GZA/GENIUS: The Sugar Club, Dublin, Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, €27.50 The number of side projects, solo albums and guest appearances in the Wu-Tang Clan universe is head-melting, but GZA’s 1995 album Liquid Swords is one […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
Public Image Ltd is John Lydon’s real legacy
In an interview recently, John Lydon somewhat ambitiously told me he’d been in the music game for over 40 years – and he’s still got 40 years left. And even though for many he’ll always […]
Slum Village lead the Irish gigs highlighter
SLUM VILLAGE, Monroes Live, Galway, Thursday, €20; The Sugar Club, Dublin, Friday week, €20 Detroit act Slum Village have one of the richest legacies in underground hip-hop, as the late MC and genius producer J […]
Channel hopping: Five reasons to hit La Route du Rock 2018
Too often, festivals boast of their idyllic settings, when the big reveal is actually a fenced-off stately home, fairy light forest trails and installations not much better than a load of dream catchers. We hit […]
Jimmy Cliff interview: ‘I wanted to accomplish a lot of things in this lifetime’
Few artists can boast about changing the face of music, but Jimmy Cliff was there at the crossroads at two points in reggae’s growth into a global movement. In 1972, Cliff starred in the ‘first […]
Ariel Pink leads the Irish gigs highlighter
ARIEL PINK: Button Factory, Dublin, Thursday, €22 Ariel Pink says his work is “a weird art experiment”, which is the most perfect description for the genre-flitting left-field indie hero. The LA singer-songwriter has released 12 […]
All Together Now elbows its way into festival season
It takes some nerve to start up a new festival in Ireland these days, but even with all the moans of over-saturation, there’s still room for one more if it’s done right. All Together Now […]
Beatyard is the easy way out this bank holiday weekend
When it comes to the August bank holiday weekend it really is a punter’s market, with almost too much choice, and Beatyard up against veteran festivals like Castlepalooza and Indiependence, and the new venture All […]
All the right noises: July 2018 in 21 tracks
Shitposting black metal to punch Nazis to, acid techno, ramshackle punk, space disco, bedroom pop, mechanised grime R&B, and some ambient drones to make it all better. The soundtrack of July 2018… 1. Khalab – […]
Novi Sad’s EXIT strategy
Most festivals in Ireland or the UK boast about their wonderful setting, usually in the grounds of some stately home that’s fenced off from the session ruffians. It probably makes sense – protecting against the elements, […]
Interview: Dave Clarke and the art of never selling out
Near the end of my half-hour chat with Dave Clarke, he says he’s most proud of not selling out at any point, even if he “didn’t have a personal life for 30 years”. He’s talking […]
Caribou lead the Irish gigs highlighter
Caribou, Festival Big Top, Galway, tomorrow There was a time a few years ago when Caribou were going down the Nile Rodgers over-saturation route, playing every festival on the circuit while still admittedly being pretty […]
Bryan Ferry beyond the white tuxedo
When I told a mate during the week I was going to see Bryan Ferry he responded with a simple: “Jesus lad,” and an emoji somewhere between sad and bewilderment. He followed it up with: […]
Can’t get No Sleep: Going the extra mile at Exit Festival in Serbia
It’s lunchtime in a sweltering Belgrade airport and Nina Kraviz glides past me and joins the queue, as if she hasn’t just banged out techno to thousands of diehards in the moat of a Serbian […]
Burning Inside: Al Jourgensen and the black heart of Ministry
Ministry is the band that just won’t die. For starters, ringleader Al Jourgensen has bounced back from being declared dead three times from drug overdoses, and he starts his sick fuck memoir The Lost Gospels […]
Moo Kid 