I’m a bit late to the party with this one, kids, and for that I apologise. Thanks to the lovely lasses at The Most Cake, I found Micachu, and I’ve decided to keep her.

We review the debut album from Wild Flag, and muse upon the new adventures of our favourite Riot Grrls. Four pals got together, played some gigs, played some more gigs, and then decided to make a record. Simples? Let’s find out!

Janis Ian comes to Ireland to play two intimate gigs at the end of this month. Here, one of our new writers profiles the Grammy-award winning musician, author, and icon.

Merry Christmas, everyone! This morning, as you tear the wrapping from your gifts like a rabid animal, and as I make a dent in this bottle of cava, click “play” on this here playlist to set the tone of the day.

As fans of the Dixie Chicks will tell you, they are consummate storytellers, so this is a forum that suits them down to the ground. You expect Natalie Maines’ entertaining irreverent banter, but what marks this DVD as a must-have are the tales behind the songs.

When I recently fell down the rabbit hole of out-lesbians-making-trippy-music, I also landed on Syd tha Kyd, a music producer/engineer/DJ from Los Angeles, and a member of alternative hip hop collective, Odd Future (aka OFWGKTA).

For your listening pleasure – via Curve Magazine and AfterEllen, hailing from Detroit, by way of the centre of the hipster lesbian universe, Williamsburg, we bring you out musician lady, 11 years in the making – we bring you the ethereal, haunting sound of out musician: Holly Miranda!

The lady with the ten foot tall voice is back. Ceremonials is the follow up to her 2009 debut Lungs, the epic sound which spawned epic sales and rapidly sold out gigs pretty much worldwide. So how do you follow that? Lesser mortals might not even attempt it, but not Florence Welch…

I’d heard a couple of Ke$ha’s songs and was wholly unimpressed, until I realised something. Her bloody songs are infectious. Soon I was You-tubing the songs just to hear them, grinding my teeth when I realised I actually enjoyed this!

As a woman I am used to companies trying to overcharge me for the “female version” of a product that is the same for everyone. However, the people over at Altec Lansing have outdone themselves by developing a range of earphones designed just for us fragile ladies.

The new album sparkles with that real ‘Beyonce’ feel to it. Although I’m not usually a fan of her music, I can safely say I enjoyed it and found myself liking the challenge of being outside my comfort zone.

Whether you believe it or not, it’s true what they say: any publicity is good publicity, and Rihanna has proved it yet again with the release of her video for ‘Man Down’ on BET. If you haven’t yet seen it, the basic storyline is as follows:

Naturally, when a new album is released by any group or recording artist, people are anxious to hear what it’s like. Is it amazing? Do your ears feel drugged from the intoxicating melodies and explosive beats? Or is it awful?

It doesn’t start in May, it starts in February. As soon as countries start to have thier Eurosong competitions, my partner’s gone. I know she’s physically here with me, but mentally (and musically) she has left the building.

People have been excitedly telling me that the are going to see me in Whelan’s on the 6th of May. Now, first of all I thought to myself, “Hal, what promises have you made, to whom, and when did this happen?”. Then I realised that I’d hardly choose Whelan’s, and the 6th of May is the evening I’m going to the theatre with mammy Hal.

We spend a lot of our time reading and writing about all the fights our community has to go through to be recognised as just as dull as everyone else. So it’s great to get to write a happy one. Congrats to Chely Wright and Lauren Blitzer who have announced their engagement.

There has been fierce excitement online about Lady Gaga’s new single Born This Way. Gay bloggers have been saying that it’s the anthem we’ve all been waiting for.