Any time you’re on the lookout for some hazy summer hip-hop, your classic safe bets are the likes of De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, and maybe even Chance the Rapper in […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
Gigs round-up: July 22-28
KNOCKANSTOCKAN, Blessington Lakes, Co Wicklow, Today-Sunday, €115 (€50 Sunday only) After the big commercial blockbuster overload of Longitude, Knockanstockan will be a palette cleanser for some. The most independent of the established ‘boutique’ festivals, the annual Wicklow […]
‘It’s music from the blood of my life’: August Wells interview
August Wells singer and songwriter Ken Griffin often gets compared with greats like Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, and even Frank Sinatra, which sounds slightly hysterical until you hear his impossibly rich baritone. The Dubliner moved […]
Lionel Richie: Hello, is it meme you’re looking for?
You know where you stand with Lionel Richie. His last tour was called ‘All the Hits’ — like you ever expected him to go rogue and do a Dylan. Lionel is one of the old-school […]
Gigs of the week: July 15-21
DAVE CLARKE, Opium Rooms, Dublin, tonight, €17.50-20 We nearly lost the Baron of Techno on Monday — he was in the back of a car that crashed and crumpled to bits in Serbia on the way […]
Mallorca feature: Stormzy takes over BCM
Magaluf has a reputation as the maddest party town in Europe — with the word ‘infamous’ popping up as soon as the Mallorca town is mentioned. For a few decades it’s been the ultimate lads/lasses […]
The Fourth Coming: Stone Roses and the nostalgia loop
One of the biggest music feeding frenzies of recent years was The Stone Roses’ release of their comeback single All For One — which let to equal parts of derision and relief, depending on who […]
Gigs round-up: July 8-14
PIXIES, Live at the Marquee, Cork, Wednesday and Iveagh Gardens, Dublin, Thursday. Back in 2004, the Pixies’ comeback was an even bigger deal than the Stone Roses’ return a few years ago. They had imploded […]
Hysterical romance: Grace Jones – The Frog and the Princess (1985)
The funniest passage in Grace Jones’s autobiography I’ll Never Write My Memoirs recalls the time producer Trevor Horn called her in a huff to get her ass to the studio, just as she was setting […]
Gigs round-up: July 1-7
Faithless and Le Galaxie, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, tomorrow, €14.65 On paper it looks like Faithless could get their ass kicked on Le Galaxie’s home turf, as no amount of festival overkill can kill off enthusiasm […]
Boy’s in the hood: Schoolboy Q: By Any Means
Compton rapper and frequent Kendrick Lamar tag teammate Schoolboy Q is set to release his fourth album next month — the follow-up to his 2014 major label debut Oxymoron. Oxymoron was a gritty, doped-up street album full […]
Gigs round-up: June 24-30
SIGUR ROS, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, Sunday. The last time we had some glacial Icelandic tuneage up at Kilmainham it was Forbidden Fruit highlights Kiasmos. But this time we’re not expecting anyone from Sigur Ros to be […]
An intense Swansong: The Glowing Man
The Glowing Man is Swans’ heaviest piece of music in years — a strong claim considering their infamy as one of the ugliest, most eviscerating, intense and transcendent guitar bands ever. The track is the half-hour […]
Gigs round-up: June 17-23
FOALS, Belsonic, T13, Belfast, Thursday. Back in February I wondered whether the 3Arena would swallow up Foals a bit too much, diluting their intensity and sabotaging frontman Yannis Phillippakis’s stagediving buzz. T13 may be another […]
Interview: Sugarhill Gang on how they made Rapper’s Delight
You’re probably never more than 24 hours away from hearing a Sugarhill Gang song. Even 10 minutes before a conference call with Wonder Mike, Master Gee, Hen Dogg and DJ TDynsaty, their song Apache is […]
Moo Kid 