Reading: Rob Curley and Barry Keegan's comic book, The League of Volunteers, which features Nazis, Gaeilgeoir monsters, sexy scientists, time travel and an alternative Irish history that crosses two world wars and several masked heroes; atomicdiner.com.
Downloading
The Trinity Orchestra playing Daft Punk's Discovery. The YouTube clip has deservedly gone viral, helped not just by the music but by the innovative use of conductor-cam.
Crystal Swing's video for Total Eclipse of the Heart– and pining for the days before they were so knowing.
Looking forward to
Fidget Feet, an aerial dance show with a multimedia edge. It tours Ireland this month and next, starting on May 17th at Glór, in Ennis. Search “fidget feet” on YouTube or see fidgetfeet.com.
Watching
Conor Horgan's impressive Irish post-apocalyptic feature One Hundred Mornings. Donald Clarke gave it a four-star review: "Set somewhere between the final credits of a Roland Emmerich picture and the revving of Mad Max, the foursome cling to a civilisation that no longer exists. Anarchy is only ever a domestic dispute away."
Went to 12 Points jazz festival
The 12 Points jazz festival takes an act from each of 12 European cities and brings them to a city for a series of four concerts. This year it is Dublin, and each night three bands get an hour each to play. Then there’s an after-show party for open jams and bragging rights.
The double-edged sword of opening the festival, last Wednesday, fell to the Susana Santos Silva Quintet, who delivered a fine, inventive set, although some trepidation was evident in the playing. From there things took a turn for the anarchic. The Amsterdam-based Ambush Party ripped up the rules and produced a set of music-as-theatre, with some meticulous free jazz magic amid an irresistible melee on stage.
The opening-night headliners, Phronesis, were perhaps the heavyweights among the wild cards. After starting in typically spectacular fashion they dropped a gear for more reflective music that never recovered the dynamite of the opening salvo. A satisfying rather than scintillating set.
On the second night the Lisbeth Quartett, led by Charlotte Greve, brought beautiful tone and a warm, unified sound that lent proceedings a touch of class.
The hotly tipped Parisian outfit Metal-o-Phone built enormous, fantastic grooves with their vibraphone-led arrangements, snarling their way through tracks like a drunk picking a fight, before falling back on controlled intensity to hammer their points home.
Last up was Francesco Diodati's Neko, who opened the set with some intense, challenging free jazz and then built elegant, effective melodies with style and bravura. The songs never lost focus in a display of fascinating, controlled Italian flair. Like many of the acts at 12 Points, this is visceral, vital European jazz that needs to be experienced in the room. Laurence Mackin
** Tonight the Irish act Redivider are opening for the Kaja Draksler Acropolis Quintet and Elifantree. Full coverage of 12 Points at irish times.com/blogs/pursuedbyabear
Listening to
The Adam & Joe podcast from BBC Radio 6 Music. Only a few weeks after their return it feels like they’ve never been gone: geeky jokes, inventive musical asides and loveable personalities. Joe Cornish’s aliens-surround-London-flats movie Attack the Block opens this week.
Marius Neset's Golden Xplosion: this album by the Norwegian saxophonist got five stars in yesterday's Ticket: "Astonishing and astonishingly personal," wrote Ray Comiskey.
The new Explosions in the Sky album, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is predictably excellent.
