abstract than the other two, there seems to be little attention paid to the layout of the works. This is not an exhibition that is concerned with the context of the works or the artists or in any way tries to establish a relationship or unanimous theme, but is primarily focused on marketing the art works.

This said, little else can be expected from a contemporary art gallery and that is not to imply negativity. Marketing in contemporary galleries is their primary focus and therefore the longer I spent in the gallery, the more I became enthralled with the thought of the artists as workers and not as idealised creative geniuses.

The gallery is quiet and therefore the exhibition did provide a welcoming retreat from the miserable January humdrum of Dublin streets as people

walk to work with their eyes fixed to the ground.

And even better, this meant that there were no overly-eager tourists nudging their way to block your view of the very painting you were looking at.

As a result, this would be the perfect exhibition for brooding solitudes.

Many of the art works exhibited in the winter exhibition really established themselves to be worthy of critical acclaim, demanding that the viewer does not forget the present in the glory of the past, as is often the case with contemporary art.

Particularly commendable artists who featured in the exhibition were Michael Beirne and Robert Bates who both have responded to some of the problems of contemporary art refreshingly by not succumbing to the dominance of abstract style.

Both Beirne and Bates seem to have used our HD culture to enhance their precision, which has resulted in extremely striking images composed of the most minute brushstrokes and detail, rather than simply admitting defeat to the digital age.

While there are indeed many other interesting works exhibited, it is primarily the works of Beirne and Bates that are worth enduring the awkward atmosphere of the gallery.

Winter Group Exhibition, Molesworth Gallery, free admission, closes 31st January

As real as it gets Creator of hit podcast London Real, Brian Rose, talks to Jack Walsh about bodybuilders, traditional media, and how podcasting can change someone’s life

Three years ago Brian Rose was living the nine to five lifestyle as a stockbroker working in London’s financial district. On the side he trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and listened to shows such as the Joe Rogan Experience, each of which weren’t necessarily popular in their own rights, but nonetheless became a major part of Rose’s daily life.

Having quit his job, he spent many hours having insightful conversations with his BJJ coach Nicolas Gregoriades, which resulted in the London Real podcast being born. Live in Rose’s apartment/studio, London Real looks for guests that ultimately “have been humbled. You learn a lot about people from the way they’ve dealt with things in their life.”

Rose sees podcasting as a form of critical education. “I think we need to have conversations with guys who have figured things out in life. I think we’re breeding a different generation of independent thinkers. It’s hard to believe that an audio file can change the way people are.”

A turning point for London Real occurred during a show with Graham Hancock, in which the author began opening up regarding his life views and how he he dealt with his former addictions. For Rose, he saw it as the payoff for every mistake they had made in previous shows, and learned from.

“I said to Nic afterwards, we trained twelve months for that show. Whether it was our mental preparation or not asking the right questions, every episode I tried to get better. It was downloaded a million times on iTunes and we were on Joe Rogan two weeks later.”

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London Real would eventually reach 135 episodes, be downloaded over 25 million times on iTunes and viewed over three million times on YouTube, with a wide range of co-hosts joining Rose, such as Suli Breaks (spoken word artist) to Timothy Shieff (Parkour Champion).

London Real’s guests tend to be an eclectic mix ranging from Irvine Welsh to Max Keiser and guests are usually quick to notice the differences between traditional interviews and the long form that podcasts allow for. “Firstly, it’s a ten minute interview. Sometimes the interview has been written so they just want sound bites. It’s like we’re asking the questions we know the answers to.”

Rose’s favourite podcast was his interview with Dorian Yates, the six-time Mr Olympia in which Yates told Rose, “’No one ever asked me to do an interview without me having to take my clothes off and posing’. That episode was powerful because we showed that someone like Dorian could have so many facets and that a medium like London Real could do that whereas cable television couldn’t.”

Since 2011, London Real has really found itself a place in a niche market of podcasts that promote critical thinking among its listeners and with 135 episodes and counting, it doesn’t look like Rose has any intention of taking his foot off the accelerator.

London Real can be found at www.londonreal.tv as well as on iTunes and YouTube

Fatal Fourway

Movie that would most benefit from Jennifer Lawrence replacing a main actor Leroy’s Mama—Surf Nazis Must Die Emily Longworth

In a post-apocalyptic California, a posse of rambunctious, foolhardy youths dominate the west coast beaches. They have sleeveless shirts and kitchen knives, and they’re the Surf Nazis.

Adolf, Smeg, Hook, and the rest of their evil reich are dousing beachgoers in their malevolent capering, and they’ll be damned if there’s anybody in town man enough to stop them, but hot dang there is. It’s the sassiest, bravest, toughest black woman that ever sought vengeance for the unjustified death of her son via surf nazi; it’s Jennifer Lawrence as Leroy’s Mama!

