Laibach have been triggering sensibilities way before warnings became a thing, and their new video is another masterstroke of performance art trolling. In 2015, the Slovenian industrial act became the first Western band to be […]
Iceage top the Irish gigs list
ICEAGE: The Workmans Club, Dublin, Tonight, €15 Danish band Iceage still look frighteningly young, even though they’ve been knocking punk into odd shapes for 10 years. Frontman Elias Bender Ronnefelt left school at 16 to lead […]
It’s Brittany, Bitch: La Route du Rock 2018 review
There’s something Narnia-like about getting an overnight ferry in Portsmouth and waking up in Saint-Malo on the coast of Brittany. After leaving England with a belly full of Wetherspoons’ fried chicken and a vista of […]
Here’s your top 10 for Electric Picnic
Not exactly full of hot takes here, just bang-on dependable acts, from alt-rock to full-on techno, life-affirming hip-hop, politically-engaged electronics and industrial ultraviolence. Death Grips (Rankin’s Wood, Sunday, 9-10pm) California trio Death Grips are one […]
Electric Picnic off the beaten track
For years, Electric Picnic has been pointing out that it’s more than just a music festival, and every year they double down on this USP as Ireland’s main music and arts festival that rivals any […]
The greatest team in the history of mass slaughter (and the greatest trailer ever)
GZA is in Dublin for three days for a showcase of his 1995 album Liquid Swords – the greatest of all the solo Wu-Tang clan releases, and a true hip-hop hall of fame record. Liquid […]
John Lydon interview: ‘I’ll go another 40 years… I don’t do full stops’
From punk provocateur to post-punk pioneer, John Lydon has been one of the most singular and divisive figures in popular music for over 40 years – and he reckons he’s got 40 more where that […]
GZA leads the Irish gigs highlighter
GZA/GENIUS: The Sugar Club, Dublin, Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, €27.50 The number of side projects, solo albums and guest appearances in the Wu-Tang Clan universe is head-melting, but GZA’s 1995 album Liquid Swords is one […]
Public Image Ltd is John Lydon’s real legacy
In an interview recently, John Lydon somewhat ambitiously told me he’d been in the music game for over 40 years – and he’s still got 40 years left. And even though for many he’ll always […]
Slum Village lead the Irish gigs highlighter
SLUM VILLAGE, Monroes Live, Galway, Thursday, €20; The Sugar Club, Dublin, Friday week, €20 Detroit act Slum Village have one of the richest legacies in underground hip-hop, as the late MC and genius producer J […]
Channel hopping: Five reasons to hit La Route du Rock 2018
Too often, festivals boast of their idyllic settings, when the big reveal is actually a fenced-off stately home, fairy light forest trails and installations not much better than a load of dream catchers. We hit […]
Jimmy Cliff interview: ‘I wanted to accomplish a lot of things in this lifetime’
Few artists can boast about changing the face of music, but Jimmy Cliff was there at the crossroads at two points in reggae’s growth into a global movement. In 1972, Cliff starred in the ‘first […]
Ariel Pink leads the Irish gigs highlighter
ARIEL PINK: Button Factory, Dublin, Thursday, €22 Ariel Pink says his work is “a weird art experiment”, which is the most perfect description for the genre-flitting left-field indie hero. The LA singer-songwriter has released 12 […]
Starter for 10: Jack Hairbrain goes digging for records in São Paulo
From the Amazon rainforest to a thousand miles of tropical beaches; the metropolis of São Paulo; Pele, Socrates, Josimar; Rio-bloody-de-Janeiro — and to think I grew up never really being that bothered about Brazil. There […]
All Together Now elbows its way into festival season
It takes some nerve to start up a new festival in Ireland these days, but even with all the moans of over-saturation, there’s still room for one more if it’s done right. All Together Now […]
Moo Kid 