Over the last few years, Dublin’s St Patrick’s Festival has helped evolve Paddy’s Day beyond the usual broad strokes antics. There’ll still be plenty of shamrock face paint and skulled pints tomorrow, but the cultural […]
A Little Respect for Erasure
Casual Erasure fans may have thought the pop maestros gave up on the party with the title of their last album World Be Gone – and song titles like Oh What A World and Lousy […]
Boom-bap meets dancehall in Bazza Ranks’ Where Would We Be, feat. P.O.A.
Irish dub/reggae producer Bazza Ranks (Dirty Dubsters) has just teamed up with Irish hip-hop crew Prisoners Of Audio for a crossover record that’s an unashamed love letter to music itself. Where Would We Be asks […]
Enter the void: Another Exhibition at the Modern Institute
In a recent interview, Mute Records boss Daniel Miller made a point that “electronic music was more punk than punk rock”, and Powell’s Diagonal label is hammering this point home. Diagonal acts like Consumer Electronics, […]
National treasures: The Gloaming set for another seven nights at the NCH
This is the third year in a row that The Gloaming have had an extended run at Dublin’s National Concert Hall — and if they kept selling tickets they could probably play for a month. […]
21-tune salute: February 2018 playlist
Apart from blizzards and broken resolutions, February was brought to you by nervy electronics, hip-hop, battered rock, depraved noise and plenty of soothing ambience to offset all of the above. 1. Factory Floor – Heart […]
Irish gigs round-up
NILS FRAHM, National Concert Hall, Dublin, Monday German pianist and avant-garde composer Nils Frahm has had a few striking performances in ireland in recent years — his last NCH appearance and a transcendent concert at Belfast City […]
Premiere: Zoid’s Nebulous Concrete is a jazzy Braindance odyssey
Zoid’s vague bio tells us he “grew up in Dublin in the 90s listening to techno and jazz”, and there’s not much else to go on. Listening to his latest release Nebulous Concrete you’d guess […]
Bruised and battered art-rock: Zed Penguin – A Ghost, A Beast
It’s a cliche because it’s true – no good music is made without a struggle. Compare the Wu-Tang Clan’s nervy, feral debut 36 Chambers to the Disney rap of A Better Tomorrow, or anything Metallica […]
20 European music festivals to mark in your 2018 diary
No matter how many times we say it, talk of Irish festival fatigue is greatly exaggerated – at least where ticket sales are concerned. This week we woke up to the launch of a new […]
Have we any patience left for Morrissey?
In 2008, Sparks released the song ‘Lighten Up, Morrissey’ – an arched eyebrow nod to Stephen Patrick’s reputation as indie music’s greatest curmudgeon. Some 10 years later, Baltimore rapper JPEGMAFIA has a song on his […]
Back from Jupiter: Dr Octagon returns – Octagon Octagon
As if the title itself isn’t a double scream from the rooftops that it’s the return of one of hip-hop’s greatest outliers, Kool Keith deals out the word Octagon dozens of times in this first […]
Sharp and slithery synthesis from NYZ on FLUF Records
There’s nothing stripped-back about minimalist electronic label FLUF’s output over the last few months. This new one from NYZ is the Swedish label’s ninth digital EP release since the end of September, and a recent interview […]
This time it Burns: The Soft Moon – Criminal
In 2009 Trent Reznor started selling all his gear on eBay after he announced Nine Inch Nails were “waving goodbye” to touring – a promise he thankfully broke a few years later. On the Soft […]
Franz Ferdinand on the Ascent again
It takes balls to call your fifth album Always Ascending – especially if your singles from over a decade ago are still trailing behind you as a reminder of past chart dominance. But Franz Ferdinand’s […]
Moo Kid 