Oh, we’re halfway there — the soundtrack to beating 2020, with the last two months featuring a mythical Filipino dragon, Japanese doom metal, Irish hip-hop, industrial funk, glitchy pop, prehispanic death metal, white noise symphonic […]
Tag: hip-hop
All the right noises: Moo Kid’s April 2020
Cancel culture’s taken on a new meaning in the last few weeks, with your social and gig calendar full of blanks right up till the end of summer and beyond. Still, talk of album delays […]
Kneecap kicking against the pricks
Last week Belfast hip-hop act Kneecap posted a tweet quoting “some fella from Dublin” asking them, “Why would you rap in Irish? No one even speaks it”, above a photo of one of their recent […]
Jay Electronica’s an Eternal enigma
New Orleans rapper Jay Electronica is a social media pioneer of sorts — first making his name on MySpace with his viral (at least for those days) beatless composition Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), […]
Post Malone might be shit, but just get over it
Most mega-successful stars – maybe with the exception of Queen of the Universe Beyonce – can be pretty divisive, with uber stan fans going to bat while half the population scratches their heads. Pop-rap superstar […]
Beatyard’s bittersweet five-year plan
Since 2015, Beatyard has been one of the more joyous city festivals, throwing parties in Dun Laoghaire thar are family-friendly while still retaining an underground and left-field vibe. But its annual slot at Dun Laoghaire […]
Mathman interview: ‘We’re writing our history – right now’
“Our history books are being written day by day by the artists around us, and that’s a very powerful thing.” Get Adam ‘Mathman’ Fogarty talking about Irish hip-hop and he goes off on one, in […]
GZA’s still in da Front
I‘m not dissing the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan, but GZA is the only member who you could imagine boasting onstage about the number of books he saw with his own eyes in the Trinity […]
All the right noises: February & March 2019 in 20 tracks
From long-form ritual ambient, to sick Finnish grindcore, to Japanese brain-fry hip-hop and a love song to an ancient sea sponge living on a dying coral reef, here’s a selection of the best music from […]
Deconstruction time again: Massive attack tear apart their masterpiece Mezzanine
In the hysterical climate of retromania, band reunions and anniversary tours, it’s easy to forget the albums that actually deserve the adulation. In recent times we’ve had 10-year anniversary tours of indie detritus bands such […]
Sound minds: January 2019 in 21 tracks
Thank u January, next. Here’s some music you might’ve missed under the deluge of shit memes about how long it lasted. Last month was powered by street meat, desert synthwave, dank dub, DIY minimal wave, […]
Mango x Mathman’s last taps-aff rave of the year
Around a year ago I interviewed duo Mango x Mathman about the amazing 2017 they’d had — and they’ve only gone and doubled and tripled their efforts this year. From their usual festival shut-downs, to […]
All the right noises: November 2018 in 21 tracks
Mumdance – Teachers A timely update of Daft Punk’s classic shout-out track of the same name — and if you’ve done your Homework you’ll get all the rave references. While the French duo listed heroes […]
Arrested Development: the Atlanta hip-hop crew that ruled before trap
Some 20-odd years before Atlanta would become the centre of the hip-hop world with trap acts like Migos, Gucci Mane, Wacka Flocka Flame, Arrested Development were flying the flag for Southern hip-hop in the state. […]
All the right noises: October 2018 in 20 tracks
UUUU – Electric Blanket (from s/t EP) UUUU’s debut s/t was one of Moo Kid’s albums of 2017, and the follow-up EP takes the experimental project into further slithery territories. The four U’s are Graham […]
