• Beach House – 7

    May 15, 2018 - By 

    Fewer bands have so aggressively etched their niche as deeply as Beach House. Whilst aggression certainly isn’t a term usually associated with this century’s finest purveyors of lofty, emotionally-charged dream pop, the Baltimore based two-piece have certainly found their comfort zone and busied themselves deep within it. over the past 14 years. Typified by Victoria Legrand’s omnipresent keyboards and Julee Cruise-esque vocals, Scally’s reverbed guitar and a handful of simplistic drum loops, the band have been stuck in a beautiful, glorious rut creatively almost since their inception back in 2004. Fewer ruts have bought so much glory and critical acclaim,…

  • Daniel Avery – Song For Alpha

    April 13, 2018 - By 

    Daniel Avery has been DJing for 14 years. In such a relatively short space of time, few others have managed to traverse the techno spectrum quite in the same was he has. While his 2013 debut LP Drone Logic was widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest ever techno offerings, his studious back catalogue has seen him expertly morph the genre with flashes of acid house, psychedelia and trance to name but a few stylistic ventures. Whether Avery’s trademark energy and intensity has been splashed across his original productions, or cast over in remixes Factory Floor’s, Django Django’s or Munk’s material, the recurring theme…

  • Soccer Mommy – Clean

    March 12, 2018 - By 

    Any child on a football pitch who takes the time to look down the touchline will be sure to see an eclectic bunch of fans: Passing dog walkers, aggressive and overly-stimulated dads who kick every ball and question every decision, mates and their crossed fingers for public embarrassment, and the unsung heroes, their mothers, sacrificing valuable weekend hours week in and week out watching a sport they may not have the faintest interest in, just to be there for that moment when their kid finally gets that goal. Somewhere down the line, Sophie Allison, AKA Soccer Mommy took at least some…

  • Brigid Mae Power – The Two Worlds

    February 13, 2018 - By 

      We’re all guilty of living between two worlds. Personal and private, work and leisure, pre “this” and post “that” comprise just a few. God forbid should they ever crossover; most of us fight losing battles to keep them apart, whether the consequences are trivial or something much darker. Brigid Mae Power does not seem to be such a person though. The Galway based singer-songwriter runs at her demons head-on throughout her third full length album The Two Worlds, and the fallout of such a collision is a staggering beauty to behold. Under the support of the #MeToo movement, Power recently…

  • Tune-Yards – I can feel you creep into my private life

    January 20, 2018 - By 

    Timely is the return of Merill Garbus, better known as the bandleader behind Tune-Yards. For a variety of reasons. None more that Garbus’ almost elastic vocal range that is fit to bring out a  green eyed monster in just about anyone. Tune-Yards have consistently cram effervescent colour and fun into every note of their three LPs to date, so to get a fresh dose of that in the form of I can feel you creep into my private life should be able to finally get the ball rolling on an otherwise grey, bleak January. There are few other bands you’d want around…

  • 18 for ’18: Landless

    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 Dublin/Belfast quartet Landless. Traditional music has experienced somewhat of a renaissance over recent years, with artists such as The Morning Tree, Rue, Lisa O’Neill and Martha Wainwright waving the flag proudly. Arguably spearheading this, however, are Dublin/Belfast-based Landless. The four-piece, comprising of Ruth Clinton, Meabh Meir, Sinead Lynch and Lily Power, have…

  • Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Union Cafe

    December 9, 2017 - By 

    Fact: penguins are not festive. Don’t be fooled every time you see one stuffed into a garish Christmas jumper on the front of your greeting cards, and join me and my national campaign in returning them to the sender with a ‘must do better’ message attached. Some species live in areas as tropical as the Galapagos Islands, whilst none, whatsoever, live in the northern hemisphere, supposedly the headquarters of Father Christmas’ operations. Every time we see the ludicrous line up of one fuzzy friend between the big man himself and a polar bear part of my zoological soul dies, and…

  • Five to Two – How Tall Do You Think You Could Grow (If You Wanted to Be So Tall)

    November 25, 2017 - By 

    Crudely speaking, size can be determined by a multitude of factors including environment, competition and space to grow into. Handily, for the sake of this review, the same biological principles can be transferred to culture, and as a subsection, music. Let’s put the Dublin jazz scene under the microscope here for a minute. In terms of environment, JJ Smyth’s has consistently flown the flag for Dublin’s jazz and blues scene for years, but is limited by its size and accessibility, whilst Sugar Club is arguably the best suited venue but is a challenge to book for jazz promoters amongst events…

  • James Holden & The Animals Spirits – The Animal Spirits

    November 8, 2017 - By 

    It’d be an understatement to say that there’s been a few high profile career curveballs of late. Private complaints resulted in the resignation of a defence secretary, sexist Facebook comments culminated in the suspension of an MP and Beyoncé announced her first foray into acting. Heck, even the Queen turned out to be a shareholder in rent-to-buy retailer BrightHouse (kinda). Spare a thought for James Holden, who amongst all these revelations has quietly executed a brilliant career change of his own, albeit with much less than his fair share of the limelight.   Holden has always had a taste for…

  • Album Review: Fever Ray – Plunge

    November 1, 2017 - By 

    Artists can spend an entire career trying to forge a distinguished identity, but every now and again one arises and manages to do just that after one record. Karin Dreijer, AKA Fever Ray is one of those. Dark, distorted monochrome throbs and nuanced icy atmospheres helped her self titled debut reach critical acclaim back in 2009, revealing an ear for the organic compositions and textures that Dreijer couldn’t express with her sibling as one half of The Knife. It’s devilish that a surprise follow up album, Plunge, would be released digitally (physical release landing February 2018) in late October, arriving…