Tag Archives: marina and the diamonds

New Music: Marina & The Diamonds’ “Fear and Loathing”

  By Lisa McInerney | August 8, 2011 - 8:00 pm | Music, The Culch
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Christ, fellow emeralds! It’s a new song from Marina and The Diamonds! This is Fear and Loathing, Part 1 of an introduction to Electra Heart, an alter-ego which Marina says “epitomises and embodies the lies, illusions and death of American ideologies involved in the corruption of self”. Mmm, conceptual. Part 2 comes next Monday. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I adore Ms. Diamandis, because she’s unashamedly pop and unashamedly intellectual, honest, raw and vulnerable, like shards of sugar glass. Fear and Loathing is rather pretty, but I have a feeling it will work best in context. I reserve full hyperventilating, gushing judgement till then.

Culch.ie’s Albums of 2010

  By Éilish Burke | December 15, 2010 - 12:30 pm | Featured Post, Music, The Culch
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Every newspaper, magazine and website worth its weight in salt is currently counting down their top picks of 2010. And the music writers here at Culch.ie have decided to hop on this list-making bandwagon; sure if it’s good enough for Santy, it’s good enough for us. Forthwith, each writer gives us their top three choices of the year: Sweary’s Picks 1 – Been Listening – Johnny Flynn Yeah, like you’re surprised. Mr. Flynn’s second album, Been Listening is a triumph from start (the breezily addictive Kentucky Pill) to gentle crescendo (touching yarn The Prizefighter And The Heiress). Reconquering ground covered by debut A Larum, there’s nothing pretentiously risky in Been Listening; it’s the sound of an artist who’s confident about where he is, and good God, is this ever “nu-folk” at its best. Mournful without being mawkish, charming without being twee, it’s earthy and evocative and rousing, all melodies your … There’s more →

Review - Marina & The Diamonds at The Savoy

  By Lisa McInerney | November 2, 2010 - 2:51 pm | Gigs, Music, The Culch
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The beautiful thing about Marina and The Diamonds is that she’s not difficult to explain to the uninitiated. She is a popstar, pure and raw. The stage name refers to the relationship between Marina Diamandis and her fans (it’s Marina and The Emeralds over here, anoraks!), and once you understand that the act is solo and the stage name as contrived as she gets, you’re cleared for takeoff. That’s it. Marina, her songs, her fans. Yes, that’d be endearingly bonkers. This was the second time I’d seen Marina live. The first was as part of a Heineken Green Spheres gig in Carlow, where Marina was the first act on, and played in the back room whilst the main stage was set for dance punks Digitalism. I’d been a fan well before the gig, so hearing the songs live was an especially sweet experience. This time ’round, I was off to … There’s more →

Freshly Seized

  By Lisa McInerney | August 6, 2010 - 8:00 am | Music
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The best free n’ easy music downloads on the webbly. Born free! As free as the wind blows. As free as the grass grows. And that’s all I know of that one. Not that you’re here to mentally recreate my karaoke prowess based on the typed word, but that one always comes into my head when I start gathering the musicy goodness for you lot. It is a glorious thing that you can fill your iPod with legally acquired, free-of-charge, harmonious love and wonderment. It makes me feel glad to be alive! As does this week’s first lovely gifted track. This is Going To The Casino (Tomorrow Night) by Aussie soul-punks, Philadelphia Grand Jury. Philadelphia Grand Jury are Berkfinger, MC Bad Genius, and Calvin (who used to sesh for Earth Wind and Fire, the groovy bastard). According to their Myspace blurb, they are “literally explosive on stage”, which makes me … There’s more →

Under The Covers

  By Lisa McInerney | July 26, 2010 - 10:00 am | Featured Post, Music, Random Whimsy
15 Comments

Like all drunken Irish balladeers, myself and my friends love a good yowling session of a Saturday night. At our most recent Singstar marathon, my cousin and I got up to sing Erasure’s A Little Respect, and were surprised (really, because we’re terrific singers) to get relatively low scores, until it occurred to us that we’d instead been belting our way through the version by American ridicu-rockers Wheatus. We’d been emphasising the wrong words, rushing through the wrong lines, because we were rocking out to synthpop. Funny thing how a good cover version can nibble its way through your beloved original. It’s not the custom for a cover version to outshine the original (fear not, Erasure fans! I’m not strictly referring to the Wheatus usurpers!), so when you do come across a particularly wonderful cover, it’s a real treat. There are those, like Wheatus’ version of A Little Respect, that … There’s more →

Freshly Seized

  By Lisa McInerney | June 9, 2010 - 11:15 am | Music
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The best free n’ easy music downloads on the webbly this week. In the manner of things that are free n’ easy, this week’s downloads are also chilled and floaty! Isn’t that nice and evocative? Free love, free music, barefoot and shimmying your … er, browser off. How summery of me (just don’t look outside). This one’s from a young wan called Lail Arad, who’s rather the little smartarse. The song’s called Everyone Is Moving To Berlin, possibly for the Love Parade, which would really suit the theme of this week’s post, wouldn’t it? The song is quirky and funny and pretty, a bit like I’d imagine Sandi Thom would sound if she was any good. It also mentions bloggers, which is sufficiently ego-stroking for us. Get in! From quirky-sweet to quirky-help-I’m-a-little-unnerved, this next one’s from a lady called Catherine A.D. Catherine’s been name-checked by everyone from David Gilmour to … There’s more →

The Family Jewels: Confessions of an Emerald.

  By Lisa McInerney | February 23, 2010 - 11:17 pm | Music, The Culch
3 Comments

I’m not the most disciplined Listener Of Albums, I have to admit. When I get my ears on a new offering, I tend to absorb it most haphazardly - a track here, a track there, repeat those two endlessly and forget completely about the eight in between until many months later, when my playlists have curled up at the ends. The upside to this is that I always have potential delights tucked into odd corners of my music folders. The downside, and of course it’s a shocker, is that I miss the full experience: to listen to the album as the artist intended. It’s a disrespectful habit at the best of times, and a downright disastrous one when you’ve got a concept album in your To Do pile. When I get a new album and listen to it all the way through, it means one of two things. One, that … There’s more →

Ones To Watch #2 - Marina and The Diamonds

  By Sinéad | August 6, 2009 - 8:40 pm | Music
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I’ve never anticipated an upcoming album so much before in my life. Since I first heard Mowgli’s Road on the Nialler9 podcast back in March I’ve been drooling over every demo, remix and EP from Marina and The Diamonds. There’s already quite a lot of hype building around this gorgeous half Greek half Welsh singer song writer, the difference between her and every other artist being hyped at the moment is that she actually does have oodles of talent… that voice, those lyrics, heaven. She’s currently working on her debut album but the double a-side for Mowgli’s Road and Obsessions is available on iTunes, as is the 4 track EP The Crown Jewels - which features the current single I Am Not A Robot. I can already tell the girls are going to be ooo-ing and aah-ing over all the the sparkly things in this video, the same way the … There’s more →