In a time when bands are squealing out to be heard above the din, Pine ¶he Pilcrow grab your attention with the gentlest of whispers. Dublin-based trio Kevin Murray, Hannah Ryan and Rob Campbell create delicate […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
Irish gigs round-up
THOR & FRIENDS: St Peter’s Church of Ireland, Drogheda, tonight. There isn’t a more aptly-named musician in the world than the godlike Thor Harris – one of the most revered percussionists around and the backbone […]
Here’s 15 European festivals to take your mind off Electric Picnic
Easter has just gone, so it’s time for the daily blitz of festival updates and line-ups in the next few months — a head wreck if you’re not part of the Electric Picnic brigade after it […]
Irish gigs round-up
THERAPY? Whelan’s, Dublin, Tuesday; Empire, Belfast, Wednesday; Spirit Store, Dundalk, Thursday. This Therapy? Tour is dubbed ‘Wood & Wire’, an acoustic project that sees the trio bring the noise without their amps turned up to 10 and all the levels in […]
Sound of the Simmer: Interskalactic interview
If you were walking past Tower Records last Friday you would’ve seen a bigger obstruction on the path than the Luas works, as dozens of people crowded outside the storefront to see Interskalactic launch their […]
Irish gigs round-up
KATIE KIM & CRASH ENSEMBLE, Grand Social, Dublin, tomorrow. Katie Kim’s 2016 album Salt was one of last year’s highlights, earning a Choice Prize nomination for its haunting ambient folk, full of raw emotion and droning […]
Pharmakon’s Contact is pure electronic body-horror music
Well here’s one album you can judge by its cover. As Pharmakon, New York noise artist Margaret Chardiet makes a sort of electronic body-horror music as oppressive and invasive as the oily fingers pulling at […]
Still Dicking Around: Sparks at BBC 6 Music Festival
Sparks have always been the daft uncles in my record collection, prancing with an arched eyebrow over everything they do. Ron & Russell Mael are one of the most singular double acts in pop history, […]
Irish gigs round-up
BEAK>, Limelight 2, Belfast, tonight, Friday 31st (£18.50). With Geoff Barrow’s other band Portishead missing an album since 2008 and with no immediate plans to tour, he’s once again on the road with BEAK>, for some sleek krautrock analogue […]
Irish gigs of the week
RUN THE JEWELS, The Limelight, Belfast, Wednesday, SOLD OUT & Olympia, Dublin, Thursday, SOLD OUT The last time Run the Jewels played an indoor gig in Dublin I was so late I had to watch the gig through a […]
Just Shut Up – it’s Stormzy’s year
Last month Stormzy seemed like the world’s biggest pop star — even if it was for one week only. The London MC has been grime’s biggest hope since Wiley and Dizzee Rascal, the most likely […]
Irish gigs of the week
LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY: The Limelight 2 Belfast, tonight, Friday 17th (£22.50) & Whelan’s, Dublin, Sunday (€25). Jamaican legend Lee Scratch Perry is 81 in a few days, but he’s still got the mischievous glint of a teenager and a head […]
Irish gigs of the week
Woweembeem presents AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA, FARAH ELLE, FAKOLI & PAPA LOU: Sugar Club, Dublin, Thursday 16th (€13) Woweembeem is a Dublin-based crew who run “parties and podcasts promoting Afrobeat, reggae, Latin & rare grooves”, running their […]
‘Touching the music is always a unique feeling’: Some vinyl love from Mihalis Safras
Mihalis Safras must be the only DJ who’s been playing for years to recently win a ‘Best Newcomer’ award — a prize that seems even more bewildering when you consider his own productions and releases […]
Gigs round-up
FLOWDAN: The Grand Social, Dublin, tomorrow, Saturday 4 (€9) Grime MC Flowdan would’ve torn the paint off the walls at the recent gig by his frequent collaborator The Bug at Opium Rooms — but better late […]
Moo Kid 