• Inbound: Drown

    October 4, 2016 - By 

    It’s pretty apt that this year is the 25th anniversary of Nirvana’s performance in Sir Henry’s in Cork and that Ireland currently finds its alternative music scene in pretty rude health. Leading the pack are Girl Band with their idiosyncratic and innovative post punk no doubt. However, there a slew of other equally excellent bands popping up throughout the whole island at what seems like a weekly basis. Galway’s Drown are one such group. Named after a Smashing Pumpkins song and only forming late last year, the level of confidence and familiarity they play with on their self titled debut EP,…

  • God is an Astronaut @ Cyprus Avenue, Cork

    July 26, 2016 - By 

    “Is it just me guys, but do ye play venues on the continent and people’s kitchens in Ireland?” This insightful comment appeared on Wicklow post metal outfit God is an Astronaut’s Facebook page on a crowd picture taken at the tail end of their wonderful gig at Cyprus Avenue in Cork last Saturday. It is rather baffling how GIAA have somehow managed to cultivate such a substantial following in Europe and yet remain relatively unknown here at home. On the evidence of their stellar set in Cork, it is beyond clear that they are one of the most inspired and…

  • Pixies w/ Bleeding Heart Pigeons @ The Marquee, Cork

    July 14, 2016 - By 

    Hands up who loves the Pixies. That’s what I thought; who doesn’t? They’re one of those bands that does not require an introduction. Suffice it to say, they pioneered the loudQUIETloud technique, Kurt Cobain admitted to ripping them off, and their combination of cacophony and bubblegum pop continues to endure and influence thirty years after their formation and twenty nine years after the release of their debut EP Come On Pilgrim. They’ve also now been back together pretty much as long as they were broken up as odd as that may seem. Since their reunion, they have had a mixed…

  • Foals w/ All Tvvins @ The Marquee, Cork

    July 8, 2016 - By 

    It’s hard to believe that the annual Cork based music and comedy festival Live at the Marquee launched 11 years ago with a Brian Wilson gig. It really doesn’t seem that long. In that time, surely the festival’s greatest success has been the massive variety of acts that have graced the 4,000 capacity Kellie Clarke designed venue in the Cork Showgrounds. Artists ranging from thrash metal legends Slayer to dance mainstays Faithless and from pop upstarts Little Mix to hip hop’s resident shrinking violet Kanye West have played to rapturous crowds over the years down at the Cork Marina. An…

  • Lisa Hannigan w/ Ye Vagabonds @ St Luke’s, Cork

    June 13, 2016 - By 

    “Scooch!” It’s getting towards the end of her powerful set at St. Luke’s in Cork and Lisa Hannigan is encouraging support band Ye Vagabonds to squeeze in a little bit closer to the microphone so they can all be heard on a beautifully harmonised take on the title track from her second album Passenger. A chuckle ripples through the reverent audience in the ornate and acoustically masterful old church before they quickly return to attentive silence. It’s a moment that tells you all you need to know about a Lisa Hannigan live performance as it exudes her endearing comfort, and…

  • Sofar Sounds @ The Kino, Cork

    May 27, 2016 - By 

    It’s wonderful to see Cork landmark The Kino in proper use again. At one stage in recent memory it was the only independently run cinema in the entire country and, as a younger man, it hosted me as I indulged my love of music documentaries. Needless to say, it features prominently in the hearts of many throughout the country. Tonight, the old picture house is showcasing actual music in the form of Sofar Sounds and its grassroots and novel approach to live performance. With the seats removed, the cinema organically takes the shape of a natural music venue and, with…

  • Label Mixtape: Fortuna POP!

    March 24, 2016 - By 

    Created in London in 1995 by Sean Price, or El Presidente as he prefers to be addressed, Fortuna POP! has for over twenty years been a steadfast bastion of everything lo-fi and fuzzy. The last few years have seen the label enter a veritable golden era. They’ve been responsible for Joanna Gruesome’s fuzz-pop debut LP Weird Sister, which won the Welsh Music Prize, the regional pop punk of Martha’s debut album Courting Strong, which was included in NPR Music’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2014, and records by a cornucopia of others ranging from Evans the Death to Pete Astor to…

  • Girls Names w/ Gross Net @ Cyprus Avenue, Cork

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    “It’s one thing to spend a long time learning how to play well in the studio, but to do it in front of people is what keeps me coming back to touring.” It was Rush’s Neil Peart who said that. But what happens when you have to perform in front of hardly any people at all? This unenviable position is precisely what Gross Net, nom de musique of Philip Quinn, is faced with as he begins his supporting set for his other band Belfast post-punks Girls Names in front of a sparse crowd on a rather nasty, wet Friday night…