Two tracks this week have punctured a few peepholes through January’s general grimness, and they’re both 10-minute disco-house belters — The Black Madonna’s He Is the Voice I Hear and Mr Tophat & Robyn’s Right […]
Mapping out infinity: Brian Eno – Reflection
Brian Eno will always be known the ambient pioneer who made Music For Airports, and his new album comes with more baggage than an international airline. The fact that it’s a new ambient LP called […]
Restore Factory settings: Peter Hook on the Hacienda’s bittersweet legacy
The Hacienda may be one of dance music’s most iconic clubs — but co-founder and owner Peter Hook never thought he’d be celebrating the club 20 years after it shut in a blaze of gang […]
Irish gigs round-up: December 9-15
FIGHT LIKE APES, Whelan’s, Dublin Friday 9, SOLD OUT There’ll be a few tears among the cheers tonight, as Fight Like Apes call it a day with their last gig after 10 years — back to […]
Irish gigs round-up: December 2-8
LISA O’NEILL, Upstairs at Dolans, Limerick, Friday 2; Kevin Barry Recital Room, National Concert Hall, Thursday 8 and next Friday 9, €20. Cavan singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill has graduated from the corner of folk haven […]
Jean-Michel Jarre interview: ‘Electronic music is a different way of thinking’
History is supposedly written by the winners, but maybe it’s time for a reappraisal of 1976-77 – often credited to punk as a year zero for music. In hindsight, maybe the revolution wasn’t happening as the […]
‘I make music on wild, stormy days’: Acid Feen – Cid Sex
There must be thousands of electronic music labels worldwide with abstract names — but We Play Acid doesn’t leave you guessing what it’s all about. The Portuguese label exclusively focuses on underground acid house and techno and […]
I dug myself a cocoon: Snow Ghosts – Vetiver
It’s been a big week for London’s Fabric nightclub, with the iconic techno venue overturning a much-publicised shutdown after settling a dispute with Islington Council and the local cops – albeit with the strictest venue […]
Irish gigs round-up: November 25 – December 1
WOLFGANG VOIGT, The Sugar Club, Friday 25, €16.50. As the a co-founder of Kompact Records, we can thank Wolfgang Voigt for some of the most compelling, intricate and downright majestic techno of the last two decades. A […]
‘Sharp and strange sonics’ from Irish techno artist tuuun
Irish electronic producer tuuun describes his first release FINESTEXPORT as “the sound of instruments and ideas being pushed into their discomfort zones” – a perfect one-line primer for his shape-shifting abstract techno. The six-track FINESTEXPORT […]
Dog-eared sci-fi psychedelia from The Pattern Forms – Man and Machine
The song title Man and Machine might evoke images of sci-fi and cyborg technology, but The Pattern Forms is a parallel universe away from the cold lines and minimalism of Kraftwerk’s Man Machine. If the […]
Jeff Mills interview: ‘Techno feeds a basic human urge’:
The Halloween bank holiday in Dublin is always a big weekend for club gigs, but Jeff Mills is the only techno guy who’ll be turning up to his gig in a tuxedo with his 909 […]
Irish gigs of the week: October 21-27
JAMES BLAKE, Olympia, Dublin, Thursday 27th. James Blake is the most delicate musician who can still ruin cause the plaster to drop off the ceiling when he conjures up certain bass frequency. The singer-songwriter has […]
Irish gigs round-up: October 14-20
OPTIMO, Bernard Shaw, Dublin, tonight. As the best Sunday rollover pub in Dublin, you could’ve guessed the Bernard Shaw would’ve dragged its 10th birthday out over a month. Tonight it’ll be a DJ masterclass, as Glasgow […]
Irish gigs of the week: October 7-13
DEATH GRIPS, The Limelight, Belfast, Wednesday; The Academy, Dublin, Thursday. When Death Grips first headbutted their way out of your laptop in 2011 with the Guillotine video you just knew they’d be one of the bands of the decade. […]
Moo Kid 