Artists

Forget the fact that he's oft (and with good reason, mind) described as the nicest man of the Irish music scene, Richie Egan proved he was the top man when Jape's third album Ritual scooped the 2008 Choice Music Prize. Formerly of avidly liked post rockers The Redneck Manifesto, Egan began life as Jape with 2003's Cosmosphere and its quick successor, the superbly titled, The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me. Jack White covers and label strife was to follow but Ritual's success should only be the start of Egan's.