Hot Press

1 day ago | hotpress.com | Ed Power

The suspicion that The White Stripes are a conceptual prank masquerading as a rock group intensifies with each outing. For their fifth dispatch, Jack and Meg contort their beaten up, gut-bucket blues into wrenching, subversive shapes. A feral heckle as much as a pop record, it flaunts its weirdness gleefully and capriciously. Taut, occasionally threadbare, Get Behind Me Satan was written and recorded in less than a fortnight and the hasty gestation appears to have been a goal in itself.

2 days ago | hotpress.com | Roe McDermott

The Encampments, directed by Michael T. Workman and Kei Pritsker, is a lean, clear-eyed documentary that offers an essential account of the student protests that began at Columbia University in spring 2024 and rapidly spread across the United States. Grounded in the testimony of the young people who led the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, the film restores the voices of those who were often vilified or ignored in the mainstream coverage of the movement.

5 days ago | hotpress.com | Paul O'Mahony

Ib Jorgensen reached the ripe old age of 90 just a few months ago. Ib is a legend in Irish fashion. He was one of Ireland’s most successful and acclaimed couturiers – or luxury apparel designers if you want to be more literal! – from the 1950s to the early 1990s. During the ’90s, he elected to move on from the grind of creating new looks and collections every season, but he’s sill in business, operating a design gallery on Dublin’s South Anne Street.

1 week ago | hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly

Cliffords. If you haven’t heard their name – stretched on billboards and blasted on the airwaves – yet, it’s only a matter of time. Last year, the Cork band released their debut EP Strawberry Scented, a self-financed labour of love that earned some glowing critical notices. They've followed it up with an excellent sophomore EP, Salt Of The Lee, which is only a few days old when I meet singer Iona Lynch and keyboardist Locon O’Toole over Zoom.

1 week ago | hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly

Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears dished his admiration for British pop songsmith Self Esteem in the May issue of Hot Press Magazine. Speaking to Flo Laurent, the New York frontman called the singer—aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor—a “fucking clever” artist whose stage production inspired Scissor Sisters’ upcoming UK and Ireland tour. “I saw Self Esteem play on Sunday at this residency that she had in the West End, which was incredible,” Shears noted.