For a movement that’s in constant flux there’s still an obsession with marking out hip-hop’s greatest year, and 1994 is a popular choice. The year had some mythical albums – Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die […]
Don Letts just sent me on his top 10 ‘Crucial Reggae Killer Cuts’
With over 50 years of records to choose from, creating a top 10 reggae playlist is a hell of a job — but it helps if DJ Don Letts is helping out. Letts has been […]
Irish gigs round-up
SUNN O ))): The Limelight, Belfast, Monday 17th; Button Factory, Dublin, Tuesday 18th. Part psychedelic drone metal seance, part bass frequency endurance test, Sunn O))) are one of extreme music’s most revered acts. Pronounced ‘Sun’, the added flourish is […]
Don Letts interview: ‘Reggae was always there, it was a social community service’
For 40-odd years, Don Letts has been the UK’s chief authority on reggae, and with a lifetime of bass culture echoing round his head he’s trying to squeeze it into a new series of podcasts, […]
Less Than is the catchiest Nine Inch Nails song in years
Sometimes you just want your favourite band to dish out some comfort food for you to devour like a snivelling peasant. Nine Inch Nails’ new song Less Than is their catchiest song since the safe […]
Irish gigs round-up
LOST FRIDAYS (SHIPS, WASTEFELLOW & MORE): Royal Hibernian Academy, tonight. After its sold-out event in March, the RHA gallery is running another of its occasional music and art showcases in one of the city centre’s […]
Blazing Brixton soundclashes in cult UK reggae movie Babylon (1980)
I‘m getting into the zone preparing to interview Don Letts – cult and cultural icon, DJ, film director, writer, Big Audio Dynamitee and the UK’s most eminent reggae and dub historian of the last 40 […]
Stick this in your fuse box! Bon Scott interviewed in Covent Garden in a pair of denim hotpants (1976)
Imagine being the parents of a teenage Angus Young – then imagine he started hanging out with Bon Scott. By the time Angus was 15, he’d already dropped out of school in Sydney, started working […]
Moon Diagrams’ Lifetime of Love is thrift store gold
If you tried to make an album from samples nicked off Dublin charity records, you’d end up with some mouldy purgatory soundtracked by James Last, Leo Sayer, Harry Secombe and the RTE broadcast of the […]
Body & Soul mightn’t be ready for Sleaford Mods just yet
After a week full of sunshine and a hysterical reaction to the heat, it looks like the luck could be running out on Body & Soul, with rain forecast for this weekend. Pitching a music […]
Irish gigs of the week
SHOW ME THE BODY, Whelan’s, Dublin, tomorrow, €14 New York trio Show Me the Body are barely out of school but they’re already trading in some of the nastiest punk and noise-rock, with some primal hardcore […]
Irish gigs of the week
Ho99o9, The Workmans Club, Dublin, Monday Pronounced ‘Horror’, rap duo Ho99o9 are one of the most confrontational hip-hop acts in years, while still being relatively easy to digest. Equal parts horrorcore rap, hardcore punk and industrial, New […]
Little Steven interview: ‘I’m not nostalgic, I just haven’t left the 60s’
Steve Van Zandt may be one of the most popular side men in pop culture — with an essential spot in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and as Tony Soprano’s chief adviser Silvio, but he’s […]
Skip the foreplay: Sparks become disco infiltrators on Beat the Clock (1979)
JUST last year, art-rock pranksters Sparks finally created an official YouTube channel, hoping to round up some of the greatest pop clips of the last five decades. So far they’ve got 45 videos and counting, […]
Irish gigs round-up
HELMET, Whelan’s, Dublin, tomorrow Legendary New York post-hardcore act Helmet were on the bill of the ill-fated BARE in the Woods festival that had to cancel last month — leaving behind one of the most bonkers […]
Moo Kid 