There’s no end to songs, protests and think-pieces about the ongoing calamity surrounding the Trump era, but no other music other act has tackled the US shitshow with as much elegance and subtlety as Minnesota […]
Category: Gig previews
The Man From Tomorrow is playing tonight
In recent years, Detroit techno pioneer Jeff Mills has indulged his more experimental avant-garde side, with conceptual pieces on space science, Egyptology, jazz and Afrobeat – as well as holding a residency at the Louvre […]
Helena Hauff: Everybody keep Qualm
Hamburg DJ Helena Hauff has released one of the electronic albums of the year in Qualm, a visceral slab of analogue electro with a punk edge, and hands-dirty track titles like Fag Butts in the […]
Echo & the Bunnymen: too many strings attached
You’re never much more than a year away from an Echo and the Bunnymen gig in Ireland, but this time they’ve probably got a lot more to prove as they hit Dublin tonight. Their last […]
OCTAVIAN IS ENJOYING THE PARTY WHILE IT LASTS
London rapper Octavian has told the story about being homeless around the time the London Olympics was happening down the road from where his mum kicked him out of the house. But his rise through […]
Jinx Lennon holds up a surreal mirror to Ireland’s lunacy
Punk poet and singer-songwriter Jinx Lennon has over nine albums held up a surreal mirror to Ireland’s post-crash spiral and new bubble fakery, with oblique observations that are always a few steps ahead of the […]
Boxed Off headlines the Irish gigs list
BOXED OFF: Fairyhouse Racecourse, Meath, tomorrow, SOLD OUT IT’S impressive selling thousands of tickets to a dance music festival at the end of September, but Boxed Off is further proof that Ireland’s love affair with […]
Take me to church: Other Voices heads to Mayo
We barely get time to breathe after summer festival season before we’re bombarded by winter weekenders, with circus tents swapped for pubs, clubs and indoor auditoriums, and the wellies, hotpants and muscle vests stored away […]
Class action: HWCH 2018
Now in its 18th edition, Hard Working Class Heroes is now an Irish music institution, an annual showcase of the best of the underground and a chance for Irish audiences and industry heads to get […]
Smart Alex: Arctic Monkeys pissed the right people off
It seemed like Ireland was the only country that Arctic Monkeys didn’t include on their summer festival schedule, and there was plenty of moaning when they didn’t get added to the Picnic. But after a […]
Anna Calvi headlines the Irish gigs list
ANNA CALVI: The Empire, Belfast, Thursday, £20; Tivoli, Dublin, Friday week, €25 Anna Calvi, Hunter missed the deadline for the 2018 Mercury Prize, but she’s a cert for her third album to get a third […]
Feile Classical is a long way from Tipperary in the 90s
It must be odd for Feile veterans listening to people complaining that Electric Picnic was ‘better in my day’ — which was only 2004-5. As the original Irish festival OGs, Feile heads have been carrying […]
Nailed it: Peaches Christ Superstar
Peaches’ last show in Dublin was one of the most OTT gigs I’ve been at in years. The NSFW electro-punk queen’s outfits included a bodysuit draped in silicone boobs, a fluffy pink feather muppet suit […]
Hilary Woods headlines the Irish gigs list
HILARY WOODS: The Sugar Club, Dublin, tonight, €16 Former members of Irish indie-rock bands rarely make a leap as vast as Hilary Woods, whose brilliant debut Colt is one of the records of the year, […]
A Certain Ratio should just sue LCD Soundsystem and get it over with
Listening back to A Certain Ratio’s 1980 song Do the Du, you realise they’d have a potential lawsuit against James Murphy for LCD Soundsystem’s breakthrough single Losing My Edge, and the band’s wider sonic palette. […]
Moo Kid 