• The XX – I See You

    January 13, 2017 - By 

    The XX are a band that harness negative space within music to create an atmosphere so chillingly retrospective that in most cases it need only be listened to underneath moonlight. The trio slid anxiously into the industry with their debut, XX, an album that, unbeknownst to them, would become an international success. The suave blend of spacious indie-electronic beats provided by Jamie (xx) Smith and the minimal vocals of Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim proved them to be the perfect vessel for conveying the vernacular of heartbreak and loss. Following this was 2012’s Coexist, an even more stripped back, sparsely…

  • David Bowie – No Plan

    January 11, 2017 - By 

    She held out her trembling hand to K. and had him sit down beside her, she spoke with great difficulty, it was difficult to understand her, but what she said Final Sentence of Franz Kafka’s The Castle History is littered with the infinite possibilities teased at within the unfinished work of great artists who died before their time. Think of Elliott Smith’s From A Basement On A Hill, David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King or George Sluizer’s Dark Blood; all released in an awkwardly assembled form, stitched together from whatever fragments the artist had left behind. While they vary wildly…

  • Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 3

    January 10, 2017 - By 

    By releasing their fiercely political – and wickedly funny –  sophomore record Run The Jewels 2 at the end of 2014, MCs Killer Mike and El-P couldn’t have picked a better time to explode into the mainstream. Having kicked around just outside the rap mainstream for as well-respected solo artists during the 2000s, their 2012 joint tour lead to Run The Jewel’s self-titled debut the following year, although it’s party vibe gave little warning for it’s hard-nosed successor: El-P’s production rattled with the same intensity of The Bomb Squad, while Killer Mike spat angry truths about racism and social equality…

  • Gone Is Gone – Echolocation

    January 6, 2017 - By 

    There are three Ts at the heart of Gone Is Gone: Tony Hajjar, Troy Van Leeuwen, and Troy Sanders. For the uninitiated, that roughly translates to At The Drive-In, Queens Of The Stone Age and Mastodon occupying the same aural space. That’s the kind of lineup that makes a certain type of music fan’s eyes bulge out like a Looney Toons Character. It’s the stuff that dark, metal-inflected dreams are made of. Add to this trio multi-instrumentalist Mike Zarin and you’ve got the recipe for dark magic. Unfortunately, while their debut LP, Echolocation, has this threads and whispered hints of…

  • Nine Inch Nails – Not The Actual Events

    January 3, 2017 - By 

    It’s not unlike Nine Inch Nails to blindside you. The release structure for albums like The Slip and the Ghosts series have been very much an ad hoc affair and their latest, Not The Actual Events, is no different. The record, announced with the introduction of new full-time member Atticus Ross, owes a great deal to NIN’s past as well as Reznor and Ross’s soundtrack work over the last decade. While the EP isn’t groundbreaking, it’s been a welcome Christmas treat or long time fans. Proceedings blast off with the incendiary ‘Branches/Bones’ and it’s as though the last ten years…

  • Gross Net – Quantitative Easing

    December 16, 2016 - By 

    The issue of building your persona around darkness is that after a certain point it becomes ridiculous. An overwhelming sense of nihilism, an abhorrence of any kind of salvation and an unwavering fascination with misery can be profound, for a while. Those who can sustain careers built around gloom, the likes of Sun Kil Moon, Scott Walker and Nick Cave, know that you have to allow some light in. Because if you don’t and you’re unwilling to go the extreme, á la Ian Curtis or Richey Edwards, then all you doing is insincere posturing which will inevitably slide into unintentional…

  • Enemies – Valuables

    December 12, 2016 - By 

    It’s been a tough year of seeing some of Ireland’s best-loved acts announce that they would be calling time on their current incarnations. From Fight Likes Apes to Solar Bears, from The Funeral Suits to Land Lovers, it’s been a year of sobering reminders that no matter how many hours are notched up in the “joyful slog”, no matter how many momentous shows are played and records released, it is a Herculean task for independent bands to keep it going forever. No matter how much we want these acts to consistently be releasing albums and traversing the country to play…

  • White Collar Boy – Priory Hall

    December 7, 2016 - By 

    Showing their roots in the form of sonic cap doffs to the likes of MK, Larry Levan, but more-so the straight-laced forms of euro disco prevalent in the 90s, White Collar Boys’ exceptionally infectious brand of garage-inflected house shines iridescent throughout their Priory Hall EP. The duo’s first effort proper since 2013, the four tracks of polished electronica that owe much more to Cologne than Chicago in places, relay to the listener a number of colourful synthesiser runs, throbbing rhythmic hits, and deep melodic excursions. EP opener and title-track ‘Priory Hall’ features Sean Reilly delivering a vocal that adds much…

  • Martha Wainright – Goodnight City

    December 5, 2016 - By 

    At the core of Martha Wainwright’s identity there exists a conflict between the scabrous and nakedly honest confessional singer-songwriter and a mercurial musical translator, plucking various influences and sources and remolding them into something almost unrecognizable. The latter produces work like her soundtrack to the French Canadian TV series Trauma or the collection of lullabies she produced with her sister. The former is responsible for tracks like the furiously candid “Bloody Motherfucking Asshole”. With Goodnight City, Wainwright tries to walk hand in hand with these two, distinct, personas, rotating the spotlight between them and showcasing the breadth and scope of…

  • Æ MAK – I Can Feel It In My Bones

    December 2, 2016 - By 

    On their debut EP I Can Feel It In My Bones Æ MAK have produced something that is inherently joyful to listen to. Childlike glee permeates the EP; not in the sense that it’s immature or undeveloped, but in the sense that it’s pure and unadulterated. This is complimented by the lyrical knowledge projected throughout, urging the listener not only to dance, but to be mindful, to observe oneself without making judgement. The duo chant “Run away/forget your place/let the other piece fall into place” in the title track, highlighting the amalgamation of those qualities. The release follows from ‘I Can Feel It…