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 […]
Tag: hip-hop
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 […]
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 […]
Just for the fuck of it: Death Grips – No Love Deep Web
Just as the big dick on the cover can’t be unseen, you won’t be forgetting No Love Deep Web in a hurry. Death Grips’ third album staples itself to your inner ear, a hip-hop headbutt […]
This shit is… fuckin ridiculous: Kanye West and Jay-Z in Dublin
This shit is… fuckin’ ridiculous. Kanye’s own lyric could be a one-line review of his Watch the Throne live show with Jay-Z, a 40-song epic that cashes in all your craic tokens at once. It’s […]
Primavera Sound 2012: 10 of the best
A$AP Rocky (Pitchfork stage, Thursday) The next young Harlem big thing is the consummate rap chancer at Primavera, laughing all the way to the bank that’s been beefed up by a $3m advance for his […]
Brutal Truth: Death Grips – The Money Store
“Scary rhyming man, him scares me. Danger. Drummer man is beast monster too, hard hitting pummel thing, is scary and such. Danger.” Of all the thousands of words uttered about Death Grips in the past […]
Timeless, incredible filth: Gonjazufi – MU.ZZ.LE
Gonjasufi is a PR wet dream – a perpetually stoned yoga teacher from the Mojave Desert signed to Warp Records, who’s got a voice that Flying Lotus calls “timeless, incredible filth”. Box-ticking aside, he claims […]
Bring the Noise: Bestival 2011, Friday
Most of your plans evaporate at festivals. The so-called ‘early’ night on Thursday turns into a wake-up call on Friday morning with my face stuck to a plastic bag in the corner of a mate’s […]
Kill ’em all: Odd Future live in Dublin
This midweek gig sure does feel like a school night – if you couldn’t find a ticket for the sold-out show on toutless.ie, you could’ve just haggled with all the under-age Odd Future fans who couldn’t […]
Vulgar display of power: Watch the Throne
Less than two minutes into Watch the Throne, Jay-Z has already name-dropped God, priests, kings, Plato and Socrates, and put himself and Kanye on a par with Jesus and the Holy Ghost. Stick the two […]
Forming like Voltron: Wu-Tang Clan live in Dublin
Strange things are happening in Tripod – it’s 9.30pm and it looks like the Wu-Tang Clan might arrive on time. OK, so it’s been billed as “9pm sharp”, but this is as close as you’ll […]
Primavera 2011: Battles, Odd Future
Battles (Ray Ban Stage, Friday) If you’re going to Forbidden Fruit this weekend, don’t expect Battles to play ‘the hits’. Since last weekend, Primavera punters have been raving about how “brave” Battles were on […]
One-man Clan: Raekwon live in Dublin
Raekwon couldn’t have picked a better time to bring the Wu-Tang Ruckus. It’s the night before Paddy’s Day, everyone’s on a booze blitz and scowly empty-handed touts are outside the Button Factory trying to score […]
Look to the Sea: Melodica Deathship – Doom Your Cities, Doom Your Towns
“We have truly embraced the darkness and the chaos of the seas,” hails MC Exile Eye halfway through Melodica Deathship’s voyage into deepest, darkest hip-hop waters. It’s fair to say the Dublin-based crew are in […]
Moo Kid 