Wake up, it's a beautiful morning! Time to get some restorative, life-affirming music into our bloodstream.

News Champion Richard Chambers returns to the show and there's much to discuss, including the latest mania surrounding Taylor Swift, the sad passing of the legendary Tina Turner, and that aforementioned energy rush of music to kick-start your day. 

ACT ONE (5:45): Tina Turner remembered, Taylor Swift weirdness, Ed Sheeran reluctance, Donald Trump versus the Village People, and so much more - it's the week in music. 

ACT TWO (44:47): Top 5 Morning Kickstarters. 

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NO ENCORE goes Top of the Flops this week with an exciting crossover episode of sorts...

The wonderful and amazing Fionnuala Jones – host of Flop Culture and Bandwagons among many other things – returns to the guest co-host microphone for a vivid and sometimes shocking deep-dive into the most noteworthy flops to ever do it from a music point of view.

All that and plenty of news to get stuck into:

ACT ONE (4:49): An incredible piece of music gets the respect it deserves, Fionnuala reflects on this year's Eurovision Song Contest, Taylor Swift's latest spiky missive, and why The Weeknd wants you ti give his new television show a chance – it's the news

ACT TWO (34:05): TOP 5 MUSIC FLOPS

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Hey, hope you like SHOUTY ANGSTY MEN. No, not Dave Hanratty and Sonic Architect Adam Shanahan, but rather the many frontmen that feature in this week's Top 5. 

It's time to get down to business with all things Midwest Emo - American, not Irish - and highlight the visceral diamonds of a deeply influential and beautifully noisy music scene. 

And who better to guide us through this emotive world than the force of nature that is debuting guest co-host Hugh Carr? 

ACT ONE: Let's introduce that man Hugh Carr. 

ACT TWO (7:14): Much to discuss - Bruce Springsteen rocks Dublin, Wild Youth prompt a fevered Eurovision Song Contest debate, Pusha T ruins Dave's week, Bad Bunny fires up Puerto Rico with his WWE heroics... it's the week in music news! 

ACT THREE (45:17): Top 5 Midwest Emo.

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NO ENCORE returns with a cinematic proposition - brand new Irish film Lakelands is in cinemas now, telling the story of a promising GAA footballer who suffers a life-changing injury and the difficult fallout that follows. 

Co-director, writer and producer Robert Higgins joins the show to discuss the making of the critically-acclaimed project, while NO ENCORE alumnus Daithí takes us behind the music of the original score he created for the film. 

Lakelands is playing in select Irish cinemas from Friday, 5 May. 

ACT ONE (4:17): Ed Sheeran in the dock yet again, Taylor Swift and Matty Healy provoke the gossip columns, Fall Out Boy get especially emotional, and Nick Cave endures some royal abuse - it's the week in music news. 

ACT TWO (27:33): The music and the making of Lakelands. 

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Let's grind some gears. NO ENCORE is back and so too is the force of nature that is Zara Hedderman. 

Zara joins Dave Hanratty this week to reveal some of the more irksome aspects about this beloved thing called music. 

Let's go...

ACT ONE (8:30): Dave vows to pronounce things better from now on, Frank Ocean fallout continues, Matty Healy would like to make amends, one of Taylor Swift's employees is suitably impressed, and what beloved sub-genre is finally maybe possibly making a glorious comeback? It's the news! 

ACT TWO (31:17): Top 5 Music Pet Hates.

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He's back. NO ENCORE's proud Cork prodigal son returns to the microphone to provide razor-sharp support – welcome back, Colm O'Regan!

Dave Hanratty is only delighted to be reunited with his boy, even if it is via the medium of a Zoom screen. 

The guys tackle a busy news section before getting to the main event – Colm's pick, no less. Let's talk about the most intriguing and show-stealing support acts we've seen over the years in the live arena, shall we? We shall!

ACT ONE (4:55): Mark Sheehan of The Script RIP, Frank Ocean and Jai Paul make headlines at Coachella, a Lord of the Rings concert goes awry, good tidings on the Soundgarden front, and what's this about a 'lost' Oasis album? It's the news. 

ACT TWO (36:06): Top 5 Show-Stealing Support Acts. 

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NO ENCORE returns to your ears once more, this time joined by a very special guest co-host – the returning Ailbhe Reddy!

The prolific singer-songwriter has just released sophomore album Endless Affair and is on the promotional trail – don't miss Ailbhe's upcoming double-header at Whelan's in Dublin on May 5th and 6th, or elsewhere if you can catch her.

Ailbhe joined Dave Hanratty in-studio for a chat about her recent American jaunt, her new album, and performing on the Irish institution that is The Late Late Show. She also selected this week's Top 5 – all about movie needle drops. 

But what is a needle drop, you ask? Well, it's the moment in a movie when a song plays out of nowhere in a bid to create some kind of atmospheric tension or manipulate your emotions in some form or fashion. 

A genuinely impossible task to just nail down five of these each, but Dave and Ailbhe tried their very best. The results speak for themselves, hopefully...

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New season, new era, new rules. 

Okay that last one isn't strictly true, I'm just quoting a Scream movie tagline. More on that kind of thing next week. 

For now, NO ENCORE returns with Dave Hanratty joined by guest co-host Mark Conroy, who brings a particularly heavy Top 5 subject with him – seriously, this episode goes to some unavoidably emotional places, so be warned. 

Elegies are the order of the day as the boys present their shouts for the standout musical numbers that honour those who have departed this mortal coil. 

And if that sounds a touch too heavy for your Easter weekend, they also find time to throw Ed Sheeran under the bus. The metaphorical bus. We wish him no major harm. Honest. 

ACT ONE (6:17): Ed Sheeran rubbishes the delicate art of music criticism, Dua Lipa boards the Barbie movie, Dave rants about the Barbie movie, Keanu Reeves shows love to one of his favourite bands, a former Red Hot Chili Pepper throws shade, James Hetfield pens his masterpiece, and just how much money does Diddy owe Sting? It's the news!

ACT TWO (38:13): Top 5 Songs For The Dead

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Okay, there's 'It's been a while' and then there's 'We haven't had a new one of these in a full year' – please welcome back the one, the only, NO POPCORN~!

Fashionably late to an unacceptable degree, the 'Movies x Music' side project of NO ENCORE finally returns with a bang – it's time to talk all about TÁR. 

Dave Hanratty is joined by ace pop culture journalist Jenn Gannon and former Le Galaxie frontman Michael Pope to discuss the incredible orchestral psychological thriller union of director Todd Field and actor Cate Blanchett. 

A complex motion picture, and a pretty tremendous one. What does TÁR have to say about 'cancel culture'? What do we think of its much-discussed ending? Was Cate Blanchett being serious when she described this as a "potentially career-ending" role? And how does The Blair Witch Project fit in?

All of this and much more is discussed in this very episode. 

Every NO POPCORN episode to date is available on Spotify here: https://tinyurl.com/y6m24m82 

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Strap in, it's 2001; A Podcast Odyssey.

Dave Hanratty is joined by the one-and-only Zara Hedderman to take a throwback look at the turn of the millennium, and the good, the bad and the ugly that music served up at the time. Why? Because of that new music documentary everyone is talking about, of course.

Elsewhere, there's all the music news that's fit to podcast about, and Zara reveals some shocking truths about acts that you couldn't pay her to see live!

ACT ONE (4:50): Music film shut-out at the Oscars, Slash gets into the slasher business, Liam Gallagher goes up in the world, and a twenty-two-year-old Meg White debate causes the Internet to melt down.

ACT TWO (42:42): TOP 5 SONGS FROM THE YEAR 2001 (BEST & WORST).

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