Of all festival experiences, a full-on extreme metal camping weekender might well be the most difficult to replicate in the virtual space. The iconic French festival Hellfest has had to call off its event for […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
Bad Religion’s 90s deep dive
Los Angeles punk veterans Bad Religion released an authorised biography last year on their 40th anniversary, and they’re continuing the retrospective with a month of weekly streamed gigs cramming the best of their four decades. […]
Notwist at a jazz festival? Kinda makes sense
Named after one of Europe’s major rivers, the Elbe flows through the Czech Republic and Germany, notably through the industrial harbour city of Hamburg, which usually hosts the annual Elbjazz Festival. The organisers say that […]
Your city to burn – 30 years of Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish
Before Billy Corgan became known as a meme-ready eccentric megalomaniac, with bizarre appearances in the wrestling ring, and a hire and fire policy straight from the Mark E Smith playbook, he led Smashing Pumpkins’ early […]
Always read the label – Mothland (Montreal)
Mothland — an ‘extra-dimensional space’, sharing psych sounds from the Montreal underground
A cosmic flight of fancy: John Parsley – my Own Owl
Rugged space disco on Berlin label Nein Records
Always read the label – Discotexas (Lisbon)
Before the world got too cynical, dance music used to be about inclusivity, protest and community as well as the inherent futurism in exploring the new human-machine interface. But while the ‘community’ or ‘scene’ is […]
Iggy Pop — Still growing old disgracefully
James Newell Osterberg is celebrating 74 years on this Earth — nearly 60 of them fully locked in to the feral, transcendent power of loud music. The undisputed king of hellraising rock’n’roll still standing, the […]
Just a random selection of Prince’s godlike gifts
The word pilgrimage is overused for visits to celebrity homes, but crowds at Paisley Park today for the fifth anniversary of Prince’s death will be marking the legacy of a genuine god of music. Dearly […]
With Phil Anselmo it’s always about to get ugly
The early 90s was a gold rush for heavy music, with some mega success stories that seem kinda baffling in hindsight. In the few years after Nirvana’s Nevermind, there was a rush to sign alternative […]
The mental plain to spark the brain – GZA revisits Liquid Swords
Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA lived up to his Genius tag the last time he appeared on stage in Dublin. While many rappers turn to cosplay in Dubs jerseys while skulling pints of Guinness, GZA was boasting […]
Fists of Dissent – Machine Head re-up The Blackening
As a somewhat lapsed metaller who still tries to keep up, I still get regular pangs of oul’ lad when I hear formative bands touring the classic albums I grew up with. In 2019, Oakland […]
Brontis and the sci-fi invasion – Take Me Seriously
Brontis’s new album opens with a track called ‘Sparse Audience’, which isn’t some resigned comment on the last year without live music, but there’s a story behind it. A big story too — it’s a […]
The Slits kicking against the pricks on Typical Girls (1979)
When The Slits formed in London in 1976 they couldn’t have been any more a-Typical of the punk scene at the time — which was a lot more reductive than the history books let on. […]
Autumns’ industrial strength EBM – Found It
Christian Donaghey knows his way round a nihilistic album title. In the last few years as Autumns, he’s released Pissing Away My Youth, You’re Not an Artist, You’re a Dickhead, and Take Your Leather Gloves […]
Moo Kid 