Amid a slew of sexual perversion and misguided teenage beach-related angst, ain’t nothin’ that

cuts through the romping pranks of those Surf Nazi ruffians like the badassery of Leroy’s Mama.

This is a character that could only be made more outlandishly improbable and unconvincing through the unbeckoned installation of Jennifer Lawrence, whilst her addition paradoxically enhances the role’s credibility through infinitely better acting.

What else could a hugely improbable, beachorientated, sci-fi horror made in the 80s possibly need other than the addition of Jennifer Lawrence?

Here to make our heroine an even more renegade, mean-ass loose cannon who ain’t gon’ stop til Adolf and his boys taste some of Mama’s home cookin’.

Ten out of ten, would cast again.

Tatsuya Fujiwara—Battle Royale Steven Balbirnie

Imagine a film set in a dystopian future where society has degenerated to the point where teenagers are forced to brutally murder one another as part of a sadistic blood sport. Does this sound familiar to you? It should do, as I’ve just described the modern cult classic, Battle Royale.

Now many would say that Battle Royale could not possibly be improved upon, but I say to these people, have you not considered how much more amazing this film could be with the addition of Jennifer Lawrence? Replacing Tatsuya Fujiwara with a strong female lead like J-Law could be a real game changer.

Jennifer Lawrence would be perfect as the plucky young heroine struggling to survive against the odds in a grim future, competing against enemies who hunger for her blood in a game to the death. In such a dire world she’d be a shining beacon of hope that audiences could really get behind.

This is such a perfect idea for a film; I’m surprised that no one has ever thought of it before. I think I’ll write a script for it called The Blood Thirst Trials and give my friends at Lionsgate a call; it sounds like the sort of thing they’d produce. I’ll be laughing all the way to the bank as this idea catches fire.

Chewbacca—Empire Strikes Back Jack Walsh

My friends here will try to explain to you that Jennifer Lawrence in Battle Royale is really subversive, and I can pretty much sum up Laura’s and Emily’s arguments. Lord of the Rings plus Jennifer Lawrence plus obscure reference plus something completely unrelated to film equals unbridled hilarity.

What if I was to tell you dear reader that I can provide all of these things, but in one pixie hair styled package? Bromances are a big thing lately, but just what would happen when we slightly mess up perhaps the greatest fictional nerdy bromance of all time? That’s of course, Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Take out Chewbacca, enter Lewbacca.

That’s right, Jennifer Lawrence, wearing nothing but Chewie’s weird Wookie utility belt. And a gigantic fur coat, because I’m not a misogynist like you all thought I was going to be. This is not Imgur.

This is real life.

If all of that’s not amazing enough, she has to do all the Wookie sound effects and mannerisms as well and it manages to make a forbidden love triangle between Chewie, Han and Leia.

Remember the scene where Han gets frozen; and Leia is all like: “I love you” and Han’s all like “I know”. The best part of that scene is the roar of anguish from Chewie. In J-Law’s hands, that’s guaranteed Oscar gold.

Beethoven—Beethoven Laura Bell

Okay, while I am by no means calling Jennifer Lawrence a dog, lets be honest: you wouldn’t necessarily be surprised to wake up to her licking your face. Sure, she’d somehow manage to look adorable and alluring while doing it, but everyone has their flaws… and paws.

Really, if J-Law has proven anything in her career thus far, it’s that she’s a truly versatile actress with wide ranging skills and a playful nature, getting her Shetland-sized St. Bernard on would serve as both a worthy challenge and a repertoire completing piece of art.

If you’ll take a moment to reflect on the last time you saw Beethoven; most likely during Christmas

1997, you may recall that George, the Newton family patriarch, takes an immediate dislike to Beethoven.

No stranger to portraying characters who face adversity, Lawrence would be able to channel both her on-screen experiences as a depressive widow, a depressive wife, and a depressive archer, as well as her off-camera good nature in order to embody the dichotomy of our titular character.

She would be just the actress to make audiences worldwide feel, as if it were their own, the pain inherent in the insatiable desire for both shoe destruction and loving cuddles. Besides, her inevitable Oscar nomination would really put dog movies back on the map. Who doesn’t want that?

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The Back Page “Will Stallwood and Dain Saint, met each other at a party, fell in love with each other’s work, and made a small business baby together” Cipher Prime origins

“I was obsessed with Mariah Carey when I was about seven” Alisa Xayalith of The Naked & Famous on the music she listened to when growing up

“To selfie or not to selfie” Jesse Wood of The Naked & Famous on social media

“That’s hilarious, student bar closing” Gary Harding of Darling on the0 closure of UCD’s student bar

“We wrote a letter to Roddy and he was receptive and he generously optioned the story to us for one euro, knowing that we didn’t have any funding”

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Steph Green explains the beginnings of her Oscar Nominated short film New Boy

the current number of times that Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated for an Oscar without winning one. Could 2014 be his year?

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