So have bands made it when they appear in Rolling Stone, or is that too dad rock for an avant-garde guitar band? The wrinkly old publication last week declared Black Midi to be “England’s not […]
Author: Conor McCaffrey
Algiers’ fist-up punk soul
Many bands claim to hit soul at different angles, but Atlanta group Algiers take the fury of the 60s and 70s protest soul movement and ram it with heavy electronics, post-punk and enough sloganeering to […]
Beak> still hard drone by
With Geoff Barrow’s other band Portishead without an album since 2008 and with no immediate plans to tour properly, he’s once again on the road with BEAK>, for some sleek krautrock analogue electronics. Too many […]
Dan Deacon goes down to the wires
To this day, one of the most joyous gigs I’ve been to was Dan Deacon in 2007 in the sadly long defunct Crawdaddy, downstairs in Tripod. It’s been too long. The Baltimore electronic artist takes […]
Schoolboy Q’s Crash course
As a former Crips member, Schoolboy Q often veers into gangsta rap checklist territory, but it always shoots off as authentic. The first track on his 2019 album CrasH Talk is even called Gang Gang, […]
070 Shake gives up the Ghost
Still only 22, New Jersey rapper and producer 070 Shake was one of the artists who got the most out of Kanye West’s infamous Wyoming recording sessions last year. Even before the torturous roll-out of […]
Lee Field has 50-odd years of grit in his throat
With more than five decades of wear and tear and grit coating his voice, soul veteran Lee Fields has a greater story than most young chancers — or many of the oldies for that matter. […]
First Fortnight: Ending mental health stigma since 2009
First Fortnight is heading into its 11th year of raising awareness and trying to erase the stigma of mental health in Ireland and further afield. The first few weeks of January are always a struggle […]
Wire still kicking into the future on Primed & Ready
“Are you scoping the future?” sings Wire’s Colin Newman in the first line of ‘Primed & Ready’ — the second single off the band’s upcoming 17th album Mind Hive. Dunno about you, but over their […]
Face To Face with Dublin Bowie Festival 2020
In the four years since David Bowie’s death, tributes have stopped feeling like a wake, and rather a celebration of maybe the greatest pop music icon of them all. As we’re hoovering up pine needles, […]
Moo Kid’s 2019 in 20 albums
“We’re all so sick and tired of seeing things as they are,” sings Nick Cave on Ghosteen‘s epic ‘Bright Horses’. “The fields are just fields, and there ain’t no Lord.” Sick and tired is the […]
And So I Watch You From Afar put a lid on their debut album
And So I Watch You From Afar opened their 2009 debut album with a track called Set Guitars To Kill, and then set about doing that over the next 10 years. The Northern act are […]
Dave Clarke: Still kicking the doors in
The Baron of Techno returns to Dublin tonight to knock some shape into your Advent calendar with some DM boot kickdrums. Get all your shopping done before tonight — it’ll be a late one, and […]
Scary Eire: ‘The return of the Celtic Funk Warriors’
With Irish hip-hop going through a commercial and critical golden era, here’s a chance to catch the original OGs for a Christmas party tomorrow night. Scary Eire laid the groundwork 25 years ago, as the […]
The Pharcyde re-upping their Bizarre Ride
The Sugar Club has been hosting hip-hop hall of famers for years, and tomorrow it’s The Pharcyde’s turn. The Compton crew are the latest act to take classic albums on the road, with 1992’s Bizarre […]
Moo Kid 