I am pretty much obsessed with Totally Dublin, a free monthly newspaper that is chock full of great…read morestuff. The publication is aimed at a hip crowd that goes on often and always wants to know what events are around the corner. It's been around for 5 years, and I hope it lives to see many more milestones in years to come. The listings are broken up into categories like live gigs, theatre, weekly clubbing and one-off clubbing, so you'll have no trouble finding something cool to do each month. They also have venue, club night and restaurant reviews that are humorous and informative. While Totally Dublin is essential for finding out what's going on around the city, it's also a great read otherwise, with lots of well-written content, articles, band/artist interviews and more. The staff is probably young and doesn't take themselves too seriously, and this is reflected in the style and content, which is funny and interesting. It's the kind of cultural newspaper that I actually read cover to cover and sometimes even keep (it's that good!). It's distributed at businesses around the city and if you spot on, do not hesitate to pick it up!

Every cultural city needs a magazine like Totally Dublin. A free, independent paper, written and…read moredesigned by a team of in-the-know Dubliners who bust their asses just so we can pick it up at the local shop and have something fun to read while waiting for our pizza or drinking our coffee. Each issue features interesting interviews, event picks, reviews and travel pieces, music/culture/art-related stuff and plentiful samplings of local flavour and is therefore useful for locals and a fine introduction to Dublin for visitors. Their listings section comes in handy when in the pub with friends who want to check out a gig but don't know where to go and their website is a great addition to the printed publication with its easy-to-use listings calender. If you join their facebook group you'll get the newest issue in the mail, even before it hits the streets, so you'll never have to miss out on any Dublin event. Whether the issues covered fit your areas of interest or not, the staff deserves a big pat on the back for delivering a cool-looking issue every single month. Hope they'll manage to keep up the good work for years to come!.

I've always had a few issues (pardon the craftily constructed pun there) with Hot Press. First off,…read moreit should really be free. For something that prides itself on gig listings, they should really take note that the likes of connected* is doing the same for free. Second of all, Hot Press runs a website that you have to be a subscriber of their magazine to get access to. which is a bit ridiculous. Lastly, they review albums based not on musical merit, but on how big they expect the album to become. (Commonly known as the NME quandry) But you have to take note that Hot Press was a one of its kind when it was set up and did support a lot of up and coming Irish acts initially. That support seems to be lagging in recent years and fewer risks are being taken in support of more pedestrian bands such as 'The Coronas'. Although I'm not the biggest fan of the magazine, it has done quite a bit for Irish pop and rock, even if it has lost its way in the past few years.

Actually set up by Bob Geldof himself, Hotpress is all about the Irish scene in terms of music and…read moresometimes other media. They usually have some good international stars as well as locals in it, and their penchant for seriously puntacular headlines means you can usually get a bit of a giggle out of it too. I wouldn't buy it regularly but when it comes my way I usually read it. if you're the kind of person who wants to know who's playing where and when you have to check this out. Sometimes it's almost too trendy for its own good but Hotpress has been around awhile and seems to be here to stay!