Mixmaster Morris is the OG of the UK chillout room, an ambient pioneer who reworked the acid house experience to include soft landings alongside the all-night raving. You can loosely file him alongside The KLF […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
She drives me crazy: Grace Jones – Pull Up to the Bumper (1981)
A few years ago I had to pick some tunes for an X-rated list and I had Wu Tang Clan’s Dog Shit pencilled in – Ol Dirty Bastard’s leg-humping solo effort on Wu-Tang Forever. But […]
We’re going Dutch: Lowlands 2017 recap
Even as the hype over Irish festival season fades and your wellies are dumped in the cupboard, it’s not that insane to start thinking about next year. After all, Electric Picnic tickets went on sale before […]
Roots Manuva interview: ‘It’s like a mud fight instead of a ballet’ (2008)
Not renowned for their modesty, most commercial hip-hop artists assign some ethereal majesty to their MTV-bankrolled ‘vocation’. For Rodney Smith Aka Roots Manuva, it’s a base instinct, a subconscious tic “I find it hard to […]
The National may as well apply for residency in Ireland
The National are one of a select group of American bands who could apply for residency in Ireland – with Pixies and Bruce Springsteen a couple that stand out, playing almost annually without much bitching […]
You’ve got Mael: An interview with Russell of Sparks
For nearly 50 years Sparks have been one of pop music’s biggest conundrums. If you’re way out of the loop the LA duo are a one-hit wonder, but they’ve had over 20 albums since their […]
Perturbator goes one darker on surprise EP New Model
French electronic producer James Kent aka Perturbator has always lurked in the darker outskirts of the synthwave scene, so it’s no surprise that he’s just premiered his surprise new EP on the Metalsucks and Metal […]
Too smart for the charts: Sparks – Hello Young Lovers (2006)
Sparks are about to release their 24th album Hippopotamus this Friday, and it’s another pop sidestep from the brothers Ron and Russell Mael, who’ve been upending pop conventions for nearly 50 years. Hippopotamus is a […]
Another field trip: here’s who to see at Electric Picnic
I know I know, fuck the begrudgers and all that, but this year’s Electric Picnic line-up is pretty underwhelming. I’ve missed two or three since 2005, but this is my first year of zero fomo. […]
Robert Hood interview: ‘You can’t escape your vision’
Robert Hood is an artist who’s always flipping things. He’s a pioneer of austere, minimal techno who releases gospel house as Floorplan; The ‘Minister of Information’ in revolutionary techno act Underground Resistance who now preaches […]
Irish gigs round-up
BORIS… Limelight 2, Belfast, Wednesday Experimental metal band Boris are one of Japan’s most famous avant-garde exports, with over 40 releases since 1996, ranging from heavy psychedelia to doom metal and noise. Their underground credentials are boosted […]
This is a drill: Talker – Battle Standards
If you want your techno to sound like Ancient Methods trapped inside an oil drum, Talker has just the thing. The Chicago duo’s new EP is three tracks of heavy metal without the guitars or […]
Irish gigs round-up
CONVEXTION: Tengu, Dublin, tonight. Describing himself as “willingly anonymous”, Dallas producer Gerard Hanson works under two aliases and has been sporadically releasing since the mid-90s — fast-paced electro as E.R.P. and graceful sci-fi techno as Convextion. […]
Bending nostalgia all sides: OOBE – Amarcord
The first track on Amarcord sounds like witch-house chancers Salem nudge-winking the build-up of Robert Miles’ Children, and there’s a guitar solo straight out of Tangerine Dream’s 1980s playbook. Virtual-E might sound like a brain-clash on […]
For a crash course in house music history, Pump Up the Volume is a good place to start (2001)
The problem with dance music documentaries, history books and anthologies is that they date pretty quickly. New fads have writers like Simon Reynolds going back every few years to reshape their books with tacked-on chapters, […]
Moo Kid 