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 […]
Strength to minimise: Helmet – In the Meantime (1992)
IF you were a teenage metaller in the early 90s but you didn’t fancy the double denim and patches look, Helmet were a hell of a lifeline. Loads of teen musical epiphanies involve a glimpse […]
Aphex Twin set for all the brain-wrongs at Forbidden Fruit
After Life Fest broke the festival seal last weekend, we’re ready for another summer of three-day sessions, and Forbidden Fruit still has claims on being the handiest of the lot. On the go since 2011, […]
Moderat interview: ‘Techno saved our lives in a way’
25 years is a long time in techno, especially if you’ve been in the game for two thirds of your life. As a member of both Modeselektor and Moderat, Berliner Gernot Bronsert is at the […]
Irish gigs round-up
SWANS, Button Factory, Dublin, Tuesday, €25. A real Swansong here, as Michael Gira has called time on the current incarnation of the revered avant-rock act, with Dublin among the final run of shows. Swans have […]
Limmy interview: ‘I just find psychopaths funny’
Within one minute of chatting to Glasgow comedian Limmy he’s already told me he never visited Ireland before because it’s not a proper holiday spot, and comes out with the line: “I’m not that interested […]
Moo Kid 