• Warpaint w/ Æ MAK @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    March 28, 2017 - By 

    There comes a point where the visage of being inscrutable begins to wear off, even the most beguiling cool kids have runny shits some days and when your defining trait over ten years into your career remains a kind inscrutableness, the trick risks wearing thin. The backing music is very Cure-esque, the singing is soft, melodic, harmonious, channelling any number of 90’s female vocalists from Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval to Dolores O’Riordan. Seeing them live (and indoors) is a significant clip ahead of listening to them on record, that distant echo quality reverberates satisfyingly. It’s nice; lovely even, like being…

  • Culture of Controversy: James Cussen

    October 2, 2015 - By 

    James Cussen is a historian studying toward a PhD in UCC, who is an acerbic controversial and political presence on Twitter. Seanán Kerr travelled to Cork to speak to him in the wake of recent victories for rights in Ireland and defeats for democracy in Greece and to ask how these times fit into the grand historical story and how pop culture mediates our understanding of it. When in 2013, teenage cancer victim Dónal Walsh was given the national airwaves to express his thoughts on suicide (life is precious, don’t kill yourself), few challenged him on the matter, many of Ireland’s…

  • You Are Not Spock: An Opinion by Seanán Kerr

    April 2, 2015 - By 

    When Leonard Nimoy died who was more sad people who watch Star Trek or people who didn’t? It’s a silly question, when obviously the answer is ‘people who watch Star Trek’. When Kim Jon Il died, who was more sad people from North Korea or people who aren’t from North Korea? It’s a silly question, obviously the answer is North Koreans, you probably saw the clips online, footage of North Koreans balling their eyes out over the death of ‘Dear Leader’ someone we all generally accept was a bit unpleasant, you probably though it was funny, I mean, “DUH don’t…