• Robyn – Honey

    November 12, 2018 - By 

    The strobes hit with unforgiving regularity. Across the humid room you see a couple kissing vigorously, their hands dancing over one another. You’re dancing too, twisting and moving your body simultaneously with guttural thumps of bass. A flash reveals the glistening face of the man to your left, he beams over and moves his jaw up and down inaudibly, his words pummelled by the entrancing waves. A tear suddenly sprouts from the outer corner of his eye, but rather than wipe it away he allows it to slide jerkily down his face. You turn to see someone else whose mascara is running,…

  • Ty Segall – Fudge Sandwich

    November 8, 2018 - By 

    Garage rock institution Ty Segall has always been insanely prolific, but in 2018 he’s taken things to extremes. So far he’s put out expansive double album Freedom’s Goblin, a long awaited second collaboration with White Fence and a second record from side project GØGGS. Now we can add to that an album of covers in Fudge Sandwich, but news has also surfaced of an ultra-limited cassette called Orange Rainbow distributed at a recent art exhibition, and a new side project with wife Denée called The C.I.A. with an album due out in December. Exhausting stuff, but back to Fudge Sandwich for…

  • Milo – Budding Ornithologists Are Weary Of Tired Analogies

    November 7, 2018 - By 

    Milo’s raps are that of internal monologues, paradoxical truths and caustic wit. His flow ricochets around the rap cosmos — choppy to smooth, elliptical to gratifyingly loquacious — before fate slots it away in pockets of dream-like production that is heavily indebted to jazz’s freest, most nakedly emotive, compulsions. Scallops Hotel, his side project and producer alias, is low stakes in the best possible understanding of the phrase. A sublime January release earlier this year, sovereign nose of (y​)​our arrogant face, marked newfound terrain for Ferreira through sheer uniformity in pace and a flow that is becoming increasingly screwed into…

  • The Prodigy – No Tourists

    November 6, 2018 - By 

    What does The Prodigy mean in 2018? More than 21 years after The Fat of the Land and Music For The Jilted Generation, this is a band who for many years pushed the limits of taste and aggression for mainstream dance music. Consider tracks like ‘Firestarter’, ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ and ‘Poison’ which are still intensely antagonistic and hostile. But after nearly three decades in the business and a comfortable position within collective consciousness, what in the holy hell can be done next? Look at our contemporary popular hip-hop and dance charts and you’ll find a much darker world than what…

  • Documenta – Lady With The Ring

    October 31, 2018 - By 

    It’s a chilling story, that of a woman prematurely buried, presumed dead until awoken by a grave robber attempting to amputate her finger to make off with her valuable ring. Often attributed to early 18th century Lurgan woman Margorie McCall, her grave, pictured on the cover of this EP, does indeed state “lived once, buried twice” – though the existence of countless versions of this tale all over Europe, attributed to various different women from anywhere as early as the 14th century, does sow doubt on its veracity. Nonetheless it remains an infamous piece of local folklore, and Belfast’s finest…

  • Lisa O’Neill – Heard a Long Gone Song

    October 27, 2018 - By 

    Given Lisa O’Neill’s rising star in recent years, it’s surprising she hasn’t been snapped up by a bigger label sooner, with previous work being either self released or issued through The Frames’ Plateau Records. Having toured extensively over the last few years with the likes of Glen Hansard, James Yorkston and The Divine Comedy though, it seems pretty natural that at last the Cavan songwriter should follow fellow Irish folk luminaries Lankum onto the eminent Rough Trade label, or more accurately, Rough Trade’s brand new folk imprint River Lea, for album four. Where previous records, particularly 2013’s Same Cloth or…

  • We Cut Corners – Impostors

    October 24, 2018 - By 

    It was hard to recall a guitar and drums duo that actually deserved the hype surrounding them until We Cut Corners came along. Comprised of John Duignan (guitars/vocals) and Conall Ó Breachain (drums/vocals), the band have been crafting their identity the hard way for some years now, opting for an unpretentious and uncluttered set up in an era when people relentlessly question if the guitar has offered all it can. Yet over the course of three albums, We Cut Corners have steadily amassed a loyal following and critical acclaim that makes their fourth effort, Impostors, one of Ireland’s most anticipated releases of…

  • John Grant – Love Is Magic

    October 14, 2018 - By 

    Upon first listen to an album that flits between seemingly whimsical matters of broccoli and cheese sauce to diet gum and hot Brazilian boys, one would be forgiven for merely scratching its surface. It’s only on the second and third (and fourth and fifth) listen to Love Is Magic, John Grant’s fourth studio album as a solo artist, that true appreciation can be found. After the sheer wackiness loses its immediacy, the authenticity of Grant’s latest body of work becomes more apparent and the world is given a whole new way of experiencing the American musician. It’s his most electronic…

  • Saint Sister – Shape of Silence

    October 12, 2018 - By 

    It’s hard to believe that we’re only now hearing Saint Sister’s debut album given how quickly the duo have grown since their 2014 debut single, both at home and abroad. Shape of Silence is a cohesive and carefully put together album, and awe inspiring as a debut release. Drenched in traditional celtic and folk influence, but with a hint of electronic indie-pop, Saint Sister have etched out a niche in today’s Irish music, and they’re an act that we should treasure. Many of the tracks here are previous releases, including the song that first brought attention to the pair, ‘Madrid’,…

  • Phosphorescent – C’est La Vie

    October 10, 2018 - By 

    Matthew Houck’s brand of roaming, questing country rock veers firmly into The War on Drugs’ crossover territory with Phosphorescent’s seventh record. Stark, bruised hymns of desolation such as ‘Wolves’ from Pride, or teary travelogues like ‘Mermaid Parade’ found on Here’s To Taking It Easy are not in supply here. After the short instrumental ‘Black Moon/Silver Waves,’ the opening lines of ‘C’est La Vie No. 2’ say as much: “I wrote all night/Like the fire of my words could burn a hole up to heaven/I don’t write all night burning holes up to heaven no more.” Unsurprisingly, the all-conquering ‘Song for Zula’…