4 Stars Without seeming too unsympathetic towards the millions of people across the globe who are fighting tooth and nail to ‘make it’ as musicians in the world of showbiz, the brand of ‘music’ that is espoused by men like Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh is simply the worst thing that has ever happened to […]

Recently, I found myself sat in front of a Freeview box with friends and alcohol, begrudgingly watching the worst music channels on TV (You know the ones; channels with titles like Mega Tunes TV or Hit Land). All delightfully cheesy and vaguely tolerable, until, a few beers in, the corner of the screen lit up […]

Doctor Faustus, Royal Exchange, 10th September 2010 When Robert Johnson went to the crossroads to sell his soul to the devil, he did so in exchange for an awesome mastery of the guitar and revolutionised the blues forever more. The tale of Faust recounts how he did the same thing in his quest for knowledge […]

Not one for the fainthearted, Yoko Ogawa explores exploitative sexual politics and power relations in her newest novel Hotel Iris.

What separates a drunkard eating a kebab and Lady Gaga? I ask this question on the basis that both will eventually arrive at a party covered in meat.

Parade, The Lowry, 27th – 28 Any members of the audience taking their seats as the cast broke into ‘The Old Red Hills of Home’ would have thought that they had arrived two hours late for the evening’s performance. The opening chorus of Parade possessed all the qualities of a number preceding a curtain call […]

Kiran Desai’s 2006 award winning novel The Inheritance of Loss

Whether this is an organic evolution, or just an attempt to distinguish themselves from the hoards of skinny-jeaned indie bands dominating the music scene, is uncertain, but it certainly makes for interesting listening.

Challenge your perception of reality at the Abandon Normal Devices Festival.

The title of Monique Truong’s Bitter in the Mouth comes from the protagonist’s “auditory-gustatory” synaesthesia, a rare condition that causes Linda Hammerick to literally taste the words she hears.

Having been twice voted No. 1 DJ in the world, and with a Grammy Award and over five million album sales under his belt, Paul van Dyk is something of a legend in the electronic music world. Music Editor Eoghan Bennett sits down with the trance DJ to discuss playing at The Warehouse Project, his […]

Exclusive interview with the new Chair for the Drama Society 2010-2011

Terry Pratchett is a man of many thousands of words, hundreds of which are wittily twisted into the nonsensical phrases that make up the fictional Discworld series, and fifty-plus other collaborations that span across a 30 year career as a novelist.

Is this what authors now think we want to read/hear? I sincerely hope not because the only word I have been able to think of to describe it is “tosh”.