• Wire – Silver/Lead

    April 3, 2017 - By 

    Wire have always been a band more interested in looking forward than back. On returning from their first hiatus in 1985 they famously hired a Wire covers band, The Ex Lion Tamers, as their support act so they could be freed up to focus exclusively on new material. So it seems entirely appropriate that they would celebrate the 40th anniversary of their debut performance with another new album, their fifteenth. Although still most celebrated for their initial trio of envelope-pushing albums between 1977 and 1979 – the frantic art-punk of Pink Flag, the more effects-laden post-punk of Chairs Missing and…

  • Moon Duo – Occult Architecture, Vol. 1

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    Sometimes a side project starts to outgrow its parent band. Such appears to have happened recently with Portland’s Moon Duo, formed by Wooden Shjips’ vocalist/guitarist Ripley Johnson with his partner Sanea Yamada, with the latter band’s lack of activity since 2013’s Back to Land allowing Moon Duo’s more recent releases to fill the gap. Despite plenty of similarities in sound, swapping the Shjips’ looser psych for an increasingly mechanical krautrock sound has seen them gradually become the more essential of the two, and fourth album Occult Architecture, Vol. 1 has done nothing but cement that. Part one of a “two…

  • Tinariwen – Elwan

    February 9, 2017 - By 

    It’s fair to say that in our Western-centric music industry, few artists from an African country like Mali tend to get much of a look in. With that in mind, for a band of Tuareg musicians like Tinariwen to break through as they have must be a signal that they’re pretty damn good. Formed as long ago as 1979 as political exiles in Algeria but only releasing their first album proper in 2001 after their return to their native country having picked up several new members along the way, their gradually growing international profile culminated in fifth album Tassili –…

  • New Pope – Love

    January 31, 2017 - By 

    Galway’s New Pope AKA David Boland, hasn’t been around long, but he doesn’t waste any time. Released with little fanfare on New Year’s Eve – evidently caring not for making his way into any album of the year lists – his second album Love comes along just a year after his debut Youth. Much like the debut – an album steeped in childhood nostalgia – the single word title again serves as a theme for the album’s lyrical content, the word ‘love’ appearing in the titles of three of the seven tracks alone, and being at the heart of all the…

  • 17 For ’17: New Pagans

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    While new bands are The Thin Air’s raison d’être, new bands full of familiar faces are always a particularly mouthwatering prospect. Featuring Cahir O’Doherty of Jetplane Landing/Fighting With Wire and Claire Miskimmin of Girls Names on guitar and bass respectively, along with Balkan Alien Sound’s Conor McAuley on drums and vocalist Lyndsey McDougall, New Pagans are a veritable supergroup of Irish talent to rival Miskimmin’s other side project, Cruising. With one double A-side single to their name so far featuring the tracks ‘I Could Die’ and ‘Lily Yeats’, the latter is a paean to one of the oft-forgotten sisters of…

  • Inbound: Hiva Oa

    December 15, 2016 - By 

    Despite having released a debut album and EP back in 2012 while based in Edinburgh, Hiva Oa had gone pretty quiet until recently. As it turns out, a relocation back home to Ireland was on the cards for core members Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy, not to mention a change in direction. Where that previous work traded on a sparse, minimal folk sound mainly built around guitar and cello with occasional forays into loops and effects, their aptly titled new EP mk2 (part 1) sees those electronics completely take over their sound, with single ‘A Great Height’ perfectly juxtaposing sinister…

  • Worth Her Salt: An Interview with Katie Kim

    December 14, 2016 - By 

    Undeniably one of the finest Irish releases of the year, Salt has been widely eulogised for its intense depth of focus, as well as its distinctive compositional lure. Marking something of a promising reinvigoration for Katie Kim (AKA Katie Sullivan) in terms of direction, we caught up with the Waterford native to talk about the writing and recording of the album, getting back up on the stage, and more. Words by Aaron Drain. Photos by Brian Mulligan. While Cover & Flood dealt with similar themes, there has been a monumental shift in terms of mood and atmosphere with Salt – was…

  • Putting Friendship First: A Final Interview With Enemies

    December 14, 2016 - By 

    Wicklow four-piece Enemies hit the ground running with their full-length debut We’ve Been Talking back in 2010, eschewing the hyperactivity or aggression of many of their Richter Collective labelmates to focus primarily on melody. After a follow up – 2013’s Embark, Embrace – and a change of drummer, they return with long awaited, but sadly final, third album Valuables in December. Ahead of its release and a final show in Dublin’s Vicar Street on Sunday (December 18), Cathal McBride speaks to guitarist Lewis Jackson. Photos by Niall O’Kelly Hi lewis. How difficult was the decision to end the band? Before…

  • That Snaake – Blinded by the Smell

    November 8, 2016 - By 

    Though they describe themselves as a “4 piece band with 3 capable cyclists”, the primary description that’s been following Dublin’s That Snaake around so far is ‘unfashionable’. That may sound unflattering to some, but really it’s an undeniable positive, setting them well apart from those currently more “fashionable” Irish bands – with current trends leaning towards shiny synths, pop hooks and polished production, That Snaake’s combination of rough and ready guitars and undisciplined vocals that nod to noise-rock and 90s slacker indie do make for a bit of a contrast, but having acts around that rail against what’s currently in…

  • Cate Le Bon @ Black Box, Belfast

    October 21, 2016 - By 

    Four albums in, Cate Le Bon is making her long overdue Belfast headlining debut with the rest of her band, having previously only been here for a solo set supporting Manic Street Preachers a few years ago. Her guest appearances on the works of fellow Welsh artists the Manics and Neon Neon have brought extra attention her way, but her solo career has been on a gradual rise on its own terms, and with this year’s impressive Crab Day making waves, it’s as good a time as any to make up for that absence. Le Bon’s music has undergone something…