THERE must be a certain amount of expectation on a kid who shares his name with Beethoven and Sergio Leone – and in some way Ellis Ludwig-Leone couldn’t have been anything other than a composer. […]
Hell of a Night: Schoolboy Q in Dublin
It’s a bit redundant to go on about a gangsta rapper’s chest-beating, but Schoolboy Q does seem fairly sure of himself. He’s already scored a few points with the old Dublin jersey trick, and it’s not long […]
Metal Face-off: DOOM in Dublin
Doom is rap’s most enigmatic character – a cult comic book supervillain whose alter-egos include a powerful sorcerer, genius inventor and a three-headed space monster. It’s funny then to see Metal Face casually ambling onto […]
More man than machine: Icebreaker presents Kraftwerk, A Future Past – Dublin
Kraftwerk’s self-curated brand is one of the most rigid in modern music, and the iconic image of Man Machine automatons is crystallised in the current live show — pristine electronic pulses honed with nano scale […]
Bitter pill: Schoolboy Q – Oxymoron
With all the hype building around the release of Schoolboy Q’s major label debut, he couldn’t help but bow down to gangsta rap peer pressure. A year-and-a-half after his Black Hippy companion Kendrick Lamar’s socially […]
Detroit rap city: Danny Brown in Dublin
Danny Brown’s got one foot on the monitor in the Academy, headbanging, lurching forward and pulling out the devil horns, egged on by the swirling mosh pit and flying ping-pong plastic pints. It wouldn’t look […]
New age not dead: Mark McGuire – Along the Way
Guitarist Mark McGuire’s first post-Emeralds solo album may take a few listens before you stop sniggering at the back. It’s an “odyssey through the vast, unknown regions of the mind”, according to the inner sleeve […]
‘People are awful and bloody in general’: Interview with Michael Gira of Swans
Michael Gira tells me he’s “just a little braindead”. He’s having a rare day off tour with Swans at his home in upstate New York, ears ringing as he tries to recharge for the short final […]
Push the Sky Away: Primavera 2013, day three
Day three begins with a pact to massage the head and turn the dial down a notch, so we set up camp from 4pm in the 3,000 capacity Rockdelux Auditori, the indoor concert space in […]
Full of Fire: Primavera 2013, day two
A bit of customary second day dilly-dallying means we miss a lot of the hipster Beyoncé, aka Mrs Carter’s little sister Solange at the Pitchfork Stage. Like Jessie Ware on the same stage the previous […]
It goes it goes it goes it goes: Primavera 2013, day one
There’s a level of smugness and one-upmanship that comes with Irish music fans’ annual pilgrimages to foreign festivals. Most of us are guilty of the gloating Facebook status updates and links to obscure headliners, the […]
Taking the edge off: !!! – Thr!!!er
After spending most of the last decade pogoing in and out of punk-funk/disco-punk circles, !!! (Chk Chk Chk) may have taken the edge off with their fifth album. The California crew’s raucous early records took […]
Hive mind: Autechre – Exai
If the copyright ever runs out on the term ‘heavy metal’, Autechre should claim it back from the guitar gods. The future-industrial clang on Exai has a greater metallic yield than any down-tuned Fender, and […]
The fear: Berberian Sound Studio soundtrack by Broadcast
The recording rooms in the movie Berberian Sound Studio could easily be Broadcast’s rehearsal space – a Formica-panelled Aladdin’s cave littered with hanging cables, whirring reel-to-reel tapes, valve oscillators and chunky dials. The studio looks like […]
Millions and millions of stars in your eyes: Swans in Manchester
Swans’ leader Michael Gira once said the band’s mission is to fuck your insides, in “that deep sex death place in your stomach”. The band’s live reputation is a mix of urban myth and early-80s […]
Moo Kid 