• Dispatches From A Field: All Together Now 2024 – Friday

    August 6, 2024 - By 

    In the first of a three-parter, Mike Ryan reports back from the Friday of this year’s All Together Now, featuring Confidence Man, Toshín, Cardinals, Niamh Regan and more Photos by Ian Davies Back for its fifth iteration, this year’s All Together Now brought its expected share of international heavy hitters to the idyllic Curraghmore Estate, Co. Waterford, but more impressively, this time around it was absolutely heaving with both the stalwarts and fresh faces of the Irish music scene. Cork indie debutants Cardinals kickstarted the Guinness Lovely Days stage, bringing noughties-inspired guitar licks and matching the crowd’s very evident Day…

  • A Strange, Much-Missed Feeling: The Return of Casavettes

    February 21, 2024 - By 

    Last month, the news of return of Limerick emo legends Casavettes after four years away was met with no shortage of rejoicing on Irish music Twitter (and Instagram etc. etc.) Ahead of a handful of eagerly-anticipated shows from the band – kicking off in Galway on Friday – Mike Ryan picks the brain of frontman Diarmuid O’Shea about second acts, sonic evolution, Ireland’s DIY scene and – an old classic to end all old classics – the strange passing of time. It’s been 5 years (almost to the day) since your debut album, Senselessness, and just over 4 years since…

  • A Different Beast: An Interview with Elaine Malone

    November 24, 2023 - By 

    Elaine Malone’s debut album roars “Fuck you, thank you” into the abyss. Words by Mike Ryan. Photo by Celeste Burdon Residents have long believed that there’s something intangibly special about the country’s second city, and the same holds true for its musicians. Cork has produced a plethora of transcendent acts in recent years, across the entire musical palette, including Fixity, the Altered Hours, Trá Pháidín and Pretty Happy to name just a few; the Cork music scene is a many-headed beast. The most recent of which has now reared its head in the form of Elaine Malone’s first full-length album,…

  • Dispatches From A Field: All Together Now 2023

    August 10, 2023 - By 

    Mike Ryan reports back from Sugababes, Iggy Pop, Beak>, Villagers and more at the latest and greatest All Together Now to date. Photos by Celeste Burdon All Together Now returned last weekend for its fourth instalment, and with the memory of last year’s stellar line-up still fresh in people’s minds, it was always going to have an uphill battle to impress returning punters. It didn’t help matters that on Friday night that hill was covered in mud and into 50km winds. But before the weather turned, the evening got off to a rocking start. After an impressive set in one…

  • Caoilian Sherlock – Teenage Jesus

    July 10, 2023 - By 

    In between pulling double duty with The Shaker Hymn and The Tan Jackets, Caoilian Sherlock has been threatening to release a solo album for years. First testing the waters under the moniker St. Caoilian over 5 years ago, his first full-length album Teenage Jesus is more than worth the wait. Album opener ‘The Wheels Come Off’ is a dreamy, sentimental exposition to a record that drifts between its psychedelic, folk, pop, and country influences, showcasing a singer-songwriter who is at ease with his own creative process. Stand-out tracks include ‘Candidate’, a snappy and self-deprecating rock ‘n’ roll homage with more…

  • Sinead O’Brien at Cyprus Avenue, Cork

    October 28, 2022 - By 

    Fresh off the release of her debut album Time Bend And Break The Bower, Sinead O’Brien brings her hypnotic performance and affecting spoken-word lyricism to Cork’s Cyprus Avenue. Blending apocalyptic soothsaying with mythological allegory, O’Brien’s lyrics create a profound experience on their own, but combined with the driving guitar and drums of her band (Julian Hanson and Oscar Robertson) they create an aural meditation that washes over you before hitting you in the gut. Recent tracks like ‘End Of Days’ and ‘Most Modern Painting’ get the set going as O’Brien draws the crowd closer to the stage. On stage she…

  • Pillow Queens at Cyprus Avenue, Cork

    October 12, 2022 - By 

    Pillow Queens made a triumphant return to Cyprus Avenue, Cork, this past weekend, having last played in 2021 during that weird phase of the pandemic where people were allowed to aggressively breathe into each other’s mouths at the bar but couldn’t be trusted to stand upright in a half capacity gig venue. At the time, the band opted to pull double duty and played two gigs a day so as to avoid cancelling tickets in what they called their “2 Shows 1 Cup” tour. An inspirational effort in both commitment to their fans and to bad jokes. Those in attendance…

  • HousePlants at Cyprus Avenue, Cork

    April 5, 2022 - By 

    The brainchild of electronic music wunderkind Daithí and Irish rock veteran Paul Noonan of Bell X1, HousePlants formed during lockdown and, through back and forth emails and messages, quickly started knocking out tunes. Their debut album Dry Goods is full of songs I couldn’t wait to see live while being churned around in a sweaty crowd at 2am at some backwoods music festival. So I was somewhat surprised by the relaxed atmosphere in Cyprus Avenue just before the main act took to the stage. Did the good people of Cork not know that there was dancing to be had tonight?…