It must be odd for Feile veterans listening to people complaining that Electric Picnic was ‘better in my day’ — which was only 2004-5. As the original Irish festival OGs, Feile heads have been carrying […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
‘Loving atonal shards’ on new PLOM EP
The latest release on Danish label FLUF is another unwavering dispatch from the outskirts of electronic music, this time from PLOM, aka Barcelona-based producer Pau Magrané Figuera. Actual bio details are sketchy enough, but PLOM’s website […]
Nailed it: Peaches Christ Superstar
Peaches’ last show in Dublin was one of the most OTT gigs I’ve been at in years. The NSFW electro-punk queen’s outfits included a bodysuit draped in silicone boobs, a fluffy pink feather muppet suit […]
Steve Van Zandt interview: I walked out on $100 million, but I saved a few lives
In the infinite list of shocking moves by rock stars over the years, Steve Van Zandt’s decision to leave Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band right after the release of Born in the USA is up […]
From the club to inner space: Objekt – Secret Snake
Even when he’s banging out club cuts, Berlin-based producer Objekt’s electronic creations always hit the head as much as the gut, with tracks sound designed to the nth degree, while still keeping a nervy vigour. […]
$hit and $hine’s weirdo jazz-funk glitch EP, Very High
Considering $hit and $hine 2017’s album Total $hit came with a website that was just a an interactive silvery, spinning poo emoji with hyper electronics gushing forth as you clicked the bluebottle cursor, head $hit-master Craig […]
Hilary Woods headlines the Irish gigs list
HILARY WOODS: The Sugar Club, Dublin, tonight, €16 Former members of Irish indie-rock bands rarely make a leap as vast as Hilary Woods, whose brilliant debut Colt is one of the records of the year, […]
A Certain Ratio should just sue LCD Soundsystem and get it over with
Listening back to A Certain Ratio’s 1980 song Do the Du, you realise they’d have a potential lawsuit against James Murphy for LCD Soundsystem’s breakthrough single Losing My Edge, and the band’s wider sonic palette. […]
The hills are alive with the sound of Laibach
Laibach have been triggering sensibilities way before warnings became a thing, and their new video is another masterstroke of performance art trolling. In 2015, the Slovenian industrial act became the first Western band to be […]
Iceage top the Irish gigs list
ICEAGE: The Workmans Club, Dublin, Tonight, €15 Danish band Iceage still look frighteningly young, even though they’ve been knocking punk into odd shapes for 10 years. Frontman Elias Bender Ronnefelt left school at 16 to lead […]
It’s Brittany, Bitch: La Route du Rock 2018 review
There’s something Narnia-like about getting an overnight ferry in Portsmouth and waking up in Saint-Malo on the coast of Brittany. After leaving England with a belly full of Wetherspoons’ fried chicken and a vista of […]
Here’s your top 10 for Electric Picnic
Not exactly full of hot takes here, just bang-on dependable acts, from alt-rock to full-on techno, life-affirming hip-hop, politically-engaged electronics and industrial ultraviolence. Death Grips (Rankin’s Wood, Sunday, 9-10pm) California trio Death Grips are one […]
Electric Picnic off the beaten track
For years, Electric Picnic has been pointing out that it’s more than just a music festival, and every year they double down on this USP as Ireland’s main music and arts festival that rivals any […]
The greatest team in the history of mass slaughter (and the greatest trailer ever)
GZA is in Dublin for three days for a showcase of his 1995 album Liquid Swords – the greatest of all the solo Wu-Tang clan releases, and a true hip-hop hall of fame record. Liquid […]
John Lydon interview: ‘I’ll go another 40 years… I don’t do full stops’
From punk provocateur to post-punk pioneer, John Lydon has been one of the most singular and divisive figures in popular music for over 40 years – and he reckons he’s got 40 more where that […]
Moo Kid 