• I Think it’s Time We Talked Things Over: An interview with Stiff Little Fingers

    August 22, 2019 - By 

    Inflammable Material, the ferocious debut from Belfast legends Stiff Little Fingers, is now forty years old and stands as one of the great records of the punk era. The Stiffs detailed the frustrations, anger and mind-numbing boredom of Northern Irish life during the Troubles in fearless fashion, helping to define an otherwise dark era for many. This month, the band celebrate its birthday with two Irish dates, a stop in Dublin’s Academy before returning to Belfast’s Custom House Square for the third successive year. I spoke to frontman Jake Burns about that show, his contemporaries, Brexit, and Coronation Street. Hi…

  • In Their Thousands – Acrasia

    June 7, 2019 - By 

    Donegal’s In Their Thousands are no overnight story, it’s fair to say: brothers Aidan and Declan McClafferty have been playing music with their cousin Ruari Friel since childhood, and have been performing as In Their Thousands, alongside bassist Marty Smyth, for around a decade or so. These years of shared experience permeate through, the band’s debut long player. The 13 songs collected within feel distinctly ‘lived-in’ – from the collective setbacks, small victories and long nights of the soul detailed in their lyrics, to the ease of the band’s confident, unshowy playing. The title track and lead single, a recent…

  • Pond – Tasmania

    March 2, 2019 - By 

    Perth- based psych-rock wild men Pond return with Tasmania, produced by Tame Impala frontman (and frequent Pond collaborator) Kevin Parker. While their overlapping membership and frequent collaborations with Parker’s giants might frame them as a sort of ‘little brother’ band to Tame Impala, they’re perhaps closer in spirit to fellow Aussies King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard: prolific and seemingly existing in their own self-contained universe, they continue to grow from their garage beginnings to sounding fuller, more eclectic and more out there on each release. Tasmania, Pond’s first LP since 2017’s well received The Weather, kicks off with the…

  • Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs

    December 11, 2018 - By 

    Some Rap Songs sees the welcome return of Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, otherwise known as Earl Sweatshirt. Since joining Tyler the Creator’s Odd Future collective as a 15 year old prodigy, the LA-based MC has rightly staked a claim as one of the best in the business, delivering deeply personal rhymes with a level of literacy and complexity that few of his peers can match. Some Rap Songs comes three years after release of his sophomore effort, the highly acclaimed I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside. Earl has had a lot to contend with in that time, including the…

  • Sistrionics: An Interview with Deap Vally

    June 28, 2018 - By 

    Deap Vally are singer-guitarist Lindsey Troy and drummer Julie Edwards. They exploded into the scene with their debut album Sistrionix in 2013, which won favourable comparisons to blues rock contemporaries The White Stripes and The Black Keys as well as scene legends Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin. After leaving Island Records, they self-funded 2016’s follow-up album Femejism, which was produced by Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Nick Zimmer. After the release of single ‘Get Gone’ earlier this year, they’re currently on amall European tour, including The Limelight in Belfast tonight (Thursday, June 28). Caolan Coleman spoke to them ahead of the gigs. Your new…

  • Kanye West – ye

    June 11, 2018 - By 

    Kanye West’s ye is as harrowing, repulsive and morbidly fascinating as it’s creator. 2018 has been West’s most controversial year to date, almost impressive for a man who’s career has been characterised by outlandish and often toxic behaviour: for many fans who stood by him through bizarre interviews and turned a blind eye to his leering misogyny, his recent endorsement of Donald Trump and widely-reported ‘slavery is a choice’ comments have represented a bridge too far for many. How much his very public battle with bi-polar, and subsequent hospitalisation and struggle with opioid addiction has had to bear on his…

  • Fever Dreaming: An Interview with Everything Everything

    May 25, 2018 - By 

    Manchester-based four-piece Everything Everything are one of Britain’s finest bands. Since forming at Salford University in 2007, they’ve released four critically successful albums, the latest of which, A Fever Dream, secured two Ivor Novello nominations, their fourth overall. Released in August last year, it’s their best release to date: eclectic, intelligent and emotional yet still accessible and eminently danceable, it made long-standing comparisons to art-rock forebearers like Radiohead seem more accurate than ever. Caolan Coleman spoke to frontman Jonathan Higgs as the band prepare to set on a summer tour including dates at Sea Sessions in Bundoran, Cork’s Indiependence and…

  • Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel

    May 25, 2018 - By 

    The Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett came to international attention in 2014 with the release of A Sea Of Split Peas, a combination of her two previous EPs. Barnett’s lyrics, which detailed the most mundane aspects of her life in a manner that was confessional, witty and biting in equal measure, were the real standouts in that opening gambit, lending a song like ‘Avant Gardener’ (inspired by an ill-fated spot of gardening that resulted in her being rushed into an ambulance) the feeling of a miniature epic. Her debut studio album Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit subsequently arrived…

  • Iceage – Beyondless

    May 4, 2018 - By 

    “Beyondless is the 4th LP from Iceage. This record radiates joy.” So claims Daniel Stewart, frontman of fellow post punk outfit Total Control, in Matador’s press release for the new Iceage record. As one would imagine from an album that owes it’s name to Samuel Beckett, this isn’t exactly true: frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt still snarls his way through tales of heartbreak, war and suicide, with a lurking, gothic menace underlying the band’s attack. They have, however, embraced a fuller and more emphatic sound, bringing in horns and further exploring the Americana elements of 2014’s Plowing Into The Field OF…

  • 18 for ’18: Sun Mahshene

    January 15, 2018 - By 

    We continue 18 for ’18, our feature of showcasing eighteen Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2018. Throughout January we’re going to be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph from one of our photographers. Next up is Sun Mahshene. Photo by Moira Reilly Dublin’s Sun Mahshene are dedicated to doing their own thing. Indeed, frontman Nathan Henderson started the project having grown tired with the local band scene back in 2014. Initially a solo endeavour where he played all instruments himself, over the years a revolving door of musicians…