• AAA: Red Enemy @ The Button Factory, Dublin

    November 24, 2014 - By 

    In this huge installment of AAA (Access All Areas) we go behind the scenes with Red Enemy as they launched their highly anticipated self-titled debut album in the Button Factory in Dublin last Friday. Hefty support came from four other incredible acts on the night- Overhead The Albatross, Frustration, Nibiru and Bitch Falcon. Our photographer Carlos Daly spent the entire evening with all of the bands on the bill as they set up and psyched themselves out ahead of the gig. Check out the gallery below for a comprehensive overview of the launch.

  • Classic Album: ‘Corndogs from Pedro’ – Minutemen’s Double Nickels On The Dime

    November 20, 2014 - By 

    Punk rock – as a movement, as a mindset, and as a musical rebellion against the status quo – has always had a tendency to slide into an unusual conformity all its own. In the birth of any new scene – after the initial spark of originality – codes are established, styles become uniforms, and common mantras unite bands and fans alike. Perhaps no lyric can define the punk scene in Southern California in the early 1980’s like those of the Minutemen on the track ‘The Glory of Man’: “I live sweat, but I dream light years.” Big ideas that…

  • MayKay: All Views My Own

    November 19, 2014 - By 

    “Not only am I a really good singer, I’m really good looking as well.” My long suffering mother warned me very early on about being misquoted. She told me to be careful with every word I said and imagine every sentence as a headline. Make sure you can stand by your words. Why say anything otherwise? “Yeah whatever, Mum. I’m 22 years old. I know what I’m doing! Stop patronising me! I’ve been doing this for almost three whole years!” So, yes. I did say the aforementioned sentence. Yes, I did become mute and open mouthed for about two hours…

  • Track Record: Patrick Kelleher

    November 24, 2014 - By 

    We spend an evening with Patrick Kelleher for a cup of tea to warm our cold dead hands while he rummages through his record collection and tells us why the selections he made means so much to him. Photos by Brid O’Donovan. Mulatu Astatke featuring Fekade Amde Maskal – Ethio Jazz This album was introduced to me by a friend who heard it first on the soundtrack to Broken Flowers. It’s just got this lovely catchiness, as you can tell. The same friend who introduced it to me played it quite a lot at his house. Recently for my thirtieth birthday…

  • Track Record: We Cut Corners

    November 19, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, our photographer Abraham Tarrush shoots We Cut Corners at home, as they flick through their record collection, selecting some of their all-time favourite albums. Majical Cloudz – Impersonator The reductive but potent combination of synth bass and baritone make for a heady minimalist mix of weighty songs that hang around long after the needle has left the groove.   Ryan Adams – 29 Released the same year as Cold Roses and ‘Jacksonville City Nights, 29 is potentially Adams‘ most introspective and sombre album to date… and he’s had a few. Atmospherically nocturnal, at times almost bleak, it’s home…

  • Track Record: Gugai

    November 20, 2014 - By 

    Booker, promoter, DJ and all-round good guy Gugai – formally known as Eoghan MacNamara (or ‘Google’ if you’re drunk enough) is somewhat of a legend around Galway and if you’ve ever graced the Roisin Dubh venue you’ll know of his overwhelming love and support of the music scene here first hand. We’ve asked him to kindly flip through his entire record collection and select some of his favourite releases, with special guest appearances from Pope John Paul II and his dotey son Osgur. Photos by Sean McCormack. Pope John Paul II – In Ireland I think It’s really hard to choose your favourite record…

  • Inbound: His New Atlas

    November 18, 2014 - By 

    In this latest installment of Inbound – which looks at some of the more promising acts from across the country – we talk to fast-rising Armagh singer-songwriter Eoghan O’Hagan AKA His New Atlas about the power of cathartic release, his very specific approach to songwriting and his big plans for the next few months. Firstly, can you shed a bit of light on how you came to be a singer-songwriter? I started off in a metal band, oddly enough. I left this as I never felt like it was moving at a pace that fast enough for me. So I got a…

  • Cork Music Trail: Ones to Watch

    November 18, 2014 - By 

    It would seem that MTV have remembered what their (previously-orphaned) acronym stands for, turning their attention away from mouth-breathing reality-show nonsense, and on to music, of all things. With the announcement of the Shepard Fairey-directed Rebel Music calling attention to youth subcultures around the world and the transcendent tunes that soundtrack their lives, the idea hits that the floundering music-channel grandfather has either finally realised the error of its ways and is earnestly trying for relevance, or has just been subject to the law of diminishing returns. Either way, the cable & satellite success story of the 1980s wobbles its way to Cork…

  • Video Premiere: Zaska – Different Light

    November 18, 2014 - By 

    We’re pleased to present the premiere of the new video by eight-piece Dublin supergroup Zaska. Fronted by Max Zaska, the band granted our photographer Tara Thomas behind the scenes access to capture during the shoot. Check out her gallery for more images and watch the video – produced by Stoneface films and directed by Jon Hozier-Byrne – below.

  • Smolder and Scully: The Fall Review

    November 18, 2014 - By 

    Your mum’s favourite serial killer is back. At the end of last year’s five-episode run of BBC2’s The Fall, Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan) packed in his moonlighting strangling escapades and carted his family onto the next Stenna Line to the Highlands. But you can’t keep a good stalker down, especially when he’s one half of the BBC’s most locally successful and internationally exportable drama for years. In last week’s sophomore opener, he’s back to eyeing up brunettes on the Larne line. In the meantime, creator Allan Cubbit has had to defend the show against claims that it glamourizes female violence,…