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, […]
All the right noises: October 2018 in 20 tracks
UUUU – Electric Blanket (from s/t EP) UUUU’s debut s/t was one of Moo Kid’s albums of 2017, and the follow-up EP takes the experimental project into further slithery territories. The four U’s are Graham […]
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 […]
Letting the days go by: Talking Heads in 10 songs
One of the most iconic bands to emerge from the late-70s New Wave and post-punk era was also one of the weirdest. You’ll know Talking Heads’ go-to songs like ‘Psycho Killer’, ‘Road To Nowhere’ and […]
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 […]
Same as he ever was: When David Byrne played the Galway Arts Festival (2004)
Any anoraks out Byrne-watching on July 26 might have bumped into a stranger in a strange land. According to his online tour journal, the singer took his fold-out bike for a ride on Salthill Prom […]
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 […]
There’s always high expectations with Low
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 […]
Gleaming psych-synth gems on The KVB – Only Now Forever
At the impeccably-curated La Route du Rock festival in France at the tail-end of the summer, The KVB headlined the opening party – held in the Nouvelle Vague club rather than the outdoor ruins of […]
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 […]
Moo Kid 