For four days every January, the small Dutch city of Groningen becomes the centre of Europe’s music scene — with tens of thousands landing in northeast Holland for Eurosonic. Eurosonic-Noorderslag is Europe’s biggest showcase of […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
Tick off these Irish gigs in your diary
IMAGINING IRELAND: 21st Century Song, National Concert Hall, tomorrow. A couple of weeks ago, Dublin MC Mango put out the tweet: “I started rapping out the back of school by the bike sheds. Now they’ve […]
Sound Carriers of the world unite: Damo Suzuki and United Bible Studies in Galway (2005)
Damo Suzuki would “like to see you and make smile on your face everywhere in the world”, according to the press release for his Never Ending Tour. His tour is the second ‘Never Ending’ one […]
All the right noises: January 2018 in 21 tracks
Dry or no dry, January’s usually a slim few weeks for music – with new albums lost under last year’s best-of lists, the Christmas hangovers and the general bitching and moaning that doesn’t let up […]
Dutch and go: 20 things to take away from Eurosonic 2018
The dust has settled on this year’s Eurosonic – the annual showcase in the Dutch city of Groningen that’s a platform for breaking new bands, filling Europe’s festival line-ups and bookers, labels and industry heads […]
Irish gigs round-up
MOON DUO, Button Factory, Dublin, tonight, e16 Portland act Moon Duo hit the devil’s music at right angles — indulging in psychedelic krautrock jams and shoegaze fuzz, with references to occult figures like Aleister Crowley. Their […]
Tech noir detours on Lewis James’ Nutso (Rua Sound)
Irish electronic producer and sound designer Lewis James has just debuted a new track Nutso, the first taste of his EP Featherstone on Irish label Rua Sound He’s hit this year running, tagged ‘one to […]
Recalling LCD Soundsystem’s debut on its 13th birthday
A few decades before one US regime declared a war on terror, America’s white rock’n’roll vanguard initiated conflict on a “type of soul-based dance music” that just wasn’t man enough. In 1979, possibly inspired by […]
Open Ear ’18 is a crucial window into the Irish electronic underground
The third edition of Open Ear returns on the June bank holiday – a showcase of essential acts from the Irish electronic music underground, in the stunning Sherkin Island off West Cork. The first wave […]
Nervy industrial brutalism on new JK Flesh track PI04.1
Justin K Broadrick aka JK Flesh has started to drip-feed new tracks from his upcoming EP PI04 – with the latest one suitably premiered on The Brvtalist. As one half of Godflesh, and with a […]
Irish gigs round-up
HELENA HAUFF, District 8, Dublin, tomorrow. Hamburg producer and selector Helena Hauff is one of the highest profile artists sticking to her electro guns, with her releases and DJ sets oozing with frazzled exposed wires […]
10 acts to look out for at Whelan’s Ones To Watch
The only thing more annoying than January is the insufferable moaning about the greyest month of the year. With half the country talking about Dry January as if they’re on barefoot Lough Derg pilgrimage, and […]
Spotlight on the 10 Irish acts at Eurosonic this week
I’m en route to the Dutch city of Groningen for Eurosonic, the annual festival for showcasing fresh artists from all over Europe. Over the next four days the festival is hosting over 300 acts from 25 […]
Shane MacGowan beyond the Streams of Whiskey
When the National Concert Hall announced a 60th birthday tribute to Shane MacGowan, there was a collective wtf double-take that he’d managed to make it this far — and the same cliches were flying around […]
Irish gigs round-up
CELEBRATING DAVID BOWIE: Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Monday Dublin went headlong into a Bowie wormhole last week, with tribute shows, lectures, exhibitions and stage plays as part of the Dublin Bowie Festival, – but we’re not done just […]
Moo Kid 