YOU don’t always need a reason to dance, but it helps, says Andy Butler of Hercules and Love Affair. “There’s always been two sides to proper underground subcultures,” he says. “It’s never just about getting together for […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
Everything under the Sun: Solar Weekend in Roermond
IF YOU walk up to the entrance of a festival and you’re greeted by Rapunzel in a purple castle, you get the feeling you’ll be letting your own hair down for a few days. Rapunzel’s […]
Johnny Marr interview: ‘There’s a trick to getting things sounding so simple’
You can buy a T-shirt online with the simple all-capitals slogan ‘JOHNNY FUCKIN MARR’. It’s a shortcut to a collective music memory, all wrapped up in a name. This directness also rubs off on Marr’s approach to songwriting. Chatting over the phone about his […]
Still out of Order: Peter Hook interview
We’ve called Peter Hook on a good day. He’s recharging his batteries on a rare break from touring, relaxing in his garden in Manchester with a cuppa, getting ready to watch England in the World Cup. […]
David Holmes interview: ‘I’m too old to make a load of 20-year-olds dance’
DAVID Holmes is working on the soundtrack to a film called I Am Belfast — a lofty title for sure, but it’s one that could’ve summed him up in his hometown’s music circles over the […]
Working classical hero: Interview with Ellis Ludwig-Leone of San Fermin
THERE must be a certain amount of expectation on a kid who shares his name with Beethoven and Sergio Leone – and in some way Ellis Ludwig-Leone couldn’t have been anything other than a composer. […]
Hell of a Night: Schoolboy Q in Dublin
It’s a bit redundant to go on about a gangsta rapper’s chest-beating, but Schoolboy Q does seem fairly sure of himself. He’s already scored a few points with the old Dublin jersey trick, and it’s not long […]
Metal Face-off: DOOM in Dublin
Doom is rap’s most enigmatic character – a cult comic book supervillain whose alter-egos include a powerful sorcerer, genius inventor and a three-headed space monster. It’s funny then to see Metal Face casually ambling onto […]
More man than machine: Icebreaker presents Kraftwerk, A Future Past – Dublin
Kraftwerk’s self-curated brand is one of the most rigid in modern music, and the iconic image of Man Machine automatons is crystallised in the current live show — pristine electronic pulses honed with nano scale […]
Bitter pill: Schoolboy Q – Oxymoron
With all the hype building around the release of Schoolboy Q’s major label debut, he couldn’t help but bow down to gangsta rap peer pressure. A year-and-a-half after his Black Hippy companion Kendrick Lamar’s socially […]
Detroit rap city: Danny Brown in Dublin
Danny Brown’s got one foot on the monitor in the Academy, headbanging, lurching forward and pulling out the devil horns, egged on by the swirling mosh pit and flying ping-pong plastic pints. It wouldn’t look […]
New age not dead: Mark McGuire – Along the Way
Guitarist Mark McGuire’s first post-Emeralds solo album may take a few listens before you stop sniggering at the back. It’s an “odyssey through the vast, unknown regions of the mind”, according to the inner sleeve […]
‘People are awful and bloody in general’: Interview with Michael Gira of Swans
Michael Gira tells me he’s “just a little braindead”. He’s having a rare day off tour with Swans at his home in upstate New York, ears ringing as he tries to recharge for the short final […]
Push the Sky Away: Primavera 2013, day three
Day three begins with a pact to massage the head and turn the dial down a notch, so we set up camp from 4pm in the 3,000 capacity Rockdelux Auditori, the indoor concert space in […]
Full of Fire: Primavera 2013, day two
A bit of customary second day dilly-dallying means we miss a lot of the hipster Beyoncé, aka Mrs Carter’s little sister Solange at the Pitchfork Stage. Like Jessie Ware on the same stage the previous […]
Moo Kid 