The so-called ‘difficult second album’ is one of the biggest cliches in rock — but Interpol’s LPs have been getting ever more difficult since they released their debut in 2002. Turn On the Bright Lights […]
Category: Gig previews
Courtney Barnett: How she Really Feels
“Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you,” sings Courtney Barnett in the song Pedestrian at Best, but so far her own prophecy hasn’t panned out like that. The sentiment might’ve worked when […]
Ansome puts techno through an industrial press
The heaviest gig of the week is happening in Index tonight – and that’s after grindcore reprobates Pig Destroyer played Voodoo Lounge a few days ago. UK producer Ansome bangs out machine-tooled nosebleed industrial techno […]
See behind the Skee Mask…
Munich producer Brian Muller released one of the most subtle and majestic electronic albums of the year with Compro. It’s an album you can approach from various angles — just as instrumental versions of rap […]
The compelling, weird concoction of Warmduscher
With core members from Fat White Family and Paranoid London, Warmduscher take that initial psychedelic post-punk acid house concoction and stretch it in even weirder directions. The band’s debut album Welcome To Whale City is […]
Arrested Development: the Atlanta hip-hop crew that ruled before trap
Some 20-odd years before Atlanta would become the centre of the hip-hop world with trap acts like Migos, Gucci Mane, Wacka Flocka Flame, Arrested Development were flying the flag for Southern hip-hop in the state. […]
U2 take more risks than you think
For a band weighed down by so much baggage and split opinion, U2’s reputation has held up in the live arena for decades. You forget they’re a band who take plenty of risks, while many […]
Marshall Jefferson still getting on like a house on fire
Ireland is a “hub of creative minds, unusual characters, ambitious messers and melodic beats”, according to the organisers of the first ever Dublin Music Conference. The three-day electronic music showcase runs next February, with international […]
Johnny Marr: Don’t mention the war
As the ratio of Johnny Marr coolness to Morrissey shit talk rises exponentially, the idea of a Smiths reunion gets even more ludicrous as the years go on. But while Morrissey might cause a collective […]
Bicep taking it beyond the clubs
It’s been an extraordinary year for Belfast duo Bicep, who have made the leap from techno clubs to theatre venues on the back of their 2017 debut album, which joins the dots between techno house, […]
Winter is coming: Metropolis 2018 breakdown
VILLAGERS Conor O’Brien’s Villagers’ live set-up has been transformed with the release of his brilliant electronic-based fourth album The Art of Pretending to Swim. At the recent Other Voices weekender in Ballina there were added […]
Still making Sense of it all: The restless art of David Byrne
After the release of the 1984 Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense, David Byrne would never be able to play another regular rock show. Jonathan Demme’s document of Talking Heads’ Speaking In Tongues tour […]
IDLES: giving landfill indie a kick in the teeth
Bristol punks IDLES are one of the few English guitar lad bands who are punching up through the underground with something to say — helping to finally banish second- and third-hand indie bands still waiting […]
You never quite know what you’re gonna get with the Brian Jonestown Massacre
If you’ve seen the 2004 music documentary Dig!, you’ll know the bitching and high-wire tension between the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre scored all the bullseyes over the actual music. Jonestown leader Anton […]
Jon Hopkins dragged out of his Luminous trance for live show
British electronic producer Jon Hopkins has one of the best albums of the year behind him in Luminous Beings. The record is a project informed by a journey of transcendental meditation and psychedelic exploration, and […]
Moo Kid 