HELSINKI electro pop duo TV OFF have been steadily gaining momentum with frequent live appearances, some buzz-worthy digital singles, performances as far out as London and Tokyo, and their own monthly club night, but coming up with an album release has taken its sweet time. Their debut LP The Music Machine is finally out on 12 May.

”We started working on it about 2.5 years ago, but we set out with the notion that we want to do it right the first time,” says the duo’s male half Markku. ”It was part meticulousness and part healthy perfectionism.”

Actor Jeff Bridges won the Best Actor’s award in both the Oscar’s and the Golden Globe for his role in this film as Bad Blake, a faded country music legend who has had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. Bad has a grown son he has not seen for years and whose whereabouts he has no clue of. He tours from one backwater town to another playing his old hits in run-down joints, drifting further and further from his big comeback dream. All seems to be on the downhill slide for Bad, but when a young journalist enters his life things begin to change.

PN

PREMIERE 14 MAY

With the recent flurry of comic book films coming out of Hollywood, many beloved super heroes have received a rotten treatment. Amid the junk and clutter, gems like the first Iron Man film shine all the brighter. Casting a respected actor like Robert Downey Jr as the lead and amping up the humour and pure awesomeness, Iron Man was the closest thing to a Marvel comic come to life since the comic giant inaugurated their motion picture division. The second instalment brings back old Cold War era Marvel villains in another extravaganza of powered armour suits, race cars, hot Russian spies, big-ass explosions and proper badassitude.

Music blogs are the medium of the day. it seems Five years ago MySpace was all the rage, bringing us Lily Allen and (ahem) Sean Kingston. Well, that’s completely passé now. Today savvy pop fans are scouring a quagmire of music blogs for the hottest new MP3s instead.

In this new order, blog aggregators – sites that collect the headlines and compress thousands of articles from blogs around the world into a continuous feed of music news – wield great power for stirring buzz around certain artists.

In that regard Helsinki indie rockers Kiki Pau were momentarily the most hyped Finnish band in February, when their digital single An Old Song shot to the top ten of...

First-time director Joonas Neuvonen followed his gang of substance-abusers in Rovaniemi with a video camera. The result is a harsh awakening, a trip through the mental landscape of drug-addicts in Finland’s northern metropolis, where daily life is little more than a continuous rat-race to score the next fix and shooting up anything that is at hand. The footage is unapologetic and brutally honest in its portrayal of a section of society that is often talked about but rarely seen. Incidentally, the film was certified K-18, as it ”portrays drug use in a positive light.” Go and see for yourself if the lifestyle appeals to you.

PREMIERE 9 APRIL