• Classic Album: The Raincoats – The Raincoats

    1979 was the peak year for post-punk. Picking up the torch from the already stale and fast dying punk scene, adopting its spirit but injecting it with a new sense of invention, artistry and a range of eclectic influences in place of punk’s self inflicted limitations, there were genre defining debuts from Joy Division and Gang Of Four, as well as classic follow ups from the likes of Wire and Public Image Ltd among many others. The Fall even released not only their first but also their second album that year, featuring two almost entirely different lineups, immediately starting as…

  • Shellac – Dude Incredible

    Shellac don’t operate like a normal band. Releasing albums every seven years in between Steve Albini and Bob Weston’s day jobs as recording engineers; no fanfare, no previews or singles; no accompanying tour. One thing they can be relied on for, however, is their consistency. You could essentially arrange Shellac’s discography into any order and it would be difficult for a newcomer to work out the correct sequence. This is no bad thing – no one wants to hear a Shellac album that doesn’t sound like Shellac – it’s a testament to how consistently strong they’ve been over the last…

  • Adebisi Shank, Adultrock @ Whelan’s

    It was only this August that we finally saw the release of This Is The Third Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank, a whole four years after its predecessor, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. But barely a month later, the band made the shock announcement that they were calling it a day and that their pair of album launch shows in Whelan’s would in fact double up as farewell shows. The outpouring of love in the Irish music press since the announcement has highlighted just how much this band has meant to music fans in Ireland in the last…