• Classic Album: Cocteau Twins – Treasure

    November 28, 2014 - By 

    When was the last time you heard something that sounded like it came from another world? We can often be blasé about things now, and with everything being up for grabs and accessible thanks to the ol’ information superhighway, it’s that little bit harder to find something fresh. So try and imagine what it was like when a band from the Scottish industrial town of Grangemouth arrived with something that sounded like it had fallen directly from the kingdom of heaven itself? Minds were, indeed, blown.In no uncertain terms, the first two records by the Cocteau Twins can be filed under ‘goth’. You…

  • Track Record: Bobby Aherne

    November 28, 2014 - By 

    Bobby Aherne is one very busy lad who can be found bouncing between various bands such as No Monster Club, Ginnels and Women’s Christmas to penning a hilarious book about Dublin legends. We caught up with him and his Kalamazoo synth-pop house guest,  M.Sord for a fun flip through his record collection. Photos by Isabel Thomas. Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam I got more and more into Animal Collective as I grudgingly made my way through university – with a particular fondness for the one in which the only lyric is the drawn-out line “You don’t have to go to college”. During the (very welcome)…

  • AAA: East India Youth @ Mercury Lounge, NYC

    November 28, 2014 - By 

    We head Stateside for this installment of AAA (Access All Areas) with William Doyle aka East India Youth as he kicked off his brief U.S tour in New York’s mercury lounge, before joining Welsh veteran of quirk, Gruff Rhys, over on the west coast for a string of support dates. Doyle, with his small crew, had just landed in from London as our photographer Joe Laverty caught up with them to capture proceedings. After taking in some of East Houston street’s immediate attractions such as Katz Diner (the diner where Harry met Sally!) the serious business of winning over (new) New York fans begins…

  • Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways

    November 28, 2014 - By 

    Having started from such humble beginnings, the Foo Fighters really have come a long way. Who honestly could have called it, that the drummer from that band where the lead singer killed himself would eventually become one of the more vital figures in mainstream rock? The thing about Dave Grohl is that the man actively seems to want us all to be better. He wants us to know about the bands and the sounds that shaped his music, partially to help us appreciate his records in a whole new light, but mostly to make sure that some of the more…

  • Premiere: Gross Net – Gross Net EP

    November 27, 2014 - By 

    Recently-arrived post-punk/neue Deutsche welle-influenced duo Gross Net – comprised of Girls Names‘ Philip Quinn and Autumns‘ Christian Donaghey, completed by programmed drums – have announced a brooding, excellent new three-track self-titled EP in the form of a cassette, recorded by the band themselves over the course of a day. The EP is out on Sligo label Art For Blind, who have accommodated releases from The Altered Hours, Hands Up Who Wants To Die, Perfect Pussy and more. The limited edition coral red cassette is available to pre-order for just £3.50, with a free download code – or simply only £2 digitally – from the Gross Net Bandcamp. You can…

  • Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    November 26, 2014 - By 

    The man on stage would like you to call him Yasiin Bey. “Ali, not Clay,” he says. That doesn’t stop the gig’s posters and tickets from bearing the name Mos Def in larger lettering than that of his name of choice, however. Coming on stage around 10pm in an oversized scarf and baggy tee, he opens with ‘Cream of the Planet’, an unreleased track from 2010. Though billed as a fifteenth anniversary celebration of 1999’s breakthrough release Black On Both Sides, the night sees Bey jump from era to era, appropriately enough as 1982’s seminal hip-hop flick Wild Style plays…

  • Life Itself

    November 26, 2014 - By 

    The owlish, circular Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert famously championed 1994’s Hoop Dreams, an early documentary by Steve James looking at the aspirations of a group of black city kids, and with Life Itself James repays the favour. Lovers of film and film criticism will find much to appreciate in the film, which uses the memoir of the same name to tell Ebert’s story, from his beginnings in print journalism to his final days at home and at hospital, scenes James captures with intimate proximity. Life Itself is a candid and moving film about how to relate to art and…

  • Track Record: Jen Connell (Cave Ghosts)

    November 26, 2014 - By 

    We hang out with Jen Connell from Cave Ghosts in her bedroom and discuss some of the most important records in her collection and how they’ve influenced her from Leonard Cohen to Beach House, and everything in between. Photos by Aaron Corr. Blue – Joni Mitchell Joni Mitchell has the purest voice I’ve ever heard and this is such a perfect record, from start to finish. I learned a lot about songwriting and singing from Joni, she’s a true storyteller. I think my favourite tracks from this are ‘Case of You’ and ‘Blue’. She paints such a detailed picture with her…