• The Jimmy Cake @ Hangar, Dublin

    September 1, 2015 - By 

    It was a long time in coming, but when it was announced that Dublin’s The Jimmy Cake were returning to the recording studio, the news was met with a huge sigh of relief amongst their fans. With their last record Spectre & Crown, having garnered a lot of critical acclaim on its release back in 2008, the forefathers of Ireland’s instrumental scene, must’ve surely felt more than just a smidgen of pressure when going into record what would end up becoming their fourth full-length, Master. With Saturday night’s gig acting as Master’s official launch celebration, it was in no way…

  • Reverberation Psych Weekender @ The Grand Social, Dublin

    August 20, 2015 - By 

    With psych music these days now affording its current crop of disciples, a broader platform of sound experimentation to play with, it was in no way surprising to have looked at the diverse line up for last weekend’s Reverberation festival, and licked ones lips with fervent glee. Advertised as Dublin’s inaugural celebration of psych and drone music, The Grand Social played host to all things psychedelic with a dozen bands, various DJ’s and mind playing visuals, as well as cult films, all adding to the vibe of this 13th Floor Elevators’ inspired experience. Cork five piece Elastic Sleep, were tasked…

  • Avi Buffalo – At Best Cuckold

    October 7, 2014 - By 

    In this day and age a four year gap between album releases can be viewed as a lifetime for any young band, such is the way music is consumed (more often than not, spat back out the very same week). It’s just as easy for a new group to garner positive column inches or be thrown into the world of magazine photo-shoots as fresh cannon fodder following a critically-lauded debut album, as it is for them to implode, or find themselves lost amidst the immediate and frenzied media response. In Avi Buffalo’s instance they seemed to have it all going…

  • Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    There must be a sense of relative trepidation whenever an underground band are thrown into the media spotlight from the depths of relative obscurity, and viewed by many a rock critic as the latest bearers of the indie rock torch. That sort of instant exposure was something that befell Brooklyn via Texas natives Parquet Courts, in the early part of last year, following the release of their second record Light Up Gold, especially after the success of the utterly infectious ‘Stoned and Starving’. Light Up Gold was considered a little rough around the edges, which resulted in the group being…