Hot Press

4 days ago | hotpress.com | Stuart Clark

Culture 11 May 25 Pete Doherty: "Everybody’s talking about AI, but something that can’t be replicated digitally is the human soul and the warmth of human contact" Peter Doherty. Photo: Roger Sargent Resplendent in his Xmas jammies, Pete Doherty welcomes Stuart Clark on to his tour bus.

5 days ago | hotpress.com | Stuart Clark

DOCTOR WHO (BBC One)Ncuti Gatwa’s doctor returns with Anita Dobson, Bonnie Langford, Christopher Chung and Dublin actor Caoilfhionn Dunne among the guest stars. “I am so grateful to have been asked to be a part of this exciting second season of Doctor Who,” enthuses the Finglas thesp. “As a longtime fan of the show, it has been a dream come true. And to get to work with Ncuti and Varada, such a wonderful duo, this absolutely stellar cast and such a supportive and hardworking crew.

6 days ago | hotpress.com | Roe McDermott

Lorcan Finnegan’s The Surfer is a sun-scorched psychological trip masquerading as a B-movie beach thriller. Brutal and hypnotic, the film traps its protagonist - and its audience - in a dreamlike purgatory of sweat, sand and simmering male rage. With lurid colours, looping structure, and deliberately disorienting atmosphere, The Surfer channels the existential entrapment of Luis Buñuel and the surreal logic of Finnegan’s own Vivarium.

6 days ago | hotpress.com | Edwin McFee

Initially (and unfairly) grouped into the fledgling grunge scene, this Grammy and Oscar-nominated bunch have spent the last three decades spreading their musical wings, and serving up some of the finest pop and alternative rock around. Hailed as one of the best storytellers of his generation, band-leader Adam Duritz is on vintage form for Counting Crows’ first full-length in 11 years, which is bursting with raw rich vocals, clever lyrics, and plenty of hooks and heart.

6 days ago | hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly

In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, VARO – Lucie Azconaga and Consuelo Nerea Breschi – set out to create a project that would reflect the fraught global situation, using songs that existed long before the album’s inception. A collaborative effort nearly five years in the making, The World That I Knew sees VARO tapping a fleet of Irish trad mainstays, among them Lankum’s Ian Lynch and Cormac Mac Diarmada, Junior Brother, John Francis Flynn, Lemoncello and more.