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  • Rock / Pop

    Joan Of Arse: Lost At Sea (Scientific Laboratories) p

  • Jazz

    The Complete Lionel Hampton Quartets and Quintets with Oscar Peterson (Verve) p

  • Roots

    Catie Curtis: A Crash Course in Roses (Rykodisc) p

  • Out of Edinburgh

    While waiting for the girls from Sighthill, I listen to a deconstructed dub version of The Girl from Ipanema in a studio in a disused Edinburgh bus depot. The voice that half speaks, half sings the lyrics is unmistakably Scottish, and slurred by drink and dope. It represents the moment seven years ago when the Lanterns were conceived by writer-producer Jim Sutherland and young jazz singer Sylvia Rae. p

  • Put your money on Talvin

    As a barometer of current musical styles and trends - both in the mainstream and the "underground" (wherever that is) - The Mercury Music Prize is yer only man. The annual competition, which searches out the best music album of the last 12 months from British and Irish acts, is recognised as being one of the most influential prizes going, in that the judging panel always rewards musical adventure over sheer retail sales. Dominated for a time by Britpop bands, over the last few years the Mercury has gone to (then) little-known acts like Roni Size and Gomez and has helped highlight some incredible but under-exposed acts like Norma Waterson. The 12 nominated albums of the year are outlined below, and, as always, they represent most every genre of contemporary music. There are, I believe, two flaws in the Mercury set-up, however. First, there is an element of tokenism to some of the choices below and without sounding like a grassy knoll conspiracist, is it just me who thinks that since Technics (a leading hi-fi brand and the maker of the celebrated SL1210 DJ deck) took over the sponsorship, there are too many dance records on the shortlist (there, I've said it)? p
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  • Not-so-super Powers

    Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (15) General release We've had the Force - now feel the (very broad) Farce. Astutely attaching itself to the coat-tails of Star Wars: the Phantom Menace, Mike Myers's spy spoof sequel is as interesting as an example of astute marketing as anything else (in fact, apart from that, it's not very interesting at all). By now, we all know that Myers knocked George Lucas's epic off the top of the American box office charts - hardly much of a feat, five weeks after Star Wars was released, but an easy tagline for silly season features pages. p

  • Whatever happened to the Irish film industry?

    Where have all the movies gone? July, August and September are traditionally the busiest months of the year for film production. In recent years, one might have expected to see four or five features and television dramas shooting in Ireland at this point, with Ardmore Studios booked solid. Not in 1999. With the solitary exception of that old standby, Ballykissangel, nothing is shooting at the moment in the Greater Dublin area (the base for the majority of the Irish production sector). According to Kevin Moriarty, managing director of Ardmore, this is the quietest year since the inauguration of tax incentives and industry support in 1993. "We're not just down, we're decimated," says Moriarty. "Our business is down by at least 50 per cent. We've got Ballykissangel, some commercials and pop videos, but that's it." p

  • A farce which has it all

    This is one of Ray Cooney's more over-the-top farces, forsaking the cold, cruel logic of classic farce occasionally for merely hysterical comedy, but it received the warmest of receptions last night from most of its large and appreciative audience. p

  • Gregory Harrington (violin), Rachel Quinn (piano)

    Solo Violin Sonata No 1 - Bach p
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