• Interview: Ane Brun

    May 13, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of her highly-anticipated return to Dublin in December, James Hendicott chats to Norwegian alf-folk singer-songwriter Ane Brun about her forthcoming seventh studio album, working with the likes of Peter Gabriel, and the profound feeling of excitement she gets when starting a new musical project. Your last couple of releases, the ‘best of’ and the rarities album were interesting, in that one summarises your career, and one diverges totally from it and delves into other people’s work. i in particular came straight out of the blue. Was that an exciting way of doing things for you? Will you be returning…

  • The Mighty Stef – Year of the Horse

    April 27, 2015 - By 

    Dublin’s The Mighty Stef went for nailed-on quality with the production of The Year Of The Horse, traveling to California to splash out on Arctic Monkeys and QOTSA studio legend Alain Johannes. It’s a solid tactic, and sees the rocker’s tight, clean yet snarling stomp polished to a complex gem of a guitar album. It’s been a long road at a full eight year since Stefan Murphy released his debut, entitled The Sins Of Sainte Catherine. Perhaps that heady sense of an album slimmed down and refined over an extended period is a product of the wait; the outcome of…

  • Elton John @ 3Arena, Dublin

    December 10, 2014 - By 

    Singer, songwriter, straight, gay, father, activist and important enough to a second-tier North London football club to have a stand named after him: Elton John’s certainly led a colourful life. Similar colour in his life show, then, is something of a given. Tonight’s one hundredth show of 2014 and the final date of a tour commemorating 41 year old classic ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ starts with an old school rock n’ roll bent. ‘Funeral For A Friend’ and ‘Bennie and The Jets’ lead the tributes to one of Elton’s finest records, the former preceded by an epic piano lead in which sets the…

  • Lykke Li @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    November 24, 2014 - By 

    In April 2011 Lykke Li made an unlikely appearance at the old Tower Records for Record Store Day. With several hundred happy punters crammed in amongst the vinyl, she performed material from her (at the time) recently released second album and international breakthrough ‘Wounded Rhymes’, and absolutely blew the rest of the line up out of the water. It took all of three minutes to identify Li’s stand out live asset, one that an album and a significant step up in stage size has done little to change: honeyed soprano vocals applied to poetic emotional trauma. We were hooked. There’s an obvious hole to…

  • Alt-J @ 3Arena

    October 1, 2014 - By 

    The cliched and indeed meteoric rise of Alt-J has at times dazzled with its intrigue. Having spent years tucked away in student bedrooms, perfecting a necessarily minimalist style yet reticent to unveil it, the Leeds act equally seemed uninspired by the fame that eventually came their way. The wonderfully portentous Mac-only reference of their name, early refusal to feature their own faces in promo shots and distinctive vocals made it clear they were going to do things on their own terms. Terms, in a leftfield twist, that didn’t turn out to include bassist and founder Gwil Sainsbury. It’s been an…

  • The Eagles @ The 02, Dublin

    June 9, 2014 - By 

    “We’re not doing this for the money. We’re not doing it because we’re borrrred. We’re doing it because it’s the greatest fucking job in the world” – Don Henley. There’s a tacit acknowledgement in the title of this latestEagles tour, ‘The History of the Eagles’, that things might finally be edging towards a conclusion. While central characters Henley and Glenn Frey haven’t publicly decided whether things will continue beyond the tours 2015 conclusion, it has been seven years since The Eagles last put out anything new worth mentioning, and even Long Road Out Of Eden was the only release since 1979. Six…

  • We Cut Corners – Think Nothing

    May 23, 2014 - By 

    We Cut Corners debut, Today I Realised I Can Go Home Backwards, was one of the great under-heralded Irish debuts. At just thirty two minutes, it flits almost flippantly between heart-on-sleeve confessional pop melodies full of wonderfully oblique imagery in ‘Go Easy’ and ‘A Pirate’s Life’, and the White Stripes-inspired tuneful thrashings of ‘The Leopard’ and ‘Say Yes To Everything’. The album’s charm fell in its balance: its thoughtful, oblique lyrics, soaring vocals and ability to be scorchingly angry and pointedly self deprecating in the same three minute period. It sounds like it would take four people to play, yet the duo reproduce it perfectly live.…

  • Interview: Ginnels

    May 2, 2014 - By 

    Mark Chester’s Ginnels – a well-loved and lively part of Dublin’s ever expanding DIY scene – describe themselves modestly as “like your dickhead neighbour drowning out your Byrds and Feelies records with his poorly recorded noise ‘jams’ and his stoned mates. Except actually good.” They’re definitely right about the last part. Chester’s scene credentials are substantial, with the vocalist heavily linked in with Dublin record label Popical Island as well as playing roles in No Monster Club and Grand Pocket Orchestra. He seems able to orchestrate a collection of garage rock albums on a budget that’s too tight to talk of, and…

  • Inbound: Extra Fox

    March 24, 2014 - By 

    Right now, The Cast Of Cheers camp – with their wonderfully productive love-in with the boys from Adebisi Shank and solo experiments – is one beautiful, hot mess. With Conor Adams’ projects taking in garage rock (Charmers) and electronic tweakery (TVVINS), brother Neil is also ready to step out, but he’ll be doing so as a solo artist under the name ‘Extra Fox’ (formerly, briefly, Kuma Hana), a bedroom electronic project all set to hit the city. With The Cast Of Cheers taking a break from the public eye, the experimentation is clearly oozing freely from a few pores. For…

  • In Review: Choice Music Prize 2014

    March 1, 2014 - By 

    Now in its ninth year, perhaps the most pleasing thing about the Choice Music Prize – the undoubted impact of ten grand in a talented act’s bank account aside – is the chance to slow the pace and take a languid gander at just how much is good about the modern Irish music scene. The annual debate on those who lost out highlights encouraging depth (see Enemies, Nanu Nanu, Axis Of and God Is An Astronaut this year), and – as smaller past winners Julie Feeney, Super Extra Bonus Party, Jape and Adrian Crowley can attest – the award does…