Scene and Heard

MUSIC NEWS: U2 have revealed they hope to finish their new album by the end of next month, with a release date yet to be specified for 2014.

Speaking on Dublin radio station 98fm, Adam Clayton and The Edge said they were putting the finishing touches on a collection of 12 new songs that will act as a follow-up to 2009’s No Line On The Horizon. “I think it’s a bit of a return to U2 of old, but with the maturity, if you like, of the U2 of the last 10 years,” said Clayton.

Meanwhile, jazz and urban fans can look forward to the second part of Robert Glasper’s Black Radio project at the end of October. The inaugural selection of collaborations between the jazz pianist and various figures from the worlds of R’n’B and soul was hailed as one of the albums of the year in 2012, and this time there’s another mouth-watering assembly of crossover cohorts, including Common, Jill Scott and Lupe Fiasco.

Damon Albarn has returned to some of his old haunts in Mali for a new instalment of his Africa Express project, combining local musicians in Bamako with the likes of Brian Eno, Ghostpoet and Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Finally, Kurt Cobain fans may be interested to hear that his childhood home is up for sale. The late Nirvana singer’s mother has put a price of $500,000 on the Seattle house, and has also released a number of rather poignant pictures of a happy young Kurt.

GIG WISE: Anybody old enough to remember the Blades will know that the Dublin band were really one of the finest Irish outfits to come along in the new wave era. We would have thought Paul Cleary and Co’s low profile in recent decades would have been a sign of public indifference, but a sold-out reunion gig in the Olympia shows they still occupy a special place in the musical memories of many people.

A second night has been added at the venue on Dec 15. Roy Ayers (right) must be even older than Cleary, and the jazz-funk legend brings his band to the Pavilion in Cork on Dec 7 and the Sugar Club in Dublin on Dec 8. Upcoming DJ visits to Cork include house legend Mark ‘MK’ Kinchen (’Burning’, ‘Push the Feeling On’) at the Pavilion next Thursday.

ON THE TELLY: Shows to watch out for next Thursday include Guth on TG4, which focuses on the Irish heritage of the Gallagher brothers of Oasis; and The Meaning of Monty Python on Sky Arts, in which John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin are reunited to discuss their 1983 film The Meaning of Life.

FILM TIPS: Cork Cine Club is back in action at St John’s Central College, and next Thursday’s screening is Israeli documentary The Gatekeepers, in which six former heads of infamous security agency Shin Bet give their perspective on such issues as the occupation of Palestinian territories, extrajudicial killings and ‘collateral damage’ when their actions resulted in the deaths of civilians, and the phenomenon of Jewish terrorism.

Over at Triskel Christchurch, offerings from Sunday include Ain’t Them Bodies Saints with Casey Affleck; and Irish film Mister John, starring Aidan Gillen as a man who journeys to Singapore following his brother’s sudden death. At the Briery Gap in Macroom, Sulán Film Society has highly-rated Japanese film I Wish on Monday. The programme at the Light House in Dublin includes Le Week-End.